Letters

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   HAVE YOUR SAY Feel strongly about something? Share it with the community by writing a letter to the editor. You’ll need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 300 words or less, we won’t ask you to shorten it. If your letter is published, please wait 30 days before submitting another. Send it to: E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Fax: 425-339-3458 Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).   Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 BURN BAN Smoke never stays on your two acres I have lived in rural areas near Arlington for over 18 years, on three different properties ranging in size from half an acre to two and a half acres. Unlike the many people who oppose the proposed ban on outdoor burning, my experiences lead me to support it. In the past few years I have: been awakened early on a Saturday morning with my eyes burning from a neighbor's smoke pervading my home; gone days on end when I couldn't do yard work or enjoy my swimming pool because my yard was filled from morning to night with thick smoke; worried that I'd never get the smell of smoke out of my curtains and furniture, and had to call the fire department and use my garden hose to battle a blaze that erupted in trees bordering my property because a neighbor's burn pile spread when he was not at home. Neither smoke nor out-of-control fire stays on your two acres or your five acres. I've noticed that people always carefully situate their piles so that the wind does not blow smoke into their homes. The neighbors don't get the same consideration. Anyone with acreage has no need to burn every branch that falls in a wind storm, nor to cart it to a composting facility. Mother nature decomposes fallen material to build new soil. Fallen branches and even small logs can be left where they are to give a very pleasant natural look as they become covered with moss and gradually decompose. What we should ask for is yard waste pick-up, which city residents now enjoy. If people have large fallen trees they want removed, perhaps there could be tax-supported pick-up so homeowners don't have to haul the logs away. But let's put an end to the smoke-filled skies of summer and practice safer and healthier ways to maintain our property. Beverly Hoback Arlington

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