To the editor:

This is another letter about Yellowwood Forest. But the devastation of our old growth forests needs to be put into context.

Education and intelligent use of our state’s resources are, by far, the two most important things folks in Indianapolis can be thinking about. Now, I may not be in agreement regarding the use of tax dollars for charter schools versus public education, but at least I can I act locally to support education such as reading to preschoolers with Purdue Extension programs, and supporting free book distribution to kids and volunteer tutoring through Brown County Literacy Coalition, and other activities to support education locally to try to supplement loss of public school funding.

But, when we come to our state’s resources — in this case, the logging of 100- to 200-year-old trees — there is nothing I can do locally to make an impact. Once the trees are gone, they are gone for 100 to 200 years. That is several generations. My MBA is in finance, and, quite frankly, I can’t even begin to understand how we could use such a precious resource to finance short-term (in a relative sense) gains.

I’ve written to the governor several times on this subject and have yet to hear from him. I am sure he is very busy, but this is very important. The decision he makes will impact us for over 100 years!

We all need to come together as a community. Write/e-mail/call Senator Koch; write/e-mail/call Governor Holcomb and let them known your position and ask them to reconsider — not for our kids today, or their kids, but for the kids of our kids of our kids.

Regards,

Gene Elias, Tulip Tree Road

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