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I am responding to the article concerning New Maryland needing facilities.

We do need facilities of some sort to remain independent from Fredericton. We pay Fredericton $110,000 a year to use its facilities. Why not look into having our own?

Here is some math. One million dollars costs $5,000 per month or $60,000 per year. We are giving the City of Fredericton enough money that we could borrow up to $2 million and own our own facilities. (These are only examples.)

We could lobby for financial support from other government agencies. Your taxes have already gone up because of the $110,000 annual fee to Fredericton.

When you rent, you never own. It seems our money is being wasted when it should be spent here at home.

Most facilities sustain themselves by the income generated by the people utilizing them. Your tax dollar should not go up, but it already has.

There is ample water in New Maryland for development. We need to look at water distribution, not spending our money on well exploration when the water is already here.

The people need to decide what they want, not the mayor or council deciding by themselves.

If we want independence, you need to be self-sufficient. We need to be watchful of your money, not wasteful.

In closing, here's a good example. Burtts Corner has a hockey rink with only 300-400 people living there and it is self-sufficient, creating its own revenue. We are 10 times larger than Burtts Corner and more financially sound.

If you look around us, here in New Maryland, we basically have nothing for our children and ourselves.

If the people of New Maryland desire to have their own facilities, or not to have their own facilities, it's their choice, not mine.

I am just your hands and your voice to do what you the people would want. You, the public, are the boss, as far as I am concerned. It's in your hands.

It's not my way; it's your way.

Rick Brewer

Mayoral candidate

New Maryland, N.B.

No donations taken by city councillor candidate

In your April 17 editorial, you issued a challenge to all municipal candidates to voluntarily disclose any donation of more than $100 that had been made to their campaign.

I accept your challenge. I accepted no donations.

In the interest of openness and transparency, I have spent less than $1,500 on my campaign. My wife designed my brochures, posters and business cards. Having these printed comprised the bulk of my expenditures.

I also paid a group of enterprising middle-school students, who were raising money for a trip to Ottawa, $250 to deliver the brochures. I do not anticipate any further expenditures during this last week of the campaign.

I have been campaigning door to door since April 14 and I believe that I have been to every door in the Marysville ward.

This has been a truly fantastic experience.

Kevin R. Rickard

Candidate for Fredericton Ward 5

How can you telecommute with dial-up Internet?

While I applaud your call for people to telecommute during the flooding, have you forgotten that this is not an option for the many New Brunswickers who still have dial-up Internet service?

Almost a year ago, I decided that the daily commute was good for neither the environment nor my pocket book, and started my own information technology business from home. This means one less car using the Westmorland Street Bridge, one extra parking space downtown and less gasoline burned.

Since making this environmentally responsible decision, I have been ignored by Aliant, waited for Aernet to get funding and discovered the high cost of satellite Internet.

I experienced all of this in my attempt to get high-speed service to an area just eight minutes from Fredericton, a so-called Smart City.

Most of my clients to date have been located in the U.S. Only by transferring files in the evening have I been able to hide the fact that high-speed Internet is not available just minutes from New Brunswick's capital city.

This, of course, is after I explain to them where New Brunswick is and that Fredericton is the capital city. Imagine the impression it would make if I had to explain to them that much of the province uses dial-up service.

It's hard to promote New Brunswick as a good place for information technology companies to do business when high-speed Internet is unavailable.

Do I live in a remote area? I recently counted 150 homes in the eight kiloemtres past the cut off for high-speed service on the Kingsley Road.

If Aliant considers this a remote area, then I would argue that many remote areas already have high-speed Internet. So why is it not available here?

Barbara Berry

Kingsley, N.B.

Green city not quite so green

We find it ironic that Fredericton was recently named the third best Canadian city to live in, given the level of green space destruction currently occurring in our city.

For example, we were recently exiting the Vanier Highway onto Kimble Drive and we drove past a scene of absolute destruction.

An entire green space, which had been home to countless wildlife, was destroyed. Trees had been unashamedly clear-cut to make space for the unnecessary southside hockey rink that Frederictonians cannot afford.

How is clear-cutting a forest in keeping with the City of Fredericton's Green Matters program? How is clear-cutting part of a forest seen as Kyoto Protocol-friendly? Or aesthetically pleasing?

How can a new hockey rink surpass the beauty of an established forest? The destruction of green spaces is, hopefully, a wake-up call to Frederictonians that voting for a new mayor, Tim Andrew, is a step towards helping preserve the forests and wetlands that have always been a vital part of the City of Fredericton. Enough is enough.

Stephen J. Pidwysocky, Dawne Clarke

Fredericton

Church mends its differences?

I am a Christian evangelical Protestant who listens to four evangelical TV programs each Sunday.

Also I listen to a Roman Catholic TV program, Food for Life, every Sunday. The remarkable and delightful fact is that I have not heard anything on this program with which I disagree. Two priests conduct this program in two segments.

To me, this is evidence that the two longtime divisions of the church are coming closer together. The priests deal with many of the basic teachings of the church - God's love for humanity, divine forgiveness, love for one another and so on.

There are other evidences of this coming together. Is not this a confirmation of Christian teaching? And does not this make Christian faith more plausible?

Jesus stated: "... there shall be one flock with one Shepherd." (John 10:16 LB)

That day is approaching.

Conard E. Stairs

Fredericton

Easter Seals thankful for help

On behalf of our board of directors, the office staff and the clients we serve, the Easter Seals family would like to express a sincere thank you to Master Geoff Macdonald of the kimudo kan Martial Arts and Master Randy Tracy of Tracy's Martial Arts for their personal time in organizing The Easter Seals Capital City Tournament that was held May 3.

A special thank you as well to Master Art Appleby of Appleby's Tae Kwon Do and Master Dave Murray of Maritime Martial Arts Academy for providing us with the appropriate tournament equipment for the event.

This Martial Arts tournament raised a total of $2,147.50. Because of each of your commitments to Easter Seals NB, all proceeds raised will go towards helping open new doors for children living with a disability in NB and their families.

Mark Barbour

Resource development officer

Easter Seals NB

Matt Stairs deserves mention

Just as sports reporter Bill Hunt has awarded Jake Allen the 2008 Athlete of the Year for his terrific showing in the World's Under-18 Hockey Championships, Matt Stairs settles a pitchers' battle between the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays with a towering home run.

Yes, Bill, there's a lot of hockey, baseball, soccer and stuff yet to play. And a bit of competition certainly heats up the debate.

Best of luck to Jake and Matt - and any other phenoms who show up.

R.H. Bagnall

Fredericton