Reader Disagrees About Fossil Record

I want to briefly comment on Eric Yates’ (Nov. 19) commentary, “A New Spirituality for the Third Millennium.” I want to draw attention to the worst and the best of what was said. The former is his assertion that the fossil record has revealed that complex life forms have evolved from simpler forms “through numerous, successive and slight modifi cations over extremely long periods of time.” This is simply not true; the fossil record shows no such thing. There is nofossil evidence whatever that one species has changed to another, much to the frustration of paleontologists and evolutionists in general, including some religious leaders who would have it so.

The best thing was the postscript at the end of the commentary describing Yates as a “former minister.” We need one more anti-Biblical, teller of tall tales in the pulpit like Custer needed one more Indian.

HAROLD B. CHILTON

Fayetteville

WALKING IN FAYETTEVILLE

I see where the city of Fayetteville will spend about $1 million on sidewalks next year. We do need sidewalks.

But why must we wait for sidewalks to walk safely?

Where there are no sidewalks there is often kneehigh or waist-high weeds, ditches and steep slopes.

When you can’t see where you’re stepping, the safest option is walking in the street, especially at night. I can understand how in many areas sidewalks and walking had zero priority in the past andit’s not feasible to construct pathways due to drainage ditches, mailboxes and the like.

What I don’t understand is how an area gets improved, and you can walk to the end of a sidewalk in that area, and be able to see where the sidewalk starts again, yet there’s not even a graded or mowed pathway between the two.

There’s something funny about a city that builds sidewalks but can’t mow the grass where people walk.

CECIL WOODWARD

Fayetteville