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The issue of skateboarding on city streets is a vital one and should not be dismissed lightly.

I would completely agree that Smythe and Prospect streets (to name two) are suicidal places for skateboards, or bicycles, or even pedestrians. Yet there are many quiet city streets where responsible skateboarders can (and do) safely travel carbon- and pollution-free.

Every day I can see and hear many skateboarders go past my home in downtown Fredericton.

I also see pedestrians, runners, strollers, rollerbladers, shopping carts, bicycles, scooters, wheelbarrows and carts, to name a few. Sometimes they are on the sidewalk and sometimes they use the road.

Except for the occasional rushed and erratic driver, having everyone share the same street has a calming effect. The street is alive with happy people living and playing together.

Although I have seen people of every age using these environmentally friendly modes of transport, it is mostly young people. This is the time to encourage and support their healthy efforts so they will continue down this path throughout their lives.

How are we citizens going to participate in a Green Matters campaign if we are given the strong message that we are criminals when we constructively try to participate? Are we prepared to arrest every young person who environmentally and responsibly "coasts or slides" down quiet city streets?

Why is our mayor not more concerned with creating safe places on our busier streets for alternative and environmentally friendly transportation to support his Green Matters campaign?

There is a lot more to Green Matters than changing light bulbs. We need to have the courage and vision to change our lifestyles. Like the light bulbs, this starts with small steps such as recognizing simple, responsible and ecological modes of transportation.

It is time for the people of Fredericton to stand up and thank role models like Lee Breen. He is literally putting his neck on the line for something he passionately believes in.

Let's all work hard to give Lee Breen a safe place to responsibly travel so we can all continue to live in one of the best, safest, cleanest and smartest communities in Canada and the world.

Garth Hood

Fredericton

Mayoral candidate needs to clarify statements

Rick Brewer is one of the candidates running for mayor in New Maryland.

He has made some bold statements, ones that I feel he needs to clarify to the electorate.

He has referred to our current council as a dictatorship in The Daily Gleaner and at a meeting that he held.

In his pamphlet, he stated that no one has any say in how the village is run after an election. In his video on Rogers, he stated that there are bylaws that infringe upon all of our rights.

In the six years that I've lived in New Maryland, I have attended and spoken at council meetings. My voice has been heard at public meetings held on topics of concern to the village.

How is this a dictatorship? If our bylaws infringe upon our rights, shouldn't this be a matter for the courts?

Clarify your statements, Mr. Brewer. Help the voters make an informed decision.

Steve Clements

New Maryland, N.B.

Tories battle talk ignorant of defoliant issue

In Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent statement commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, he said "Let us never forget those who served Canada with pride."

Does this include the soldiers who served in the old Camp Gagetown training area and got poisoned by such wonder chemicals as Agent Orange, Purple, White, etc.?

Harper and Greg Thompson, now veterans affairs minister, both promised to do justice to these soldiers, and also order a public inquiry into the whole mess, when they were campaigning for the last election. After they got elected, they forgot these promises completely.

They had the gall to call the fact-finding mission started by Vaughn Blaney and finished by Dennis Furlong an inquiry, which it certainly wasn't. The restrictions placed on that fact-finding committee limited it to the point where they couldn't even interview people living in Fredericton.

Other restrictions caused the whole exercise to be a complete failure, and did absolutely nothing to reassure those soldiers and civilians sprayed in this mess that they were safe from disease and death.

They then offered a compensation package to a very small group, with a very small amount, again with restrictions that prevented most people from qualifying for it. They had to have an illness listed in an outdated American list to qualify.

That meant that the Canadian government did not have the knowledge required to produce such a list in Canada for Canadians. They also placed date restrictions that were and are almost impossible to meet.

What did the date that the Conservatives came to power in Ottawa have to do with the spraying of poison chemicals in Camp Gagetown back in the 1960s?

Mr. Harper should hang his head in shame rather than stand on a podium and make such statements as this one. Mr. Thompson was in Halifax, strutting around as if he really knew what this was all about and also making rash statements. He too, should stand with Mr. Harper, head bowed in shame for lying to the Canadian public.

Lorne D. Amos, Sr.

Gray Rapids, N.B.

Immersion change based on faulty conclusions

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock has been making disparaging comments about the literacy of New Brunswickers.

According to Lamrock's figure, 87 per cent of our workers can't read well enough to learn a new skill. He is projecting a bleak image of New Brunswick to the nation as we struggle for self-sufficiency.

Similarly, fellow cabinet minister Mary Schryer stood in the legislature and stated that 88-98 per cent of fifth graders cannot write a sentence in French.

Once again, this has no basis in reality. Lamrock is trying to legitimize his new strategy for education. This is not surprising, considering that Lamrock's elimination of all early French instruction hinges upon the recommendations of a flawed and biased report.

In my opinion, he wasted $180,000 of public money on a forgone conclusion, while he disregarded previous reports written by actual experts in the field of education.

Now, Lamrock is scrambling to justify his dubious changes to our schools. There is not one single teaching expert, or French second language expert, who endorses Lamrock's plan.

The plan is piecemeal, untested and based on dodgy research. Why would anyone endorse such a scheme? The project does nothing but waste time and money, to the detriment of the children of New Brunswick. We do not want our children to be the lab rats in Lamrock's and Doug Willms's social science experiment.

Change for the sake of change is not acceptable. New Brunswickers are embarrassed by the dysfunction of the government. We expect better results. That is mandatory.

Jennifer Atkinson

Douglas, N.B.

Road to Oromocto needs to be fixed

To enter the town of Oromocto via Geary and Haneytown, there is a small stretch of the Broad Road between the exit to the Vanier Highway and the main gate to CFB Gagetown. This is a fantastic introduction to the model town of Oromocto.

But if I was responsible for doing as much damage to vehicles as that piece of road, I would be inside looking out.

At $5.70 a gallon for gas and more for diesel, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the taxes on a few fill-ups would pay for the fixing of this stretch of road, or at least to fill the holes.

If the people responsible for this road had to drive their own personal cars on it, the road would never have reached this stage.

Would the minister responsible for highways please address this delinquent condition? At $49.99 plus tax, I cannot afford any more wheel alignments. This look's like the main entrance to a dog patch.

Lloyd McCann

Hoyt, N.B.