I think sheets dangling in the wind are beautiful if they're helping the environment.

-- Mary Lou Sayer, 88

The next great debate in our nation?

Laundry.

The New York Times reported Sunday that there is a growing "Right to Dry" movement in this country.

Pitted against one another are homeowners who want to save energy (and perhaps enjoy nostalgia) by using backyard clotheslines vs. their neighbors who consider windswept underwear an eyesore.

In the past year, the newspaper reports, state lawmakers in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have overridden local prohibitions with legislation protecting the right to hang laundry outdoors. They often cite environmental concerns because clothes dryers use at least 6 percent of all household electricity.

Most of the arguing is centered in the nation's 300,000 private communities, which restrict any number of outdoor property enhancements.

"Those rules are why when I look out my window I now see birds, trees and flowers, not laundry," said Richard Jacques, 63, a New Hampshire condominium board president.

The clothesline debate has led to lawsuits (naturally), foreclosures and supposedly one fatal shooting in Mississippi.

I'm keeping quiet on this one. And it's probably not a good time to point out that backyard outhouses save water.

JUST TALKIN': Joe Ogletree , of Thomson, comments on last week's confession that I often talk to myself. He writes: "It's OK to talk to yourself as long as you don't get to arguin' with one another."

MAILBAG: Pat Van Hooser , of North Augusta, sends a postcard from Australia. She writes: "I know the summer card season is over ... but it's spring/summer here! Just think of 2010 starting early. BTW, I'm here for a family reunion and some fun."

Pat's not the only one traveling out of the country. Joe Fournier and the Lakes send a view of Venice, Italy. "What a great time to come to Europe," they write. "The summer hordes have left and the weather is perfect. Sorry. No baseball stadiums."

Jane Strong and Ana Simoes , from Evans, send us "greetings from beautiful Greece. We are touring with a group and visiting the places of Paul's second missionary journey."

Back in the United States, Doris and Marty Charnock are taking in shows at Myrtle Beach.

Frankie Nevins and Debbie Schlotzhauer send greetings from Charleston Tea Plantation -- "beautiful, interesting, a must visit if you haven't been. Dinner at Bubba Gump's was great. Evelyn Casey is being a 'good girl.' There are 56 of us on the motor coach!"

Speaking of "must sees," Pat and Wayne Fuller , of North Augusta, nominate the New River Gorge (National River) Bridge in West Virginia. They also sent a card from Niagara Falls, where the "leaves are just beginning to turn."

And Greg Brooks , of Evans, says aloha from Hawaii, where he's traveling with 50 others.

TODAY'S JOKE: A priest is walking down the street one day when he notices a small boy trying to press a doorbell on a house across the street. However, the doorbell is just out of his reach.

After watching the boy's efforts for some time, the priest moves closer to the boy's position.

He steps smartly across the street, walks up behind the little fellow and, placing his hand kindly on the child's shoulder, leans over and gives the doorbell a ring.

Crouching down to the child's level, the priest smiles benevolently and asks, "And now what, my little man?"

To which the boy turns and yells, "Now we run!"

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.