Letters_12-14
Back to Home Letters - April 12, 2012
Letters: Apr 12
Re: Fraser Institute report card, Mike Connolly
Chipmunk die-off, Ron Hipfner
Does everybody in Canada have a computer? Irene Backholm
Re: 14.2% North Frontenac budget increase, Jim Beam
Kudos to firefighters, Christi Laundrie
Re: Fraser Institute report card
I just wanted to thank Jeff Green for his excellent article (School board takes little stock of Fraser report) on the Fraser Institutes ludicrous "Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools". The truth about the total incompetence and uselessness of their so-called rankings needs to be exposed. I just wish Jeff had been a bit more brutal and covered the whole front page with a warning to parents to ignore the nonsense in the report. However, much to your credit, unlike many large newspapers, you did not publish the report as valid findings that people should pay close attention to.
Mike Connolly
Chipmunk die-off
Many of us have noticed that most (or all) of our local chipmunks have not emerged from their winter dens. Of the normal 5-6, we only had 1 this Spring. It was rather lethargic and has since disappeared as well. I’ve biked through the southern Shield area and asked around. Queens Biological Stn. has also reported a severe decline in numbers. Most likely some disease has felled them since even those who dined off the bird feeders have died. I’d like to try to map the extent of the die-off. Please send your observations, and locations to [email protected]
I’ll put up a map of the reports by the end of the month. And if anyone has a chipmunk body please bag it and put it in your freezer for a possible autopsy.
Ron Hipfner, Sydenham
Does everybody in Canada have a computer?
Stephen Harper says so.
A few years ago, a Liberal federal government created a program that gave grants to community libraries that allowed them to provide computer/internet service for local residents. In a Riding like ours, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, many residents either cannot afford to own computers or connect to the internet. This program gave them access to what people in urban areas take for granted. Now, Mr. Harper has decided that everybody in Canada has a computer and is connected to the internet, and we don't need this program anymore. So in his usual sneaky fashion, this program was cancelled on Thursday afternoon, April 5.
If you disagree with Mr. Harper, why not write your Member of Parliament and ask him if he agreed to have this program cancelled and why.
Irene Backholm
Re: 14.2% North Frontenac budget increase
How in the world can people be expected to afford this kind of an increase? The federal and provincial budgets both showed restraint/belt tightening and here we have a municipal council thinking that they should be able to inflict this kind of increase on local ratepayers. It is not acceptable! I want the elected members to explain to all of the ratepayers how they expect us to be able to afford such an increase. Many ratepayers are on fixed incomes and never see any kind of increase that resembles 14.2%. Even those who are working full time, at one or two jobs just to get by, will never see that kind of an increase.
Your editorial regarding the sustainability of North and Central Frontenac makes some excellent points. Combine that with a 14.2% increase and maybe it is time for that amalgamation to happen. Sustainability seems to be the “buzz word” these days. When I drive around North Frontenac Township and see all the “For Sale” signs, I wonder how sustainable this township really is. I am quite sure with a 14.2% increase, there will be a lot more of those signs.
Jim Beam
Kudos to firefighters
With the recent brush fire at Slate Falls Rd on Thursday, April 5, coming dangerously close to burning down several residences at Slate Falls Rd and Clear Lake Rd, we - the citizens here - wish to extend a hearty thank you to the firefighters of Denbigh and Kaladar-Barrie fire departments. It takes courage to run along a fire fast enough to overtake you, and the men and women, most of them volunteers, fought tirelessly to control the blaze. A thank you also to the local citizens who helped, to the woman who called it in, the man who plowed a fire break, allowing the wind-fanned fire to finally be brought under control. One resident would surely have lost his home, as the fire swept so closely along the side and back of his garage and back of his house that it melted some siding. Had the wind been in the opposite direction, it would have endangered even more residences, the owners of which also want yours truly to thank the fire department for their fearless actions. This fire was a scary one, and all of us here are ever so grateful to the men and women who saved our homes. Hats off and Kudos to all of you.
Christi Laundrie
