‘Perfect weekend’
Dear Editor:
Drayton’s 150th celebration was the best! Three days of activities, music and meals for hundreds each night.
Around 20 children aged five to 13 opened the show wearing white tops with red maple leaf scarves and sang O Canada and the front row even signed it. Wow. Everybody there sang loud and proud!
The ag hall had lots of wonderful history displays and sponsor booths. There was also an antique car show of over 400 beautiful cars and a big parade.
Sunday had a huge church service put on by the ministerial association, so all churches were there and a huge choir.
The directors and many volunteers had everything organized right down to the last minute. So much planning and days and hours of work made for a perfect weekend celebration, plus the weather cooperated.
I saw so many of my old friends, lots of hugs too. I enjoyed every minute of all three days. God bless all of you who worked so hard. You did a wonderful job!
Barb Waite,
Mount Forest
‘Thank you’
Dear Editor:
I would like to say thank you to the Puslinch Optimist Club for the wonderful Canada Day celebration they provided through their hard work and planning.
Their pancake breakfast is always a hit and it brings neighbours from every corner of our township together to sit and chat while enjoying great food and conversation.
They end the day with a bang – an awesome fireworks display.
The grounds to our community centre were absolutely full with people of all ages enjoying the evening together, all thanks to our Optimist Club.
I would be remiss if I didn’t say thanks to our local farmers. It’s haying time! This means many tractors using our road as a means to bring in the hay crop – oh, how wonderful!
For once traffic on our busy road is slowed down to allow them to get ‘er done. Fords, John Deere, red ones, yellow too – we love you all!
Liz Hughes,
Puslinch
‘Speed tax’ cameras
Dear Editor:
RE: Drivers evading speed cameras a concern for Fergus, Drayton residents, July 4.
Thank you to the Advertiser for including an online photo of the bunch of curmudgeons wringing their hands in delight of the millions they’re making off this “speed tax.”
It’s the perfect example of government overreach, greed, covert dealings and hypocrisy rolled into one.
These champions of the nanny state are too wrapped up in their own greed to realize the incredible and obvious hypocrisy in the fact that they’re basically whining for increased policing on back streets rather than put increased policing on the main thoroughfares which would actually slow traffic and would have made things safer in the first place.
A cruiser is far more effective in slowing down traffic than an innocuous camera.
They seemingly would rather put school kids and homeowners at risk on the side streets than give up the income from their precious tax cameras – priorities I guess.
Peter Beilke,
Wellington North
‘Hard to believe’
Dear Editor:
I have been following the discussion on Wellington County’s photo radar trial with bemusement.
First, in the spirit of full disclosure I received a ticket on Belsyde in Fergus at 6pm on a Saturday night for going 51km an hour in the community safety zone. That said, I am not opposed to the initiative.
I am just surprised council insists this has nothing to do with raising money, going so far as to allocate the new funds to a new use.
There has to be a limit to how much cash can go to road safety studies.
Given the impending tax increases why not use the new revenue to offset other tax increases.
This may be a tax, but it is a voluntary tax. You only have to pay it if you choose to exceed the speed limit.
Its difficult to believe council that this is purely a safety issue.
The signage is definitely there but they are not obvious. There was concern about bigger signs “littering” the street. It’s hard to believe council said we need to put in cameras to ensure safety but bigger signs littering the roadside are a bridge too far for children’s safety.
This is particularly puzzling as I counted 11 no parking signs in the community safety zone going eastward on Belsyde. Perhaps we could take down a couple of no parking signs and make the camera signs a bit bigger.
I noticed going westward that the construction signs and business open (for construction on St David Street) signs are much bigger than the camera signs. Is construction more than a kilometer away a higher priority than children’s safety?
It is good to hear that average speeds have gone down. I wonder, however, if the cameras have diverted local traffic.
I read calls for traffic calming measures on Belsyde but expect that would make things worse.
I drove down Millburn and there seemed to be more traffic moving faster.
Will safety studies even identify that given Millburn and Union Streets are municipal streets while Belsyde is owned by the county?
School is out in the summer and with the water park on Millburn this diversion of traffic actually increases risk.
I expect we will hear calls for increased enforcement. If that wasn’t effective on Belsyde will it work on Millburn, Union, or Highliand?
If it is about safety or even tax, perhaps a more integrated and comprehensive safety plan would have been warranted. One wonders why that hasn’t happened.
Michael von Massow,
Elora
Call for more cameras
Dear Editor:
It is becoming wearisome to read the letters of woe in regards to the speed cameras across our beautiful county.
It is distressing to drive on roads with people who cannot manage to stop at crosswalks for pedestrians, for actual stop signs, for red lights, for those who still cross the centre line while texting and for the driver who passes unsafely.
It is no wonder we need cameras because we are becoming more juvenile in our habits of “me first,” and I say we should put up more cameras!
If you cannot be in control of your own gas and brake pedal you should not be driving, and our public safety should not be in your hands.
Michele MacRae,
Palmerston
‘Tinpot’ Trump
Dear Editor:
We’ve all seen photographs of tinpot dictators posing with their chests bedecked with rows of medals they awarded themselves. Google images of Idi Amin for an example. They honour themselves to feed their insatiable egos.
Such is the case with U.S. President Donald Trump, who insists that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. No doubt the main reason Trump wants that medal is because Presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter each received one.
