Letters to the Editors

Cleaning up shoreline taught boy about trash

For my fifth-grade class project at Safety Harbor Elementary School, I wanted to do something to make the world a better place.

I chose to clean up the Philippe Park shoreline in Safety Harbor for one hour each week for three months.

I would go to the park and pick up trash that had been left along the shoreline. I also chose to label the things I found and then make a videotape and talk about what I found.

A few of the things I found were foam cups, balloons, plastic and glass bottles, fishing lures, ribbons, plastic bags, bundles of fishing line, pieces of wire, soda cans, paper products of all kinds, and even cigarette lighters.

Most of what I found I put in the garbage can, and some I recycled.

After I finished the project, I thought about what I had learned while doing it. I learned that people leave a lot of trash on the ground and in the bay and they don't seem to care about the environment.

I learned how throwing things on the ground and in the water is wrong. It pollutes the water and endangers all species, including us. I learned to respect nature and how fragile it is.

A lot of people visit this beautiful park. I hope a lot of them can learn, too.
-- Stephen Sparks, Safety Harbor

Living in natural world requires people to adapt

Re: Piqued by peacocks, story, May 2.

I don't see how anyone who has seen even one of these peacocks, much less a flock of them, could bear to see them removed from their natural habitat. I'm sure they must be one of God's most beautiful creations.

Where does it stop? When will we as humans learn to live with nature when we purposely move into their territory?

They didn't ask resident Roger Rohm to settle where they were. He thought they were beautiful (they still are) and he enjoyed their beauty, but he's seen enough and now has to wash his car and driveway because he put concrete where they used to have dirt and their droppings would be a part of the soil for more growth. They help nature grow with their discards. (Can he do that)?

I suppose Mr. Rohm would be prefer to live in a sterile city, with no trees and no flowers (they need extra care), no animals (they need care) and plain concrete houses (houses need care). Once the trees, flowers and animals go, man is next. We all need each other to survive.

He took on the birds when he moved into their territory, so he should move or live and let live.
-- Fran Glaros, Clearwater

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