Releasing feral cats, former St. Michael’s church, abortion

Stop releasing wild cats

Several animal rescue organizations have recently started collecting feral cats, neutering them, and then returning them to their location. This is a good thing, of course, as it avoids further throws. Yes, that’s good, but wrong.

It is believed that there are about as many wild cats in the United States as there are domestic cats. Although those who have been neutered have no litters, they get hungry and are aggressive hunters.

The bird population over the past 50 years, since 1970, has declined by 3 billion birds, more than 53%, and a significant proportion of them have been eaten by cats. In fact, cats here are the invasive creatures introduced by humans.

Yes, many people are fanatical cat lovers, but birds are important and feral cats do nothing for anyone. Neutering is good, but getting the cats off the street is a better option.

Duane Colwell, Keystone Heights

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Nature center

A few years ago the beautiful Saint Michael sanctuary with a huge stained glass window was torn down overnight. The rest of the property – with useful buildings, beautiful trees and azaleas, and some open space – is quiet.

I feel a sense of calm when I pass this property as it is on a busy corner like a nature center with distinct shade and benefits for health and wellbeing. The Price family, who donated the land, would be sad to see the loss of church activities.

I would suggest, like I did before, recycle it to a community center. Reuse and recycle the spaces and land. Classes and the playground could exist in the same places as they do now. Community members could help have a camellia display garden, plant native rhododendrons, and have a community work garden in the sunny spot in the background. It could be a community project.

There would be no demolition, just what is there to revive and reuse for the benefit of our community. It is a shady and therefore cool, majestic, wooded space. Since we are a tree city in the USA, this corresponds to our values. Let me know how I can help you because it would be wonderful to make this dream come true.

Alice Vlasak, Gainesville

Treated as a burden

With a lot of comments about abortion lately, I found it interesting that there is some confusion about what it does. There is nothing in the Bible that says a fetus is human. In fact, it says that in order to be human, the newly born fetus must first take a breath.

The Bible says this clearly and is easy to research. Those who are very knowledgeable about the Bible must have come across this information, but perhaps they didn’t want to heed it.

The sad thing about abortion is that it affects women’s rights. If a woman has concerns about having and raising a child while pregnant, how good do you think the future life of that child and woman will be?

There are too many cases in the world of neglected, beaten, burned, and otherwise abused children when there is no parental love for the child who is once born. Instead, it is treated as a burden.

Bill Frankenberger, Gainesville

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