Legion Week coming
Dear Editor:
Sept. 21 to 27 is recognized across Canada as Legion Week.
On behalf of the Royal Canadian Legion, Elora Branch 229, we wish to thank all our community residents, both private and commercial, for their continued and outstanding support again this year and invite all to visit our branch clubroom at 110 Metcalfe St. in Elora.
The 2024 Poppy Campaign realized donations to our fund of $29,811.
During 2025 branch’s Poppy Fund has donated and supported several financial needs locally, provincially and nationally.
We have provided assistance funding to local veterans and their families as well as donations from the Poppy Fund that supported activities such as the service dog program; Homeless Vets; District C Hospital Fund; Provincial Charitable Foundation; Provincial Poppy Fund; British Commonwealth Ex-Services League; Youth Education and the local Cadet Corps to name some. Our contribution during this period has amounted to more than $25,000.
The 2025 Poppy Campaign begins on Friday, Oct. 31 and continues through Remembrance Day, Nov. 11. Ceremonies to honour our veterans will be held at the Salem Cenotaph at 9:30am and at the Elora Cenotaph at 11am.
A Remembrance Day dinner will be held at Branch 229 on Nov. 11 beginning at 5pm. Tickets will be available from the bar steward (519-846-9611) and the dinner is open to veterans, Legion members and the general public.
Please support Legion Week activities, our Poppy Campaign and our veterans and their families. Lest we forget!
Jim Paterson,
Poppy chair, Elora Legion Br. 229
AI ‘monster’
Dear Editor:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a monster that mankind has created.
I am old enough to remember being taught mental arithmetic and I still use it. For those of you too young to know what that is, it is doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in your head.
We were taught the “three Rs”: reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic.” In the name of progress, we gave our children calculators then computers so they would no longer have to rely on their brain to work with numbers. Strike one for arithmetic.
Over the years these same computers took away the need to be able to read – just use TikTok or YouTube. They will give you pictures on how to do everything, no need to read now. Strike two for reading.
Now we have AI and you no longer need to use your brain to write anything – give AI a few clues and you have your essays and reports done for you. Strike three for writing.
So, what are our students being taught at school these days?
I hope students are being educated on how to live in a world where they can’t get a job because AI has sucked all the jobs out of existence. Yes, you still need IT professionals to program the computers, AI and robots, but those jobs are few and far between.
At the moment, we still need trades people to do electrical, plumbing and construction work – but how long before robots take over those, too? Don’t bother to do anything in the artistic, advertising or human resources areas. That job interview you have been lucky enough to get is with an AI “person.” Don’t try and get creative with your answers so you stand out – “they” are not programmed for such deviances. Which begs the question: How is the successful candidate selected? By lucky draw?
I have watched over the years as my check-up with the doctor became less and less personal and relied more and more on technology. If my symptoms didn’t “fit the mold,” I was either ignored or slotted into a category that did comply. It didn’t matter if that wasn’t my problem in the first place. I can think of many more examples but I am sure you get the picture.
I have often been heard to say that I was very comfortable in the 20th century and, for the sake of my grandchildren struggling to get employment, I really wish we still were.
Just in case you are wondering, this letter was not generated by AI!
Sandra Solomon,
Belwood
‘Cash cow’ cameras
Dear Editor:
RE: ‘One-sided framing,’ Sept. 11.
I think John Scott missed the point that publisher David Adsett and I made. We are of the opinion that speed cameras are just another money grab. They take millions of dollars from hard working citizens. Even Premier Doug Ford agrees.
If a police officer stops a speeder there is usually some discretion applied. In the case of cameras it’s just black and white. For example, cameras don’t take into account that kids are on holidays and not in school that day or it’s the weekend.
Although some politicians may have concerns about public safety their main agenda is to bring in more money that this huge, new cash cow generates at our expense. Another factor that’s hard to swallow is that the company that produces these cameras is in Alberta and they earn about 50% of the money generated.
That’s millions of dollars taken from us in Ontario.
As for the idea of narrowing our roads, yes they may slow drivers down, but at what cost? It’s hard enough to navigate some of our narrow streets, especially when there are cars parked along the sides.
It’s also a nightmare for truckers trying to manoeuvre around a corner. They usually end up driving onto the sidewalk.
Steve Di Pisa,
Centre Wellington
‘Digital highwaymen’
Dear Editor:
Having been the puzzled (and irritated) recipient of two speeding tickets for the offence of travelling at 53 and 55km/h in a 40km/h zone, there is perhaps another traffic solution available.
Approaching the T-junction of Highways 24 and 109, embedded into the pavement of Highway 24 are vibrational grid-panels that serve to slow down vehicles, as well as acting as a valuable warning regarding speed.
The “physical memory” implanted by these grids naturally and gradually changes driving patterns. Of course auto speeds should be reduced, caution taken, lives saved.
Anger at the radar devices has erupted across the province. People do not have a spare $200 or $300 to discard to no good cause. Often, one is not aware or sure even, of where the offence was committed.
