Letter to the Editor
Don’t cut trees
Published Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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To the editor:
Why are they cutting down all the trees by College Road?
STOP THAT!
You’re bad to animals, you’re ruining animals’ habitat.
You’re also really bad to Mother Nature’s things. You might like to hurt animals, but treat them the way you want to be treated.
Community Discussion
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Very innocent and cute letter, but this child must be related to the person that wants to save the beetles?
heh -
Young Lane....I believe there are plenty of trees around Fairbanks and throughout Alaska...a few less on college road won't cause a family of Robins to be homeless, destitute and living on the streets...
Cute though!
Once you hug a log, you'll never go back to trees!
I agree with you Lane. People need to think of these things. There is no need to cut these trees down.
Oh, I hope the little penguins don't freeze.
Which trees along College Road this month?
Save a tree, eat beaver, kill whitespotted sawyers.
There will be a lot more trees missing this winter when the fuel bills for heating start coming. Since the Tree Huggers stopped oil drilling and the building of new refineries we have to stay warm somehow. Way to go tree huggers!
Well put CoolRon...tree huggers have caused a lot of people to cut many trees down for warmth this winter. I just cleared 5 acres of trees for my lot and using it all for firewood. If we culd build new refineries and drill for our oil, then tree huggers could have all the trees they want.
I totally agree. You should tear your house down and place trees so the animals have a place to go.
alright... are there trees being cut along college road? if so, what is the reason?
Dear Lane,
Trees are what's called a "renewable" resource - that means that you can plant new ones when you cut down old ones and the new ones will replace the old ones in just a few years.
My mother cut down some trees in her yard a few years ago that I planted as seedlings when I was not much older than you are now. I grew up in Florida and planted two live oak trees and a sweet gum. The gum tree was planted between two tongue depressors to hold it upright. She cut them down about 25 years later because the city was preparing to enact a city ordnance (city law) that would prevent property owners from cutting down trees on their own property without obtaining authorization from the city (she cut them down before the law went into effect).
The bottom line is this, young man. This is still a free country. You may do whatever you wish if you own the property - you may leave the trees where they are. If you don't own the property, you have no right to tell other people what to do with the trees on their property.
i guess cutting the trees was not that bad for target BUT why did they not donate the trees to the people that need it for this winter instead of burning them and sending the spruce beetles all over the place
Good lord. So much venom over a thoughtful letter from an innocent 8 year old. Is Lane's letter really an appropriate catalyst by which to initiate this discussion, people?
I have to agree with fsmnh2 on this one. No matter how you feel about the issue please keep in mind that you are responding to an eight year old child. Maybe we can try to rein in the vitriol when stating our opinions and save the venom for the usual adult contributors to the comment section.
If we are talking about cutting down trees let's just talk about the new Lazelle Estates in the back end of Shannon Park off of the Old Steese. They did not leave ONE SINGLE tree!! They cut every last one down to build that new subdivision, which they can't even sell a single unit! Maybe no one wants to live back there because there are no trees!
Melindas,
Cutting the trees on College Road has nothing to do with this summer's beetle population, spruce beetle or white spotted sawyers (2 different species).
I think they are clearing them out to build a ToysRUs or a large mall.
Watch every kid will be out there helping them saw down the trees. It's either that or the borough needs the wood to help build the fire under the still for the new heating fuel.
Venom & vitriol? I’m not certain the comments above were aimed at me but suspect they might have been. I admire any 8-year old with the courage of his (or her) convictions. That said, anyone who’s going to engage in such a forum should consider carefully how their opinions are constructed as well as the materials they are made of.
I encourage anyone with opinions to express them but I also encourage that thought be exercised. This opinion was not well thought-out or examined carefully and critically before being posted. This column started because a child expressed an opinion that was incomplete (without giving serious consideration to all sides of the topic in question). And now I’m supposed to be concerned with his self esteem?
Youth is no excuse for illogical or ill-constructed arguments. There are more important issues in play here – like the ability to think and to learn. A child is entitled to have an opinion – even if it diverges significantly from yours or mine – but they cannot have it both ways. Those who wish to express their opinions publically should be prepared to think about what they believe, why they believe it, and how to defend it in the forum in which they are going to present it.
Hey Doug!
THE KID IS EIGHT YEARS OLD. And you, a grown man (or something), are continuing your tirade against him? You're making grandiose statements about how an 8-year-old ought to "express a complete opinion", "cannot have it both ways", and "defend it in the forum in which they are going to present it" ?
Clearly you have far too much time on your hands, not a little of which I suggest you reschedule, the better to study your grammar and sentence structure; you also appear to be overzealous when it comes to furthering your own agenda. Why else would you continue this thread in order to prove that your point is the most correctly-made? The venom and vitriol are well-justified.
