Letters to the editor: 01/25/01

Air quality: No more important issue

To the Editor:

The research and testing by the National Park Service, universities and EPA all told the same story. We were told that when all the air contaminants are considered together, ozone, particulate matter and other pollution, that we have the worst air quality of anywhere in the entire United States right here in Western North Carolina!

It was hard for me to believe. I've been to Los Angeles and Atlanta, and never imagined that here in what seems to be such a natural paradise that a variety of circumstances conspire to make our air as bad or worse than any big city.

First, as we've all heard, the pollution from smokestacks and auto exhaust from the Ohio Valley, Tennessee Valley, and as far south as Birmingham, Ala., are all brought right here by natural weather patterns to be trapped and held in our mountains by high pressure systems.

What I didn't know, but what was explained very well by the scientists, were the facts about ozone. Ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen created when the sun's radiation reacts with organic pollution from smokestacks and autos. They told us that ozone burns the interior lining of the lungs, just like sunburn destroys skin cells.

What I had never heard before was that in most places ozone concentrations peak during daylight hours and disperse upward into the atmosphere at night. Ozone is only created during the day while the sun is shining, that's why it is worst in the summer months with so much more sunshine.

So, in Los Angeles or Atlanta they may have high concentrations of ozone during the day, but it disperses at night. Unfortunately, here in the mountains we are sticking up into the atmosphere high enough that the daytime ozone concentrations do not disperse. We suffer high concentrations 24 hours a day.

We were told that until recently it was believed that the altitude above which ozone levels don't disperse significantly at night was approximately 4,000 feet. But the Park Service's air quality expert told us more recent tests were suggesting this ceiling may be as low as 2,000 feet to 2,500 feet. I know that here on Union Hill, on the low end of the county, I live at 2,200 feet. Most people reading this in Jackson County probably live at higher elevations.

The experts at this meeting presented hours of information showing that the levels of air pollution we suffer here in Western North Carolina cause increased incidence of asthma and other respiratory disease, especially in children and the elderly. That high pollution days correspond with higher admissions to emergency rooms and hospitalization. Statistically, it was estimated 1,800 people a year may die prematurely in North Carolina due to these high levels of air pollution.

Who is to blame for allowing the Smoky Mountains to become the Smoggy Mountains? The politicians or the TVA or heavy industry? Or is it that maybe I am to blame because I've been using electricity from power plants, and driving my automobile, and purchasing goods from industry without paying attention to just how bad the pollution was becoming.

Everyone at the meeting agreed this is not a complicated problem. We know what the problem is, we know what causes it, we know how to fix it, and we can afford to fix it. We just have to care enough about clean air to support politicians like Dan Robinson, and to require that all the politicians enact much stricter anti-pollution standards, first here in North Carolina, and then in the TVA and other areas. If the people here in the mountains, where all the pollution ends up, don't care enough to put some time and energy into demanding clean air standards, who will?

Robert Franz

Whittier

New Year's Day mystery dog rescued

To the Editor:

We almost didn't see her, but by some strange twist of fate one of our own black dogs had decided to hide somewhere in our yard, and as we called for him we saw her standing on the road. Slowly she walked towards the house, shivering, and as we got closer we realized the reason for her desperate fearful approach. Skinny of bone but hugely pregnant, this otherwise beautiful black and tan hound was willing to risk everything to find a place to bring her babies into the world.

It was New Year's Day, with the most bone -chilling conditions this area has had in years. So, a heated room with towels and blankets, food and water were thrown together in a flurry of activity. She immediately began nesting, a look of profound relief on her face and that bass voiced sigh of contentment that only a good old hound dog can make. Just a little over 24 hours later 11 darling black and tans came squealing into the world. A world that only now held out a chance for them.

How will this story end? We wish we knew. Homes, loving homes will be needed in a couple of months. Surely Mama's heroic efforts will not be in vain. Surely good and loving people will come forward to adopt the babies of the New Year's Day mystery dog. Maybe the New Year will be a year of love, compassion and hope, and the dog of the snow storm and her offspring will usher in that year of kindness.

If you are interested in adopting these dogs please call Smoky Mountain Animal Resource Teams at 631-HELP.

Leslie Rojohn

Sylva

Christmas postal deliveries appreciated

To the Editor:

On the Sunday morning of Christmas Eve, I received a phone call from the Sylva Post Office at 8 a.m. There was a package for us there. If someone would come and bang on the back door, the package would be handed out.

And then on Christmas morning, as the family gathered around the tree to open presents, who should arrive on the porch with yet another parcel? - our mail deliveryman.

Now when George W. Bush urged Americans last Saturday to "make a commitment beyond their comfort," I'm not sure what he had in mind, but I do know that what our friends at the Sylva Post Office did was exactly that: they made a commitment that was beyond their comfort. And it made our Christmas very special - and memorable.

So from all of us in your service area, "Thanks, Sylva postal workers. You make us glad we live here."

Karl Nicholas

Sylva

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