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As young country music fans, we are very disappointed to see that the shows (except for the kids' talent show and the gospel show) at Maritime Countryfest 2008 have an age restriction of 19 years and over.

We are especially upset that the highlight of the event, the show on May 30 - featuring Mike Bezanson, Steve Waylon & Rebel Ridge, and Emerson Drive - is not going to be open to all ages.

We feel it is very unfair that young country fans are being denied the opportunity to see top quality artists like these in concert.

Fredericton isn't often host to country concerts, especially those offering the high calibre of entertainment that a band like Emerson Drive delivers.

We feel deprived.

After all, it is the young fans who will ultimately keep country music alive. We support these artists as much, if not more, than those 19 years and over, and we think we deserve to be able to attend their concerts, too.

We live and breathe country music, and it's a shame that, when our favourite country band is performing 25 minutes from our home, we can't go see them!

We know that the age restriction is because of liquor laws, but what we don't understand is why these laws vary from venue to venue.

If you can't have an all ages show at an outdoor venue, and serve alcohol to those of age, then why not move the shows to the Playhouse or the Aitken Centre, where the law allows this.

Better yet, forget the alcohol. You can have a good time without it, and you'll even remember how awesome the concert was the next day!

Melanie, Karen and Allison Brown

Smithfield, N.B.

Someone needs to run

People have asked me to run (for council) but my numerous health problems prevent me from doing so.

I do hope someone new will run for council in Ward 7.

It has been asked of me why would anyone vote for the present councillor who drives out of Southwood Park daily but doesn't see the condition of the roads.

In the past two months, I have called public works numerous times and they have quickly responded to clear dangerous banks/roads. The workers do an excellent job but need more men and money.

The most recent council meeting on TV said we were in the black in 2007.

Why don't we use that money to widen the roads?

We all realize it's been a bad winter but previous winters should have left monies to clear this year's snow. In talking to people, it has become evident that the majority do not want a convention centre. They want to be able to drive safely around city streets.

The phone survey I did in March showed 89/100 callers said snow removal was their highest priority and 85/100 did not see the need for a convention centre.

In fact, most said if it was needed why didn't a major player step up to build one? Instead, we as residents, will go millions in debt.

It is obvious that, if we were really a smart city, we would think about green and smart in the same sentence.

A lot of emissions and gas are wasted this year, waiting to see around high snow banks or trying to get down narrow streets.

The councillor for Ward 7 can't be to concerned about going green, as this clearing hasn't been done yet.

As they say in baseball: "Get a mitt and get in the game."

We want a turn arrow at Forest Hill and Kimble, cleaner safer streets and sidewalks, and we don't want to pay for a convention centre we will never be in or use.

Doug Parr

Fredericton

Look in own backyard

So the seal nuts are back.

We foolishly banned the hunt for a while, and the seals multiplied while the fish supply tanked.

When any species over-populates its area, starvation hits and the health of the herd plummets. The same has happened to deer herds.

The predators of our north are hard hit by the periodic "year of no rabbits."

Until the Europeans stop torturing geese to make greasy liver paste, tell them to look for eye motes closer to home, and let us handle our own resources.

"Cute" is for children, not vicious predators, such as seals.

And real fur is "greener" than plastic substitutes.

Stuart Mills

Fredericton

Not a fair situation

A recent letter claimed that francophones have disproportionately generous access to the legal system because 50 per cent of the judges in N.B. are bilingual.

This notion is based on the undoubtedly false premise that the entire dockets of all of the bilingual judges in this province are, in fact, reserved for francophones.

As an anglophone, I will have access to 100 per cent of the judges in this province, since both the anglophone judges and the bilingual judges all speak English.

My francophone friend, on the other hand, will only have access to the 50 per cent of this province's judges who speak French.

That hardly sounds fair to me.

Bill Patrick

Fredericton

Please be quiet

Would Jeannot Volpe please shut up. There are many more serious health issues that he should be fighting for than the French and English Health Authorities.

The taxpayers, your employer, are fed up with our polititians putting on a display and wasting our hard earned tax dollars.

We have a few hundred seniors who are in our hospitals and they need a nursing home bed now. Not 10 years from, now.

Why don't you fight and put on a display for them.

We have acutely ill people in New Brunswick who cannot have a hospital bed.

They are placed on stretchers in overcrowed rooms or in shower rooms.

Mr. Volpe, you are not screaming on their behalf.

If you will not put on a fight and a display for our chronically ill seniors and our acutely ill citizens, then would you please sit down and shut up.

Veronica Ratchford

Bathurst, N.B.

One method among many

The debate about second language instruction is illuminating some obscure issues.

One of these is the inherent injustice of early French immersion.

The defenders of this program rightly contend that it is among the best methods for learning a second language.

But they speak from the perspective of those who are literate in their first language, who are able to support and encourage their children in a second language, and who appreciate the value of bilingual fluency.

Many New Brunswick parents do not have the advantage of this perspective.

Theoretically, early immersion was an option for every child and a choice for every parent.

In reality, many parents whose own experience in school was negative, are not eager to expose their children to the risk of failure in a second language, when success in the first language is, itself, problematic.

Those who live outside the socioeconomic mainstream may not be aware of the importance of being bilingual.

So their children are consigned to core French, which is generally perceived as second-rate.

It's, therefore, not surprising that the early immersion program may be permeated by a sense of superiority and entitlement.

It is exclusive to those students whose parents have goals for them which are beyond the reach of many New Brunswick children.

Early immersion is one teaching method among many - a means to an end.

There are other ways to integrate core and immersion options.

Primarily, however, we must ensure that all children have access to an education which prepares them for engagement in the socioeconomic mainstream as healthy, productive and, potentially, bilingual citizens.

Sue Rickards

Lower Queensbury, N.B.