Heartless driver should’ve stopped

To the person who hit my dog:

On July 17 at 9 p.m. my dog Skylos ran onto Hillside Avenue and was hit by a car.

I realize that I made a mistake by not keeping her in my yard but I cannot believe the nerve of the person who hit her because they just kept driving.

They did not brake when they hit her, so maybe they just did not see her, but Skylos weighs 80 lbs. and the noise that she made when they hit her was excruciatingly loud. There is just no excuse for this behavior.

If you hit someone – or something – stop!

I hope the person who hit her was high on drugs or drunk and that was why they chose not to brake or stop to see if they could help, because if they are a sober human being there is just no excuse.

I hope she did some major damage to your car because you did major damage to our home.

Skylos is an integral part of the Hillside community. She sends love to hundreds of people who know her all over town. I hope this weighs heavy on your conscious – never knowing whether or not you killed my dog.

You and I both know what you did whether you want to own up to it or not.

Dana Haydon

Victoria

Government workers given a bad rap

This is a letter to the 227 employers who have received my resume over the past 36 months (13 of those months I was working) and to future employers that will receive my resume.

I do not know why I am not being considered for the positions that I am applying for however I am hoping it is not because I was a government employee for 12 years.

The other day I sent a resume to an employer who was looking for an administrative assistant, he responded back telling me that I did not have the background and experience that he was looking for.

I responded, inquiring what it was he was looking for because according to the posting I was totally qualified.

I then received an e-mail back telling me “While I appreciate your experience, a history of government employment is not a plus when one is applying to the private sector.”

I realize that there are people out there who think government employees do nothing but sit around all day and I am sure there are some who do just that.

However, I can assure you that there are government employees who like myself gave 100 per cent to their positions.

I would stay after work, take work home with me at night, go in on weekends (never asking to be compensated) just to make sure that whatever had to be done was done.

With the layoffs that have happened there is more workload and less people.

These words came as a shock to me, that an employer would actually write those words to someone who only has government experience and looking for a job.

I am a single parent, my EI runs out at the end of the month, my next step is welfare (which I will probably be denied), after that I will lose my house and become homeless all because I used to work for the government.

Susan Mah

Saanich

Please direct me to the high road

Re: Homeless deserve pity, not columnists (Letters, July 17)

Thank you, Doreen Gee, for giving those of us who live downtown a slap upside the head.

I promise not to whine the next time I pick up used needles and bloodied tissues; when I watch people urinate and defecate in our public spaces and when I put discarded clothing and food in my garbage bin.

My sanctimonious attitude for working very hard to acquire and maintain my home is shameful and when I find myself avoiding the unpredictable behaviour of some of the homeless and drug addicted as I walk through my neighbourhood, perhaps, Ms. Gee, you could direct me to the high road taken by so many people who live outside the downtown area.

Phyllis Marchment

Victoria

•••

I find the musings in the response by Doreen Gee to the Tale of a Guilt-Ridden City Dweller (Opinion, July 10) interesting.

First, anger at others sadly does nothing to help those on the street and creates more hostility.

Many of those 1-in-10 youths out there “partying” will end up at some point being affected by mental health issues, and will likely not receive proper therapy or be able to afford expensive medication.

Many issues of “guilt ridden” people stem from the fact that, other than community addiction services, no community psychological services are offered for people to “talk over” with a professional their issues, and allow them to actively find peace in their own lives.

Being a person who has experienced the inside of the mental health machine, there is a severe lack of attention, that cannot take people like the person encountered by Vivian Moreau at an early stage and give them the help they need.

Thomas Butcher

Saanich

Isotopes, feudalism and democracy

What does the shutdown of Chalk River’s medical isotope program have in common with the 17th century battle between feudalism and democracy?

Tragically, far too much.

Modern democratic economies work on the principle that raw resources, consumed by either companies or individuals, are public assets used by all (such as water, air, land, public infrastructure etc.).

Normally, you are required to pay the public back for what you consume; and then the profit you create by adding value is yours.

Modern democracies assure that there is a public benefit from the use of common resources. That’s our democratic-economic system.

In the 17th century, kings and feudal lords claimed ownership of both resources and government for their own control and benefit. Then, humanity debated whether private enterprise belonged under feudal-individual management or democratic-public administration.

In the case of Chalk River’s public medical program, the Harper government has cancelled it in order to make room for private control – distancing a Canadian medical program from democratic administration.

At issue, should Chalk River’s medical program be treated as a strictly private resource under the control of its individual owners; or is it fundamentally a public resource run for common public benefit?

No matter the answer, Mr. Harper is clear that he believes that the feudal approach of strictly private control justifies his decision to cancel the Chalk River program – the public interest be damned.

Eugene Parks

Victoria

While Kelowna burned …

The Kelowna fires remind me of the Roman emperor who fiddled away while the city burned.

The province has done the same thing in its attempt to cover what it didn’t do from the 2003 fires.

P.M. Peterson

Victoria

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