Trending
It's taken me a few weeks to gather my thoughts on how I'd like to reply to Stan Kotala's comments on the Hollidaysburg Borough's recent clearing of the trees around Chimney Rocks, and I believe I've found the following words to describe my feelings.
"No good deed goes unpunished."
In Kotala's narrative, he describes the actions of the Borough as irresponsible, ill advised and ignorant when "clearing the forest."
He also mentioned that every municipality in our county has a document that designates areas that are a part of the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory.
That is probably correct.
However, how old and available is this document and when was the last time that Stan or any of his colleagues contacted, visited or educated all of these municipalities on the locations of these designated areas?
When was the last time that this document was perhaps updated or presented to the borough or township at a public meeting informing the officials and attendees the importance of retaining these designated areas?
In another recent reply to Kotala, Scott Kavanaugh summed it up best when he said that local governments need to be more educated beforehand.
I couldn't agree more.
So, instead of complaining, perhaps Kotala and his colleagues should plan a road trip this fall and visit each municipality in our county and educate them on the substance and intent of the Blair County Natural Inventory.
That way another occurrence like this could perhaps be avoided.
In the interim, the borough had nothing but good intentions when they did this task.
They didn't "clear a forest." They cut out a patch of about one and a half acres.
They believed they were doing a "good deed."
Joel Koss
Hollidaysburg