Dear Editor:
RE: Erin resident wants to ban fireworks in town after horse put down due to injuries, March 4.
My condolences to Ms. Domingos on the senseless and preventable death of her beloved foal, Captain.
Unfortunately, fireworks and fire crackers was an affliction suffered by everyone last year. In late spring on a beautiful day we put our dog outside in his kennel while we left for an hour. When we arrived home our neighbour reported firecrackers were being shot off nearby. Fortunately he heard the dog in distress and broke the lock to rescue him. He was bleeding from his mouth and paws after attempting to escape but thankfully recovered.
I soon discovered there was a network of 50-year-old children setting off firecrackers in different parts of the town as a rude and crude method of communication. Their defence? Everybody is doing it.
This was happening 16 hours a day/night, with no thought given to terrified pets, shift workers, health care staff trying to sleep after a stressful 12-hour shift and persons with autism who could be adversely affected by it.
I sincerely hope your petition produces results, but I have my doubts. A shredder would be a simple solution to council.
Perhaps if 1,000 of the 20,000 persons signing the petition called the bylaw office personally you would get better results. They could even locate and give out exact addresses of the guilty parties.
This year will be no better. A combination of the great Canadian giveaway (CERB), boredom, ignorance and substance abuse is a toxic combination. Add cheap fireworks to the mix and you have a recipe for disaster.
Maybe if every convenience store would stop selling questionable boxes of product it wouldn’t be so easy to acquire them.
Lastly, I don’t understand why many of these people are not working; with six pages of want ads and billboards everywhere begging for help, there is no longer an excuse for most people for not getting off the gravy train and starting to contribute to society in a positive way. Only then could the other 95% of our town’s population enjoy this summer.
Tracy Burke,
Mount Forest