To the editor:

I was reading with pleasure and appreciation the article in Tuesday’s Journal-World regarding the governor’s signing of the booster seat bill that proponents have supported for six years. The bill is intended to make young passengers safer in automobiles, a goal that all parents and anyone who has ever driven by an accident scene obviously strives for.

Then I read the inappropriate, churlish whining of House Transportation Committee Chairman Gary Hayzlett, who opposed the bill on the grounds that the bill infringes on personal liberties. Hayzlett stated that the supporters of the bill would want “seat belts on all the toilet stools in public rest rooms.” His comment is an insult to those who believe that personal liberties do not include unnecessary endangerment of children.

As a father and grandfather, I am grateful to the legislators, educators, caregivers and civil servants who are dedicated to child safety. I can’t help but compare their compassion to the unrealistic, jingoism of Mr. Hayzlett, whose most fitting pulpit might be a toilet in a public rest room, with or without seat belts.

Werner Anderson,

Lawrence