To the editor:

I have to respond to Mr. Hirschey’s peculiar suggestion (in his letter of May 16) that City Commissioners Highberger, Rundle and Schauner support a southern route for the South Lawrence Trafficway because of “greedy machine politics” and “their own special interests.” I tried to imagine how greed might be involved in trying to preserve the wetlands. Is it greedy to want to preserve a natural space that will be considered an absolute gem by future generations? Is it greedy to have a vision of Lawrence as growing yet remaining a truly special place to live?

Indeed there are special interests involved – frogs, birds, salamanders, wild flowers, our children, children not yet born, Native Americans, Boy Scouts, students, people who do not think of Lawrence as a suburb of Kansas City, people who believe quality of life includes retaining a connection to the earth, people with heart as well as brain.

Also, Mr. Hirschey, the old tradition of impugning the character and motivation of those who disagree with you has been used far too much in our country in the last few years. Let’s let it rest.

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence