Letters & Op-Ed, March 23 2022

A few days ago, an eternity to me, my husband of 68 years, Don Lazareth, passed away after an unanticipated three weeks in hospital. At the end of his 90-year life, someone in his hospital room tested positive for Covid. We were therefore unable to be with Don until a few hours before he died. This has been a difficult time for our family. But the “troops” came to our aid—family from afar, friends, neighbours, boaters, golfers, business associates, people of faith, and yes, even strangers. Tributes to Don have literally been pouring in. He would be so humble, but so proud. But he would not be surprised. Don had great faith in the love and support of loyal family and forever friends. So I wish to thank all those who have made the past few weeks bearable and a time to reflect. Beautiful flowers, plants, donations, prayers, emails, phone calls, delicious dinners provided, fresh eggs, cookies, cheesecake, desserts and squares, words of comfort, visits, friendship from Sobey’s and the Voice, Seniors on the Move, Shoppers, and Boggio’s, everyone who has shown their love to us—amazing! My family and I bless you for helping to remind us of the impact that Don, in his quiet way, had on our community and beyond all borders. To all, my heartfelt thanks.

Shirley Lazareth Fonthill

When I drive past the pond at the corner of Highway 20 and Rice Road—or Mayor Dave’s Pond, as I have named it—I wonder if it ever did function as a retention pond or was it just another million dollar “boondoggle” in East Fonthill?

Since the pond was constructed, has anyone seen a high or low water level? It seems that over the years the water has always been at the same level. During rainfall occurrences, due to the fact that the pond is not empty the water rushes under Highway 20 causing severe erosion downstream.

If I were to construct a retention pond on my farm to stop erosion, it would consist of a berm in place to hold back water during heavy rainfall occurrences with a hickenbottom drainage system to let the water slowly drain away, therefore preventing erosion and being empty for the next rainfall.

I wonder will this project be something similar to the Poth Street culvert problem of a few years ago? How many thousands of dollars were spent on consulting fees to assess the problem? It seems to me the project went from putting in a new bridge for a few million dollars to a local contractor in the town figuring out that the old culvert that had been there for decades should be removed and replaced. The problem was resolved for a fraction of the cost and the water would still run downhill!

One could not imagine what it would cost to fix the problem at the pond. Now it will likely be classified as a wetland as there are “cat tails” growing there, as well as some fish, turtles and frogs likely too. As with most projects similar to this, it can only be done at certain times of the year.

Jim Yungblut Fonthill

Even if the war in Ukraine ends tomorrow, the world will have food shortages. For us, one of the richest countries in the world, we will find our food supplies less than we have known before. So what can we do? During WWII, every town had Victory Gardens. The one in Fonthill was on Pelham Street where Fonthill Public School was located (the housing development that replaced the school is literally named “Victory Garden Condominiums”). Fenwick’s was at Pelham High School. Since this is the “Year of the Garden,” there will be community gardens at Fonthill Library and the Town will announce the location of another in the near future.

So here is an opportunity to grow our own food. Come out, do some work, and then harvest the crops. If you can’t physically work, your job will be to watch the sun mature the crops and make sure it does it properly.

Individually, if you have a sunny balcony or window, you might consider a tomato plant. If you have a flower garden, plant some herbs between the flowers.

We are surrounded by farms and fruit and veggie stands. Go and support our local farmers. Don’t be afraid to buy “seconds.” They need to be eaten sooner, but they taste just as good. Do the same at supermarkets so that produce will not be thrown away.

I don’t know if this will help the people in Ukraine but, perhaps, in not having to rely on food shipments from there, we, as a country, could be sending our food to them.

I quote Bobby Darin’s 1969 "Song of Freedom":

Come and sing a simple song of freedom

Sing it like you’ve never sung before

Sing it loud and clear and tell the people everywhere

We the people here don’t want no war

Vilma Moretti Fonthill

Throughout Covid, planning staff, at every government level, have remained on full pay with paid leave, possibly an increase at one stage, and often working from home to stay safe.

During that period many taxpayers and property owners, the communities that employ planners to protect their communities’ best interests, the communities who pay their salaries, have suffered unemployment, seen small businesses close, and even more suffered declining household incomes for many pandemic-related reasons.

A growing number have also seen any opportunity of buying or renting a first home become impossible as those same planning staffs actively encourage high-end developments that continue to fuel these out-of-control prices.

Can anyone, from city, urban, rural or agricultural areas show where planning staff have spent time seriously working on planning “affordable housing” to any realistic extent?

And throughout this entire time councils have worked to “fast track” planning applications, allowing their planning staff to work directly with developers behind closed doors, with no community input and without councils having a clue what they are doing, yet only too happy to simply accept their planner’s recommendations and approve anything put before them regardless of whether they conflict with existing planning policies. We even have councils celebrating as they approve developments and see longstanding communities being devastated by totally inappropriate types of housing taking over their neighborhoods.

Perhaps the question should be “Just who do both our elected councils and planners work for?”

Andrew Watts Wainfleet

When you read this on Tuesday or later, the mask mandate for the province will have been lifted. I, like the vast majority of the residents will be happy to see these mandates ended. As with all of the rules, protocols, mandates—call them what you will—that have been put in place by either the health officials or government officials, this act of eliminating the mask has its fans and others who are against this step, saying it is too soon. I would hope that tolerance of our fellow citizens wins the day and everyone realizes that at this stage of the pandemic, mask-wearing has become a personal choice. It is obvious to me that some people will want to wear a mask for possibly weeks longer, and that is their right to do so if this makes them feel comfortable in a crowded area.

In countries that have eliminated their Covid protocols weeks or months ago, there seems to be a surge in new cases but hospitalizations in these countries have remained low. The country of Denmark, which lifted all protocols in the first week of February, experienced these exact conditions. After ending all protocols, three weeks later they experienced a huge increase in daily new cases, but for the last three weeks reported infections have fallen each day. Because the number of hospitalizations has continued to remain low, at no time was the government of Denmark contemplating the return of any Covid protocols. With the Omicron variant being so mild, Canada’s top doctor says that it has been a “game-changer” that has forced a rethink of the vaccine mandate. Doctor Tam stated last Friday that the federal government is actively reviewing all of its vaccine mandates with an eye to ending rules that force some people to get their Covid shots. The doctor went on to say that the country’s public health officials are at a very important juncture and Covid policies may soon shift from an emphasis on requirement to recommendation. Canada’s Deputy Public Health officer has said that the federal government and the provinces are in a transition phase and will be putting less of an emphasis on forcing people to make certain health choices. “As the Covid-19 situation evolves, there will be a greater focus on personal responsibility.” Dr. Tam has said all federal vaccine mandates are under review.

In Pelham, the Town Recreation Department reports that the community centre continues to be a hive of activity. Over the spring break all of the camps offered by the Town were full, as were the exercise classes using the gym. This department will also be staging many events for Earth Week, with lots of displays at the MCC. More details in next week’s column, and details can also be found on the Town’s website.

On the farm front it is going to be one crazy year, with crop prices going through the roof, along with the input to make them grow. The farmers will be handling a lot of money, for sure. The big question as always is how much is in the bank at the end of the year. Everyone, farmers and consumers alike, will need Mother Nature to be on her best behaviour. ◆