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2 Friday, July 21, 2017brooklintowncrier.com Bits that might have become columns Less than Half the Picture By Richard Bercuson At your disposal? Did you love the fireworks around Brooklin on July 1? Seemed like everywhere you turned there was another set going off, and well into the evening, too. I hope locals took proper precautions and had water and/or fire extinguishers at hand. But the aftermath was a puzzler. There were two locations I happened to see where piles of spent fireworks were dumped in front of town garbage bins in parks. I don't understand. If residents kind- ly chipped in to buy fireworks for everyone else to enjoy, which we did, wouldn't it have behooved them to also bring garbage bags to dump the spent stuff in and drag them home? Instead, the town came by four days later to clean up the areas. As well, there were children about on the days following. You have to expect that the used up 'works might have been an attraction for some. Why take that chance? Next time, please be at your own disposal. Scoot! Scoot! It's wonderful to see kids outside playing. Not so wonderful to see them on scooters on the road. It's also great they're wearing helmets. Not so helpful they're wearing helmets on the road because, let's face it, if a scooterer (scootist?) is struck by a car, well, fill in the rest. Since it is one of a child's jobs to annoy adults, scooting down the middle of a street does successfully annoy drivers who probably wonder if honking would make things worse than leaning out the window and shouting. Since scootists (scooterers?) don't signal and have no brake lights, it's hard to predict what they'll do. They also often travel in pairs or small packs, which means the hazard is compounded. Drivers, beware! Parents, please have a talk with your family scooting rep. Times Square On Thursday evenings at Grass Park during the summer Music in the Park event as well as at the recent Artfest, Roebuck Street is cordoned off. Does Roebuck serve any useful purpose as an actual road? Why can't we have our own version of New York City's Times Square, a pedestrian mall? Wall it off permanently to vehicles. Paint the street. Make it a local art project. Maybe add more park benches and paint them, too. Presto! Times Square in Brooklin. Your Cassels is not your home That there hasn't yet been a serious accident on the Cassels Road stretch from Grass Park to Queen Street is remarkable. It's a scenic east-west route with a dip at the bridge which entices drivers to see how well their vehicles can first accelerate then zoom back up to a comfortable cruising speed of 70-plus km per hr. Even Durham buses seem to enjoy rocketing along. And yes, scooterers and skateboarders abound. If ever there was a Brooklin road where Durham Police could make a statement, this is one. Now back to the summer's idyll... "Proud to be a Brooklinite" Founded in 2000 and published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 editorofbtc@gmail.com The Brooklin Town Crier is locally owned and operated and is a publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: Marissa Campbell at 905.655.7642 Email: yeswomanbrooklin@gmail.com Next Issue: Friday, August 4, 2017 Deadline: Friday, July 28, 2017 At Artfest on July 15, Maura Mapes stretched what was to be an hour's performance into another 30 minutes of music. It was thanks partly to a delayed opening ceremony but also because of her artistry playing and singing a wide variety of cover songs. Mapes works at Endless Ideas across from Grass Park and has been performing for 20 years after just picking up the guitar to learn to accompany herself as she sang. She plays at various open jams and local pubs in the Durham region