In reference to the article, "Assembly to look at speed limit law," in the March 11 Clarion, in the late 1980s a woman in Anchorage took the DOT to court over a traffic zone and won. The '87 assembly picked up on that and decided to exercise their authority. They chose Cohoe as none of them lived here.

The road was just paved. Speed increases with every improvement, because people can drive faster safely and do. We have 35 mph for gravel, 45 for improved gravel and 55 for pavement, unless other criteria, such as schools or busy intersections, prevent it.

Nothing prevented the 55 mph in Cohoe. The assembly was merely exercising authority. The day after the speed of 45 mph was frozen, troopers were there looking for their ticket quota -- and finding it. They are still finding it.

When I was a student of engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in the late '50s, the dropout rate was 60 percent of the enrolling freshman. The borough assembly members did not even enroll so they could drop out, but with that homesteader mentality they assumed to have the knowledge without ever earning it. They thumb their nose at DOT engineers and at traffic engineers and then prove with a speed trap in Cohoe that they don't know what they're doing.

That's all anyone has to know about the borough assembly and traffic zones.

Lyle Cole

Kasilof