In your editorial regarding the Yampa River Botanic Park and Triple Crown, you said that you believe the new railroad crossing will remove “any reasonable objections to ongoing requests from Triple Crown Sports to use baseball diamonds at Emerald Park.” I would ask you to consider a different point of view:

For 20 years, we have had an extraordinary gift of peace, serenity and beauty in our Yampa River Botanic Park. As we stroll along the paths, marveling at the design of each individual garden and gathering ideas for our own plantings, we know how fortunate we are.

This park is imbued with a special sense of community — friends and neighbors volunteer to plant and rake and weed; musicians fill the air with melody and harmony every Thursday at noon and little children listen to story time as they watch butterflies and hummingbirds sip the nectar of blossoms. It is truly a magical place.

We must not allow this tranquility to be slashed apart by the shrieks and screams of raucous Triple Crown ball games in the Emerald Park fields immediately adjacent to the botanic park. Here in Steamboat, we have many ball parks; we have only one botanic park. Let’s continue to honor it for the treasure it is.

Lynn Abbott

Steamboat Springs