TO THE EDITOR:

A man is walking on the paved parking lot next door to me with a backpack on his back and a noisy machine in his backpack, blowing leaves and grass off the driveway ... now heís walking on the street, doing the same. Why is he blowing the leaves and grass? Where is he blowing the leaves and grass? If he needs to run a machine, why not a vacuum cleaner to keep debris out of the storm drains and out of the Sunrise River? Heís the same man who was just making so much noise with his power trimmer ñ trimming the curb ñ that I had to shut my window. Before that he hauled himself around on a huge lawn mower with cockpit-like controls, buzzing around a tiny parcel of regularly watered, perfectly fertilized and impeccably pesticided grass... that would have taken the same amount of time to cut with a push mower!

What else can we possibly buy to make our lawns look even more perfect? I believe we have lost perspective on what is important. A native prairie must look absolutely ridiculous to this heavily powered creature.

Gary Noren
St. Croix Falls