Beyond ridiculous

Over 30 employees need to be fired at city hall over the snowplowing. How can it be that almost every weekend we have to drive through deep snow that should've been plowed? Beyond ridiculous. Brainerd has approximately 70-plus miles of roads to plow. It snowed on Jan. 14 and Brainerd first started to plow the roads on Jan. 19? Oak Lawn Township has 34 miles to plow and by Jan. 15 they were plowed and sanded by noon before everything was packed down. What makes this interesting is that there's only one employee working for Oak Lawn Township.

Better methods needed

Two years ago South Sixth Street was resurfaced. Has anyone noticed there are as many bumps and cracks in the road as before? What a waste of taxpayers' money. You would think MnDOT would have learned something about improved paving methods from the expensive road surface study facility they constructed over 10 years ago east of Monticello in I-94. I hope they will use better methods when they resurface Highway 371 between Baxter and Nisswa this summer because I'm sure the cost will not be cheap and we as taxpayers deserve better for our dollars spent.

Vox Pop via Clint Eastwood

When I read Vox Pop I see Clint Eastwood as a snarling Walt Kowalski in "Gran Torino:" "Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!"

Slow down

You guys continuously write in the paper about people having accidents because the road was slippery. It's not the road's fault. It has to do with people who will not slow down and driving too fast for the road conditions. The road might be slippery. Guess what? Slow down. That's all you have to do. Get off the phone and pay attention to the road conditions.

IRS needs to work harder

After reading the thing about prisoners' bogus tax refunds, I have to wonder just how very successful at detecting and stopping incorrect refunds the IRS actually is. If prisoners were able to get taxpayers out of $123 million in the last five years, it seems like our IRS people need to work a little bit harder.

Thanks for the help

I would like to thank the people who came to my aid on Wednesday, Jan. 13, when I was going into Cub Foods and literally fell flat on my face. Several people came to my help immediately, were very concerned and were just extremely nice to me while I got into the store and got things taken care. The store management was also extremely helpful to me. I want to thank everyone who helped me.

No one reads road signs anymore

In responding to the person who called in about overhead road signs northeast by the Penney's store, I don't know that it would do any good. Twice in the last week I have seen people trying to make a left turn out onto Washington Street by McDonald's in northeast when the road is sectioned so it won't go left and there is a very large sign stating no left turns. Maybe no one reads road signs anymore or maybe it doesn't pertain to them.

Overhead signage

I agree with the Vox writer on overhead signage for lane changes. The city, county and state love to pound signs in the ground all over but they do not like to install overhead. Another good example is when heading east on Laurel Street and crossing Sixth Street, a sign overhead indicating a left turn lane only to go north on Sixth would be nice.

The governor is coming, the governor is coming

My gosh! The roads have been plowed. The governor must be coming! The governor must be coming!

Shovel it yourself

To the person who was complaining about snowed in traffic signals for pedestrians, get out a shovel and shovel it yourself. Show them how it's done.

Bridge sidewalks in terrible condition

As I drive across the Washington Street bridge I often see people struggling to walk on the sidewalks. The snow has been plowed up there so high and uneven, it's like a dirty mountain. These people look like they have no other means of transportation. I believe that they could be snowblown like they do around the public buildings downtown.

Too close

Mr. Walleyedan, you are right. Fishing 10 feet away is too close, even 25 feet. Some people need to learn ice fishing etiquette and common courtesy. If I'm in my fish house and can hear you talking in yours, you're too close.

No 9-5 plow job

This in regards to the person who wrote in about the county roads, there is not a plow operator in Crow Wing County Highway Department that works a 9-5 job, not one.

Traffic light by Walgreens

Maybe I didn't make myself perfectly clear about which traffic light on Northwest Fourth and Washington needed to be plowed out. It's the one on the Walgreens corner. It's still difficult to get to and very dangerous to walk across the streets without the pedestrian light.

Vox Pop, voice of the people, publishes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Submissions are limited to 100 words. To phone in a comment, call (218) 855-5888 and leave a message. To e-mail a comment, write to voxpop@brainerddispatch.com. Comments, which must meet the newspaper's standards of fairness and good taste, may be edited for clarity, length and libel.