To the Editor,

I read Mr. Wahl’s Letter to Editor in the Feb. 21 Frazee Forum. I call balderdash. Plain and simple, someone in the MnDOT hierarchy has a gear stuck in the stubborn position and it’s not budging.

Quoting Mr. Wahl here, “In the past 5 years, there has been 412 serious injuries and 133 in Minnesota due to vehicles leaving the roadway and impacting trees.”  

To be blunt here, what does that have to do with the price of rice in China? In all of Minnesota? Where are the numbers on that 7-mile stretch? Where are the stats on what caused these incidents on this 7-mile stretch? How many were caused by speeding? Reckless driving? Passing in no passing zones? Distracted driving? Driving while impaired? And finally, by bad road conditions caused by Mother Nature and some drivers have no clue how to drive during those conditions. Mr. Wahl is trying to blame the highway and the trees for these accidents instead of the human drivers. Quite frankly, stupid can’t be fixed.

The other thing that grabbed my attention was where he stated that after cutting down the unhealthy trees and the trees that produce the greatest shading on the road MnDOT will then plant additional new trees further back from the road to encourage new growth and support the forest’s biodiversity. A logging company was dancing with joy when they were awarded the contract to cut down the trees along this stretch. Talk about easy access. The trees with the greatest shading will be the trees that aren’t replaceable. They’ve been there for the length of time it took for them to grow as tall as they are now. I can’t even guess-estimate how many years would be.

I’ve seen what MnDOT has done to other highways that they’ve worked on. Basically, it’s now just keep on driving, nothing to see here. It wasn’t like that before. It’s a shame. 

By Deborah K. Seaberg, 

Detroit Lakes