Modified toy drive is on
Dear Editor:
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the world and Centre Wellington is no exception. The Centre Wellington Food Bank has had to cancel the usual means of collecting food, cash and toys, etc. for their Christmas Hamper drive this year.
We will continue to do our part to support our home community. Reliable Ford has again stepped up to the plate and will continue to partner with the Fergus Lions Club to host the annual Toy Drive, although it will look different again this year. Many thanks go to Greg McCabe and the staff at dealership who really get behind this toy drive in a big way.
There will not be a formal kickoff this year. The toy drive will commence on Nov. 8 and donations will be accepted until Dec. 3. As we did last year, we are asking for gift cards and cash donations be made at the dealership, located at 990 Tower Street South in Fergus.
Please ensure that the original receipt for the dollar value of the gift certificate is enclosed with it, so the balance of the card is clear. Food bank volunteers will ensure that gift cards are distributed evenly. Thank you for understanding.
This is a short time period for this year’s toy drive, but necessary to allow the food bank to evenly distribute funds and gift cards to their clients, enabling them to shop and prepare for their families this holiday season. Gift cards can be purchased at most grocery stores, restaurants, chain stores, etc., but we also encourage supporting local stores that offer gift certificates, making it easy for families to access gifts close to home and helping us all to support local this season.
Our hope is that next year we can resume the fun tradition of a proper toy drive at the holidays, as we know people enjoy the wonderment toys and games bring to children, but until that time, we hope we can count on the incredible generosity of our community to make this year’s toy drive a success.
For more than 20 years, the Fergus Lions Club has been astounded by the kindness and support you have shown this event, and we are grateful for your continued support.
For Elora residents unable to get to Reliable Ford, please drop your donations to 124 John Street in Elora, and we’ll ensure your donations are delivered.
On behalf of the Fergus Lions Club and the team at Reliable Ford, we thank you for your consideration and participation, and sincerely wish you an early Merry Christmas!
Gary Waterhouse,
Fergus Lions Club Toy Drive Chairman
‘Abysmal’ meeting
Dear Editor:
An open Letter to LGBTTQQI Kids in our community.
Being queer, being trans, being different is tough in a small town. It always has been.
For many of us we kept our differences hidden until we found ourselves at university or in the city where we could find our people. We waited until it was safe to be who we were.
I know for some of you, you can’t hide it. You can’t “pass” and your mental health would suffer if you didn’t allow your wondrous, fabulous light to burst forth from within you. I sincerely admire and applaud you.
I am 35 and think that the bravest people on this planet are young people who dare to be themselves. You are inspiring, just as you are.
However, right now, you might be hurting. I want you to know that there are people, strangers, many, many strangers who care deeply about your wellbeing and who want this to be world where you can be yourself without fear of being ostracized or physically harmed.
There are people out here who love you just because you are you.
The UGDSB and community partners made an abysmal attempt to make you feel seen. After the keynote speaker talked about his resume for 15 minutes, barley mentioning transphobia, not inviting gender diverse speakers and not requiring people to identify their pronouns, it became clear that the meeting was not for you. The intention of the “meeting,” (if we can continue to call it that) was to make the community agencies and the UGDSB tick off some boxes and move on with business as usual.
Keep heart, continue to fight for being you. Fight systems that will simply pay a hate crime with lip service. Fight systems that will nod at your concerns and then do nothing. Fight to be seen and fight to be represented by people who look like you.
And, if you need us, there are many vocal, outraged, organized adults in your community.
Tiffany Burtch,
Fergus
‘Grow a spine’
Dear Editor:
RE: Principal: transphobia, homophobia on the rise at CWDHS, Nov. 4.
It is with true amazement that I read this article by Joanne Shuttleworth.
As a parent, and grandparent, it comes as no surprise that these issues are on the rise.
To quote Greta Thurnberg, the policies currently in place, and those being recommended have no “teeth”. It’s all “blah, blah, blah, and more blah, blah, blah.” It sounds and looks like something is being done and good for “politics”.
Let’s look at the offenders. Where is the accountability, and the consequences? Where are the charges? Where is the one-year suspensions? Where are the hours of community service?
