Dear Editor, 

While many residents of Mineola have expressed concern about the proposed concrete batch plant to be located near the Mineola Nature Preserve, I would like to express my concerns as a user of the nature preserve. 

Anyone who has lived in a dense urban area has experienced air quality that has been compromised by carbon and industrial pollutants. During my many years of commuting to work in Dallas, I regularly heard morning radio air quality alerts. City dwellers welcome the opportunity to hike, jog and engage in any outdoor activity where trees and open spaces offer unsullied vistas, clean air, flourishing wildlife and abundant native plant growth.

Even before I moved to Lake Fork 14 years ago, I and others in the DFW area recognized the Mineola Nature Preserve for the gift it was to the residents of Wood County. To erect the batch plant on the proposed site will affect Mineola residents by tainting the air of those who live in near proximity or those who recreate in the nature preserve. It will be harmful to animals and possibly affect the vineyard located nearby. When non-residents of Wood County choose other places to spend leisure time because of the batch plant, the city of Mineola will notice a decrease in dollars spent by those visitors because who wants to escape to our beautiful rural area when a batch plant stands near the entrance and provides a constant supply of pollutants to the air?

Clean air is becoming more precious as natural spaces become smaller. Please keep the nature preserve unspoiled by locating the batch plant somewhere else.

Glenda Schill
Quitman