Why is it that when you are watching television, the commercials come on at over twice the decibels that the show is on? It is so annoying that I now keep my finger on the “mute” button, always ready to mute the commercials whenever they come on. I realize that the advertisers want to grab your attention, but this is an aggravating way to do it. I would watch the commercials if they were not so loud. Sometimes they practically blast you from your chair. In my opinion, they are losing valuable advertising by televising their ads this loud.

— Gerald C. Pare

My Gripe is about a Gripe I read from the July 11 paper, about putting placebo/laxatives in an OxyContin bottle to hand over to a would-be pharmacy robber. That isn’t a bad idea or the first time I have heard the idea. My issue on the Gripe is the complaint that they have no resistance in pharmacy or bank robberies and the robbers know this and take advantage of it.  No resistance is the smartest thing, because putting up a fight for things that are insured is ridiculous. These employees need to meet the demands and not put anyone in harms way. Give these low morale/desperate people what they want and let surveillance (if any) and law enforcement take care of it in a more controlled and safe way.

— Christian of Minnesota (who discovered the Sun Journal and its Gripes section through a google email alert about OxyContin/Pharmacy robberies)

My gripe is the lack of parental guidance for underaged, unlicensed children riding motorcycles and ATVs in a development where these children are neither supervised nor reprimanded for destroying property. In addition, these same individuals have pets that are allowed to run loose to leave their deposits on the lawns of their neighbors. One day, they will get the message when one of their children (or pets) suffers from an injury as a result of their lack of parenting/negligence. By then, however, it will be too late.

— Anonymous