VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

ADDING INSULT TO INJURY

I could not agree more with the remarks by Jone Mitchell and Dr. Michael Dunbar in their July 20 opinion piece about curtailing wait lists for joint replacements.

The wait is excruciating and contributes to further dependency for those who could be recipients, but who are reduced to a life of further immobility instead.

I am incensed when I hear that some people manage to skip the wait, get preferential treatment, or go to the top of the list. This is morally reprehensible. For those of us who wait and watch this happen, it causes us further debilitating symptoms. This must be addressed! Marlene Berry, Lower Sackville

SPEEDER CORRIDOR

Re: your July 12 item about three construction workers injured after two vehicles collided in a work zone on Hwy. 101 in Digby.

It is a wonder more construction workers are not injured or run over. While travelling on Hwy. 102 heading towards Caribou, the speed limit is 110 km/h. Past the airport towards Enfield, where they are working on a bridge, there is a speed limit sign that reads 80 km/h, through the construction zone which goes on for a few kilometres.

As I drop down my speed to 80, people pass me in the left-hand lane, maintaining their speed at 110. After travelling on Hwy. 104 to get to Caribou, and returning home, it’s the same thing on the opposite side of 102. All the while, I did not see a single highway patrol RCMP vehicle. If they want to catch speeders, hang out on the 102 just past the airport before the construction site.

Brian Neilan, Lower Sackville

DIVERT AIRPORT BUS

Re: “Halifax to get 60 electric buses, transit centre retrofit thanks to $112m investment” (July 16 story). This is wonderful news; great for the environment. The next problem, however, is how to get people on the buses.

For those of us living in the Fall River/windsor Junction/lakeside/ Waverley area, we have no bus service — diesel or electric — so this won’t help us.

Every day, the airport bus passes Fall River, usually empty. Why not extend that route through to the Sobeys in Fall River, to Windsor Junction and Lakeside and the Cobequid terminal, then return to the 118 Highway via Waverley? This would provide a much-needed service and only increase the route length by 30 minutes.

Ronald Banks, Windsor Junction

RE-EVALUATE FREEDOM

Recently, Voice of the People has been full of letters complaining about so-called restrictions on our freedom due to COVID-19. People need to realize “freedom” is a double-edged sword.

Look at the atrocities done in America in the last five years in the name of freedom. If wearing a mask, elbow-greeting folks, or showing proof of vaccinations is depriving you of your personal freedoms, perhaps you are not considering the more important freedoms, such as freedom from a deadly disease and spreading it to family members or your community.

Nova Scotia has dealt with COVID very well, but it is a worldwide pandemic and as long as it lives anywhere, it lives here.

I suggest we continue to follow protocols and quit bitchin’.

Ben Benjamin, Beaver Bank

TWO-WAY STREET

I firmly agree that it is everyone’s right whether or not to get vaccinated. But I also agree that business owners have a similar right to refuse entry to their establishment unless patrons are fully vaccinated. Rights must go both ways. If business owners don’t take this stand, they are neglecting the rights of other customers to be in a safe place.

Ron Young, New Glasgow