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a letter to the editor.
Let’s slow down
for safety, air
The Editor,
To Chelsea councillor Josh Moon: You had called
for reactions to the providential traffic light
at the washout on Hwy 105.
I agree with everything you said in your essay
in The Low Down. Let's benefit from the lesson
of the traffic light and slow traffic from the
Alonzo Wright Bridge all the way to Tulip Valley;
this would permit electric low-speed cars as now
allowed by the province in slow zones to be used.
It would also reduce the demoniacally fast SUV
cut-through high-speed traffic going north up
the A5 east along the Old Chelsea Rd and down
the 105 to queue-jump the tailback to go on the
Alonzo Wright Bridge Rd.
Our air, safety and security would all benefit.
Harry Gow
Chelsea
Reflections of a Human
Homing Pigeon
The Editor,
Call it the call of the loon, or, the call of
the loonies, but it’s just darn great to
be back in Wakefield. OK, set aside the plundering
of our beloved Meech Creek Valley landscape, ribboning
out gloriously from the sides of the 105. Even
paradise has its contradictions. But Wakefield
does remain a paradise of sorts.
Returning home after eight months away just
allows me to see it again. Oh, I’m no dumb
pigeon: I have returned in the stretch between
St. Jean Baptiste and Canada Day when fireflies
twinkle like stars fallen down from heaven; when
strawberries reach their peak of ripeness; when
gardens, flowers, and trees bloom into high gear,
and a quick dip in the river is the only thing
that carries a back-current reminiscence of the
last piles of snow and ice we have survived, again.
There are only a few places I have seen in the
world that are held in this kind of suspenseful,
inexplicable magic. The Gatineau Hills is one
of them. Homing in, I understand in an instant
why it took such a momentous, sustained effort
to get out of here. For three years, I had pried
and pushed at the cracks in my Wakefield life,
hoping I could break one open enough to walk out
– to free myself from the vice-grip of my
stubborn, small town day to day for a life that
would be bigger, more exciting, and have so much
more to offer. But what was really the case is
that there is much here that is extremely difficult
to walk away from, in any circumstance.
I finally crashed through one of those cracks
and have indeed been far afield. Upon my arrival,
there are a few big pieces of news besides the
highway extension that surprise me, but basically,
everything is the same. I wonder, from this renewed
vantage point, how I ever found so much to complain
about. I suppose living in and among so much beauty
of both the natural and human kind, it becomes
part of us, instead of something we can observe
and marvel at from the outside. Looking out from
the inside of that beauty, my attention became
focused on problems, imperfections, irritations
and fallacies. I lost my ability to appreciate
the very things that held me here.
So next time you feel an attack of small-town-itis
coming on, don’t wait. Leave town! But don’t
lose your homing pigeon instincts on the trail.
Luckily, mine have stayed well intact. Hi Wakefield,
its good to be back.
Heather Horak
Wakefield
Collins Cannon’s
problem
The Editor,
Recently the supporters of Stuart Collins, co-owner
of Bryson Farms, held a rally in front of their
MP’s office in Fort Coulonge, Quebec. Television
cameras and many journalists were there as well
as approximately 100 demonstrators.
We repeated our call to our Member of Parliament
for his support. We pleaded for the political
intervention of the Minister of Justice to stay
the extradition order. But instead of working
to ensure the safety of Stuart and the continued
employment of Bryson Farms employees, the Conservative
government once again showed its disdain for Canadian
protocol and institutions, and on a statutory
holiday, chose to extradite Stuart Collins one
day before his scheduled bail hearing. If there’s
a problem remove it. That’s what they’ve
done to one of the largest employers in an economically
depressed region, they removed him. We have lost
a committed promoter of organic farming in our
region, a successful entrepreneur and dedicated
employer. Katie and Bryson Collins have lost their
father.
Canadians cherish our right to due process.
Canadians take pride in our Charter of Rights
and Freedoms and in our right to free speech and
expression.
We, the citizens of Pontiac, were within our
rights to question the Harper government’s
lack of support for a member of our community.
This Conservative government decided to remove
Stuart Collins to avoid answering our questions.
There was a problem, they removed it. Instead
of the rule of law we have the rule of one, the
Prime Minister.
Cindy Duncan McMillan
Liberal candidate, Pontiac riding
NCC does double standard
on dead deer dumping
The Editor,
The recent article in The Low Down about the
NCC and Quebec government officials dumping dead
deer in secluded “bush” areas astounds
me on a number of fronts.
First, the unfortunate employee who was actually
honest enough to admit the NCC’s dirty little
secret: I bet he or she got a lesson the following
day about “Cover You Butt 101”.
But the real clincher is the government double
standard. I am a farmer and occasionally I lose
an animal to sickness. One morning this past March
when I went to the barn I was greeted by the site
of a dead cow. She was healthy and walking around
the night before, but whether heart attack or
whatever I was out $800 that morning. It is well
known to all farmers that it is illegal to just
pull a dead animal into the bush. This leaves
two options, hire a backhoe and have her buried,
impossible in winter, or call a deadstock company
which picks up dead animals. So I paid the $225
to the deadstock company, and well, just another
thousand dollar day on the farm.
So if it is OK for the NCC and Quebec wildlife
officials to dump animals in the bush, why not
farmers? On second thought, there are many reasons
why it is a bad idea to dump dead animals in the
forest: odours, attraction of vermin, spread of
disease to wild animals or domestic pets, and
potential contamination of nearby streams or the
groundwater.
So maybe we farmers can save a few dollars and
leave our deadstock problems to the experts at
the NCC. The Gatineau Park Visitors Centre in
Old Chelsea is probably a nice convenient drop-off
site for all concerned.
Bob McClelland
Cantley
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