Shut it, dude.
fsmnh2,
First, the answer is No! I will not shut up. You don’t have the right, responsibility, or authority to make me do so.
Tirade? I am beginning to question your powers of vocabulary if you think I have engaged in a tirade; to paraphrase in the words of Mick Dundee in the first Crocodile Dundee Movie, “Tirade? Naw, that’s not a Tirade – This is a Tirade…” You haven’t seen me in full-blown tirade mode – at least not yet!
What do you know about me? The answer is apparently very little if you think I will back down from an argument because of an 8-year old kid who is arrogant enough to command people to cease cutting down trees on their own property because he doesn’t like it!?!?
I read several news sites a daily basis, followed by two or three political commentaries, and then the Daily News Miner’s Letters to the Editor. Some days I am busier than others; today was moderately slow – I reviewed the comments a couple of times and had to wait until this evening to respond to this one.
That lightening storm last night must have sent some neurons to the morons based on the comments made to an 8 year old. Kid continue to fight for what you believe in. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe in. Good job.
Doug, you're a chicken. Or a rooster, actually.
Who the hell cares!! We'll all be dead in the not too distant future any way, in relation to tree longevity. So if you try to wake up and you don't your dead and a tree probably fell on you! So STFU and die.
Have a nice day!
"Youth is no excuse for illogical or ill-constructed arguments."
What is your excuse then, DIS? I've seen exactly those types of arguments originate from you... and I assume you're not an 8 year old boy. I'm going to have to agree with fsmnh2 about the grammar and sentence structure. When my stepkid was 8, he'd have blown you out of the (Salcha flood) water in that department.
I suspect your rants are more about your perceived ability to attack someone who dares to state an opinion you don't like.
I would like to applaud this eight year old for standing up for his moral beliefs. If more people did this, maybe our country wouldn't be in the state it's in! Morals and values is where it all begins. He'll learn in good time to defend himself against the roosters out there and build a better community for all of us someday. Bravo!!
Prime example of garbage in garbage out - At eight years old the parents influence and the doctrines of the public school system is spewing out. This view is not arrived at naturally by any 8 year old.
Killing trees a moral issue- Sure whatever
Gotta side with Doug on this one.
"Children should be seen but not heard".
This is an eight year old. Mommy, Daddy, Mommy Mommy, Daddy Daddy, Who’s been programming him?
theabowman you are the first to praise him, is this your kid?
An eight year old has an email address? Good parenting teaching your kid to read and post on the newsminer at eight. If this is really an eight year old and his own words then you are programming him to be just like you. I guess there aren’t any Christmas trees in your home.
You tree huggers have no morals using a kid and attacking anyone who would disagree.
I hope you like my grammar and sentence structure.
The trees will not be cut down, no new houses or businesses will be built where trees could have been cut down to make room for them. People will be poor because you said we cannot cut the trees. I will just tell the next guy that can't get a house because there aren't enough or someone who cannot get a job that we needed to save the trees for Lane.
Also, please return any items made of paper, wood, or other timber products. Yes, possibly your house, furniture, even clothes, the desk at your school, your books, and yes, even your syrup. We can't have those sorts of things without trees you know.
Hey alaskangal (real original handle by the way /sarcasm) "standing up for morals and values" is what's screwing us over in the energy crisis. Environmentalists have been blocking oil development in this country since day one because they have "values and morals and just want to save the poor polar bears and the baby seals and the caribou." Get off the soapbox. Drill, cut, and develop. Hell, let's strip mine the hell out of this state too. The Mayans said something bad would happen in 2012. Betcha it's the election that year...might as well live up life. Sooner or later everything is going to come crashing down around us.
i feel sad, and not for the trees but the for the sorry people who bash on this 8 year old. really doug you gotta be kidding right? right?
I just put another log in my woodstove...
Doug,
Great job of explaining your position. Apparently, some folks have a hard time comprehending written english. Not the first time I have seen that on these forums.
fsmnh2,
Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? You should read the user agreement for using the News-Miner forums. The very first line says "The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner wants to encourage free exchange of information and ideas."
How, pray tell, can we exchange ideas if your solution is "Shut it, dude."
Wait_for_it,
Unless the eight year old is emancipated, I could not care less about his opinions. At this point in his life he should parroting his parents.
frozen,
What is STFU?
One last thought. Hiding behind a pseudonym seems kind of silly to me. If you have an opinion you should be able to stand behind it with your real name.
OK Flamers and Trolls your turn.
Lane, Thank you for your letter about the trees. In what area are the trees being cut down? Is it near corners and intersections? If so it could be for visability, so that motorist can see what is coming at them to avoid accidents. If it is a big lot maybe there is a new house or something to be built there. In that case usually when construction companies ar