The millions of dollars already gathered by these digital “highwaymen” could be used to cover the cost of embedding specific areas with sections of wide pavement-grids. I have heard that in Europe where they are used, the vibrations of tire-over-grid are sometimes calibrated into an audible tune!
The speed cameras are strong and useful deterrents in school areas where it makes sense to continue them. Children are unpredictable in their movements, untrained in the dangers of the road, and every precaution should be taken.
Bronwen Stanley-Jones,
Mount Forest
‘Stacking the deck’
Dear Editor:
First of all, I would like to say that I have not received any speeding tickets.
The use of speed cameras and red light cameras has been contentious for decades in most cities. First of all, let’s set aside the misinformation that these are not cash grabs. It is insulting to the intelligence of all of us to insinuate they are not. And please do not accuse those complaining about cameras of being against public safety – that is political mumbo jumbo.
If it’s not about revenue, then each day, during peak hours of use by children and the elderly pedestrians, park a police cruiser in areas of concern with its lights flashing, which will get the same result.
There is no common sense in the camera tickets. Police would not issue a ticket for a speed infraction of a couple kilometres.
On speed limit changes, let’s get real – 40km/h limits 24 hours a day? Come on. I get the school zones flashing 40km/h during school crossing times but not all the time.
I am sorry I don’t see any other reason for these measures other than to make driving a car so unpleasant that we give it up. When will politicians stop trying to stack the deck to make us do what they want?
Sounds like Doug Ford is coming for the bike lanes and now looking at the cameras – get ready councils. Again, please no public safety lectures.
Doak McCraney,
Guelph
Radar ‘rubbish’
Dear Editor:
There continues to be many letters against photo radar. I have never read so much rubbish coming from what are certainly intelligent and normally rational persons.
One really flawed conception is to slow traffic down by making the roads narrower (‘One-sided framing,’ Sept. 11). This idea may almost work, but consider if an emergency response vehicle comes up from behind and is trying to get through traffic. Space is required so that vehicles can pull over out of the way.
The speeding problem is not the fault of the road, but the driver. Typically, most people are not really paying attention and don’t really allow sufficient time to get where they are going and have no idea what speed they are going at, most of the time.
They have no real concern regarding the environment around them and what harm they may be inflicting upon it. It is merely a case of how quickly can they get to where they are going. Most people have it timed to the minute, especially if they are driving to work.
Speed cameras are very successful in catching these drivers, who then become very angry with the local councils, instead of themselves.
The message is quite simple really, and that is when passing through town, give yourself more time, pay attention, respect the environment and observe all the speed limits. Save the speed for the main highway, but that is yet another story.
Malcolm McCulloch,
Fergus
Bollards better
Dear Editor:
Following the tragic car crash at a child care centre in Richmond Hill that killed one child and injured several others, it has been reported in the news that the Ontario government will ban parking near day care centres.
Banning parking near day care centres will not solve the problem, as vehicles will still be able to crash against entrances and against windows.
A much better solution would be to require placing bollards in front of entrances and windows at those centres.
Anthony Martins,
Elora
Fall fair ‘a hoot’
Dear Editor:
Well another Fergus Fall Fair has come and gone. From my personal standpoint, it was an overwhelming success.
As a member of the Fergus Lions, doing parking duties all three days, we saw an abundance of visitors paying for parking. The lot was full all three days, and if there was not a space for you,well, we created one.
It was not just the Lions Club doing the parking control; many local groups provided volunteers, and my favourites were the University of Guelph girls who helped out, as well as the wonderful young ladies from Centre Wellington District High School, who toiled in the daytime heat to ensure visitors could find a parking spot. Kudos to you, my young friends, you really are showing your community spirit.
Taylor, as the fall fair contact person, you and your staff did one hell of an amazing job pulling this event together. So all of you should stand up and take a bow – you and your team really “nailed it.”
It was a tribute to our community and a tribute to all the local farming community. The tractor and truck pulls, equine and heavy horse events, as always, were well attended and crowd pleasing.
All in all, our community and our fall fair shone! Thanks to all who participated – it was a hoot. Let’s do it again next year.
J. Brian Martin,
Fergus Lions Club
‘Distinguished company’
Dear Editor:
This is a plea to the Alberta Minister of Education. Please ban my young adult novel, This Game of War.
It doesn’t matter what it’s about; there surely must be something in it that someone, somewhere, will find offensive, objectionable or inappropriate.
For example, there’s a bit where the crew of a Lancaster bomber all pee on one of its tires before takeoff – for luck. There’s bound to be other things in the book that will punch someone’s outrage button, if they look hard enough.
I want you to ban my book because that will put me in the very distinguished company of other authors whose works have been subject to bans: William Shakespeare, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, George Orwell, Judy Blume, Jack London, Maya Angelou, Stephen King, Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald …
The list is quite long, and I’d like to be part of it. Also, nothing makes people want to read a book as much as telling them they can’t. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Ed Butts,
Guelph