It has been several months

since I discussed the many environmental issues involving

our Fayette County Board of Education. Over the last year

or two, I have had a number of direct encounters with a

board member as well as staff responsible for

construction and maintenance of the school grounds. I

felt that these encounters have been mostly unproductive.

In my opinion, these folks

demonstrate an attitude that says we are above the law,

or at the very least, such trivial matters as sediment

and erosion control or wetlands protection are not their

concern.

I am sure that the board's

official position would be that they care very much about

the environment, but the list of destructive actions or

inactions tells quite another story. And we all know that

actions speak louder than words.

There are many sad stories

connected with the actions of this and recent boards, but

the latest example is perhaps one of the worst. A quick

visit to McIntosh High School in Peachtree City will show

you all you need to know. I have heard all about the

pressure on the board from parents demanding a practice

field for the sports teams, but the result is a

significant insult to the environment as well as to

several other issues.

They took 10 acres, heavily

wooded, and utterly destroyed every living thing. This is

treating the environment of our county with utter

contempt. The 10-acre area was next to the school, and,

as a relatively natural area, it was a valuable resource

for the education potential for the various biology

classes.

The board has traded the

natural values as well as the educational potential for

all of the students, for an area for practice by a few

students. They moved half of the hillside to the low

portion to create a flat field, but the wall of raw dirt

looks exactly like many of their other construction

projects where little is done to protect neighboring

properties from eroding dirt during rainstorms.

I know many of you have

experienced just that event at other school construction

projects. If not, visit the wetlands behind the Starr's

Mill School complex and you will find thousands of cubic

yards of dirt that washed from the school property during

construction, continued for months afterward and still

goes on to a small degree.

For nearly three years the

board representatives ignored the best efforts of

federal, state and county representatives to do what they

agreed to do on this project. It took that long to force

the board to set aside the 27-acre mitigation area that

was part of the permit allowing the board to destroy 4.75

acres of wetlands.

But back to your visit to

the McIntosh practice field, observe that the side hill

next to Banks Road is dangerous to any car slightly off

the road. Who will explain why such a unbelievable

project was installed when the parents of some injured

(or worse) child asks how such a ridiculous project could

be built?

But there is the issue of

the construction project taking down trees from a

Peachtree City greenbelt next to a cart path. They not

only rip up their own environment, they go onto city

property and hack away.

It would be amusing

entertainment to hear the board of education explaining

to the Peachtree City Council about what happened to

those trees. How does the board pay for mature hardwoods

cut down on property belonging to someone else? Does

Peachtree City fine the board for an illegal taking of

protected trees like they might for a private citizen

doing the same thing? "Oops, sorry about that,"

is likely the best they will get.

And then there is the cost

of all of this ridiculous activity. Many thousands of

dollars to destroy some of our natural resources, many

thousands more to move dirt, more which should be spent

to build a railing for cars and golf carts next to the

dangerous road, an unknown amount due to Peachtree City

for lost trees, and future thousands that would be

required to pay for uncontrolled erosion cleanup (if it

can be enforced by Peachtree City or the state of

Georgia).

I'll bet the board will say

it wasn't their fault. As usual they will blame the

contractor or think it isn't worth their consideration in

the first place. Never mind that it is the board's

responsibility to all of us to be prudent and wise in how

they spend the tax dollars we make available to them.

Now they are proposing

another project; this will be for the wooded area next to

the recently destroyed site. They plan to build several

softball fields. It appears to me that the board of

education finds trees to be a real bother, as they tear

them down at every chance. A large number of large

hardwood trees next to Ga. Highway 74 were taken down

during the final construction work on the Starr's Mill

site. This loss was for no reason that I could see and

the weak explanation that those blocked the sight line

for Hwy. 74 was not even close to being reasonable. More

trees have now been lost there for construction of the

new stadium. All of this is somewhat amazing since the

area for the stadium was an open field.

If you haven't gathered by

now, I find the actions of the board of education to be

extremely offensive for everything environmental. I base

that on all of the things described here in this column

plus many, many, other examples I could describe.

All of these issues with

the board leads directly to my final concern, and that

is, how can we possibly provide them more dollars to

squander on the destruction of the environment. Can you

guess which way I plan to vote on the SPLOST matter when

it comes up for a vote?

[Dennis

Chase, now retired, was a fish and wildlife biologist

with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 26

years. Since retiring, he has worked as a consultant for

Fayette County on environmental concerns, is a volunteer

with the Southern Conservation Trust Inc., and has

published numerous newspaper columns.]

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