Email this article

Letters to the Editor

Whoa to HOA

Editor Nesset hit the nail on the head. The "hick quotient" is out of balance [Letter from the Editor, Oct/Nov 2007]. We hicks are losing ground, heading toward extinction here in the West. Top reason: we're losing our habitat - especially here in sunny Arizona where the gentrified crowd is crowding us out. Californicators sell out at high prices, come over here and plop down the big bucks raising our real-estate prices and our property taxes. Self-important easterners move in and bring their exotic botany and alter our desert. On and on. Everywhere you turn around in the Phoenix "valley of the sun" you bump into a communistic-gated community, ruled by a Nazi set of regs called the homeowners association. It's initials are "HOA." We hicks need to say "whoa" to the "hoa." We're losing ground. Thanks for the opportunity to comment. - Tom Taylor, Mesa, Ariz.

What's In A Name?

I must chime in here on David Feela's article ["Sub-di-vi-sions", Oct/Nov 2007] about the inept naming of subdivisions around Durango and environs. Although mostly inept, occasionally, the names can be quite . . . er . . . -ept. When I was in high school there in the late '70s, my sister and I traveled daily to and from town. Driving north on Hwy. 550, we saw an elderly couple standing next to their car, which was pulled over on the southbound shoulder. We slowed, and also pulled over, thinking they might need some help. We then saw that they were giggling and pointing up the driveway at the entrance to Whispering Pines. One of them lifted a camera and took a photo. We were mystified about what could be so interesting about this wretched batch of condos - since we lived up north, we passed them every day and had learned to ignore them. Then we noticed that someone had switched the location of the "i" and the "e" in "Pines" . . .

I would have given anything to have a photo of that couple taking their photo in front of the altered sign.

That is the only good story I have about subdivision names. By the way, I've heard that the letters on that sign have long since been bolted down. - Kimberly K. "Dom" Hawks, Seattle, Wash.

Romping Dog An Insult

It is disappointing that Inside/Outside Southwest would publish Alan Kesselheim about taking his pooch "Beans" into the woods - for a carefree romp among the wilds ["Hiking . . . With Dog," July/Aug 2007]. This "let's be friends with the animals" mentality is really insulting to the natural world. Take dogs in areas where animals live and those animals move out. I understand that someone just got 10 years in the pen for mistreating his pets (in Fanta Se, of course). Hey folks, these are dogs - not people and not wild animals. I suggest Alan and Beans sit down and watch a Walt Disney movie instead of civilizing the forest. - Taylor Streit, Taos, NM

Mycophile Nightmare

The article by Katharine Niles ["Mushrooms"] in your Oct/Nov 2007 issue has raised great concern among a number of readers who have an interest in mushrooming as a hobby. When we mycophiles read a statement like ". . . it's spongy on the underside. That means you can eat it. The ones you can't eat have gills," we have nightmares about people who might believe the statement and inadvertantly poison themselves.

Although most of the mushroom species with spongy undersides (that is the Boletes) are not dangerous and some species are delicious and easily identified, other species with this same spongy underside are known to be toxic and will cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea or more severe symptoms within a few hours of ingestion. "At least one fatality has been attributed to a red-pored bolete," reported Michael Kwo, author of the recently published100 Edible Mushroom Species.

It is always important to identify the species of mushrooms gathered for consumption from the wild. There are no general rules or tests for mushroom toxicity. - Bruce Boyer, Clifton, Virginia