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Letters to the Editor

We welcome your opinions and letters – with name and address. 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 [email protected]. or submit your letters on line, click here

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Two Cheers for Bill Burton

Dear Bay Weekly:

I am not one of Bill Burton’s biggest fans regarding fishing issues on the Bay.

But he has nailed it regarding the Olympics [Boycott the Olympics: Vol. xvi, No 17: April 24] We should boycott these games because of many reasons.

1. The poor athletes are amateurs right now, but they are in training to be professionals, and these games are a stepping stone to their turning pro. They are on a training mission, and the higher their scores, the more money they make.

2. There are World Games every two years where these athletes, who may or may not be representing the United States, can compete.

3. China needs the U.S. more than we need them. They need to sell their stuff in all the Dollar Stores, Wal-Marts, Kmarts, etc.

4. China is the biggest threat to the United States since the demise of the Soviet Union. Their navy is already comparable to the USSR’s.

5. If the U.S. is supposed to stand up for Human Rights, how in the world can we sanction anything Bejing promotes?

6. The Olympics for China is one of the greatest propaganda coups that has be promoted on the world community.

I could say more, but Bill Burton has said it all. He is a great American.

–Robert J. Philburn, via email

Dear Bay Weekly:

Bill Burton says we should boycott the Olympics because of China’s behavior about Tibet. I would add another reason, which seems unimportant now but will be increasingly seen in the future as important when we see more of the ill effects of global warming.

The air travel to Olympic games by participants and spectators will add thousands of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, thus speeding up global warming. It is pretty well established that the carbon dioxide in the contrails from high altitude planes has more than the normal effect of carbon dioxide, and air travel may account for nearly five percent of the greenhouse gas effect.

–John Burton, Washington, N.J.

Editor’s note: The writer is Bill Burton’s 94-year-old uncle, a retired chemical engineer, now a student of global warming.

Department of Corrections

Due to editing mishaps, two identifications were incorrect in the story Fresh Paint, New Mulch and a Little Elbow Grease (Vol. xvi, No 18: May 10. 1.

Nancy and Rick Thompson’s home is in Port Republic, not on Hellen Creek.

A photograph of Rick Thompson and friends working on the Thompson’s new flagstone patio is incorrectly identified as Cynthia Turner and Don Harden awaiting their new front portico.

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