Trump no more deserves a Nobel Peace Prize than he deserved the Purple Heart medal a supporter once gave him. Trump, who never served in the military, accepted it and said he’d always wanted a Purple Heart. It was an insult to every American soldier who has actually earned that medal.
Awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize would be an insult to every legitimate recipient of that award. It would be like giving a Citizen of the Year Award to a Mafia boss, or the Academy Award for best picture to a porn film, or the Nobel Prize for Science to the inventor of the whoopee cushion, or the Nobel Prize for Literature to the author of a poem that begins with the line, “There once was a girl from Nantucket.”
Trump’s own cronies have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, he whines that the process is “rigged” against him. If, by some gross circumstance, Trump is actually given a Nobel Peace Prize, the legitimate recipients of a Nobel Prize could hardly be blamed if they were to return their medals in disgust.
A distinguished object of recognition for meritorious achievement would have been tarnished and reduced to the status of cheap junk.
Ed Butts,
Guelph
Wildlife concerns
Dear Editor:
I would like to share my frustration with my interactions with the Centre Wellington public works department.
1st Line between South River Road and Bridge Street in Elora is a speedway for people travelling from Fergus to Elora. The recent 40km/h mandate from Spencer Drive to Wellington Road 7 has been largely ignored by a disturbing number of drivers.
The section of road between Gilkinson and Spencer Drive sees a lot of deer and geese families crossing back and forth yearly. My request for signage warning of deer/goose crossing resulted in a lot of words about needs assessment, etc.
Isn’t it enough that a homeowner is making them aware that signage is required to protect these animals? I would have to assume that the cost of a needs assessment far outweighs the cost of a couple of signs? I made the request because I have seen incidences of other areas with similar and appropriate signage.
There is a wildlife crossing sign on Millage Lane in Fergus which is not a major street with less then six houses on that particular road.
Last year an adult goose was hit and killed; intentional or not it was devastating to see. The geese enjoy sitting in the middle of the road and it’s an obvious hazard to drivers, it would be nice to give folks the heads up especially those from out of town.
I’m not looking to cause a scene, just an avid animal lover looking to assist wildlife. Please do better at protecting our wildlife, Centre Wellington.
Kat Maciulis,
Fergus
‘Leave pets alone’
Dear Editor:
Ontario’s new Bill 35, which enacts the Captive Wildlife Protection Act, sounds great at first, applying across the board regulations to zoos.
However, it then goes on to state that only zoos can keep 99% of the animals commonly kept as pets. We are not talking about banning just lions, tigers and bears. The bill would ban such pets as hamsters, pet fish, birds, guinea pigs, geckos and bearded dragons. This is a massive overreach.
Families with severe allergies would be forbidden to have any pets, so all the pet fish and reptiles I grew up with would be illegal to own. Pet stores would stop selling products to care for any animals still in our care. Businesses who raise and sell so many animals for all of Canada will be driven out of province – businesses that prevent poaching of actual wild animals.
Please contact your local MPP and politely tell them to leave our pets alone.
Lance Henderson,
Centre Wellington
*Editor’s note: Bill 35 does not specifically ban the animals mentioned in this letter but it does introduce a licensing system for keeping certain animals.
This and that
Dear Editor:
It’s great to see money being invested in BT Corner in Fergus. The downside is no one knows it’s there, as I have asked many friends that did not know it existed, and the location with traffic is quite busy and noisy. I sent a letter in a couple of years back suggesting relocation to behind the library, where there is a view of our beautiful river and it would have excellent exposure to our visiting tourists that could not miss seeing the arrangement.
Regarding all the talk about speed cameras and people trying to avoid them by using nearby streets, Highland Road in Fergus has become a “raceway” as well, and if the OPP are going to monitor other areas, please include Highland Road. For those getting caught, there is a simple solution: download the Waze App, which tells you whenever you are approaching a “speed camera” zone anywhere you travel.
Can someone please put a coat of paint on the yellow building that used to be the used car sales office? Please!
In the same vein, can someone clean up the area where the old doctor’s office was torn down next to the church? It’s not a very pleasing site to look at for residents and especially visiting tourists.
Brian Mackay,
Fergus
Please ‘stop’
Dear Editor:
I am writing to remind people how important it is that we all stop at “stop” signs
When you deliberately go through a stop sign you are really deliberately willing to kill someone.
I have just made a report at the police station because a man in an SUV just caught himself in time to stop after I laid on my horn to make him aware of a stop sign. The police officers told me it has to do with cell phones and lack of attention.
The four beautiful girls and teacher coming home from a softball tournament who were victims of a driver not stopping at the stop sign is only one example of someone who has slid through a stop sign because no one was there to catch you.
I have to ask the question to you: do you have a conscience? People drive too fast and in a hurry, not caring for anyone but themselves.
Are you willing to shut your cell phone off just so you can concentrate on your driving?
I was taught to count to 10 at a stop sign. It does help to give yourself time to keep looking for clear passage.
I am concerned about the selfishness of our society that some people don’t care. There is a game called Russian roulette. The next time you run a stop sign might be the same day someone runs a stop sign on you.
Think about it. Life is short we don’t need to make it shorter.
Kae Huberts,
Seaforth
‘More prisons’
Dear Editor:
Prime Minister Carney has succinctly stated that Canada needs more prisons.
As a proud Canadian, I will donate my 700 acres on Baffin Island. Just send over a Member of Parliament and I will gladly transfer the deed to the Government of Canada.
Jim McClure,
Puslinch