As I reflect on the 3-2 vote of the Durham County commissioners earlier this fall to remove watershed-buffer protection from a site near Jordan Lake, I continue to wonder, what really motivates some of our commissioners?
If I have my information correct, the county manager, county attorney and planning director were unanimous in recommending our commissioners vote to remove the protection.
Presumably, these recommendations were based on sound research and knowledge of proper regulatory procedure. After all, we pay the manager, the attorney and the planning director a sum of well over $400,000 a year to make sensible well-founded judgments, just as they did in this instance.
Presumably listening to the advice of the professionals in county government, Commissioners Michael Page, Joe Bowser and Brenda Howerton voted to remove the buffer protection.
Yet with the minority vote, Commissioners Becky Heron and Ellen Reckhow chose to ignore the staff recommendations by voting to keep the protection in place.
It is a fair assumption for the general public to perceive this as an apparent attempt to shut down a developer's plan for a mixed-use project in Durham County. A project, by the way, which has the potential to bring overwhelming economic benefits to the county.
I understand that commissioners have a right to ignore counsel and advice from senior staff members. Nonetheless, do we really want commissioners to follow the lead of howling environmental activists, or should they listen to the professional counsel we have entrusted with our tax dollars?
WALLER G. WILLS IV
Durham
Railroad crossings
There is a lesson to be learned from Calvin Brandon and Hassan Bingham, the two children who died when the car they were in was hit by an Amtrak train on the east side of Durham last week, and the lesson is not in the form of an overpass of that crossing.
We already have laws that address driving to endanger. Pulling onto a railroad track when there is not room enough on the other side is clearly driving to endanger. Make the fine large enough to hurt -- I promise the pain will be less than that caused by a train impact -- call it the Calvin-Hassan law, and enforce it.
Patrolling during rush hours at Ellis Street and Swift Street would be very productive, and we drivers would learn our lessons very quickly. Repeat the enforcement as needed, and these kinds of accidents will be greatly reduced.
ANTHONY WARAKSA
Durham
