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What is the rush to suburbanize our rural county through a process that holds one public hearing at 2 p.m. on a weekday afternoon in the city of Sandpoint? The people of Bonner County need to think long and hard about hacking the land into ever-smaller pieces, a large percentage of which are in the urban-wildland interface.

As a retired wildland firefighter who served on inter-agency incident management teams in Idaho and Montana, I am very concerned that our human tendency to drag our past into the future without really considering the consequences is in operation here. Please let people have time to express their thoughts and feelings in hearings held at various times and places around the county.

I think it is inappropriate and unacceptable for the environmental and quality of life standards that we value so highly in this wondrous watershed to be changed without more open conversation all around the county.

MARILYN McINTYRE

Grouse Creek