To the editor:

This is in response to Oscar “Bud” Nation’s Public Forum letter of Nov. 13 on the South Lawrence Trafficway’s impact on Haskell Institute. We certainly agree that since 1607, with the landing of Capt. John Smith at Jamestown, Va., that the United States has been an attractive haven for the dispossessed children from foreign shores. This condition yet continues and accelerates.

During the interim 400 years of chaos and land development, there is room for tears and ample excuse for losers to seek revenge. Yet, from this chaotic process, the wisdom of all of our fathers found its way into a document call the Constitution and the rule of law. The Commerce Clause rests on the principle that we must serve the public necessity and convenience of all of our citizens.

The Army Corps of Engineers developed hundreds of reservoirs that took up our most fertile valleys, requiring relocation of farm settlements and their graveyards. The interstate highway system did the same. Many thousands of farmers suffered losses, yet the overall improvement created wealth upon which our schools and universities depend.

The notion that the South Lawrence Trafficway should spend additional millions to add about a four-mile detour to interstate and local traffic moving between east and west Lawrence is a bankrupt principle that leaves us all poorer.

George Taylor,

Lawrence