2021-06-02

A round-up of latest comments and letters to the editor:

Province needs to level the playing field

The Lunenburg Board Of Trade (LBOT) is among a growing number of groups asking the Nova Scotia government to play fair when it comes to restricting business to essential services. This letter was sent to Lunenburg MLA and Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage Suzanne Lohnes-Croft, who advised the LBOT the letter has been forwarded onto the Premier's office. At the time of writing, the LBOT reported having no further response.

I am sending you this as an official letter as President of the Lunenburg Board of Trade.

Firstly, I want to make it clear that I am okay with this recent lockdown as I see it as the only way to flatten this curve - but fair is fair. Those in charge need to make sure businesses are playing by the same rules and they're not.

At the "Big Box"stores right now all the non-essential items like clothing, electronics, etc. should be roped off and not be purchasable. With all their high-tech cash systems it should be easy to block those kind of items from being purchased at those places. Why is it okay to buy clothes or shoes at Walmart, Costco or Superstore yet my business and other businesses like mine have been mandated to close. Not fair at all.

Also how is it safe to enter the NSLC but it's not safe to enter any one of our smaller, more controlled, local breweries and distilleries?

Please explain your reasoning because as most of us see it as there being only one logical reason. The government is scared of the "big guys"and realize that none of the smaller players have the resources to go against this decision.

Respectfully,

Jamie Myra

President, LBOT

Municipality falls short in dealing with private roads

Re: Private road residents and emergency responders often left vulnerable (LighthouseNOW, May 12, 2021)

Just thought I'd pass along a few comments, given I'm one of the residents this article talks about.

The article talks about how the municipality has put forward recommendations for private roads; but I didn't see any mention of the municipality offering funds for these improvements. That's because there aren't any. We pay the same taxes as everyone else, but get very little in return. No help with the road, water, septic and no garbage collection seven months of the year.

The municipality only offers to help collect more fees from our home owners; we already do that. The fees that we collect from the property owners on Rose Head barely manage to keep the road in passable condition.

I have already been in contact with the new fire chief, Dylan Eisenhaur, and we will be meeting to work on a long-term plan for improvements/evacuation plans. Unfortunately, like many other things, that's on hold till we can get past this Covid problem.

Brian Trethewey

President

Rose Head Homeowners Association

No denying dumping is a problem

I read the recent article about illegal dumping of garbage. I continue to be amazed that, with an easy way to properly dispose of household garage, anyone chooses to take it to an unsuitable spot to dump it. I was also astonished by Justin Cleveland's comment that "general littering isn't a big problem in Lunenburg County." From the article, I understand that he is employed with the Lunenburg County Regional Recycling Centre.

As someone who walks and cycles in many parts of Lunenburg County, my observation is that littering is a significant problem. Perhaps this is less obvious when you are in a vehicle, but when you are on foot, or on a bicycle, the view of the ditches and trail sides shows that most have a major accumulation of garbage: beverage cups and lids and straws (mostly from a Canadian company recently promoting its "Innovation & Sustainability" program), an alarming number of beer cans, various snack wrappers, cigarette packages, diapers, plastic bags, Styrofoam shards, oil containers, bottles, bags of dog feces, and face masks.

I have been attempting to clean up the roadside and trail side in my neighbourhood, and gathered dozens of large bags of trash. And, when walking the same routes days later, there is always a fresh assortment of garbage discarded. I will continue to try to clean up my small corner of the world, but believe there needs to be a broader strategy for tackling this problem. Recognizing that littering is in fact a BIG problem is a first step, especially for someone whose job is related to proper disposal of waste.

Valerie MacDonald

Chester