Re "Fog diverts early morning flights from SLC airport" (Tribune, Jan. 19):
London's fog used to be such a romantic thing, immortalized by Fred Astaire when he sang George and Ira Gershwin's "A Foggy Day (In London Town)." In reality, it was nasty, unhealthy soot from coal-burning fireplaces and power plants.
In 1952, an inversion settled over London "town," creating the Great Smog of '52, or Big Smoke, killing 12,000 souls and spurring clean-air acts.
So it is irksome that spokespeople for the Salt Lake City International Airport and the National Weather Service talk about how an inversion-caused "dense fog" closed the airport.
The word "fog" sounds so natural, and this harmful air is not that. Please call it what it is: human-caused and human-killing smog that's dense enough to keep planes from landing.
A few delayed planes won't cause our politicians to act, but must we wait for 12,000 people to die?
Ben Rogers
Salt Lake City