I don't want this should scare ya*

As the zephyrs gently warm the grounds around the Slagle compound my thoughts drift off to summer. Even though global warming has purportedly made winters milder of late, they still seem insufferably long. I can't wait to string the patio lights, and put the cushions on the chaise. How I long for the delicious smells of fresh cut lawn and barbecued meat, chlorine pools and citronella candles. I eagerly anticipate the sounds of fireworks and bug zappers.

Unfortunately, this romance usually fades as the temperature and humidity climbs. When the season finally arrives, I'm forced indoors by the prodigious amount of mosquitoes that this part of the continent has become accustomed to. It's probably not coincidental that there are several wetland restoration projects in and around my neighborhood.

It's more than a nuisance as well. You read in the paper all the time about mosquito borne Third World diseases like West Nile. According to many reports, even cases malaria are being recorded in the United States. This knowledge makes the flight from the patio more than a dash to the comfortable side of the screen door, it is a literal race for life.

Malaria in the United States is rare today, but not unique. Captain John Smith, whose life was twice spared by Pocahontas, eventually succumbed to malaria. It seems strange that something we call a "tropical" disease existed as far north as Jamestown Virginia. Actually, before WWII, malaria was common here. The government recorded over 120,000 cases in 1934.

We drained the swamps and invented DDT, and by the time I was born, malaria was nearly eradicated in the United States. Since my youth, we banned DDT, renamed the swamps, "Wetlands," and rebuilt them. Since then, malaria has also made a resurgence.

Throughout the environmental cabal it's Global Warming causing the new incidents of malarial infection. Since DDT bans and wetlands restoration were pet causes for the previous generation of enviro-hippies, I'm quite certain that they are looking for any culprit other than themselves.

Fortunately, I don't think it's anything that can't be remedied with a little swamp draining and a couple shakes of DDT. Let's hope we come to our senses, before we regress much further, and give me back my patio.

* Alan Sherman
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