Publisher/wedding planner
Dear Publisher:
As you read this and notice that this submission was written by your daughter, I know that you are probably smirking at the fact that your daughter got something by you, without you being in the loop.
As our wedding thank-you cards were just sent out in the mail, we wanted to thank you in a special way. I just kept pondering how we would thank you, but it seems next to impossible to show you how much we appreciate all of the hard work you did in order to ensure that your daughter had the wedding of her dreams.
Darren and I know how much love and hard work you have put into your newspaper, and I thought what better way is there to thank you, then to muster up a short write-up to thank you.
For those of you reading this, I need to put all of my dad’s hard work into perspective. In the early spring, my dad began hoeing the gardens, landscaping, planting a field of sunflowers that could be overseen from the barn in which we got married, and so much more. My dad even etched a heart in the hay field with the letters “B +D” – I am not sure if the D stands for Darren or Dad.
My dad was the ultimate wedding planner and he appeared to be on top of every single detail; the wedding was a low-stress event for myself, all thanks to my dad. Although the pandemic has added hardship and a substantial amount of stress to everyone’s lives, my silver lining throughout the pandemic was the opportunity to enhance the relationship I had with my dad.
I have learned many life lessons from my dad, but the one thing that he has taught me is that “we all have a contribution to make in life, so make it a good one.” That is one thing that I have tried to bring into my professional role as a nurse, and my personal role as a family member, and wife.
The contribution that you gave Darren and I was one that we will never forget. We appreciate all of your hard work, and we are so grateful that we have you as our dad.
Love,
Brooke (your little girl) and Darren (D#2) Mick
Save Greenbelt
Dear Editor:
Ford’s friends and Conservative lobbyists are big developers who would be able to build along Highway 413 and they’ll cash in … big. By securing the support of wealthy developers and pushing the promise of new highways to win votes from drivers, he hopes to score a win in next year’s election.
Ford is spreading misinformation about this destructive highway in a ploy to win votes. He’s trying to convince the public that mega-highways — like Highway 413 — are what Ontario needs.
Here’s the truth. Highway 413 will cost between $6 billion and $10 billion in public money … your tax money. It will pave over the Greenbelt, contaminate waterways and ruin precious farmland. It will destroy important archeological sites of the Huron-Wendat people. All while saving a mere 30 seconds per trip.
Highway 413 is a climate and financial disaster. But the political rationale behind the highway has been exposed.
How much are we willing to put up with? Can we see our small towns become engulfed by huge developments, choked by traffic, our farmland disappearing under earth-contaminating pavement, and more chain stores marring our beautiful landscapes?
Tell your MPP what you think about this disaster in the strongest possible terms. We need to save our beautiful Greenbelt.
Gerry Walsh,
Erin
Bad bridge proposal
Dear Editor:
My thanks to the Wellington Advertiser’s Jordan Snobelen for bringing to light the important issues of the county RMAP proposal to build a new bridge across the Grand River at Wellington Roads 29 and 18, and link it to Wellington Road 19 by way of Anderson Street for a truck bypass east of Fergus.
Our neighbourhood delegation recently informed the Wellington County roads committee of the very serious impacts such a proposal would incur, including (1) diminishing access, enjoyment and protection of a nationally, provincially and locally significant heritage site at Pierpoint Park, (2) wiping out a provincially significant, destination flyfishing and ecologically sensitive area on the stretch of the Grand River where the crossing is proposed, (3) threatening the existence of the old growth hardwood trees on Anderson Street that are in or alongside the right of way, (4) affecting the safety of children in our neighbourhood who use Anderson Street to walk and bike to John Black Public School and (5) destroying a quiet residential neighbourhood that was developed in an orderly planned manner in accordance with the duly approved plans by previous councils. A special mention needs to be made of the use and importance of Pierpoint Park by the teachers of John Black Public School who regularly walk their entire class down to Pierpoint Park for outdoor education, physical education, science and history classes during all seasons.
How has a proposal with so many adverse impacts gotten this far without objection or concern? There have been many planning failures along the way, beginning with the Centre Wellington Long-Term Transportation Plan, approved by council in 2019. Apparently the public, heritage stakeholders, professional planning/engineering staff, engineering consultants, and political representatives all failed to raise a single concern from the list of very consequential objections mentioned above until now.
