Letters to the editor

C7

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I am currently working with a group of seniors in public housing.

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We are making plans to host their annual garden party. Once again, this event will take place in the backyard of Evelyn Grove. The atmosphere will consist of live classical music, linen tablecloths with real flower centre pieces, and tea served in china cups with delightful homemade desserts.

We are hoping the seniors will wear their best clothing with a stylish hat or bonnet. This is where I invite you to help. I am looking for over 50 'hats from the heart' to be donated to this event.

Please keep in mind many of these seniors have come from impoverished backgrounds and currently spend most of their days alone. Most of the men and women would not have had the opportunity to attend such as classy event, especially where they will be catered to and reminded of how special they truly are.

Each 'hat from the heart' will be given to the seniors as they come in the backyard. Hopefully, this year we can collect at least 30 women's and 20 men's hats. (They don't have to be new or expensive).

Each senior will pick the hat that appeals to them the most and it will be a gift they can cherish. I am also asking that you write a special note in your donated hat.

This garden party is scheduled to take place Friday, July 25. If you are interested in giving a hat, contact me anytime, but please do so quickly at 453-8911.

Also, if you can think of anyone else that might like to donate a hat to this special event, please pass this request on.

Mary Astle

Community Involvement Coordinator

Social Development

Fredericton

How about more ambulances and fewer fire trucks?

Recently I have seen several articles about fire departments responding to medical calls.

Fire department officials have been explaining how they play an important part in medical emergencies. Statistics were also brought up showing that some departments respond to more medical calls than fire calls. One department's calls broke down to 92 per cent medical calls and eight per cent fire calls.

I am a full time paramedic and a volunteer firefighter, and although I appreciate the help from fire departments, I think New Brunswick has its priorities mixed up. Anybody should be able to look at all the numbers and see that maybe instead of investing millions in the fire service, they ought to put more ambulances on the street.

And just to add insult to injury, most paid full time firefighters earn more that paramedics.

Fire departments are in the news all the time during budget time trying to get more funding for more firefighters. With fire calls on the decline and medical calls on the rise, why not get more medics and more trucks and how about paying them as much as firefighters?

Mark Melanson

Blacks Harbour, N.B.

Volunteers needed for the Terry Fox Foundation

Almost 30 years after Terry Fox first began his Marathon of Hope, his dream still lives on.

Here in New Brunswick, hundreds of schools, communities and workplaces raise funds each September at the Terry Fox School Day Run, the Community Run, and Terry Fox Works Day.

Every year, more and more people survive cancer - it's not a death sentence anymore. But it is still an incredibly painful and debilitating disease. The battle isn't over yet.

Terry Fox dreamed of a cancer-free world. Until that dream is realized, we have to keep running. We need volunteers to organize runs, collect pledges, or even just to hang posters. We need survivors to join Terry's team and spread the message of hope, so that more people get involved.

If you give $1, then you are part of the Marathon of Hope, Terry said in 1980. It's still true. Of every dollar donated to the Terry Fox Foundation, 87 cents goes directly to cancer research. When you donate to Terry Fox, you can be confident that your donation makes a difference.

We'll be raising the profile of the Terry Fox Foundation in New Brunswick in anticipation of the 30th anniversary by being back on the Confederation Bridge.

Please donate what you can: money, time, or even your survivor story. Let's keep Terry's dream alive. For more information call the Terry Fox Foundation toll-free at 1-888-836-9786.

Bailey White

Fredericton

Exception made for gay cruise ship passengers

On July 16, we were blessed with the arrival of the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn.

What, you ask, is its claim to fame? Well, Saint John was its first port of call after leaving New York on Friday. Oh, and it's geared for same-sex singles, couples, families and friends of each. And Rosie O'Donnell was on board.

Then there's the fact that 12 gay couples from the ship were married at the Saint John Courthouse.

By way of a hypothetical question, would a cruise ship with straight couples and friends accompanied by some stars of equal fame to Rosie O'Donnell arriving in Saint John even make a tiny blip on the radar screen? And would 12 straight couples on board that ship be allowed to be married in the Saint John Courthouse on any other day of the week except Friday? I think not.

This ship was supposed to go to Bermuda as its first port of call, but protests planned by the people who live there caused the cruise line to alter its itinerary, sending it to Saint John instead. So Saint John wasn't their first choice as first port of call upon leaving New York. Bermuda was. The hurricane wasn't the reason for this either, because the storm had gone past Bermuda by Monday or Tuesday.

Was a great big fuss made about this ship's arrival, and an exception to the marriage performing day at the courthouse made, simply because the people aboard were gay, and 12 couples were married here because their hometowns wouldn't allow it ?

The short answer is yes. I have a feeling this is only the beginning of our port's catering to a ship full of people, simply because of their lifestyle.

Brian Gamble

Hampton, N.B.

Thanks for helping a pregnant woman

I am 37 weeks pregnant, and I was walking from the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital to the Regent Street Medical Clinic last week.

All of a sudden I had sharp pains in my right side under my ribs, which I can only assume was the baby lodged in there. It was quite hard to walk and I passed several people on the way, but only one lady stopped to ask if I was okay.

I would like to thank her for her concern and let her know that although it may seem normal to stop and offer a pregnant lady help, apparently it is quite unusual, and therefore she should know it was greatly appreciated.

Tiffany Rae

Waasis, N.B.

Have you no shame when it comes to shopping carts?

One of my favorite rants concerns people who are too lazy to return shopping carts to their corrals.

However, this incident deserves special recognition. Today, July 17, at around 12 noon, in the southside Wal-Mart parking lot, an obviously healthy young woman was observed abandoning her shopping cart in a "disabled" parking slot, with a corral only a few metres away.

Sure gives fresh meaning to a fine saying: "Have you no shame?"

Fred Humphrey

Islandview, N.B.