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speakup

Let's review the decisions of Fredericton's mayor and councillors before we vote May 12.

The demolition of the Nashwaaksis Arena complex was justified by a 'study' and the copy was not made available to the taxpayers. Taxpayers were allowed to read it by appointment, in a reception area (chair provided).

The study highlighted every rusty nail, bolt and the wrinkled metal siding, and carried a $4 million cost to bring back to code and $5 million to build a new building.

A taxpayers' group of citizens claimed they could bring the building up to code for $800,000. This would not be an arena, but it would be a "Fredericton North Community Centre" for citizens and youth in our community. It would be a 12-month operation for the community, hosting events of all kinds (sports and meetings), and it would be self-supporting.

Council finally rejected this plan on the basis that mere taxpayers could not manage such a venture. It was decided to demolish the building. Two councillors voted against demolishing and the remainder voted to demolish. The mayor was in agreement.

The other issue that voters should be aware of is heavy truck traffic in Fredericton North. At present, heavy truck traffic travelling from the east to west end has to travel through Barkers Point, Devon and Nashwaaksis.

Council has approved a major investment to direct heavy truck traffic from Union Street to St. Mary's Street, eventually connecting to Ring Road, relieving heavy trucks from Nashwaaksis.

Coun. Mike O'Brien and Mayor Brad Woodside were the lead people in this decision.

You may question: "Why not reroute to Cliffe Street, which will be a four-lane street within a short time?"

You don't want to go there.

There is more politics in this decision than in the New Brunswick legislature and some of it not very nice.

Because of council's decision, we lost a building that had a 125-year history as a northside business. It was demolished.

Make sure you vote. It's your duty and privilege.

Don't wait until May 12.

Find out now where you vote and plan to exercise your right.

E.R. MacFadzen

Fredericton

Doubts government will listen to Richard's report

In a report by the province's child and youth advocate, titled Broken Promises, Bernard Richard and his staff have presented a commendable, though disturbing, analysis of how a young child's death could have been prevented by the provincial government's Department of Family and Community Services.

From my experience as a legal activist, I was not at all surprised to read that "taking the department to court and sending subpoenas to employees of FCS involved with the file - both firsts in the 40-year history of this office - indicate to what extent extraordinary measures were needed to get at the facts" (page 4).

What was unprecedented was not the level of the department's resistance to accountability, but Richard's willingness to confront it.

As an excuse for resisting full disclosure to Richard, the department, ironically, appealed to family privacy, despite its willingness at times to invade a family's privacy on quite dubious grounds.

If the department would address the report's concern for consistent decision-making, and thus direct limited resources to where they are truly needed, it could help to address the workload and staffing issues also raised in the report.

The report went on to address the government's failure to implement recommendations of earlier similar reports, rightly asking: "How many such reports (page 45) will it take before we decide that enough is enough?"

Perhaps, at least one more report will be needed - one that goes beyond the present report's focus on changes to be made by the reluctant department itself, and places more emphasis on independent monitoring and enforcement measures to overcome the department's intransigence. We should, indeed, decide that enough is enough.

Vaughn Barnett

Fredericton

Biofuels steal food from the hungry

Bob Friesen's May 6 guest column, "Setting the record straight on the food-shortage issue," is what you would expect from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Only those with a profit motive, a lack of scientific understanding and a cold-as-ice heart, support biofuels.

Oil price increases have not shrunk the human food supply, but biofuel production has. The more biofuels we produce, the less food we have to eat, because we grow biofuel crops, even switchgrass, using the same land, water, fertilizer, farm equipment and labour we use to grow food.

Biofuel production accelerates global warming, creates water shortages and erodes topsoil.

A new study says biofuels from cellulose sources, such as switchgrass, wood chips, crop waste, etc., will never be cost-effective.

Biofuels are a crime, not a solution to any of our problems.

Christopher Calder

Eugene, Ore.

Further debate on drunk driving-murder issue

In her letter of May 5, Erika Warnhammar insists that "a drunk driver who kills is, therefore, a murderer."

While this is true that, as far as the feelings of a loved one are concerned, it does not matter whether the killer was a foe or a person who had lost his senses due to drinking. The word "murder" does require that the killer has "malice aforethought."

Erika says: "The dictionary does not state you must know the person for it to be murder." But how can one have "malice aforethought" without knowing the person?

Since language is simply a means of communication among human beings, if the vast majority of people would consider that a drunk driver who kills someone, is a "murderer," then I will have to agree with Erika. There will be no distinction between killing and murdering.

In my letter published April 21, I said: "What is needed is to discourage people from drinking and driving and to punish them before they kill anyone."

What I meant was that drinking and driving should be discouraged through harsher punishment.

Erika says: "Unfortunately, Mr. Yaqzan, we cannot punish people before they commit a crime under our law, as you suggest we do, 'before they kill someone.' "

Apparently, she misunderstood me.

Drinking and driving is a crime.

Matin Yaqzan

Fredericton

Defending students

A student was explaining to his teacher: "I can't get my report card back because you gave me an 'A' on some subject and my parents are still mailing it to my relatives!"

Those who educate children well are more honoured than those who produce them. The student of today are more burdened than those of yesteryear.

I generally hit Prospect Street about the same time the students are dropped off at Fredericton High. These students, when reaching high school, are unbending and eager to succeed.

One student, over coffee at a fast-food outlet, admitted someone in the family has the curious habit of reading The Daily Gleaner out loud. The last Gleaner item he remembers hearing was the latest "StatsCan" (Statistics Canada) bulletin, stating the "Rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

This item stuck in his memory and made him determine to acquire knowledge, as knowledge is power.

To further my quest of the downtrodden student, I went to the Internet for the organizational chart of Department of Education. There I found the chart with Education Minister Kelly Lamrock at the helm.

Some charts are structured to inform, but I was amazed the greater majority of his staff were of the distaff side. To me, the chart was not informative. But it did show the people who make the snowballs that Kelly Lamrock throws about.

Over the years, I always noticed in the pages of The Daily Gleaner's sport section how jubilant and keen the students were with a victory at basketball or volleyball, or when the CBC would record a short presentation by different classes working on school projects.

These sorts of things brought colour to the students' cheeks - appreciation well-earned.

Since I left the public grove of the little red schoolhouse, there has been some changes. That genuine leather strap has vanished and all sorts of things in the name of human rights prevail.

To quote Mark Twain, education and training is everything.

The peach was once a bitter almond; the cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.

Gerry McLaughlin

Fredericton