The recommendations by the school board and those experts are nothing short of a joke. We need to set an example right now!
With no accountability and no consequences, this matter will only increase in time. It’s because the offenders know that they can get away with it.
Come on, we can do better. Let’s grow a spine. So sad.
Herb Dolinsek,
Clifford
‘Learn from mistakes’
Dear Editor:
To all the unconstructive voices and opinions on the “the fight at CWDHS.” Stop, do you want to be judged so harshly? Who here has not done or said something that they wished they could take back? Who here has never been angry and lashed out either with their fists or mouth? I know I don’t want to be judged on my worst day! I know I would want forgiveness! To receive forgiveness, you need to demonstrate it. May you and your children not be judged as harshly as you have judged. May you receive grace and forgiveness when you need it the most.
To the children involved. I am sorry that society is not kinder to you and that you are going through this. We all have made bad choices without realizing consequences. Things are not easy during this time in your life. Do not hold on to this moment and let it define you. Who I was as a teenager/young adult, is not who I am now! I made mistakes and I am sorry for them all. Now that I am older, I see things so much differently than I did then.
When you get older you will see beauty where you thought there was none. You will appreciate things you never thought you would.
I do not judge either of you. You both have pain. Release it; saying “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you” is powerful. Real strength is walking away from a fight; it is also forgiving someone for their moment of weakness.
Who you are today is not who you will become. Learn from mistakes and pain, grow from it. Let all moments bring out the best in you.
Amy Page,
Fergus
Thankful for 911 call
Dear Editor:
I wish to thank the good Samaritan who reported an intruder breaking into my home on St. David Street South in Fergus on the afternoon of Nov. 2.
The intruder was attempting to break in by smashing a patio door while I was inside.
OPP advised me that a school child observed the intruder, ran home to tell their mother who called 911. The intruder was apprehended a few blocks away a short time later.
Thanks to the actions of the responsible young person, I did not have to confront the intruder inside my house.
Michael Pearson,
Fergus
Recognizing publisher
Dear Editor:
I was waiting for a flood of letters of appreciation after William (Bill) Adsett’s death and then was shocked to not see any – so I must not let any more time pass by without expressing my sincerest appreciation for the many things Mr. Adsett did for Wellington County residents.
When a newcomer needed to know about the whole area he was about to enter, the Advertiser was a truly priceless asset! A reader discovered the local events from the schools, the farmers’ clubs, the local government and the nearby ones as well.
The Advertiser introduced everyone to the new neighbourhood. It was an invaluable tool which soon became a trusted friend.
Last month, I read that Adsett began his work by stuffing each country mail box with a copy of the Advertiser. As soon as readers realized what a treasure this weekly visitor was they reached into their new community and became active partners too.
Because I experienced this happy experience myself when we moved to Eramosa, where we lived in a farm area that was strange to us, the Advertiser was always watched for every week so that we could find out what was new.
Later we moved to Rockwood and I was interested to see that a one page sheet was added because I was lonely for some news of the neighbourhood that I had just joined. I asked Mr. Adsett if he’d like some additional information on his little sheet and that I would gladly supply it. At this time I had no idea how I’d fulfil my promise!
Mr. Adsett agreed and the Eramosa News began. My first bit of news was nearby, since my own wedding anniversary was the very next week. From this time on I hounded every one in local country organizations to tell me “who, what and where” – and I used a very modern word processor.
Later I added photos from a modern camera which “spit” out the immediate photos for me. People began to tell me club news so I knew it was read. Mr. Adsett kept on printing my free edition for Eramosa readers until the 1990s, when the financial crunch hit the world.
Although my paper had now 22 pages of news, readers were so accustomed to free news that they were not willing to pay a subscription, so the paper died.
But without the kindness and support of Mr. Adsett I would have missed out on a very delightful introduction to Eramosa residents!
I hope more people will be encouraged to send in their own stories about this fine Canadian. He was a truly special Wellington “advertiser” and without his work and incentive, this area of Ontario would be poor indeed!
Sytske Drijber,
Rockwood
Remembrance poem
Dear Editor:
Lest We Forget
I walk the way of the banners,
They flutter in the breeze;
I stop and look upon each smile
And linger for awhile.
I read their names,
I speak them silently,
Their youthful faces don’t speak back,
Or tell of what they see
If we have life and freedom.
We say thank you to each one
We will remember them…
Elizabeth Hughes,
Puslinch
And another
Dear Editor:
Remembrance: that which serves
To bring to – or to keep in mind,
Or is given as a gift,
Or a souvenir,
Or a memorial,
Or a memento,
Or kept in mind,
Or the recalling of an event,
Or being reminded of someone
Or something.
What is your remembrance this Remembrance Day?
J. Goring,
Rockwood
One more
Dear Editor:
‘Go to the Crosses’
Go to the crosses
That stand row on row
In quiet reflection
Hear the wind moan
As it cries for lost lovers
Lost sons and lost friends.
It cries because it knows
War never ends.
Go to the crosses
Give thanks for the grace
That let all those others
Lie in your place.
Hold holy the loss
Given for you
Let your thoughts rise
In deep gratitude.
Go to the crosses
That stand row on row
In quiet reflection
Let your tears flow.
Joy Lippai,
Arthur
Sounds nice, but…
Dear Editor:
I understand that Eric van Grootheest is hoping to erect a five-storey apartment block on St. Andrew Street West, just west of the United Church.
While I am all in favour of replacing the existing eyesore, a five-storey block? Please, no.
Heritage planners will tell you that when inserting a new building into an established older neighbourhood, the main consideration should be height. Three storeys would be fine, but five would dominate the streetscape, towering over all the other buildings near it, and completely overshadow the very attractive United Church (and no, I am not a member of that congregation). It would be completely alien to the character of our downtown.
Secondly, Mr. van Grootheest should clarify his target market. While saying, truly, that there is a need for seniors’ accommodation, and that this site is convenient to downtown, he seems to think that the legal minimum for parking spaces should be adequate, since “bicycles will be provided.”
Sounds very nice, but since many, if not most, seniors have health and/or mobility problems, how many prospective tenants would make use of his bikes? They, and their visitors, will still need vehicles to get around, and space to park them. Or does he envision a building full of athletically-inclined seniors cheerfully puffing uphill to Freshco or Zehrs to get their groceries? In winter? Really? I should think such a market would be vanishingly small.
Younger people would probably be delighted to rent his units, but they too would need cars, possibly even two per unit. They would have to get to work, as well as run errands, and how many employers provide a shower and change room for their cycling employees in the sweltering summer months? They would no doubt appreciate the bicycles in their leisure time, but not enough to justify the minimalist parking facilities envisioned by Mr. van Grootheest.
A sensitively-designed three-storey building with adequate parking for the tenants, and their visitors, would be an excellent addition to Fergus. Mr. van Grootheest just needs to re-think his plans and ambitions.
Jane Schickerowsky,
Fergus
‘Good Samaritan’
Dear Editor:
Good Samaritans are sometimes hard to find now a days. On Nov. 1, the first day of hunting season, I found two such people. In this day and age when people don’t like to get involved it is refreshing to know that there are people out there who will help you in a crisis.
I had been up to Thornbury to visit my elderly dad and was coming home to Fergus in the later part of the afternoon. I’d just turned off Highway 4 west of Flesherton onto Grey Road 14 when wham! a deer ran out of the trees by the side of the road right into the side of my van. The van was still drivable so I backed up a bit to be parallel with the dead deer.
I am old school and don’t have a cell phone, so now what? I waited for a bit and finally a guy in a half ton came along. He stopped, but said his cell phone had just died. He pulled the deer into the ditch so it wouldn’t be a distraction, then drove off.
The next guy was an older man and was old school like me. “A cell phone? Are you kidding?” So, I waited a bit longer. I was beginning to feel like the man in the Bible who’d gotten beaten up and was left dying in a ditch when three people walked by him. Finally, my good Samaritan came by!
