To the editor:

I’ve already given you my 2-cent opinion about the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center. Now I’d like to give you my 25-cent opinion:

After lots of thought, I believe that the center is not feasible because:

1. It’s way too close to town and other businesses.

2. Highway 46 would need to be expanded from two to four lanes between Columbus and Nashville.

3. It should be a private, not a government project.

4. Funding should not be based on speculation.

When the Little Nashville Opry reopens, there will be its traffic, the center’s traffic, plus the regular traffic.

How many lawsuits can Nashville absorb for not being able to respond to people who may be injured or maybe die because emergency services can’t respond in time?

Is it fair that the Little Nashville Opry, Brown County Playhouse and others have to compete with a government-run operation that can just tax the motels (and probably others) for their funding, and they can’t? Is this the “spirit” of Brown County?!

Michael B. Smith, Pendleton Correctional Facility

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