Letters to the Editor
All Should Indeed Serve — But Not Just in Military
Dear Bay Weekly:
Edward Allen Faine’s call for a return to a national draft [Commentary: Vol. XI, No. 7, Feb. 13] challenges us once again to make common participation and common sacrifice for the common good an American reality. Not all need serve in the armed forces: a year of national service such as in AmeriCorps is a good alternative. And indeed, all citizens should not just be eligible to serve, but should actually serve.
As for wars themselves: how about a global mandate that only those over 50 — the age of those who make the decisions — are eligible to fight?
— Chris May, Deale
Another North Beach Motto
Dear Bay Weekly:
Re. M.L. Faunce’s letter [Vol. XI, No. 7], I suggest the following as a motto for North Beach: North Beach: Atlantis Reborn.
— Tom Gill, North Beach
People Produce Pollution
Dear Bay Weekly:
As a wastewater treatment plant professional, I cannot sit back and let a statement made in your February 13th issue go uncorrected. In the short piece titled “EPA Chief Whitman Vows Chesapeake Commitment” [Vol. X., No. 7], you reported that Governor Ehrlich had talked with Whitman about getting more money for upgrading dozens of sewage treatment plants that produce Bay-choking nitrogen pollution.
While I certainly hope Mr. Ehrlich is successful in getting money for plant upgrades, to hear wastewater treatment plants called producers of nitrogen pollution irritates and saddens me. Where I work, we are required to remove more than 80 percent of the nitrogen coming into the plant. We in fact remove more than 90 percent. Given these facts, it is beyond comprehension how we — or for that matter any wastewater treatment plant — can be called producers of nitrogen pollution.
If you want to know who produces nitrogen pollution, look in the mirror. People produce pollution. Let me say it again: people produce pollution. People put nitrogen into sewers leading to wastewater treatment plants. People put nitrogen on land that has a way of running off into steams. People raise animals. As Mr. Burton says, enough said.
I suppose some people will read this letter and conclude that I am too sensitive. That, yes, it was an incorrect word to use, but that I was taking things out of context and magnifying them too much. However having worked on the front lines of the Chesapeake Bay clean-up effort for a quarter of a century now, I know that the misperception stated in your piece has been often repeated. The uninformed do perceive that wastewater treatment plants pollute. I know your publication seeks to educate, so I hope that the next time the word remove will be used instead of produce. Today’s wastewater treatment plants remove enormous amounts of pollutants.
— Floyd B. Johnson, Sunderland
We welcome your letters and opinions. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 • E-mail them to us at [email protected].
