Dear Editor,
I hope that bylaw regarding the liquor sales didn’t set a precedent.
The answer as to yes or no to that one was right there and yet overlooked: if you need to make exceptions to any rule, bylaw, or law, you shouldn’t be making the law in the first place.
After all, I thought everyone was to be treated equally under the law. If you exempt some people, organizations, or events, how fair and just is that?
So, I was concerned that injustice might prevail again when I saw the list of “offences and fines” in the article “Council proposes new behavior bylaw” in last week’s paper.
I totally agree with the “spit in public”. Not only is it a disgusting habit, it is unhealthy for the rest of us to be exposed to whatever bacteria another person’s spit holds. Same with “urinate or defecate”.
I take issue with the “panhandling”. It is much safer, and more polite, to have people asking for some change than to have them stealing or desperate enough to break and enter. What’s the problem? If you have some money you want to give away, give it; if you don’t have any money or don’t want to share, don’t.
End of problem.
The “stand or put feet on a table/bench/planter” is just plain goofy. For me, personally, propping my feet up on something helps relieve backache. I wouldn’t like to know that is against the law to relieve my backache.
“Loitering”? In whose opinion? We all know that this is scarcely veiled targeting of a tiny portion of the population or visitors to town. I can bet that a group of old farmers standing around outside the UFA or someplace won’t be fined for “loitering”. Or what about if people stand for too long outside church on Sunday morning? In other words, who gets to decide who and whether or not a person or persons are standing in one spot for too long? Does it depend on the clothes I’m wearing, my age, the color of my skin, or if my hair is combed or not when I pause to contemplate the architecture along the street or people watch?
And this loitering issue also brings up a recent article regarding teens, their trucks, and meeting places. I can see how littering would be a problem. My issue is with them being chased out of every place they pick as a place to meet.
I first noticed them when they gathered at the museum parking lot. They weren’t harming anyone, but got chased from there.
So then they moved to the EMPTY parking lot at the other end of the park. I feel that they have just as much right to gather as old men do.
These kids in vehicles are being treated suspiciously and targeted just because they are young. I’d think it would be much better to have them gathering in open sight than for them to have to find some hidden out of the way place to meet, as if they were criminals just because they want to gather and socialize.
Hopefully the new council will demonstrate some justice and wisdom when adding the stress of yet more bylaws to our lives.
Evone Monteith
Ponoka