Letters: July 19

Cooling Centres needed in the townships, Brenda Crawford

Cooling Centres needed in the townships

I was just wondering, in an extreme heat emergency, lasting more than 48 hours, do our villages have designated cooling centres like they do in big cities? Some of our elderly do not have the benefit of air conditioning or the luxury of getting in a car and travelling to Kingston and sit in the mall cooling off. I would imagine that Sydenham would have a few places where the public could go to cool, and probably Verona as well. Our village of Harrowsmith does not have the advantage of a lake or commercial stores large enough or with proper air conditioning. The heat waves are getting hotter and lasting much longer, with little cooling in the evenings and the less fortunate of our population should have an emergency place to go.

Brenda Crawford

[Editor’s Note: We forwarded Brenda Crawford’s letter to the townships and received this reply from North Frontenac CAO Cheryl Robson:

“In the past, the North Frontenac Fire Department had established designated Cooling Centres, which were manned by the firefighters; however, no one used them.

If there was a need shown, we could set up Cooling Centres in the Township of North Frontenac. Therefore, if anyone has a concern please contact Fire Chief Steve Riddell and/or me at 613-479-2231]

Please respect fire bans

I and many of my neighbours would like to extend our thanks for the very speedy and effective response to a fire in Palmerston Highlands on July 9. After the initial response by the members of the Snow Road firefighting team, the crews from Plevna and Ompah were called, in order to contain what could have been a potentially disastrous situation, given the current weather conditions. We are very grateful that the property damage was contained and we were all safe as a result. As this was a first-hand lesson in the dangers of ANY burning during the posted ban, I would urge everyone to take notice and respect the posting of the burn ban issued by our Fire Chief, Steve Riddell. Thank you to all involved.

Sheila Kittle

Re: Disrespected flag

I could not agree more with Vern Martyn's letter (Our Disrespected Flag, June 28/12) regarding flying Canadian flags in a shameful state. Shame on you Canadians who do so without regard for what flying the flag stands for. I have been an Immigrant to Canada for almost 40 years and love and cherish the Maple Leaf flag as well as the flag from my home land of England. Please you people out there, take down those tattered and faded Canadian Flags and either replace them with new ones or don't fly them flag at all. Thank you.

Mary Chapman