‘Shore Destruction’ bill ill-conceived

An effort underway in the General Assembly (House Bill 271) would gut the Shore Protection Act by reducing the law’s regulated area and changing the legal definition of “sand dunes.”

These ill-advised changes were made in complete disregard of extensive public comments calling for a wider jurisdiction of the law based on scientific evidence documenting shore erosion.

Legislators involved found no problem rejecting DNR’s previously advised boundary, inexplicably cutting in half the state agency’s 2013 recommendation for the regulated area.

If approved as now amended, HB271 would allow artificially relocating the dune-line toward the ocean, handicapping protection of the sand-sharing system. Once adopted, planting vegetation on a dune or in a dune-field” would result in sand being removed from the dynamic system and prevent altered dunes from being used to properly regulate the beachfront area. Special-interest influences seem to be the reason why these revisions defy prudent, science-based safeguards.

DAVID C. KYLER, CENTER FOR A SUSTAINABLE COAST

Liberal journalists never stop stirring pot

I get such a laugh these days reading the output of poor liberal journalists. They never stop stirring the pot of discord. Letter-writers also persist in thinking of President Trump as a dippy cowboy or a hero in an Indian whahoo movie. Meanwhile, the president with his quick mind and vast experience in successful business continues working diligently, sometimes from his own skyscraper. He studies informed prospects, then he chooses the best to serve. No backroom dictators. If he believes that illegal people in our country cannot be considered lawful, he is correct. Read the Constitution.

President Trump will be successful in making less of the Washington “mess.” May the tired, stricken journalists seek peace in their own skyscrapers while working without pay just as the president chooses to do.

CATHERINE BOONE SHEALY, ATLANTA

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The burial mounds at the Ocmulgee National Monument, near Macon, were built by Native Americans during the Mississippian period, around 1000 CE. The park, designated a National Historic Park, is part of the rich cultural resources of the Ocmulgee River Corridor. (Courtesy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation)

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