Wally was his name. An 87-year-old gentleman who did have a cell phone. He said he’d look after everything, called the police and stayed with me until they came. What a blessing!
The police officer who came was also great. I know that many want the police defunded, but where would we be without them? The constable was also from Fergus and is working up in the Grey Bruce detachment. We also know his grandfather. It is nice to have a connection with someone. He had all the info done quickly and I was on the road again in short order. What a blessing!
Again I am reminded that we are called to be that good Samaritan to others. Whether we know them personally or not, whether they are the same nationality or not, or whether they have the same beliefs as us or not, we are called to be a light in this dark world that seems to be getting darker by the minute.
I may never see these men again but I can ‘pay it forward’ to someone else who is ‘lying in a ditch ‘ somewhere and needs a hand or even an encouraging word.
Glenda Newson,
Fergus
Flying ‘hypocrites’
Dear Editor:
The COP26 climate conference in Scotland is a ridiculous joke. The attendees are crying that the sky is falling, but we all can see they don’t really believe it.
About 30,000 people flew to the conference on 400 private jets pouring 13,000 tonnes of CO2 into the very atmosphere they are piously crying that they are trying to save. A British newspaper calculated that that is more than 1,600 Scots would produce in an entire year.
When asked why they could not have held the conference by Zoom, a COP official said, “But when you really get into crunch negotiations – when you want to look somebody in the eye and talk to them face to face, you do need to meet in person and this is really critical.” Why is that?
If they really believed the Earth was going to fry and all of us with it, if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels, they would not need a conference at all. They would cap all oil wells and close all coal mines immediately. They would have grounded all planes. They have been yapping about this for so long they could have given everyone an electric car long ago.
All energy production has risks which we have to live with. Oil and gas emit airborne pollution. Wind turbines kill birds and end up in our dumps after 20 years and solar panels end up there too. Both are not reliable and need oil and gas backups. Coal is a really dirty polluter. Bioplants operators cut down and burn the very trees which are supposed to sequester carbon.
Nuclear power has the potential of radiating a huge area around a power plant and no one wants the spent fuel rods in their backyard. Even hydro dams could burst, however unlikely. The “green” electric cars which are supposed to help save us have batteries made with heavy metals. The number of mines needed to get these heavy metals will be a huge disruption to the very Earth they are trying to save. And when those millions upon millions of large car batteries are dead will all the countries of the world dispose of them correctly, if that is even possible?
If the crisis climate change believers lived by their creed they would not fly in planes. They look like a holy-roller Christian who openly keeps a mistress on the side. The leaders at COP26 are flying sky-is-falling-in hypocrites!
Jane Vandervliet,
Erin
The ‘world is watching’
Dear Editor:
We live in Ontario but we also share concerns with other Canadians about our national treasures: our old growth forests.
The British Columbia government just came out with its long-awaited update on protection for some of the last ancient rainforests in western Canada – unfortunately, it was a mixed bag.
First, the good news: for the first time ever, an incredible 2.6 million hectares of old growth are in need of immediate logging deferrals. The government signalled their intention to protect these fragile ecosystems. But – and this is a big but – they once again delayed actually implementing these deferrals. In the meantime, 1,000-year-old trees are still falling across the province! Can you believe that, as usual, big money wins over the trees.
The people who are cutting them down don’t even see their ancient and stunning beauty. They see furniture, buildings and many other items that will never measure up to what was the wisdom and stewardship that the first of all trees share with the entire forest!
This comes a day after world leaders promised to prioritize forest protection at COP26. Forests in British Columbia, Canada are some of the most carbon-rich and biodiverse on the planet, and today’s announcement has left them on the chopping block.
Right now, we need to show the BC government that the whole world is watching as a new global climate action plan comes to fruition at the global climate summit, COP26.
Gerry Walsh,
Erin
Loathes long lineups
Dear Editor:
I went to Walmart on Nov. 2. the store was full of customers; all cashiers’ lanes blocked except two.
Dozens of people were waiting in line as I expect they, like myself, do not want to use the self cashier.
Keeping seniors on their feet in line for way too long is unacceptable. I put my items back and went to Shoppers Drug Mart for the things I needed.
This is ridiculous.
Guy Roy,
Erin
Doesn’t like notes
Dear Editor:
Ontarians now required to provide proof of vaccination for restaurants, bars, gyms – 680news.com, Sept. 22.
TTC announce mandatory vaccination policy for employees as of Oct. 30 – toronto.citynews.ca, Sept. 7.
RBC makes COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for all employees – toronto.ctvnews.ca, Aug. 20.
Workers who resist vaccine mandates may not be eligible for EI, according to feds – ctvnews.ca, Oct. 21.
Editor’s note: No one is being “forced to take the vaccine against their will.” – Wellington Advertiser, Oct. 21.
Looking at the headlines, I shake my head when I hear it said people aren’t forced to get vaccinated when headlines suggest “anti-vaxxers” are looking at mandatory “re-education” or facing other employer discipline including termination for not complying. And now, no EI benefits if you are terminated.
I guess you mean that people aren’t strapped to a table and “forced” to take the vaccine, but I think your editor’s note needs work.
Jason Gibbs,
Rockwood
*Editor’s note: No one is being forced to take the vaccine against their will. It remains a personal choice that may have consequences.
Land acknowledgement
Dear Editor:
There is no excuse for the lack of land acknowledgement in this day and time of Truth and Reconciliation.
Speaking directly and respectfully in circle with the six Indigenous staff tasked with drawing this up, is the first step for Centre Wellington councillors.
Of course, Mayor Kelly Linton does not see the problem in being without a land acknowledgement. For this council, the land acknowledgment either does not matter (“we’ll only end up saying it by rote”, projects the warden, revealing more of himself than anyone else) or it matters too much!
Once it is acknowledged that Elora Fergus and the surrounding townships are in the Haldimand Tract, their failure to present any development plans to HDI (Haudenosaunee Development Council) becomes a hot political issue. Once they acknowledge being under One Dish and One Spoon Wampum area within broader treaties, the developer’s greed, refusal of community access, clear-cutting of old trees, pollution of Grand River waters, disregard of local biosphere, Indigenous, Black and other settler heritage will be seen in all its lack of reciprocity.
Do you know any other Ontario council in 2021 that still sounds like that and looks like this?
And is consistently split 4-3 in terms of responses to the community they are supposed to represent?
Time for more diversity and more councillors.
Eimear O’Neill,
Fergus
‘
We have a choice’
Dear Editor:
The Hot or Cool Institute based in Germany released a study leading up to the Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Oct. 31 to Nov. 12.
The study examines how 10 countries, Canada among them, are positioned to achieve the 2030 and 2050 targets regarding carbon emissions. At present (2019 data) the average Canadian produces 14.2 metric tonnes of C02 each year.
I want to note three of the study’s findings. First, achieving the established goals will take more than technical fixes, we will have to fundamentally change our way of life. Simple, costless technological fixes that will reduce our carbon footprint do not exist. It is time to stop talking and time to start making changes in how we live.
Second, if all Canadians chose to go meatless two days a week, we could reduce our carbon foot print by 400kg of CO2 annually. Such a shift would improve certain aspects of our health as well as reducing the carbon created. It is a change, but it is do-able.
Third, if we traded in our gas burning vehicles for hybrid or electric ones, we could reduce our carbon foot print by 1.2 metric tonnes of CO2 each year. Here there is room for government support in offering rebates to get gas burning vehicles off the road. Inviting us to bring in our vehicles in exchange for cash towards the purchase of better ones. In the process people might discover they don’t need a vehicle at all. Even without government support, this is a responsible move to make.
We are being invited to join the effort to reduce the damage being done to the Earth. We have a choice to make. What will it be?
Peter Bush,
Fergus
Loves fall colours
Dear Editor:
I waited all year for my favourite season, to see the natural changing colours of God’s creation.
It’s rare that the leaves stay on the trees long enough to see the full colour change process of green to greenish-blue to indigo to yellow to orange and (my favourite) red.
I’m hopeful that this is the year.
Carol O’Neil,
Fergus