DEAR ABBY: Re: visible house addresses. As a longtime member of an ambulance corps, I endorse making house numbers visible from the street. More than once I have had to run up and down a street trying to locate the house from which 911 was called because someone was having chest pains, or worse. In addition to having visible house numbers, if possible someone should be stationed at the front door or outside to signal to the responding emergency personnel.
I do not agree, however, with encouraging your readers to find or start a group to paint curbside addresses. While this practice can be helpful in certain circumstances, it is worthless when snow, ice or leaves cover the curb.
The efforts of those who want to help should concentrate on your last suggestion: Your street numbers should be clearly visible from the street and well-lighted at night. -- C.B. YOUNG JR., RAMSEY, N.J.
DEAR C.G.: Sorry, living in sunny California, I failed to consider adverse weather conditions in other sections of the country. I should have thought about parked cars blocking curbside numbers. I concede that clearly visible numbers on the house is the better idea.
Other readers complained about places of business not having address numbers that are easy to spot. Those could be important to emergency personnel as well as to customers.