ENDANGERED SPECIES
As Georgia stews, bats may go splat in Indiana
The recent front-page AJC article, “Rare bat stalls Ga. roadwork” (News, March 22), presents some irony.
The article explains that Georgia taxpayers could lose millions of dollars on delayed road construction projects while studies are performed on the habitation of Indiana bats. The bat has been recognized by the Endangered Species Act since 1967.
The irony of Georgia’s pain from habitat studies is that the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in northwest Indiana has 355 gigantic wind turbines covering 50,000 acres, which must be splattering numerous Indiana bats each summer. The state is also home to the Meadow Lake Wind Farm, with an additional 121 wind turbines.
JAMES RUST, ATLANTA
EDUCATION
Conflicting calendars disrupt spring breaks
Couldn’t Georgia’s Legislature or our Department of Education pass a law stating that all area schools have the same spring break? It’s difficult when a parent works in one system but has children in another system with a different spring break. We need to do more to support children and families, and this is one thing we could do.
Another thing that would show support to students and teachers is to not have daylight saving time begin so early. Schools are in session for two more months, and many children are waiting for the bus or walking to school in the dark. This is not safe.
Many adults, including school bus drivers, have to commute in the dark during early morning hours. Often, when the sun comes up, they are facing a very bright, blinding sun, making for very unsafe driving conditions. Let’s be sensible.
HELEN P. FREDRICK, DECATUR
SECOND AMENDMENT
Be consistent when invoking God’s name
I’ve watched the posturing and listened to the rhetoric concerning the right to bear arms. I’ve tried to remain open to sensible solutions to the needs of both sides, but gun rights activists and politicians — mostly from the political right — make openness very difficult. When pressed on the whys against gun control, the explanations just get odder.
A case in point is statements concerning the “God-given right” to carry a concealed weapon to places of worship and on college campuses. When all other explanations fail, invoke the name of God. My question is: Why isn’t there as much fervor in protecting the so-called “God-given” rights provided the citizenry under the remainder of the Constitution?
Some things just defy explanation.
RONALD D. JOHNSON, AUSTELL
