Declarations

Unfinished Work

“This continuing decline in highway deaths is encouraging, but our work is far from over.”

—National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland says the federal agency wants to see fatality rates drop further. The number of overall traffic fatalities reported at the end of 2009 reached the lowest level since 1954, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The projected fatality data for 2009 places the highway death count at 33,963, a drop of 8.9 percent as compared to the 37,261 deaths reported in 2008.

Flood Maps Contested

“Nearly 1,200 homes would be put in the floodplain. Between 100 and 500 (of the 1,200) homes that have never been in a floodplain would be included. These are areas I have never seen flood.”

—Salina, Kan., Planning and Zoning Administrator Dean Andrew. Salina city officials say that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new floodplain map is just plain wrong and they may appeal the floodplain maps for the south part of town. Most of the concern is the fact 22 percent of Salina property owners could be forced to purchase flood insurance if their houses are in the new floodplain mapped by FEMA. AP

Sheer Greed

“The sheer greed alone is difficult enough to understand, but the inhumanity of this crime is almost beyond comprehension.”

—Cook County (Illinois) Prosecutor Anita Alvarez. Illinois prosecutors say the owner of a suburban Chicago apartment house had his maintenance man set fire to the building, killing seven people including a newborn, because he wanted to cash in on a $250,000 insurance policy. The landlord told police he wanted the house burned when the children living there were at school. Instead, authorities allege, the maintenance man started the fire on a Sunday morning when residents were sleeping inside. The landlord, Lawrence Myers, 60, and maintenance man, Marion Comier, 47, pleaded not guilty in a Maywood courtroom to seven counts of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson.AP

Fix Them Immediately

“Toyota’s strategy (should be) to fix them, fix them immediately and at no cost, and do it as quickly and effectively as you can so after the dust settles, your car’s value won’t have depreciated much.”

—Edward C. Martin, a law professor at Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. At least 89 class-action lawsuits have been filed against Toyota that could cost the auto giant $3 billion or more following massive safety recalls. Toyota owners fear the recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet, the Associated Press reported. The estimated payouts do not include potential claims for wrongful death and injury lawsuits resulting from safety problems, which could reach in the tens of millions each.