How many more tax dollars will be spent unnecessarily by some of the feeble-minded city leaders to save the old Post Office oak tree that has lived its life of three or four hundred years and is taking its last breath? I know of no life on this planet that is here to live forever. Many of us old people would like to have our lives extended, but none believe in fairy tales. We know that when time is up that we have no choice. There are surely more important and constructive things that deserve our attention rather than trying to keep an old tree alive after it has lived its life and outlived its usefulness.

Lots of old people on limited income have trouble paying their taxes, and some are forced to choose between food and prescription drugs. It’s very humiliating, to say the least, to watch their hard-earned tax dollars continue to be spent so foolishly. If some of these useless projects had to be paid from the proposers’ pockets, then most would be disapproved and save many tax dollars. For most government agencies, their motto is to spend more so we can get more — but there has to be a limit.

If there are so many city employees that some have nothing to do but sit and concentrate on how to keep an old tree alive forever, then it’s past time for some wall-to-wall housecleaning. We are supposed to be the most intelligent of all animals, and most of us came to this earth with at least a minimal amount of what is known as “common horse sense,” but at times we have to have some doubt. At the time of birth, the Creator issued body parts. Some were hearing impaired, so when the word “brain” was called, some thought he said “rain” and they ran.

Cut this old tree into firewood and donate to some of the low-income senior citizens that need wood to keep them warm.

Find a more suitable place to plant a new tree or trees where there is ample room for root expansion with no hardtop. No tree can be healthy if roots are covered so they can’t breathe or get sun and water.

A rule of thumb: The average tree roots expand, under the surface, one and one half times the height of the tree’s trunk.

Louis C. Logan

Oak Harbor