The following letter by Melinda Tevis was published in the Almanac's Feb. 14 print edition:

Editor:

Will Atherton turn over a new leaf or another blind eye?

Will the City Council be able to find a fig leaf large enough to cover up the naked truth of exposed mismanagement from anywhere within Tree City USA?

Will the council ever see the urban forest through the trees when the sawdust settles only on the building department? Will triple audits, multiple independent investigations and a pending grand jury report spin anyone at all into forgetting that the town pays good money to management to prevent forest fires from ever happening?

Wouldn't a few annual performance reviews by the city manager or at least a glance at the town's zoning ordinance have been more economic and prophylactic? If our duly elected, all-volunteer and extremely bright council chose to continue to use skillful but reactive containment as a governance style, then they should remember where there is smoke, there is fire.

We need Smokey the Bear in the watch tower, not Teddy.

Melinda Tevis

Tallwood Court, Atherton