Letters to the Editor: Oct. 5

Let’s not rush on trip to Mars

Between movies and the discovery of water, plans for manned journeys to Mars are on the horizon. Technology for an expedition exists or can be rapidly developed. The piece that seems to be ignored is the danger in bringing Martian microorganisms back here. If life is found there, what is the chance that seemingly innocuous bacteria would come back with the astronauts?

Since the nature and resiliency of non-earth life is unknown, current decontamination procedures cannot be assumed effective. The odds against a “Marspox” epidemic are small but not zero. Is it a risk that should be taken?

Although it was only sci-fi, H. G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” had Martians dying en masse from the common cold virus. In real life Native American populations were decimated by disease almost immediately upon contact with Europeans. Some tribes are estimated to have suffered 90 percent-plus fatality rates.

That was on the same planet. It seems reasonable to worry that extraterrestrial life could have aspects that are even less compatible with our biology than smallpox was with the Indians.

It is in human nature to explore. Once technology works, people use is even when in retrospect it might seem better to have walked away. At some point we will visit Mars. However, for maximum safety, those first visitors will need to be colonists, not tourists. Only after a few decades (or generations) will the potential dangers become evident.

Tom Conley

Fort Mill

Superintendent severance costly

It must be nice to hand over $300,000 to pay a superintendent of schools who is resigning under fire.

If Chester County Superintendent Agnes Slayman is guilty of the things she is accused of, she should be fired. If not, she should stay on or resign without pay.

If a street department or sanitation department employee quit, would they get severance pay? The school board is mighty careless with taxpayer money.

Darrell Ayers

Rock Hill

This story was originally published October 4, 2015 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Letters to the Editor: Oct. 5."