Letters to the Editor

LINDSAY

ADVOCAT E

Lock your cars, says reader

Just a warning… At 2 a.m. on Jan. 22 I awoke and grabbed a biscuit snack. It was snowing heavily. I could see headlights way up Bond Street, from my home on Adelaide Street. They would creep closer and stop, over and over. So I watched. Then I could see a guy dressed all in black walk down Bond Street while his buddy stayed in their small, noisy car. They looked like they were checking for vehicles left unlocked. As the guy got to Adelaide, I was ready to call police. He must have seen me standing in the window because he turned and walked back to the car on Bond and they drove south on Adelaide. By then it was too late to bother the police but I will know the vehicle if I see or hear it again.

Be sure all your windows are closed up tight. Be sure your vehicle is locked. Do not leave money or valuables in your vehicle. The creeps are out there! Mary Wootton, Lindsay

Where is the GO bus?

Thank you Kirk Winter (Advocate writer) for your article on amalgamation and Lawrence Barker (letter, Jan. Advocate) for “Why city and not municipality?”

About 20 years ago we travelled between Barrie and our cottage in Bancroft. One Monday we discovered a sign in Kinmount: City of Kawartha Lakes. It took us some time before we discovered this city; not even the CAA road map could show us this magic city.

Now I have lived in Lindsay — I will not use “city” — for more than 10 years. I love living here! One thing I found out very fast: If you are a senior citizen without a car, you are stuck. No GO bus to Peterborough! I cannot understand. Beaverton, Cannington, Sunderland, Port Perry, all have GO bus connections. Why not Lindsay?

A few years ago, I attended two meetings with people from city hall to discuss the GO bus situation. We signed petitions. Nothing positive developed. Two to three years ago I attended a meeting at the Lindsay rec centre which Mayor Andy Letham attended. I asked about the GO bus situation. I had the feeling I touched a sore spot. He told me, “We have plans for the future.”

Are they working on those plans? Could we interest our local MPP and Minister of Infrastructure Laurie Scott in our GO bus connection? Gunter Schubert, Lindsay

Time to move past climate change denials

It has been so satisfying to see the action that the new Biden presidency is bringing to climate change in the U.S. It is a sea change and one can only hope that it will push our federal, provincial and municipal governments to step up. There is so much to be done.

But to then open The Lindsay Advocate and see a letter to the editor rolling out the same out climate denial arguments makes one realize that there is still pushback from a certain portion of our population.

In this case the letter said that science was ignoring slight changes in the tilt of the earth on its axis or changes in its orbit or changes in volcanic activity etc. and that these natural processes and not man-made greenhouse gases, have been altering earth’s climate for billions of.

Yes, these things and many others do affect our climate, but the truth is that all these factors are very closely followed by our climate scientists. Scientists refer to these factors as “climate forcings.” A forcing can be positive or negative; that is, it can tend to warm or cool our climate and can change from year to year. The point is all these things are considered and their amplitudes closely measured. But the forcing that far outweighs all the others and that is now driving climate change is our carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is now higher than it has been at any time in the last three million years. It is time to move past this silly argument.

Barry Snider, Lindsay

Former reeve saw amalgamation coming

In the early 1990s I sat on county council as the reeve of the United Townships of Laxton, Digby and Longford. Foreseeing amalgamation, I did a rough draft of a proposal and brought it up at council and suggested that a committee be formed to come up with a proposal. I said if we didn’t do something it would be done for us. Some of the other members were adamant that it wouldn’t happen and we would be wasting our time.

The end of the decade saw it imposed on us. Doug Horton, Kawartha Lakes

Amalgamation created bureaucracy, tax increases

After reading the article about amalgamation (Jan. cover story, Advocate), there were comments, from some, suggesting that many services were now better. I wondered if other taxpayers would agree. We were told that amalgamation would be more efficient and save money. But most taxpayers have seen increases, some as much as 40 per cent.

In Victoria County, the total cost of the county council, including warden and 22 councillors, was less than one senior administrator today. Victoria County plus all the municipalities had about 400 employees. Today we have at least four times that number, and yet the overall area is still the same.

Amalgamation created a bureaucracy that controls everything. At one time you could go to your local council meeting and speak directly to your council. They listened, and collectively made decisions. Now it is very difficult to speak to the council as a whole. If you do, the council will refer the issue to staff for a report.

Previous municipalities had a surplus for “rainy days.” Now we have no idea what our debt is. It is not reported in the budget; it is chopped into pieces, then shuffled around until everything is hidden in a fiscal smokescreen. The true debt, as understood by most people, must be $100 million.

Some will say that we need to move on and that may be true. My question is are we moving in the right direction?

Faye McGee, Fenelon Township

Living in Toronto makes opinion valid, says reader

In a letter to the editor, Biz Agnew says of me, “I hope he is better at doling out advice to flailing investment bankers than he is in describing the city of Toronto.”

This message suggests that I have worked with and possess financial expertise suitable to advise investment bankers. Biz does not know me, and has never met me and I am concerned that your readers will be left with the impression that I am someone with finance expertise and work experience as a financial adviser that I do not possess.

For the record, I worked in the information technology sector from 1977 to 2018 with 35 of those years as a professional IT recruiter in the Greater Toronto Area initially and then in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, U.K. and EU countries in the final eight years. I possess zero experience in investment finance.

Regarding my opinion of Toronto, I lived and worked in Toronto from age 16 to 66 and feel that this qualifies me to have an opinion. Obviously, Biz did not have the same experience as me, as I have been much happier as a full-time resident of Fenelon Falls than I was in my final years in Toronto. Gene Balfour, Fenelon Falls

Doherty’s a special place, says reader

I so much enjoyed your article in the Feb 2021 issue of the Advocate, The Corner Store.

I well remember Dohertys store. It was a wonderful place that is totally unknown to most folks today. When I was at boarding school my friend, Georgina and I went every day after school to Doherty’s. Fresh, large, soft and delicious honey-dipped doughnuts were five cents each and seven cents for two. If I had the seven cents I would buy two for Georgina and me and if she had the seven cents she would treat us both. There were times when neither of us had seven cents so we would buy one doughnut for a nickel and split it between us.

Another time the family had to be away for a day and Mrs. Doherty asked me if I would like to work in the store that day after school. I was thrilled to accept her offer. What I found amazing was no one paid for anything but asked to put it on their tab and the only ones who paid were kids who brought in empty pop bottles in exchange for penny candy. May Doherty was one of the most patient people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Sharron Noonan McGrath, Fenelon Falls

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The Lindsay Advocate welcomes your Letters to the Editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or length. Simply email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com. Please keep your letters to 200 words or less.