However, there is good news to report: it is not too late! Plans are paper exercises that exist as a basis for change and they can be changed along the way as new information comes to light.
It is not necessary to walk off the cliff just because someone drew a map with the wrong directions. Indeed, the Centre Wellington Long-Term Transportation has the remedy already mentioned on page 67, Figure 32. This map shows the other alternative for meeting this goal – to use a nearby existing bridge at the 2nd Line and route the bypass to the same point on Wellington Road 19 using the same link to Highway 6!
We are in favour of planning for the future. But to accomplish that end, we should not destroy our heritage, the environment, and existing development to achieve the same goal as a more viable, lower-cost alternative.
Peter Boyer,
Pierpoint Neighbourhood Resident, Fergus
Fears for terminated staff
Dear Editor:
RE: Six area hospital staff terminated for not getting COVID-19 vaccine, Nov. 18.
How can we be so reckless and careless with the lives of others because the behaviour we demand is not performed? No one is discussing how the lives of these people are being affected. How will they feed their children, keep a roof over their heads, pay for medicine or dental costs? How will we prevent these terminated individuals from sliding into severe mental illnesses, drug addiction or criminal behaviour for income”
Angela Stanley et al, should be able to come up with better solutions in management than to terminate individuals who are still entitled to free choice by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is her failing and not that of the individuals who choose not to be vaccinated.
The only people who need be concerned about the unvaccinated, are those who are unvaccinated – and no one else.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests 99.9% of people who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 did not have a severe breakthrough case that led to hospitalization.
New data suggests 1,507 people (about 0.0001%) of those fully vaccinated people died from COVID-19. and 7,101 people of those fully vaccinated people (about 0.005%) were hospitalized from COVID-19.”
Why is any vaccinated individual worried about someone else being vaccinated or not? Our authorities need to seek and publish these facts because the consequences of termination are too dire to allow a raucous demand of “off with their heads” from the general public to dictate employment policy.
Societal invalidation (which occurs when you lose your job) is bleak and ugly. The ultimate consequences of this are dire. Individuals will have mental breakdowns and the possibility of suicides is attenuated. Isn’t that enough to give pause to any policy that recklessly and carelessly tells an employee to “bugger off”?
We should apply common sense rather than exercising authority for the sake of exercising authority.
I am fearful for these disenfranchised individuals. It is arrogant, particularly without knowing their circumstances, to say “oh, they can fix it by getting the shot.” If that is to what we have descended, then society has become truly ugly and the least of our worries is whether or not a person is vaccinated.
Joy Lippai,
Arthur
Applauding and praying
Dear Editor:
RE: Six area hospital staff terminated for not getting COVID-19 vaccine, Nov. 18.
I deeply applaud those six hospital staff who refused to bow down to tyranny. I pray that they will continue the fight against those who would try to force us to take a vaccine.
The facts are out there, but because of the billions of dollars that have been and are being made due to this mandate, big companies can squash anyone who will not comply.
Hooray for these brave souls. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
Nancy Seiling,
Elora
No hospital passport?
Dear Editor:
I am a fully vaccinated senior looking forward to the day I qualify for the booster, happy to patiently wait my turn.
One day last week I went to the library and the pool at the sportsplex where I was asked to show my vax passport and drivers license. I was very happy to comply knowing that these institutions are doing everything in their power to keep us all safe.
I then went to Groves hospital to visit my very ill mother where none of the above was required, merely answering “no” to the usual litany of COVID questions. How can this be possible?
The institution housing people whose health is already compromised, not requiring either a vax passport or a negative test in order to enter and visit patients?! Senseless.
If the vax passport was required everywhere, our lives would be a lot safer and those who live in fear of going anywhere in public might learn to live again.
Karen Eddie,
RR 1 Rockwood
Great group
Dear Editor:
Kudos to the Pierpoint Neighbourhood group for their presentation to the roads committee in November highlighting the historical impact and significance of the Pierpoint Park area in Centre Wellington.
The group has presented very valid facts about the cultural significance of the area, and the potential environmental and tourism impact on the proposed bridge to be built.
Side note: why propose to build a new bridge in the community when there are already several in need of repair and already out of service in close proximity in the region?
Fix those first, please.
Kris Switzer,
Fergus