To The Reader’s Forum:

I read that the City Council is going to discuss the “deer problem” in Jamestown. I have to say, living near Allen Park, one thing I’ve greatly enjoyed is the sight of timid deer walking across our lawns going from wood lot to wood lot. These little glimpses of wildlife are a rare and beautiful moment in my life. I seldom see their tracks in the park though. The little stream that should be a good source of drinking water, I never see used by them.

The water that should be home to crayfish, frogs, salamanders and water bugs is barren of life. It runs at times grey and always foamy with lawn and household chemicals. I, too, don’t dare eat the dandelions for fear of the poison people apply to lawns and the cracks in their driveways. We no longer have a bee problem, with the flowers deadly and absent, a honey bee is getting to be a rare thing. A friend who never sprays herbicides on her lawn, said there are no dandelions on her property and surmises the poison drifts in the air from her neighbors lawn. Another friend says the deer are destructive to personal property, but then I look around at trash strewn woodlots and park, and think, who exactly is destructive to property? Not the deer I think.

Terry J. Mara

Jamestown