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The headline and subhead for this story — ‘COVID may not be over but thousands of people filling the streets of Dundas suggest people are ready to return to life as we knew it — highlights exactly why COVID is not over. People are done with the pandemic, but COVID is not done with us. Events like this surely spread the virus. Thankfully, Doug Ford and his negligent government no longer test and track cases, so most people can happily bury their heads in the sand, at the expense of vulnerable people and our health-care system. But hey, funnel cakes are fun, right?

Waterdown, in less than 15 years, has transformed itself from a pretty little village into an ugly sprawling monstrosity. Spewing out in three directions, east and west along Highway 5 and northward along its secondary core, it has managed to replicate the fate of many small Ontario towns. Hamilton’s lawn signs, “STOP URBAN SPRAWL,” seen everywhere, have not had the slightest effect on this rapidly creeping eyesore. Although the village has been officially a suburb of Hamilton for two decades, the Hamilton Planning Department has done nothing but encourage and give the green light to this sprawling spider web of development. As elsewhere in Ontario, municipal planning departments boast loudly about saving precious farmland from being paved over, but actively encourage the creeping ugliness that is enveloping our small towns and villages.

I haven’t read about any development along Barton Street; a depressed and drab street that could use something. Developers should be offered property there to accommodate both affordable housing and highrise buildings. There are also some areas along Kenilworth Avenue that are eyesores and could be made available. Seems a no-brainer to me.

I’ll keep this short. Drive too fast on the highway you can get an automatic licence suspension and your vehicle seized. Immediately. Hit a pedestrian in the city, even kill one, you can drive home. Change the laws!

In response to ‘Vision assessment for kids’ (Aug. 16): I agree that vision screening is crucial in a child’s development, along with hearing assessment. From experience, most primary teachers easily become aware of these needs in their students early on and inform the parents. At one time public health nurses were in schools and also assisted in this screening, along with other health issues. Indeed, these services helped students, especially in lower-income areas. To reintroduce them, along with tutoring would be ideal.

However, a parent knows their child best, and should be observant to identify vision and hearing needs before the child begins their school career. Once again, we cannot blame schools for undiagnosed vision problems in our children. It is a continuum.

Recently, at a popular park in the Shore Acres area of Burlington, we witnessed a pitiful situation. A sick coyote was observed lying in the bright morning sunlight. Several of us called the police for help and were put in touch with animal aid. We assumed the animal would be taken away for treatment. Instead, we were informed that nothing could be done. The animal was considered too healthy, yet what many of us saw was an animal in obvious distress, dragging his left hind leg along, looking very disoriented. After informing us that she had been tracking the animal all day, the rescue worker simply drove away.

The parks in this area are frequented by children. Interaction between a sick coyote and a child or a small dog could be a disaster. I kept my distance, but I placed a bowl of cool water within his reach. The rescue worker warned me that supplying water to a coyote is against the law and I could be fined for doing so.

Nothing has been done to help this animal. Anything is possible as to the state of his health. He may have suffered a stroke, or was stricken with distemper or rabies. The rescue worker obviously expected the animal would simply rest for a few hours then return to his den. I sincerely hope she was right.

I was so outraged over CTV’s recent “business decision” to dump Lisa LaFlamme that I did not watch CTV news all week. Today I went one step further and unsubscribed from CTV News, CP24 and CTV Drama on my cable package. The news is all about trust and CTV has lost mine.

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