Save the trees

Editor’s note: Before the Platteville Common Council vote April 9 on the North Fourth Street road project, students in Dani Crase’s fourth-grade class at Platteville Middle School wrote letters to The Platteville Journal and the Platteville Common Council advocating sparing the six trees on the east side of Smith Park.

I have heard that the Platteville City Council is trying to cut down the 100-year-old trees in Smith Park. My fourth grade class, Mrs. Crase’s class, goes to Smith Park every month. If there is a road there, the park unit will not be as peaceful as it would be without the road. My “spot” is one of the 100-year-old trees in Smith Park. I know that older trees give off more oxygen than younger trees. One-hundred-year-old trees can give enough oxygen for eight families. With more college students, there will be more carbon dioxide put into the air and the trees will be working even more.

It could be that John Rountree planted this tree and wanted to have them here today for us to relax in. If it was old enough, John Rountree could have planted those trees. Cutting down the tree would be like hurting our city’s founding fathers and sending them out of Platteville forever. Plus, you would spend a lot more money on this than you could getting another ambulance or better technology for the police.

Think back to your childhood, haven’t you ever sat in the shade of an old tree before? I know kids who have their birthday parties in Smith Park. You are doing something to our fair city that you may regret for the rest of your life. It could be that the Fourth Street Project could be a total bust and nobody actually uses the street. Our city has enough issues, this is only a street through a park. Find something else to fill time with.

The trees give shade to runners that run every day on the track around Smith Park. I love to go to Smith Park with my brother all the time. My family has picnics in the summer after we go swimming in the Platteville Aquatics Center. The trees are home to many birds, squirrels and chipmunks. To cut down the tree would be to force them out of their home. Those trees may have lived through three wars, even before you were born.

In conclusion, I am asking the city council to save the 100-year-old trees. Remember, we don’t want to have to wait another 100 years for trees like them.

Dylan Prestegard

I want to save the trees in Smith Park. One reason you should save these trees is because I have a tree down there and it’s not just a tree, it’s a part of our history. Some of those trees are almost 200 years old. These trees mean something to us. They’re not just a pile of wood and leaves.

My second reason is these old trees are homes to young and old creatures. They are not a tree to them, they are homes. Baby birds want to live in their same home, not nest in a new home with a different tree and everything. Just think what you would be doing to the animals. These trees mean a lot to us. Please don’t take them away.

My last reason is that no trees are exactly alike. If you take these trees, it will take 200 years for them to grow back, but it will never be the same. There are only a couple of beautiful trees in my mind and those are the ones in Smith Park.

In conclusion, I am asking the city council to save over 100-year-old trees because, they aren’t just trees, they are homes, antiques and a part of our history. Remember, no trees are alike and you have a choice to save a tree or disappoint a whole animal family and children.

Cyerra Billick

One reason why you can’t cut down the trees at Smith Park is because they are homes to many birds and squirrels. You will hurt their living environment. Then if you cut the trees down, more cars will cause pollution and the trees will be affected. So you would be killing the animals that live there.

Another reason is that more people can enjoy and have fun in the shade with the older trees. A supportive detail for that is a lot of people like to go to Smith Park and relax under shaded trees. By the way, did you know some kids have their birthday parties there?

My final reason is that if you cut down the trees, future fourth-graders would not be able to go there, or other kids and adults wouldn’t get to have fun there anymore. Details to support that reason are different fourth-graders would want to go to the park and the whole town of Platteville wouldn’t like your decision.

I am asking the city council to save the trees because some of the trees are over 100 years old, which is older than most of the people in this town. We don’t want to wait another 100 years for the trees to grow that big.

Logan Page

I have heard that the city council is debating whether or not to cut down six trees in Smith Park in order to improve the road.

Before you decide what to do, I would like to give my opinion on this. Here it is: You can’t cut down the trees! Firstly, many birds, squirrels and other animals live there. Not to mention the millions of bugs. They will die if you destroy their habitat.

Secondly, we students go to the park once a month for science class. We each have a personal tree where we study and do activities. Cutting them down will affect our learning!

Thirdly, the trees are beautiful. They also provide shade, and give us oxygen. Did you know that only one tree provides enough oxygen for four families?

Fourthly, these trees are over 100 years old. That’s older than most people in this town. Destroying them would be like destroying history.

Find a different solution! We don’t want to wait another century for the trees to be back to the way they were.

Remember: We can save the trees, if you will help us. It’s the right thing to do.

Amelia Curoltz

‘Drunk alley’

Unbelievable! The archway to Platteville is “drunk alley”! How in the world did this “Historic Second Street” ever happen? Why focus on a urine problem and a drunk problem? Who voted on this? Was he drunk at the time? Did we as taxpayers have a say in this?

I’m so disappointed. Is this what we want Main Street to represent?

Carla Cooke
Platteville

Sand doesn’t dissolve

Pictures taken April 5 of Pattison Sand Company rail cars on St. Feriole Island near the Wisconsin/Iowa bridge in Prairie du Chien show fugitive piles of Frac-Sand/silica sand that were left to go where the wind blows or the rain takes them.

The Mississippi River is less than 20 yards away from where these photos were taken, and less than 100 yards the other way is the local ball diamond and playground. Remember, sand doesn’t dissolve. It migrates with the wind or washes away with the rain.

A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources stormwater management specialist answered a letter from a Prairie du Chien business owner by saying that “Sand from the cars remained in the location it landed and did not appear to have entered the Mississippi River. The piles were saturated and flattened by recent rains, but no runoff into the river was seen.”

Mark Fishler
Town of Bridgeport

The Platteville Journal will print most letters to the editor, regardless of the opinion presented. The Journal reserves the right to edit material that is libelous or otherwise offensive to community standards and to shorten letters the Journal feels are excessively long. All letters must be signed and the signature must appear on the printed letter, along with a contact number or email for verification. Some submitted letters may not be published due to space constraints. “Thank you” letters will not be printed. All letters and columns represent the views of the writers and not necessarily the views of The Platteville Journal.