Letter to the Editor,

Today, Nov. 18th, my family and I buried my great uncle, David. As anyone knows, losing a loved one is hard enough to deal with. And when you add our experience on top of that, the anger and disbelief escalates. The funeral procession took us to the back streets of New Martinsville, down to the red light at Wal-Mart and onto the four lanes.

Just as we are to turn left to go to the light, a red Ford Ranger cuts into our procession. Then proceeds to stop at the red light! Leaving over half of our family and friends stuck and separated from the rest of the procession. Already angry and upset, we (with our “FUNERAL” flags flapping on our hoods) are subjected to the long wait at the light. As if that wasn’t enough, two more vehicles coming off of the bridge, also cut into our procession! The honking of our horns did nothing to these other drivers.

Where is the respect!?!?!? I don’t care if you do not know the deceased, I don’t care if you are in a hurry, out of respect and decency, please take the time to stop, pull over and allow the entire procession to pass before continuing on your way. And the final straw was when we brought this up to the funeral director, that they really need someone to direct traffic at that light, his reply was pretty much, “We can’t do anything about that. People are going to cut in anyway.” This is not the reply of someone who truly cares about his job as the families he deals with in the time of grief.

I was raised to have and show respect, and I expect it in return. To those drivers that showed my uncle and our family such disrespect today, know he was an Army veteran that fought to protect you, and this is how you thanked him. And to those of you that did patiently wait as we passed, thank you!

Jennifer (Young) Miller

Sardis