Letters: Bloomington budget, Cascades Park road, Ukraine and Russia, new jail
Associated Press incorrectly portrayed fire science
Associated Press' crackpot reporting misportrays fire science.
Sure, wildfires burn dead trees and woody debris, but the same fires burn live trees, standing and green, and the trees milled, laid flat and nailed. For the record, forest scientists like Chris Maser note that snags have more life by cell count than live trees, due to bugs, fungi and bacteria.
Fire is as essential as rain in forests — and prairie lands. Fires cap tree density, and fewer arboreal bio-umps mean more water and wetter fuels, resistant to extreme wildfires. Scientists McLaughlin, Kaplan & Cohen calculated a boost in water yield for southeast coastal watersheds if forests return to native longleaf pine and prescribed fire.
Not all wildfires are equal. Wet spring burns may burn only litter layers insomuch as fall burn combust the duff layer under the litter layer. High-intensity, high-severity fire, as in New Mexico, are caused by fire suppression — a 100 years of suppressing fires builds fuel so that fires burn into the subsoil, killing burrowing mice that would re-emerge to poop and inoculate the soil with mycorrhizal spores that grow trees. Sterile soils, even seeds in pine seedling sawdust cubes, die from lack of spores.
New Mexico is overrun with an invasive, cheatgrass, that not only supports fire but encourages it in its reproductive niche. Florida hosts the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center where burn bosses are trained to conduct prescribed burns. California has just inaugurated a Prescribed Fire Claims Fund where property owners can be compensated for losses from a escaped fire. Even the city of Bloomington practices prescribed fire at Griffy Lake.
Newspapers foster public contentions by misreporting fire science and the ecosystem services of wildfires that reduce overstocked tree populations and free up water in the West.
Bud Hoekstra, Bloomington
No expensive surprises in the city, please
Dear council members and fellow taxpayers,
Several years ago, we all learned that the city had purchased an armored vehicle for $250,000. We’re not sure why it was purchased or what it will be used for or where the money came from. The members of the council do not remember approving it, although they had. As I understand, it’s been used twice, and not for emergencies.
Next week, the city council is considering the next city budget. I urgently request that the members of the council give every item on the budget serious scrutiny — describing the purpose of the appropriation of the item, the source of funding and the urgency of the expenditure.
The Hopewell project, the complicated organization of the streets, the controversial reorganizing of the Showers building, the bicyclist, and pedestrian needs all represent very large expenditures. These expenditures have not been transparent nor justified and with no public debate about priorities.
We’re facing a change of administration in several months and it would behoove members of the council to keep in mind that priorities may be adjusted with a new administration. We have not had an audit in Bloomington for five years, and until we’ve had an official audit, no huge expenditures should be made without full transparency and justification to the satisfaction of the public as well as the council. No more expensive surprises.
Charlotte Zietlow, Bloomington
Auction starts today: Column: The H-T archive auction gives buyers a chance to preserve history
Upset with recent and proposed road changes
Mayor John Hamilton wants to close the road through Lower Cascades Park before his term of office finally expires. From the time this idea was first proposed, it has been opposed by a majority of Bloomington residents.
But Hamilton keeps trying. This road closure is a vital part of his plan to disrupt automobile traffic throughout Bloomington. This is purported to make Bloomington more bicycle and pedestrian friendly.
Hamilton started out innocently enough with speed bumps being installed as “traffic calming” devices. Bumps were soon followed by traffic lanes being restricted by extending curbs into traffic lanes or by painted bike lanes. Next came pedestrian islands for crosswalks. These measures are nuisances but tolerable.
But then Hamilton upped the ante beginning with the mutilation of Seventh Street. With that insanity under his belt, Hamilton turned his attention to Cascades Park. But even this is not enough for him. It has actually been proposed to make Walnut Street and College Avenue two-way streets. That’s nuts.
It is hoped the incoming administration will end this nonsense. If Hamilton wants to make a final gesture before leaving office, he should lay off of Cascades Park and undo the destruction of Seventh Street.
Charles Aiken, Bloomington
Demand negotiations between Ukraine, Russia
Fifty years ago in Vietnam, looking up at the stars, with my shoulder blade blown out and a bullet lodged in my chest, I remember thinking, “Oh, now I get it.”
Recently drones exploded in the Kremlin, the equivalent of our White House. Putin, a man who doesn’t bluff, declared that if Russia is attacked, he will respond in a way “that will make the living envy the dead.”
Perhaps you disagree with me that we backed Russia into an existential corner, where it was forced to invade Ukraine. But we can all agree that instead of farmers in black pajamas or mullahs hiding in caves, we’re dealing with a country with 8,000 nukes. A country that burned Moscow rather than capitulate to Napoleon. A country that absorbed 27 million dead and ate their shoelaces rather than surrender to Hitler.
I feel like we’re living in Jonestown, where zombie-like believers march toward the stage to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, while bullies shout down the reluctant. If you’re waiting for the talking heads or our “leaders” to come to their senses, forget it!
Folks who displayed blue and yellow flags were well-meaning. But now it’s time to show greater courage. Demand negotiations!
John Linnemeier, Bloomington
A Supreme injustice
Clarence, man, how dare you?!
The news reports don't scare you?
The gifts you take are huge,
and make up a deluge.
They mean to buy, in short,
decisions of the Court.
You're massively corrupt
and morally bankrupt.
You've trashed the Court's good name.
Sir, have you no shame?
Gene Arnholt, Bloomington
A consideration for the county's new jail
While I appreciate the hard work our local representatives are doing regarding a final decision on a new jail location, I implore them to step back and consider the following:
1. Do we really need to move the Courts?
2. Do we really need to spend tens of millions of dollars on this?
3. Doesn't it seem more logical and better for the taxpaying public to find a fair and more reasonable solution downtown?
Answers:
1. No.
2. No.
3. Yes.
As I have been saying for over 30 years, the three houses right across from the Justice Building need to be bought and razed to the ground to build a new jail there. Perhaps the problem is, I assume, that those in control of this decision are not thinking as business persons would. Again, step back, think, don't fall for major costs when it is not necessary. County taxes went up 30% or more last year. Please think and change your focus.
Roy Graham, Bloomington
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Letters: Monroe County jail, Bloomington budget, fire science
