Letter to the Editor: Beacon editorial was irresponsible" title="Letter to the Editor: Beacon editorial was irresponsible"/>Editor, The Beacon:
The article describing the county land designated for paintball games (to be approved by the County Council) is distressing. I am opposed to teaching boys, girls, men and women that war is a game and that war might be fun. Do we want our fellow Floridians to think that shooting at an opponent is recreation?
So I ask you, what are the long-term goals for this project?
Secondly, I’ve read that paintball paint is toxic for dogs and most likely for cats, but there are many native species of plants and animals that we don’t have any data on. Are they just collateral victims of the “fun”?
The long-term effects on the land and its inhabitants deserve your scrupulous consideration, as well as the psyches of the participants. Surely there are better opportunities for the property.
Please reconsider.
Lynn Peterson
DeLand
Have you seen how many shootings there are any given week in Delightful DeLand? I wish the people who are shooting other people here in DeLand would take up paintball, so our hospitals were not so busy treating the wounded.
If you know, you know.
Paintball facilities are not violence inducing. Furthermore, shooting an opponent IS recreational in paintball, airsoft, laser tag, video games, etc. and no different than other sports that require teamwork and coordination.
There are over 1700 paintball facilities throughout the USA, the paintball industry in the US generates an estimated revenue of $700 million annually and employs over 15,000. Paintballs are non-toxic and non-caustic. They are made of food-grade materials, including polyethylene glycol, dye, and other non-toxic and water-soluble substances. Paintballs are also biodegradable and break down naturally with time and easily degrade. Yes, paintballs can be harmful to dogs and cats, if directly ingested in a large enough quantity. However that is only relevant to paintballs stored at home as paintball facilities are closed off and do not allow humans or animals to walk on to the courses without entering through the entrances.
Paintball has been around since the early 1980s. It is not new, nor is it new to Volusia County. Its environmental impact is less than that of those who put down fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticides by far.
I for one am looking forward to a facility opening in my home county as I am tired of spending my money at the facilities in Orange County!