Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
My first thought when reading the May 17, 2012 The Pocahontas Times was to write a letter questioning the article "Take back your backyard from insects this season." Currently, the non-native honey bee and native bees, such as bumblebees, are in severe decline. Since we rely on pollinators, especially bees, for every third mouthful of our food, it seems the recommendation of the article to eliminate bees is counterproductive. Further, many of the birds that we love in our backyards wing there way north in the spring to eat-you guessed it-insects. Why would we want to eliminate our "birdfeeder?"
A good book regarding the importance of insects in our backyards is Bringing Nature Home-How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by University of Delaware Professor Doug Tallamy. I will see that the Green Bank and Marlinton libraries receive a copy. An excellent source explaining the importance of bees is the Xerces Society (http://www.xerces. org/bees/).
But what I would like to comment on is the article, "Gesundheit! Institute Aims to live off the land." Contrary to what the article states there were and are native earthworms in North America. Where they were not found, here on the east coast, are portions of Pennsylvania north, where they were killed during the last Ice Age. This absence of earthworms resulted in a forest that evolved thousands of years without them; where they have been introduced they have wrecked havoc on the ecosystem.
For example, an article in Conservation Biology ("Earthworm Invasion as the Driving Force Behind Plant Invasion and Community Change in Northeastern North American Forests") states, "These patterns suggest earthworm invasion,...is the driving force behind changes in forest plant communities in northeastern North America, including declines in native plant species, and earthworm invasions appear to facilitate plant invasions in these forest."
Non-native earthworms have also been implicated in the decline of woodland salamanders, ground-nesting songbirds, and the survivability of tree seedlings in northern hardwood forests. They change the soils chemistry and remove the duff layer. Pocahontas Times readers may be interested in the National Science Foundation's September 12, 2011 news release, "Invasion of the Earthworms! Non-native earthworms are damaging hardwood forests": http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/wormwatch.jsp , as well as an article, "The Trouble with Worms," posted by the West Virginia Native Plant Society: http://www.wvnps. org/earthworms.html .
I am unfamiliar with the impact of non-native earthworms, including their impact on native earthworms, on the forests West Virginia. Hopefully, someone that is knowledgeable on this can write an article for The Pocahontas Times. At a time when several northern states are attempting to prevent the spread of invasive earthworms, we need to dispel the notion that non-native earthworms don't have ecosystem implications. We, as agents of change, have to be careful of our actions. A 2011 Colgate University study found that, "humans spread earthworms both inadvertently via horticulture and land disturbance, in the tires and underbodies of vehicles, but also knowingly through composting and careless disposal of fish bait."
Rodger Waldman
Seven Valleys, Pa. 17360
Dear Editor:
Doping the Language
I grew up with contractions such as won't, don't and can't. I never used or thought ain't was proper, but the others were-and are still being used. As I grow older, some words just rub me the wrong way.
One day I was riding along and saw a For Sale sign on a truck full of produce. The vendor was selling "cukes," a word that makes me want to puke. Written below was the word "lope." What are we talking about here-the easy stride of a Mustang?
When my wife asks me if I want Mayo on my sandwich, I almost want to slap her. What does a clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have to do with what I eat?
I love my grandchildren and I like having them come visit, but one day they asked me, "Granddad, can I have some SunnyD?" Does that mean have a sunny day or a sunny disposition? Lord only knows, but when they added, "from the ﾑFridge," I wanted to go ballistic.
It seems we are so rushed anymore that we do not know how to use the English language. I am not an English teacher by any means, but some things just bug me. Have you ever noticed when watching the "tube," (inner tube, toothpaste tube, take your choice) a little streamer skirts along the bottom of the screen. It is not only annoying, but it changes my 42-inch picture to about 30 inches. I'm supposed to read what it says, watch the picture and understand what they're saying. Sorry, I do not have that talent.
I did notice one streamer talking about an English SPOX. Please don't tell me Queen Mary has Small Pox. Then there was a commercial saying, "If you are living or dead and used black tar soap and have COPD, you may be entitled to compensation." I think I used that when our old cow had foot rot. I wonder if, after 80 years, I am eligible to collect.
Today, mothers are constantly badgering their children to eat their veggies and then wonder why they refuse and fling the greens from the table. I don't blame them. What is a veggie anyway? Sounds like someone's dirty sock.
Then we get the app notice and I'm supposed to understand what that means. So I looked it up and found it is an an abbreviation for: apparent, appointed, appendix and apprentice. Take your pick. All I can say is I'm having a bad hair day. Sorry, baldy.
I think I'll shut up and get a Coke from the ﾑfridge and read a mag from my iPod.
Harold Crist
Arbovale
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