Support ‘sucks’
Dear Editor:
In your article Region declared variant ‘hotspot’ (June 17) issue, it says: “Individuals having trouble booking online can call 1-844-780-0202 for support.” Is this a joke?
I tried calling the public health line several times every day from June 14 to 18 and was not able to get through.
The first time I called, on June 14, I called at exactly noon, the opening time for support booking the second dose. I thought that, by calling right at opening time, I wouldn’t have to wait long. Boy, was I ever wrong! I gave up after being on hold for over two hours. I tried calling again another eight times throughout the day, that was even worse. Every time I got a message telling me that due to the high volume of calls I had to call later. After this message, the system hung up on me.
I tried calling multiple times for the next four days. I stopped counting how many times when reached 30. Every time it was the same, call back later.
What kind of support is this? It sucks.
Anthony Martins,
Elora
‘Let down and ignored’
Dear Editor:
I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the Fergus sportplex on April 5. It was a well organized and professionally conducted event.
Recently, through social media I became aware that my second dose appointment details would be emailed or texted to me between June 14 and 16 (later changed to the 14th to the 18th on the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) website.
By June 18 I had not received the promised communique from WDGPH. I have attempted calling the phone numbers they provided for assistance many times without success; they simply automatically hang up.
I am a concerned citizen who feels let down and ignored by my health system, and I can relate that others have experienced similar issues.
I continued calling the WDGPH phone numbers on Saturday and Sunday with no success. I also tried the WDGPH postings on Twitter, but without the required confirmation email or text, that I never received, there was no way to make an appointment with the weekend pop-up sites in Orangeville and Guelph.
But all was not lost.
On Sunday I discovered through Vaccine Hunters Ontario that appointments were available at the David Braley Health Science Center in Hamilton. So rather quickly I drove down to Hamilton and received my second dose of Moderna vaccine.
Thank you, Hamilton.
John McWhinnie,
Hillsburgh
Water walk
Dear Editor:
Save Our Water would like to thank Shane Philips for his Ear to the Groundwater Walk.
He stopped at the Middlebrook well, the banner on Mill Street in Elora, and then walked to Fergus to Ted Arnott’s and Michael Chong’s offices, dropping off letters to them. He pointed out the insanity of giving away groundwater that the community relies upon. He then walked to Hillsburg the following day.
Shane grew up in Fergus and knew from his family what happened in Kerala, India when Coca Cola pumped until the wells went dry. No one wants that to happen here. No one wants to deal with the millions of plastic water bottles produced by commercial water bottling either.
Thank you for bringing forward these issues to our communities.
Donna McCaw,
Elora
ATV enthusiasts
Dear Editor:
On behalf of my entire family, I would like to thank Chris White and Corey Woods and all of the members of Guelph/Eramosa council for changing bylaw 30-2021 to allow the use of ATVs in the township.
We are 68 years old and have lived in the township all of our lives and finally now we do not have to drive for hundreds of miles north to get to a location to ride our ATVs.
We all feel we are much safer right here in Eramosa. This new by law makes it fair use of our township as compared to skidoos, bicycles, motorcycles and other recreational machines.
When we do ride it is a great way to know your community and meet your neighbours. The people that wave to us and stop to talk to us are amazing. This only shows that Guelph/Eramosa is a leader in a place to work, live and play in.
I would also like to mention the amount of jobs this will create; mechanics, sales people, manufacturing, the list is endless. So please, everyone ride safe, obey all the laws and have fun in this great way to exercise and get out in the fresh air in our own community.
Jim and Judy Machen,
Rockwood
Family thankful
Dear Editor:
You made it happen! The article the Advertiser ran about Scarlett and the fundraiser (Family holding fundraiser for Fergus girl with Rett syndrome, June 3), contributed to over $56,000 being raised to purchase a brand new 2020 Toyota sienna accessible van for our family.
We are so incredibly grateful and astounded at the outpouring of love and financial support for our family. 2020 was a difficult year for many of us – and especially so for our family as our daughter lost the ability to walk, setting off a cascade of needs to be addressed.
