Won’t be back
Dear Editor:
I have followed with great interest some of the comments regarding paid parking at the new Trailside Medical Facility off the Beatty Line.
We had our first visit there last week and I was shocked that “paid parking” had come to town for such a facility. I noticed in your article that some of the businesses have a provision to reimburse the customers for the parking fee.
I fundamentally oppose the imposition for a parking fee for the line of businesses that occupy these premises. If the owner wants to depreciate his costs for the parking lot they could have built them into the rental agreements with the various businesses rather than pestering the visiting customers.
This was the first and last time you will see me at this facility.
Interestingly, no one has commented on the design flaws of the parking lot. When entering, the parking ticket dispenser is located poorly and I could not reach it without partially opening the car door.
The next surprise was that on exiting I could not reach the ticket slot to feed in my parking ticket from my car with the window open. The road slopes the wrong way which makes it impossible to reach the ticket slot without partially exiting the vehicle.
Lou Berger,
Amaranth
Reward frontliners
Dear Editor:
RE: Wellington County records surplus of $7 million on budget for 2020, May 13.
It’s commendable that Wellington County officials decided to pay off debts with most of the windfall to this year’s budget.
These funds flowed from federal and provincial coffers in the early days of the pandemic because, quite frankly, no one knew how things would go and the funds were there to try to ensure a state of “keep calm and carry on.” And carry on we did with lockdowns, social distancing and sacrifices by everyone.
But without the efforts of our public health system, frontline workers and medical staff, we would never have made it through.
So I suggest some form of monetary recognition for these folks from these funds – from paramedics, to nurses and doctors, to those testing and vaccinating us, to hospital orderlies – to say thank you, we would never have made it through without you.
To me, that would be the right use of those funds.
Lynn Johnston,
Fergus
‘True heroes’
Dear Editor:
After we first meet the efficiency of the hospital routine, and we are escorted to our new bed, then we are met with a smiling nurse, and all at once, all our worries are gone!
We seldom think of the private lives of these “angels of mercy” who spend their whole days just caring for us.
But now during this pandemic, we discover they are not even able to relax at home, but have to protect their own family from a possible hint of the contacts that they have had with patients.
They have done so by avoiding any contact with their very own loved ones, by sleeping in trailers or garages! Surely these are our true heroes of this year’s Nurses Week.
Sytske Drijber,
Rockwood
An unhealthy council
Dear Editor:
There has been recent accusations as to the conduct of some members of Centre Wellington council. The accusers infer that all the councilors and the mayor should totally agree on all matters before them. Is this healthy? Shouldn’t each councilor put forth his or her own thoughts, views, and at times question the need and/ or cost of certain undertakings? Such questioning at times leads to a project being done at a lesser cost, or if not needed, not approved.
As taxpayers is this not what we expect from our local elected officials? Where there is an unhealthy existence within the ranks of Centre Wellington council, it exists in the complete agreement from three councilors (always the same three), towards anything the “go for the bundle” mayor favours.
This leads to less cost savings. We, the taxpayers, pay the price!
Don Kruger,
Fergus
Not helpful
Dear Editor:
Just sharing a note of concern regarding the cartoon from the May 6 issue of the Wellington Advertiser.
It seems to me to be in poor taste to criticize the very care workers who perform continued service in an ongoing situation. There are many who work tirelessly looking after those who cannot take care of themselves.
Especially when in the same edition you are thanking nurses and frontline workers. Who do you think are doing these jobs? Most are caring and compassionate daily.
Perhaps it is time for some humour – we all need a good laugh. I do understand satire, I just don’t think it helps or is needed.
Betty Knight,
Highland Manor , Fergus
Toxic waste forever
Dear Editor:
The yellow No Nuke Dump signs are up again after another attack of the chainsaw vandals. You will see signs with cuts or cracks in them. These cracks are now a symbol of the cracks and fractures in the disturbed sedimentary rock, where the Nuclear Waste Management Organization wants to bury all of Canada’s high-level nuclear waste. The cuts in the signs also stand for the deeply divided community.
NWMO’s plan is, dig it, fill it, abandon it and forget it. On several occasions, I asked the NWMO, can you absolutely guarantee that the nuke dump is safe? The answer is always no.
NWMO’s glossy brochures and generous handouts of money are being used by this propaganda machine to groom the public. If it was such a great plan, without risk, NWMO would not have to come with handouts of big money to entice residents. We might accept this proposed plan if all aspects of safety and community well-being were risk-free.
South Bruce has a potentially never-ending problem asking to be put within their borders; the most toxic waste of the planet to be buried in our municipality.
Council decisions could degrade our area to a nuclear waste dump zone; also subjecting the residents to become part of this risky science experiment. We live in a beautiful part of the world, with one of the best drinkable water sources in the world. Why take the risk? South Bruce council, can you only see the dollars offered to become Canada’s first nuclear waste experiment? How can you continue to ignore all the risk factors attached to this proposed nuclear waste dump?
We need clean water and clean food. We cannot eat or drink money to sustain life or a future in South Bruce.
Rita Groen,
South Bruce
‘Unfounded’ fear?
Dear Editor:
Re: Carbon tax required, May 6.
Ron Moore’s support for an ever-increasing carbon tax appears to be based on his fear of a “looming climate catastrophe” that requires us to “stop burning fossil fuels”.
Based on books and other literature I have read, I believe that fear is unfounded.
Life expectancy and human wellbeing have never been higher. Fossil fuels have allowed the population to increase even as the wellbeing of the average person has improved.
I don’t expect to convince Mr. Moore, but just want others to know that there are plenty of highly respected scientists and other experts who don’t buy into his alarmist views that are also promoted by much of the mainstream media, which censors contrary views.
Henry Brunsveld,
Puslinch
Unwanted waste
Dear Editor:
May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month.
Seeing the ear on the willing to listen website as their logo, was a shock to me. Having a teenager that is deaf and hard of hearing, and the perception that people have of the elderly, adults, young adults, and children who cannot hear normally, puts using this logo in poor taste and judgement.
The phrase, willing to listen, means nothing to me. Who are you only willing to listen to for your information? Are you actually willing to listen to information presented by those not working in the nuclear industry?
Also the statement – be kind to each other; it isn’t kind when the portrayed logo is improperly used. I don’t feel welcome in this community because I am outsider, born in Europe.
Our community is split in half and this is not the community’s fault but our municipality of South Bruce council and Mayor. It seems they are only thinking about the money and not about the health of people and our environment.
It seems that they are only willing to listen to select information too. The NWMO had 22 communities that expressed interest in learning more about Canada’s plan. The Municipality of South Bruce in southern Ontario and the Township of Ignace, in northwestern Ontario, are the only ones remaining. Why?
Teeswater is a small community with two elementary schools. We have some good agriculture land in the area that should stay as farm land.
These are high-level Nuclear waste fuel bundles that you want to bury under the ground, near the Teeswater River, where so many people get their drinking water. This deep geological repository has not been done anywhere in the world. We should not be treated like guinea pigs.
Elizabeth Groenewegen,
Teeswater
Mothers
Dear Editor:
In place of medals we have flowers. It maybe only a dandelion – but it’s just freshly picked!
Instead of public notice we get real cards drawn by hand.
We wouldn’t trade the thrill of our grandchild’s hug for all the fame in the world.
We are an elite group,
For our very first model saw her child become a saviour.
Sytske Drijber,
Rockwood