WS Chronicle

Be prepared with tornado safety tips 

To the Editor:

With severe storms bringing the risk of tornadoes and hail to the Carolinas, motorists should be prepared and to remain cautious if driving.

Here are tornado safety tips to motorists:

A “tornado warning” means a twister is developing or is actually on the ground. It is more severe than a “tornado watch,” which means conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms, which may or may not spawn twisters.

If a tornado warning is issued for your area, leave your vehicle immediately and seek shelter in a sturdy building.

Never try to outrun a tornado. Your car or pickup will offer no protection from a twister. It is impossible to know which direction a tornado may decide to go.

Seek shelter indoors. A basement is safest. Closets or small interior rooms are best. Stay away from south walls, west walls and all windows. Get under a solid piece of furniture or a mattress.

If you are caught in the open with no substantial buildings available, find a ditch, ravine or low-lying area and lie flat. Stay away from roadway overpasses.

Do not seek shelter in a mobile home. These structures, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned.

Remember, wet roads mean poor traction. Conditions are most dangerous during the first ten minutes of a heavy downpour as oil and debris wash away. Driving on wet roads in the rain is like driving on ice. Slow down. Take it easy. Allow extra time to reach your destination.

Never use your motor vehicle’s cruise control feature in rainy weather.

AAA Carolinas 

Charlotte

Note: Connect with AAA Carolinas on Facebook at www.face-book.com/AAAcarolinas and follow them on Twitter at @AAAcarolinas.

Senate should not pass bill cutting overtime pay

To the Editor:

This bill [the Working Families Flexibility Act] is terrible for hard working Americans. Republicans are trying to pass it off as a workplace flexibility measure but in reality, it undermines the existing right to hard-earned overtime pay.

This legislation gives employers the right to substitute overtime pay for comp time without a guarantee that employees can use their earned comp time when needed.

I’m disappointed that my House Republican colleagues sided with big business over American workers to pass this legislation and I urge my Senate colleagues to vote against it.

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, (NC-12) 

Washington, D.C.

Note: Adams is responding to the fact that the House voted to pass H.R. 1180, the so-called “Working Families Flexibility Act.”

Administration of Donald Trump needs to reverse present course

To the Editor:

In the first 100 days of this administration, we have seen a series of unlawful and misguided executive orders, the imposition of a discriminatory Muslim Ban, a massive roll-back on federal civil rights enforcement and a resulting wave of litigation across the country challenging this administration’s unlawful actions.

This administration must reverse course before causing further damage to American democracy.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law will continue to mount litigation, as it has already done, challenging discriminatory actions taken by this administration.

We will use the courts as the forum to check this administration’s efforts to turn the clock back on fragile civil rights gains that have been made.

In Trump’s first 100 days, the new administration has:

*Instituted an unlawful ban on people traveling into the country from several predominantly Muslim nations.

*Taken action to obstruct federal civil rights enforcement, including abandoning its position in litigation challenging Texas’s discriminatory voter identification law.

*Undermined progress made toward criminal justice reform by seeking to derail implementation of a carefully negotiated consent decree setting forth overdue reforms for the Baltimore Police Department and eliminating an executive order that sought to phase out use of private prisons.

*Appointed Cabinet-level and other senior officials to key positions in the absence of records which reflect a commitment to civil rights, particularly in the areas of housing and education.

*Perpetuated myths regarding vote fraud and incited states to institute laws that restrict access to the ballot box though no evidence of fraud exists.

Kristen Clarke, 

President And Executive Director 

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights 

Under Law Washington, D.C. 

Note: The Lawyers’ Committee, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. For more information about the Lawyers’ Committee, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.