"Shock over use of road salt in Stratham"

STRATHAM — Highway Agent Fred Hutton on Monday discussed his winter salting procedures for an average storm with the Stratham Board of Selectmen.

"We usually dump about 200 to 300 pounds of salt per lane mile," he told them.

As he said it, members of the Conservation Commission in the audience were noticeably shocked. They were at the board meeting in order to give a presentation about the dangers of over-salting the roads, which they said can wreak havoc on wildlife, the environment, cars, the roads themselves and the Highway Department's budget.

The horror....the horror !!!

I love the "do-gooders." They really are a cuddly, naive bunch. Highway Agent Hutton sets them straight...

Each storm, the Highway Department spreads about 120 tons of salt, according to Hutton. When asked if he thought that was over-salting, he said "no."

"Otherwise we'd have our trucks sliding down every hill," he said. "It's (a matter of) public safety, not being able to get up the roads. A $1 million lawsuit could buy a lot of salt."

Wow...common sense and a favortism...NO..OUTRIGHT BIAS TOWARDS HUMANS !!! How can you respond to that?

The Conservation Commission members at the board meeting said they were trying to get a discussion going about the topic.

"We're not going to solve this issue tonight, and we may not solve it this summer or this year," said commission member Donna Jensen, "but we really have something to be concerned with here."

(shrugs)...what do you think that solution is? Here's a clue...

To hear the city's spin, Seattle's road crews are making "great progress" in clearing the ice-caked streets.

But it turns out "plowed streets" in Seattle actually means "snow-packed," as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

How'd that work out, Mayor Nickels?

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced this morning that the city will reverse its decade-old policy and use road salt to melt ice in future storms.

The mayor set certain conditions for using salt: on hills, arterials or snow bus routes, and on routes to hospitals and other emergency facilities when at least 4 inches of snow is predicted, if ice is predicted, or if extreme cold is expected to last more than three days.

They really are cute...these wittle conservationist folks...with their desire to save the field mouse from a salty aftertaste at the risk of medical emergency vehicles, work commutes, and the like...

I love'em. Besides, most parts of New Hampshire (Stratham is in NH) still spray that green chemical stuff on the roads. That's better than road salt, and the roads glow for a while in the darkest part of the evening ;D .