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I am responding to a letter written by Carl Huetteman, who apparently passes himself of as a researcher in plant and soil science at SIU. There is no wonder we have the problems we do when people like this are doing research that supports the current management of our public lands. If his letter is any indication of how he does his research, all taxpayers should be alarmed. I found it very interes

By Gus Bode
September 21, 1995

I’m not aware of ever meeting this Huetteman fella or of his being at my house or place of business. I do use wood; I have a mandolin and a couple of fiddles and built my cabin with rough sawn poplar. I have also used a tremendous amount of wood that was slated to be landfilled or bulldozed and burned for construction. Also many of us live rather Spartan existences compared to an average middle class life style, yet are extremely comfortable and feel fortunate.

As for his inane comment, no one has yet proposed an alternative to logging, where has he been? If he would get his head out of his potted plants long enough to look around, he would se where we zealots are coming from. We are and have been talking about the mismanagement of our public lands. There is a place for responsible timber harvesting on private lands and this would supply more than enough wood, especially if we could lessen the waste and greed of our society. Apparently he has never heard REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. There are also many alternative fibers that can replace wood in paper production; kenaf and hemp to name just two.

No, Mr. Huetteman, the answer is not waste, greed, excess and business as usual but REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE. Spend a half day at the Jackson County landfill or the landfill of your choice and observe what gets tossed out.