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7 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,N ovem ber 18,2021 insidehalton.com I have motored up and down Speers Road maybe a dozen times since the com- pletion of the road-widen- ing with new pavement, bike lanes and sidewalks between Fourth and Third Line. It looks beautiful. Not once did I see a bicy- cle in the bike lanes. I had the occasion to walk the same stretch on the wonderful sidewalk and there I encountered two bike riders -- on the sidewalk. As I see it, it is safer to bike the sidewalk than the bike lane. The problem is there are many breaks in the bike path to allow for vehicles to turn in and exit from the multitude of businesses along this road. This looks to be a very dangerous place to ride a bike. Widening Speers Road to accommodate the bike lanes must have been a costly affair; power poles, business fences, other util- ities, etc, needed to be moved. It must have taken the better part of two years for this section to be complet- ed. I have to ask if this was a wise use of my tax dollars? I understand that the portion of Speers Road from Fourth Line to Kerr Street will get the same treatment in the coming year(s). Town councillors should look into putting this on hold and take a sec- ond look before proceed- ing. By all means though, re- pave the road. TOM VARTY, OAKVILLE PLEASE DON'T PORTRAY RACCOONS AS 'CUTE' I can only assume it is out of ignorance that the Oakville Beaver has pub- lished a photo of "cute" rac- coons hanging around. (See page 6 of the Oct. 14 edition.) More than 50 per cent of these rodents carry a dev- astating parasitic worm called baylisascaris in their feces. If you wonder just how serious this thing is, just look at the Sept. 29, 2008 ar- ticle -- Raccoon disease boy battles blindness -- in the Hamilton Spectator. A toddler in Hamilton accidentally ingested some nasty stuff and went blind from the parasite. At that date he was in hospital fighting for his life. So seeing these vermin depicted in a cute context makes my blood boil. The Beaver should instead be informing its readers on how to prevent contact that might kill their kids or pets. EMIL ANDREW SEKERAK, OAKVILLE FRAUD STORY HAS NO PLACE IN NEWSPAPER The Oct. 21 Beaver con- tained an article on page 4 titled 'Catholic Board Trustee Charged With Fraud.' It begs the question, why? The trustee in question was charged with fraud by the Hamilton police in Jan- uary of this year, regarding incidents totally unrelated to her role as trustee. Because the matter is before the courts, no spe- cifics beyond the nature of the charges were included. In publishing the arti- cle, the Beaver ensured the trustee would be tried in the court of public opin- ion -- hardly fair to the ac- cused and her family, giv- en her right to the pre- sumption of innocence until such time as the mat- ter has been decided by the courts. Shame on the Beaver for irresponsibly exposing the trustee in question to the glare of the news media for no good reason. An apology is in order. In stooping to sensation- alism, you have discredited the paper. PETER D. PELLIER, OAKVILLE MORE ADVICE NEEDED, PLEASE! Columnist Peter Wat- son's piece titled "House value warning issued" real- ly struck a cord. While I agree with the observations, what does Peter have in the way of tangible advice to hedge against this risk? Otherwise, do we just live with sleepless nights spent worrying? XIAOYA XU, OAKVILLE LETTERS & COMMENTARY IS SPEERS ROAD REALLY SAFE FOR CYCLING? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR TODAY!