Centre Wellington is the best place to live and this was affirmed again by your generosity and help during a very difficult time. Thank you does not seem adequate to express the depth of gratitude we have for our family, friends, and community rallying around us.
Every time I drive it I can feel the backing of our community shoring us up. Although Scarlett still has Rett syndrome, this helped take away some of the physical and financial strain in our lives – love in action. We are forever grateful.
Over 250 donors made this happen, many anonymous or complete strangers to us. Thank you!
The Dekorte family (Jason, Melody, Evan, Rowan, Calvin and Scarlett), Fergus
Not a simplistic issue
Dear Editor:
RE: People over politics, June 17.
Patrick Doyle says, “When one nation assails another, or their own people, it is the responsibility of all other nations to condemn these acts, and act against it, regardless of politics.” This is true, generally speaking, but applied to the Palestinian/Israel conflict, is still simplistic.
If the whole world agreed to give either the Palestinians or the Jews the best land with the best resources in the world neither side would accept. Muslims will never give up the Temple Mount because they claim Mohammad rode up to heaven from that spot and most Palestinians are Muslim. Zionist Jews want the Temple Mount because that is where the Biblical Israelite temple once stood and a significant part of Christianity wants them to rebuild it. To all of these people it really is The Holy Land. No other place will do despite Israel being a small, rocky and dry land.
Many countries really fear that if Iran were to get nuclear weapons there would be a real chance of it using these weapons against Israel, which will undoubtedly fire the same back. All the countries in the Middle East have a stake in the conflict as well as other countries using that situation to fight their own proxy wars. Does Israel have a right to exist? Do you want to fight a nuclear war over it?
Power is applied through government and so human rights are applied through government. In democracies it is through politics that governments are chosen. Human rights and politics always go hand in hand. In Canada, each political party takes a stand on various human rights abuse situations. Apparently, The Green Party of Canada is imploding over the Palestinian/Israel issue as I write this.
Canada has a short history but throughout it has stacked up a heap of human rights abuses on its various citizens and especially on the Indigenous nations who were here before the “settlers” came. Let’s yell at Mr. Chong over that, which might be more efficacious. The Middle East situation is impossible to solve, especially for Canadian politicians.
Jane Vandervliet,
Erin
Not sustainable
Dear Editor:
RE: Fossil fuels, June 10.
I’ve read the green energy debate between Ron Moore and Henry Brunsweld and honestly, is this even a debate any more?
It seems to me that most climate scientists have deemed the idea of continued massive carbon emissions as not beneficial to a healthy planet. With that hard (and irrefutable) truth, what are we supposed to do? The technology for a green society isn’t there yet, but we’re not using dial up internet any more either, so investment into new technologies does ramp up pretty quickly now. We’re just living in a society of instant gratification and lack the patience for the science to develop the solutions in the due time it takes.
China, India and Russia can continue to spew carbon into the atmosphere, but creating green technologies now can only set up our future generations for success. Those other countries will either benefit from these forward thinking societies or get left behind. Ask Blockbuster how not adapting to new tech has worked out for them.
It’s easy to throw stones at new ways of thinking, but maybe come at the problem with possible solutions next time instead of tearing apart progressive thoughts as a way of maintaining a lifestyle that has zero chance of being sustainable in 50 years.
Jeff Babister,
Rockwood
‘Refreshing’
Dear Editor:
It is refreshing to see that there are opposing views to our resident climate “doom and gloom” prognosticator Ron Moore.
Peter Mandic (Wrong direction, June 10) correctly states that greater damage to the environment is done by the “green environmentalists” who advocate cutting forests to produce electricity instead of burning coal.
Henry Brunsveld (Fossil fuels, June 10) correctly outlines the points that we, in Canada, are insignificant in terms of creating any kind of pollution due to burning fossil fuels. The real “inconvenient truth” is that China just goes merrily doing what it wants and we are turning ourselves into a pretzel trying to cut down on emissions.
