Well, I’ve got some good news. I’ve found the answer to that driving question I raised a couple week ago.

To refresh your memory, I queried that if you are driving the speed limit in the fast lane on a state highway or expressway, is it illegal if you are delaying some drivers who wish to go faster?

The question arose not because people enjoy utilizing the left hand traffic lane but with Michigan’s crumbling road system, many drivers are doing many things to save their vehicles from potentially hundreds of dollars worth of car repairs.

Alert drivers try to straddle pot holes or even swerve to avoid them, obviously a dangerous act, depending upon the traffic volume.

When on our freeways and major highways, there appears to be more rugged roadway in the right-hand lanes. The passing or fast lane is often in a little better shape than its sister lanes.

This created an interesting legal question. To avoid the bone jarring and body shaking experience not really desired in a drive on the highway, many people are moving over to the fast lane.

They are driving the speed limit but is it legal? Driving over the maximum speed limit certainly is asking for a ticket. But, if you hold up an impatient driver, can you get a ticket?

The answer, according officers with The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is no, it is not illegal.

If there are only two lanes, courtesy would dictate moving over to the right hand lane but on a three-lane highway with the lanes going in the same direction, if you’re doing the speed limit, then it’s OK to use the fast or left-hand lane.

So, go ahead and drive in that lane at the maximum speed if you believe you can avoid the ruts, potholes and other menaces of our deteriorating highway system. Make sure it's not a construction zone. There you have to show down.

Also, you probably will tempt the wrath of drivers who do wish to speed. Beware of various verbal assaults and hand signals from them showing their displeasure. But if they must pass you, then let them breeze by and chance getting a ticket for speeding.

For those who haven’t heard, there are elections in Oakland County on May 3.

That date is not the usual one for elections. Most people expect to head to the polls in August for primaries and in November for general elections.

But this May 3 there are a number of communities and school districts where voters should go to the polls. There’s even an election for county commissioner. The winner fills the partial term left open by Bill Bullard Jr. in District 2, when he became county clerk.

There’s a commissioner race in Bloomfield Hills, balloting proposals in Clawson, Ferndale and Hazel Park as well as school board contests in Lake Orion, Fenton and Goodrich, among other communities.

So, with each pending election, The Oakland Press Opinion Page letter policy kicks in.

It’s quite simple: Letters relating to the May 3 school elections must be received by Tuesday, April 19. Those received by then will be run Tuesday, April 26. Endorsement letters must be 150 words or less.

We have used this policy for the past several years because prior to its institution, we ran election-related letters up to and on the day of the election. That, however, caused problems. Basically, the issue involved “fairness,” something I frequently talk about in this blog.

People would purposely hold their letters until the last minute hoping to get them in on election day or just the day before. They, of course, took a chance the letter couldn’t get in at all but they took the risk. And many letters did “seem” to get the last word in on a candidate or ballot issue.

Of course, this drew complaints from readers whose letters appeared several days before the election or that couldn’t get in by election day.

The blanket complaint was that it “wasn’t fair.” Well, we agreed that, although it’s never been proven that getting the last word in on a ballot proposal swayed other voters, it didn’t seem fair to run a letter for or against an issue on election day.
So, we came up with this policy. We publicize it frequently on the Opinion Page several weeks before an election, although we still get complaints from people who say they didn’t know the policy.

Well, with all do respect, read the paper — the message is in, if not every day, then at least several times before the election.

By setting a deadline of two weeks before the election for letters, we normally can get in all of them in the few days after the deadline. And no letter will run on the day of the election or up to about a week before.

It seems like a “fair” policy. If someone has any suggestions for improving it, please let me know.

The Oakland Press, as hopefully you’ve noticed, runs a number of nationally syndicated columnists.

These are individuals who have earned recognition nationwide for their writing and their views. They are often employed by national publications and are allowed to offer services to other subscribing newspapers. Their columns usually run after they’ve appeared in their home newspaper. Many you probably know by name, even before reading their pieces on the Opinion Page.

Currently running on a weekly basis are such individuals as D.J. Dionne, Charles Krauthammer, Leonard Pitts and Walter E. Williams or Cal Thomas.
Dionne, considered a liberal, runs on Saturdays, and Krauthammer, a conservative, runs on Mondays. Pitts, a liberal and Williams or Thomas, both conservatives, run usually on Page 3 of the Sunday Forum section.

Note the balance — one liberal and one conservative? That’s what we strive for when presenting views on our opinion pages. It is a newspaper’s responsibility to present opposing views and try to balance one side against another, where possible.
Also, other national columnists that we run from time to time include Donna Brazile, Delroy Murdock, Dan Thomasson, Bonnie Erbe and Betsy Hart. These individuals offer a nice range of conservative and liberal views that may be of interest to our readers.
Yes, at one time, we ran Ann Coulter, a conservative, as well as liberal Bill Press. We discontinued running both because of the large number of complaints we received from readers. Both individuals were considered just two extreme by even people who called themselves conservative and liberally, respectively.

We put a priority on local letters to the editor and local guest opinions but we offer the national columnists to provide a perspective that many readers also want.

We, of course, are still taking calls on all of the national columnists and so the liberal-conservative, conservative-liberal mix is constantly changing. But the goal doesn’t change. We want to offer our readers a variety of opinions, just as we offer them a forum to express their own views.

This is to "Bill," who left a message on my voice mail Monday morning and wanted to know why his Sound Off items weren't being printed.

He said he has called the Sound Off Hot Line several times over the past few months and none of his comments have appeared in print.

Well, the only information "Bill" left me was his first name. Had he left a telephone number, I would have been glad to call him back and discuss his problem. We probably could have worked out a solution or at least figured out why his items weren't being published.

Sound Off, for those of you who aren't aware, runs Saturdays and Mondays on the Opinion Page. It allows people who don't want to be identified to express an opinion and have their views appear in print anonymously. We only run a home town. In fact, people who call into Sound Off don't even have to leave their names. The number, by the way, is (248) 745-4646.

This is as opposed to letters to the editor and guest opinions, correspondence that requires signatures. We never run phone numbers with letters but we do run names and homes towns. As for guest opinions, we run a brief sentence or two describing who the author is and we will run a contact phone number if that individual requests it.

So "Bill," if by some chance you read this,(or if a friend of yours reads this) call me back and leave a phone number. I promise I won't publish it but I will call you back and try to figure out what happened to your opinions.