To the editor:

As all of these candidates line up to run for Lawrence City Commission, I listen intently.

I listen to their comments concerning the South Lawrence Trafficway and development.

I’ve come up with a question and answer sheet for them.

Question 1: Why can’t we go through the wetlands?

Answer: Because the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act were obfuscated by the powers that be for developmental gain in spite of the language in these laws that are meant to protect areas like the Haskell wetlands. This action has lead to the possibility of a lawsuit that lurks overhead to provide that environmental and cultural protection laws are actually followed and not exercised as procedural lip service.

Question 2: Were the Haskell wetlands manmade?

Answer: No, they were not. These wetlands have existed as long as the Wakarusa River has flooded them. Flood control dams don’t allow the flooding that used to occur. In the early 1900s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then a paternalistic non-native entity, ordered these wetlands drained by student labor to promote the arts of civilization, or farming. Following the transfer of the BIA farm program to the Chilocco Indian School, the land reverted back, though not entirely to the wetlands it was originally. Restoration of the wetlands did take place in the 1960s and 1970s, but this only returned the land to what it was previously: wetlands.

Lastly: If a clergyman is to enter this race, he should respect indigenous religion as much as his own and not suggest a 32nd Street route.

Mike Ford,

Bonner Springs