Letters to the Editor

July 13, 2010

City needs to put dollars into improving park

To the editor:

While visiting City Park with my granddaughters recently, I was appalled by what we saw.

The lake in the front of the park was filthy, stagnant and full of so much debris, it was amazing that the ducks could even swim across it for food, and the smell was almost unbearable.

The next noticeable problem was the lack of park guards, and teenagers running up and down the slides, twisting and throwing the swings, chasing and throwing rocks at the ducks and cursing that was being yelled back and forth. I don't feel like a visit to the park should end up with trying to explain to a 6- and a 3-year-old what those words mean.

I realize the city would rather sink all of our tax dollars in the downtown area, but I think it's a shame that they can't use some of those funds to make our park like it once was - a place to go and have fun.

Melissa Langford
Hagerstown

Military families shouldn't have to pay park fees

To the editor:

There is a need for the law to be changed concerning the use of state parks in Maryland. The following is my reason concerning this issue.

My granddaughter and her two children recently visited Greenbrier State Park. When the attendant asked for the entrance fee (which was $4 per person), my granddaughter questioned her. She said, "I am a native of Maryland and have a Maryland driver's license, so why am I paying the fee for out of state?"

The attendant said the vehicle that she was driving had a South Carolina license plate. My granddaughter explained that they no longer are in South Carolina, and are visiting until her husband is deployed to Germany for four years.

My granddaughter's husband, who is in the U.S. Air Force, served his country in Iraq four times. The family will be going with him to Germany for the four-year period.

Why change tags on a vehicle that will be stored for four years? Is this the way we treat our military families?

I personally think military families should be exempt from any fee in a Maryland state park. These families are sacrificing in so many ways to protect the citizens of our country.

Edna C. Heffner
Keedysville

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