When a most-revealing article on traffic cameras appeared in Thursday editions of The Washington Post, there were five different people who immediately forwarded copies to me. The reason they did, outside of my bitter belief the devices are being used by greedy municipalities to rob their unsuspecting citizens, is because tonight the Town Council of Signal Mountain will again flirt with the idea of installing the highly unpopular cameras.

Since the Post article appeared, I have fought the urge to send it to the members of the council because the article, entitled, "Shudder speed: Rise of the stealthy traffic camera fuels drivers' disgust," tells, pretty specifically, how three American cities in last Tuesday's elections voted overwhelmingly against the pariahs and how, in every instance there has ever been a public vote, the cameras have never won.

The article also points out that traffic cameras have now been banned in 14 states and, in Arizona where a camera repairman was actually shot to death in April, a grassroots group is getting 153,000 signatures to assure the issue will be on the next state ballot with the promise, "The cameras will come down!"

I've already gone on record against the Signal Mountain cameras, stopping just short of suggesting to Mayor Bill Lusk and his council that they should fire the person responsible for bringing such a "swine flu" of an idea to its table, but Mayor Lusk responded with a brilliant e-mail to me on the matter with the vow his only interest was in increasing traffic safety.

After seeing documents that clearly show the cameras in Chattanooga and Red Bank have soaked motorists for millions of dollars with very little tangible results, Mayor Lusk is going to have to take that argument to his Signal Mountain neighbors who know him better than I do. My bigger thing is that the presence of "got cha" will further erode the tranquility and character of a Signal Mountain that I once knew.

I believe, along with the great majority of Americans across our country, that traffic cameras have no place in a free society, that the "due process" my lawyer friends espouse is obviously undermined, and that the cameras are detrimental to the "community" atmosphere every family within any city boundaries hold dear.

If traffic cameras were the answer, why would a Democratic governor in Montana and a Republican governor in Mississippi both ban the things earlier this year? I think both were cases where these two people wanted their states to be better places to live. Both states could have made a lot of money but both states realized life isn't just about money and, for the other matter, things seem safe enough right now on Montana and Mississippi streets.

It is inconceivable to me how any elected official, especially in Chattanooga and Red Bank, can deem himself as a "good and faithful servant" to his constituency when, with an unproven method, a town council plays "got cha" with the very people who elected its members to office. Read Neely Tucker's piece in the Washington Post and try to make sense of it.

I know that some residents on Signal Mountain are struggling right now. How can anyone dream up a way to nick those who are suffering a little more? Sure, the pious will tell you "if you don't speed, the camera won't click," but is that the way you want to live? If you believe that, get your child to time you with a stop watch, making sure you brush your teeth for a full three minutes twice a day. Trust me; you (or the now-bruised child) will quit that exercise within a week!

Don't you see my point? Live like you are dying of a bad disease, desperate to make each day more blessed than the last. Laugh with police officers rather than loathe them. Sit next to Mayor Lusk in church. Walk in the autumn leaves, holding your friend's hand, and if some kid whizzes past too fast, call his mother and let her handle it rather than the cops.

Tonight there will be some opponents of the cameras on hand. The agenda calls for the Town Council to do some fun things, like honoring some kids from the still-new high school, before the camera issue is debated.

What would happen if the council, at the very ringing of the opening bell, first issued a proclamation, telling how this Thanksgiving the Town of Signal Mountain plans to love one another instead of buying into more angst, and would the agents of the camera company please be excused because "we're not going to be that kind of place?"

If they did that instead of banter back and forth, the entire commission could get re-elected on the spot. But much more importantly, every one attending tonight's meeting would leave as friends. I'll guarantee it.

royexum@aol.com