Letters to the Editor submitted to the Feb. 9 edition of the Minden Times.
Big thanks to Canoe FM!
To the Editor,
The Volunteer Dental Outreach for Haliburton County (VDO) would like to express deep gratitude to Canoe FM for once again selecting our charity (among several others) as a recipient of Radio Bingo. This popular fundraiser recently added $5,000 to our bank account, making it possible for us to continue to meet the dental needs of low-income residents. In 2019, we accepted a $12,500 contribution from the same initiative.
With the ongoing support of organizations like Canoe FM, our volunteer dental professionals have been able to provide $3.4 million worth of dentistry over 10 years. It’s truly been remarkable to see our community pull together amidst these challenging times in support of multiple worthy causes. Haliburton County is a better place because of your generosity.
Sincerely,
VDO board of directors
Counter-protest by donation
To the Editor and friends in Haliburton County,
I was saddened to see a rally in our county this past Saturday, supporting the occupation in Ottawa. The message that this sends to all the hard working people in healthcare and other essential services (including truckers), who have kept our society going during the biggest challenge of our lifetime is disturbing. On the international scene, it is an embarrassment! My gut instinct was to want to run out and counter-protest, but I felt that this would only create a larger issue and increase the likelihood of conflict in our community.
I understand that people are frustrated. This pandemic is nobody’s fault. Both our federal and provincial governments have full intentions of rolling back pandemic restrictions this year. We literally just passed the peak of this wave a few weeks ago, so not all restrictions can be lifted immediately. Different countries are peaking at different times, so won’t be on the same timeline for easing restrictions.
How we respond now, in this recovery period, be it with innovation, inclusion, kindness and support or with hatred, anger and divisive tactics, is a reflection of the kind of people we are. Hate inducing, selfish, aggressive tactics and campaigns of misinformation have no business in our community or our nation. Instead of participating in these protest events and associating our good Canadian flag with shameful mob-like aggression, I truly and sincerely encourage the people of Haliburton County to do something positive instead.
I would like to invite like-minded individuals to join me in our own convoy of healing to uplift our community from the effects of this pandemic and to counteract all the hate and aggression we are seeing right now. Help a neighbour, make a donation to a community organization supporting those who are struggling, thank a healthcare worker or essential worker, leave an extra tip for your server, etc. That is how we heal our community. That is the Haliburton County way.
On Saturday, instead of going to counter-protest and legitimizing this awful behaviour, I made a $50 donation to the Haliburton County Heat Bank. What positive change can you make? If the organizers of this occupation can raise over $10,000,000 for hate, what can we raise for hope?
Emmeline Ruttle
Minden Hills
What? They fix potholes?
To the Editor,
Re: Letter to the Editor Feb. 2, regarding road repairs.
After reading the letter from Paul Zalan and the report from the consultants which was similar to their first report in 2018, it comes as no surprise to me that our roads are still neglected.
I am not sure why we the taxpayers have to pay for consultants twice to realize the road issues. As residents of Sandy Bay Road we enjoy a very smooth drive in the winter when the snow plows fill and pack all the holes on a regular basis with snow. The other three seasons are brutal.
Let’s hope this council or the next one takes these reports seriously.
As for Mr. Zalan’s concerns about overfilling potholes, it is usually a practice to overfill a little so that traffic packs it down flush. If it were to pack too low it could become a dip and hold water and defeat the purpose of the repair.
Jack Sward
Minden
