Chapel Hill has a big litter problem

Some time ago there was an advertisement on television where a Native American appeared with a tear. He was crying about litter. That man would have many tears if he walked through Chapel Hill now.

I walk a lot with my dog and am amazed by the growth of trash piles. All open areas are littered with everything from fast food containers to grocery carts and mattresses. What is happening to our clean little town?

I would like to suggest that the town start an anti-litter campaign. People new to the town and the country may not understand the value of picking up trash. I was impressed with Michael Menge and his quest to clean the area around Franklin Street, but it will take dozens of men and women and children like him to pick up all the trash. It could be easier if there were a value established to not toss the trash to start with.

Please encourage those around you, your neighbors, your children, the construction crew to put their trash in trashcans. Our town can turn into a dump if we don't take care of it and establish the expectation that trash needs to be properly disposed of. -- Edwina A. Zagami, Chapel Hill

If we want to start banning things . . .

Following up on Lyle Estill's My View column Aug. 8, by golly, let's do ban motorized watercraft on Jordan Lake.

But let's not stop there. Ban them everywhere. Let's ban all kinds of stuff that we don't like -- leaf blowers, for sure; gas-powered mowers; lawns, for that matter. In addition to being wasteful, they're clearly the expression of something that must be offensive.

And does Estill know about the upcoming tractor pull out in White Cross? One shudders at the wasted diesel. Why, the noise alone will surely drive any nearby warblers inter endangered species status.

And those awful car races. I mean, why not let's all just play Frisbee out in the front of Weaver Street Market? Evidentially, once girdled with The Truth, the urge to ban and tell other people how to live their lives must be an incurable inflammation.

I myself have hope for a technological fix. If we can just figure a way to bottle up like propane this self-righteous certitude, we'll have an inexhaustible supply of clean (surely) renewable energy. (Disclaimer: I was myself just yesterday drifting in a quiet cover on Jordan Lake. I got there in a motorized watercraft. But I feel bad about it.) -- William Burpitt, Chapel Hill

Be sensitive to residents' views

Thanks to Meiling Arounnarath for covering the Carrboro Northern Transition Area ("Having their say," Aug. 1). It is a breath of fresh air to finally start to get out of the "marginalized" category of news, especially politics. You must agree, this will be an interesting election.

One objection I feel compelled to air regarding the article was the inclusion of an opinion from Ruby Sinreich. She is not a Carrboro citizen for one (which, at least in my view, reduces the value of her opinion), and in spite of what she says now about inclusivity, was rabidly against Katrina Ryan getting the appointed Board of Aldermen seat last time. This really skews the article, in my opinion, and it serves to continue the marginalization of our neighborhoods -- to quote your article, "It's possible you may have a slightly more dissenting voice ... but again, that voice will not be the majority," Sinreich said.

I am sure that it was not your intent to do that, but her stating that there is no way our voice will be the majority speaks volumes about where she really stands.

In closing, please try to be more sensitive to the newest addition to the Carrboro political scene -- the NTA, or as we sometimes call it, PAC 27516. If you want an opinion about how we stand politically, you won't have to go outside of our neighborhood to get one.

I look forward to more articles in the future. I hear rumblings of big news in the Rogers Road area for example. -- John Kramer, Chapel Hill

Candidate offers fresh view on policies

The most telling of the recent TV debate's responses were those of Obama and Clinton on foreign policy. Yes, Obama said, he would be willing to talk with the leaders of "enemy" states.

For too long the current president has refused to do so. Clinton would do so only if she were sure such talks would not be used as enemy propaganda.

But would not such talks be equally useful to the United States, demonstrating our interest in peaceful solutions to our foreign problems? And wouldn't such talks, possibly productive, be worth such a small risk?

Clinton's response shows a disarming similarity to our current policy and a troubling lack of imagination. Obama's position, on the contrary, shows a freshness of vision in a world driven mad by worn-out ideas. -- Elias Schwartz, Chapel Hill

No-kills promote cruelty to animals

I could not agree more with Ceasar Bianchi's letter ("Dogfighting not the only form of animal cruelty," Aug. 1). All of the meat and dairy farms in the United States should be switched immediately to USDA Certified Organic production that mandates humane, free-range living conditions and nutritious organic feed for farm animals. Of course, this will more than double the cost of dog and cat food, and perhaps make animal lovers think twice about the cost of adopting another pet.

No-kill animal shelters like APS of Orange County and SPCA of Wake County compound the problem of conventional low-cost confinement meat production. By warehousing abandoned pets indefinitely (see APS of Orange County's megalithic facility at 6311-A Nicks Road, Mebane) and feeding them cheap pet food made from farm animals subjected to even worse conditions than those produced for human consumption, APS and SPCA impose needless suffering on millions of farm animals.

APS and SPCA should publicly adopt a policy of feeding only meat-based pet food made from certified organic farm animals. No skimping with soy-based feed. Force feeding carnivores with soy meal is animal cruelty as well. Free-range or so-called humanely produced meat is not good enough since there are no national standards for this style of production. Only USDA Certified Organic farm animals have real protection and documentation of humane living conditions and production. Otherwise APS and SPCA are just as hypocritical as sports fans dissing Michael Vick with their mouths full of hotdog. -- Albert Sun Butler, Chapel Hill

Men also are victims of domestic violence It's good that the new director of the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County, Linda Frankel, has "knowledge of domestic violence and its effect on women and children" ("Family violence prevention center names new director," Aug. 5). But what about male victims and their children? Will they remain neglected or downplayed like they have been for so many years?

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control shows: "In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner," at www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm.

Although men under-report more than women in crime data, sociological data shows women initiate domestic violence as often as men, that women use weapons more than men, and that 38 percent of injured victims are men. California State University professor Martin Fiebert summarizes almost 200 of these studies online at www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.

A recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found female students initiate partner violence as often as male students, and controlling behavior exists equally in perpetrators of both sexes at www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n.

A recent study in the Journal of Family Violence found many male callers to a national hotline experienced high rates of severe violence from female partners who used violence to control them, at www.springerlink.com/content/a7q0032j88817218/fulltext.pdf.

When we ignore male victims, we also ignore their children, who continue to be damaged by witnessing the violence regardless of how severe it is. We cannot break this intergenerational cycle by ignoring half of it. That's why a global coalition of experts has formed to support a research-based, inclusive approach, and their website has solid data showing women initiate the violence as often as men, at www.nfvlrc.org/ -- Marc E. Angelucci, Los Angeles, Calif.