enthalpy

Thursday, August 12, 2004


Thank God that the Texas Department of Transportation is getting up every morning and protecting the citizens of Texas from the things that threaten us the most. Trees.
Carlos Lopez, the director of traffic operations for TxDOT, and his contingent were in Canadian on Tuesday afternoon to explain the department's plan to cut down trees to make the highways safer.

The original plan was to cut down 1,187 trees within 30 feet of U.S. 60 and U.S. 87 from Pampa to Canadian to Perryton. Tomlinson said the 30-foot designation provided a safety zone, but he said that in some instances there were alternatives such as putting guardrails around trees.
I know folks on the Panhandle Plains are a bit uncomfortable around trees, but trust me on this one, there are lots of people that live around many trees that are able to negotiate these obstacles with relative ease. I realize when a single tree is the only thing obstructing your view for 40 miles, you could see it as an danger, or even an eyesore. But trees are relatively hard to miss, and they rarely just sneak up on you.
"I think Texas would be poorer to cut down any of these trees," said Dr. Malouf Abraham, a retired physician from Canadian.
If Dr. Abraham can't get TxDoT to take their chainsaws elsewhere, no one can.

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