I feel very grateful for having been able to spend winters in the Silver Beach area of Bellingham for the past 23 years. During that time I've been able to get out on foot, one way or another, very often. The past six winters, ever since I picked up this latest dog, who's even older (in dog years) than I am, I've just been ambling down to Bloedel Donovan Park, which is on Lake Whatcom, with the mutt.

Charlie, this dog of mine, really enjoys Bloedel. He likes the other dogs and there are usually nice people there who give him treats.

I do not think, though, that Bloedel is a very wholesome place for my dog (or any other living creature) due to the maintenance protocols used there by our city's parks department.

Parks does own up to spraying everything except the lawn area, but where's the moss? Why is there not one dandelion at Bloedel?

Pesticides should not be used there on our drinking water source and where so many families recreate. And leave the grass longer. And there's plenty of fertilizer already in that soil, thank you!

Bill Black

Bellingham