Dushan R. Divjak,
Elora
Hard workers
Dear Editor:
RE: Deafening silence, May 6.
It was most fitting to write a tribute to nurses who apparently sometimes endure verbal and other disrespect. Of course, they should be well compensated with pay and respect.
As a longtime resident in a large private seniors residence I do not observe that disrespect, nor did I see any disrespect in a general hospital where I received good care and treatment recently.
Certainly hard-working RNs, RPNs and PSWs should be recognized and well paid. As a patient I’ve witnessed real thanks to nursing staff.
As well, we patients/taxpayers deserve recognition and respect too.
Helen Hansen,
Guelph
‘Lives we used to have’
Dear Editor:
RE: What will it be like? (June 3).
I think there was a lot of thought behind what it might be like when businesses and schools open and what it will be like having a sense of normality. The pandemic has prevented my family from putting on a deck. As a result of the pandemic, the cost of wood is expensive and the whole process is different now. There was a lot of focus on businesses and the struggles that they have endured because of the pandemic, but I think something else to focus on are the citizens.
With schools and businesses opening up, making personal adjustments to everything will look different than the adjustments that had to be made since the pandemic started.
Children that can attend school again might be anxious because of being online for so long, and those that are running businesses could also feel the same way, due to the reopening of stores, factories, etc.
While there will definitely be positivity coming out from the struggles of the pandemic, there will also be hardships adjusting to the lives we used to have.
Selena Anderson,
Fergus
‘Only thing they did’?
Dear Editor:
Lately the news has been of disturbing news and discoveries. The discovery off the graves of 215 Indigenous children at Kamloops Residential school has been uppermost in my mind.
The rioters who have defaced and toppled statues of historic figures such as Macdonald and Ryerson have it all wrong! These figures were part of the government at that time when an act was passed by parliament to start the Residential schools. The only thing they did was to have people hired to build and staff the schools.
The real culprits are the staff at the various schools. Any given group of people has its share of perverts, sadists and abusers – sexual and physical. These are the people to blame for what went on in the schools like at Kamloops and many others. Unfortunately, these abusers were never voted out, and no one believed the children.
What acts passed by our present government will stand up to the scrutiny of future generations?
Alieda Murray,
Palmerston
‘Lack of thought’
Dear Editor:
I found the way that Elora had set things up for the weekend extremely lacking in imagination at the very least – and discriminatory and unfair to say the worst.
The number of tables allowed on outdoor sidewalk patios should have been the same for every business that was open. Instead of that, some had a lot more than others, giving them an unfair advantage.
Not only that, but closing the road caused the Legion accessible parking to be obstructed, leaving just one accessible space way up the road that appeared to be occupied by a vehicle without a permit.
I fail to see the need for all the flower pots, when they block an accessible parking spot and many others that are desperately needed at that location.
There is a potential for conflict of interest here that needs looking into – and certainly the lack of thought given regarding seniors, veterans and residents in the area.
Malcolm McCulloch,
Fergus
Gypsy moth advice
Dear Editor:
As my sister in Tottenham area, two brothers in Midland and my sister in Arnprior have all had serious outbreaks of gypsy moths in their area, I thought it wise to protect my oak tree, since gypsy caterpillars love those trees the best and are capable of completely defoliating any tree.
They will eat poplars, birches, maples and even cedars and spruce trees. If you live in town and have only a few trees on your property, you can protect them by putting burlap around the base about a foot and a half in width overlapping at the edge. Then tie a piece of binder twine tightly around the top part about a third of the way down. Pull a flap down from the top to the edge of the string.
The caterpillars come down for water after munching away at the leaves, and then go back up again. They will get stuck under the flap and then you can pick them off and either immerse them in a couple of inches of water in a pail or squish them with your foot.
I got 100 the first day and the amount has diminished each day in just a few days. For the last few days I have had none. With just a few trees, it is easy and effective.
Christy Doraty,
Fergus