I am particularly concerned about an article that appeared in your Oct. 21 newspaper entitled "Planners: Enforce county mailbox law equally." Planning Commission member Fred Bowen says "There is almost no need to argue about this. [Monument-style mailboxes are] a danger, and it ought to be a simple issue: They don't exist."

I strongly disagree. They do exist and this is NOT a simple issue. Monument-style mailboxes are more than a decoration. They also protect the mailbox from vandalism.

I wonder if Mr. Bowen is aware of the fact that eight vandals that have terrorized the county for the past two months have been caught by Fayette County Sheriff's deputies. I understand that the arrests were made after setting up watch in the south end of the county and watching the vandals destroy mailboxes. According to one report, over 100 mailboxes were destroyed by this group alone.

All you have to do is drive down any street in Fayette County and you can see mailboxes that have been damaged by vandals. The sheriff's department can't stop them all.

Has Mr. Bowen considered how much it will cost the citizens of this county, who have monument-style mail boxes, removed and replaced by non-monument style boxes? I would guess it will cost me at least $250 or more to have mine torn down, hauled off and a new one installed. Think how much space it will take up in the landfill area to accommodate them. Is Mr. Bowen (or the Planning Commission) willing to pay for any or all of this? If there are, say, 1000 mailboxes that have to come down, this could easily cost over $250,000.

As for the liability problem, how much more dangerous is a mailbox than a tree or utility pole on the right-of-way? Is Mr. Bowen going to have all of them removed too?

No, this is not a simple issue. All of the citizens of Fayette County need to be heard on this. We should not be bound by one man's (or a few people's) opinion. Let's hear from all the people affected by this proposed change before the proposal becomes law by these elected officials.