Letters to the Editor
Backs of Other Turtles
So what else do you believe Sarah? Maybe that the Earth is flat and held up along the edges by turtles?
I look forward to “meet the candidates” nights prior to each election, as it gives me an opportunity to ask candidates questions and evaluate their responses. I was especially curious about hearing from Sarah Fowler, who ran for the District 7 slot on the Ohio School Board of Education. Rumors were she was being supported by the creationist community, so I was especially interested in questioning her and hearing her responses when interacting with the attending audience.
I asked her if she believed dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex existed at the same time as humans on this earth. To my amazement, she stated she did believe this. Perhaps she learned this (fact?) at the creationist museum in Kentucky that I’m told has an exhibit showing a human riding on the back of a brontosaurus or similar dinosaur.
I was further amazed when she won the election for the position on the State Board of Education.
For over 100 years, it has been settled science that dinosaurs became extinct around 60 million years ago or so, and even the rather primitive human ancestors have only been around for five million years or so. Any mammals existing at the time of the dinosaurs were likely small shrew like creatures. This is long settled science, as settled as the fact that the Earth orbits around the sun rather than the other way around.
We have to ask ourselves if someone with such an ignorance or disregard for the scientific method should be on our state school board.
Now it seems that Miss Fowler is planning on running for the statehouse seat presently held by Mr. John Patterson. With all the critical problems facing our people and our earth’s systems, it’s more important than ever to be electing people who are critical thinkers, scientifically literate and knowledgeable about earth systems and our state’s problems. Miss Fowler is unlikely to meet those standards.
We don’t need more people in the statehouse who are basically good at following the orders of the majority leader and voting for bills that will only increase the difficulty of solving problems that are looming before us.
Oh, and Sarah, what do you suppose those turtles are standing on? Maybe the backs of other turtles that are standing on the backs of other turtles that are standing on the back of other turtles . . . ad infinitum?
John G. Augustine
Parkman Township
Don’t Cut Down Fields
Don’t cut down that field until Aug. 15.
I am probably too late with my warning, but try to remember it next year.
If you are lucky enough to have a field of any size, do not mow it until after Aug. 15, after baby birds and baby animals have grown up and moved on — or at least are able to get out of the way of a tractor.
If you have let the weeds grow through the spring, there is a good chance some ground-nesting birds have made a nest to raise their young. If you mow now, you will crush them.
Have respect for our fellow earthlings, just wait awhile.
Leo Goyanes
Chester Township
