Letters_July_15_2005

Jeff Green | Jul 15, 2005

Letters July 14, 2005

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Congratulations to Howard Fellows retiring after 40 years of busing. He can now join Carl Burgess, Glendon Redden, Muriel Wemp and others and enjoy their senior years of retirement. Most of our routes with the Frontenac Board were not sold but taken.

Joan Kerr

Regarding letter on Sunday Hunting

I agree that we don't need Sunday gun hunting. As for the abundance of Indian Cards being issued to persons who may not be Native, no card is handed out until that person can prove their Native heritage and then that information is examined fully before that Native person is accepted into any of the six Bands that are found in this area. As for allowing a Native to hunt year round, the letter writer should get her facts before stating anything. All Natives are under strict controls by not only their respective Bands, but also by MNR. Our hunting season starts in September and ends on January 15th. We face penalties just like any one else in this province when poaching occurs outside of the hunt dates specified. We are also limited to the amount that we can take just like any one else. We must carry a POL or PAL, our Native cards, and be dressed all in orange, just like any one else. But as for hunting on a Sunday, it's only guns that are not allowed to be used, hunting with bows or crossbows is still allowed, so if a hunter still wants to hunt on a Sunday, they can by using these weapons.

Jo-Anne Thomas

Regarding: Sunday Gun HuntingI have been reading letters to the editor in the Frontenac News lately taking shots at hunting; Sunday gun hunting and bear issues to be specific. The curious thing is that the letters seem to drift off topic to areas such as aboriginal rights and rapists! Hunting is a legal activity in Ontario and allows the harvesting the natural bounty of our lands whilst providing an outdoor activity for millions of people. There are in place strict laws for safety and conservation to protect sustainable populations of wildlife, as well as the safety of all participants and non-participants in the activity. The issue of Sunday Gun Hunting (on crown land only) has been raised by the MNR as a measure to control Deer over population. The Lords Day Act was passed into law in 1906 and prohibited such things as transporting goods, shopping, entertainment and hunting. Since 1906 every item has been repealed, except Sunday Gun Hunting. This is not an issue of family time, worship, safety or quiet enjoyment of property, it is an emotional issue of understanding what hunting is and means to those who enjoy it. Frank McEvoy

Response on "Gas Guzzlers"

Art Dunham's response on my "Gas Guzzlers" article of last week was accurate and correct. I should have mentioned mileage for the 'Smart Car' specifically. It will be good to have one in the community soon.

As mentioned in the article, other European turbodiesels also are worth looking at. The VW TDI models are rated at 4.6 litres per 100 Km on the highway, even in a wagon body style. You can have more space for about 15 percent additional fuel consumption.

Above all, 7 litres per 100 Km was not suggested as a mileage target; 4 L per 100Km is a much better fuel consumption target.

Thanks to Art Dunham for careful reading and for taking personal action.

Gray Merriam

Re: Leona Dombrowsky

Under most circumstances, it would be good news for farmers and rural families to hear that their local MPP has been made Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Unfortunately, when that MPP is Leona Dombrowsky, one can be forgiven for putting away the champagne and party hats.

Her assumption of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs portfolio comes at a time when the Ministry budget was slashed by over 25%, and emergency funding for farmers was eliminated altogether even though the emergency that it was created to address still exists. For a sector that produces over 10 % of Ontarios GDP, the entire yearly budget for Agriculture and all its programs is about equal to just the loan guarantees the McGuinty government made to the auto sector alone.

We are told that Dombrowskys move to Agriculture represents a higher profile for rural Ontario at the Cabinet table. Those who make such claims are ignorant of her performance so far.

As a candidate in the last provincial election, she promised to take action to halt the expansion of the Richmond Landfill site outside Napanee. As the Minister of Environment, who has the power to do exactly that, she has been unwilling to respond to the concerns of her constituents, and halt the planned expansion of the megadump. Given the dump is no more than five miles from the front door of her constituency office, her inaction does not inspire confidence.

As the Minister for Rural Affairs, she is the person that needs to explain that rural problems cannot be fixed by urban solutions. Unfortunately, as Environment Minister, she oversaw the enacting of expensive, Toronto-style water regulations on all communities. The people of her own riding, in the village of Sydenham, are now facing the costs of compliance a $7 million treatment plant that will give every household a debt of more than $20,000, and yearly bills of more than $500.

Actor Dan Ackroyd has agreed to put together a fundraising benefit concert this summer to help offset the debt for those residents who are on low or fixed income. Given Mr. Ackroyds recent co-hosting of the Live 8 Concert in Barrie, it would seem that the hard-working families of Ms. Dombrowskys own riding are relegated to the same charitable status as the poor of sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike them, however, there will be no debt relief forthcoming.

The other big change in the works is the riding redistribution that will make Dombrowsky accountable to the people of Lanark County. Both as Agriculture Minister, and as someone who presumably wishes to represent Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington in the future, Dombrowsky has a responsibility to act on the legitimate concerns of the Lanark Landowners Association and other rural Ontarians whom she has consistently dismissed and ignored.

Life in rural Ontario will mean more farm bankruptcies, more stifling regulations, fewer services, and no hope, save for the small glimmer offered by Premier Dalton McGuinty that of a provincial election in October 2007. Brent Cameron

Re Sunday Hunting,

In Ms Thompson's article on Sunday hunting I agree.

When I was a little girl growing up in Northbrook, there were four Sunday church services now there is no church. God is being taken out of everything. People don't want to go to church once on Sunday. I fear for Canada for the judgment of God, for the path it is taking. One of the commandments is Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. Sunday is no more Hallowed.

Barbara Woodcock-Lessard