To my mind, Diane Bergen's patriotic sentiment is misplaced. As far as I know, our flag on a public pole should be taken down at sundown and put up at sunrise, not illuminated.

Furthermore, we already have too much night time lighting for the health of our environment. We have been told by many conservation organizations that care about the health of birds, critters and those who advocate lowering our use of electricity that fewer not more lights should be our goal. We are presently entering a season where more and more outside lights have already appeared, much to my dismay. Evidently, the majority of people in what was once a simple small town have become bigger and bigger consumers of marketed lighting. In my opinion, we should be downsizing not up-scaling and most certainly not lighting a public United States flag that should not be flying past sundown.

Laura Raymond

Guilford