1.Mauve flower planters: Ugh! Why not paint the two bands on each planter dark green, to match the sign? (needs painting). Compare Home hardware’s yellow and rust planters.
2. Walk light: To drivers turning left from Murray Road to West Coast Road, there is a walk light that goes on just at the time you can turn left. To pedestrians, it’s best to catch the eye of the driver. Too many near misses for me!
3. Sewer odour: At this same corner and along West Coast Road there is a sewer smell. Not all the time, just sometimes. It is not the ocean as a previous writer claimed.
4. Postal changes: Who to believe, the federal postal or the union? I just hope that the friendly, rural atmosphere of our post office is never affected. For some seniors a visit to Sooke’s post office is the only human contact they get in a day. And to all our dogs, this rates A+ as do visits to Home Hardware, the Royal Bank and Wiskers and Waggs, all of whom give out dog treats.
5. Financial help for pet owners: Recently, my 16-year-old cat whom I’ve had since she was a kitten had to be put down. Thankfully, the vet’s office has a list of charitable societies who will help with a donation towards the costs. Even though Sooke is not within their area, Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders and VOCAL in the Sidney area both contributed to my bill which the vet reduced because I am an OAP. (Maybe it’s time to start a non-profit foundation in Sooke to help lower income people with their vet bills.)
6. Tim Horton’s: I heard one of the owners of Evergreen mall being interviewed by CFAX after the fire. He hinted at the possibility of Tim Horton’s being a leasee once the damaged part has been rebuilt. Tim Bits for all the firefighters and businesses affected.
6. Garbage dumping: Your last couple of editions showed pictures of unauthorized garbage dumped on some of the more rural properties, Are the business and apartment owners in urban Sooke aware that unauthorized persons are dumping their garbage in your unlocked dumpsters?
8. Sooke boardwalk: I read many letters of complaint about our last municipal council’s decision to build a boardwalk but few letters of praise once the boardwalk was built. I would like to thank our former council for bringing the idea to fruition. I have heard tourists expressing surprise and pleasure when they first see it and I have seen locals using it daily for exercise. But most memorable was the expression of pure delight on the face of a physically/mentally challenged young man as his caretaker pushed him down the ramp in his wheelchair.’
9. Animal abuse: To the person who complained to the police about a dog locked in a car on a warm day and to the person who complained to the SPCA that I had tied my dog to a dumpster in the sun without water available while I was at work all day; thank you for your concern for the welfare of our pets. I know it’s difficult making the decision to complain to an authority or not. My suggestion is to first talk to the owner if possible. In my case, the dumpster gave the only shade in the yard and the leash tied to it gave the dog enough line to be the sun or shade. The water was in the shade behind the dumpster and I was close by on my knees gardening. It’s easy to jump to conclusions but it’s better to “jump” than let the animal suffer. Finally mused out.
Doreen Effa
Sooke