I recently submitted a letter that was featured as a Top of the Morning piece several weeks ago (Natchez must maintain itself better).

Immediately, the flood crisis began, and continues to effect many in our community. Civic pride and maintenance certainly takes a back seat to the flooding issue, but on May 25 there were two articles that caught my attention. City officials suggested in one of these that out of control weeds and grass on our in city’s highway medians be eradicated with herbicidal pesticides!

“It may be unsightly for a year or two,” the article quoted the city saying.

Can someone not rally local businesses fronting these medians to volunteer and keep them mowed like East Automotive does on John R. Junkin Drive? It’s not rocket science.

There are many communities in Mississippi that maintain their medians that MDOT is really responsible for. Go to any “tourist” destination, and you will not find their medians burned up with pesticides.

The next article that caught my attention was a letter to the editor: “Downtown trail needs attention,” written by an out-of-town visitor. I found it really sad that someone visiting had to write and point out such an obvious problem to maybe wake us up. When we build infrastructure, maintenance needs to be budgeted in, or simply, don’t build it! I hope the letter written by Edna J. Murray spawns some type of action. We need to project a better image than we are currently giving.

Sterling Dossett

Natchez resident