Dear Editor:
I take great offense to the letter Zachary Wilde of White Rock, B.C. wrote in response to the letter written by Lori Derry the week before. I also live behind the large open field used as a campground during the week of the Ponoka Stampede. I do not have a problem with the campers enjoying themselves and I know there is going to be some garbage laying around at the end but when I have to drive by the sites daily to get to my backyard, I should not have to look at all kinds of garbage strewn all over the campsite that no one has even tried to clean up. Why should I have to go over there to clean up someone else’s mess?
Would you like it if I came to your backyard and camped out then left all my garbage thrown around rather than clean it up? Would you like to watch young people go behind their trailers, (out of view of the boys they are camping with but in full view of people sitting in their own backyards,) to urinate and defecate? These campers we are referring to are local young people and I do not have a problem with them having a bit of fun but there should be some respect for the people who live nearby.
I will leave the partying to you, Mr. Wilde, but I want you to know that I make little money from you or any other people who come to the Stampede in all the years I have owned a business in this town.
If it weren’t for the fact that we enjoy volunteering up at the grounds we would probably be one of the many local folks who leave town during Stampede Week.
Gay Taylor