Dear editor:
A big thank you to Sandy, what a community minded person. Also to Karen, who came along and helped Sandy finish up. Thank you ladies for your time and energy. You are good people.
We have a problem with a few dog owners who do not pick up after their dogs and dog owners that pick up after their dogs BUT discard the bags on private or municipality property instead of taking it home.
On Nelson Street West after you cross over Pearson Street, heading west, there is a gully with a creek running through it. Unfortunately in this beautiful town of ours, there are some pretty disrespectful dog owner(s). This gully seems to be the dumping ground for some dog owner(s) for their poo bags. Instead of taking them home, they discard them on other people’s property.
On Easter Monday when I took my dog for his afternoon walk, there was Sandy, who does not even live on Nelson Street West, crawling around the gully. She had picked up 100 dog bags of poo by herself besides beer bottles and other discarded material.
She told me on her walks with her dog, she passed this mess many times and decided it needed to be cleaned up. So she spent her time and energy cleaning up other lazy people’s responsibility. What is wrong with society today? Why should other people have to do the things that are your responsibility, if you are going to be a dog owner, be a good dog owner.
Karen, a neighbour of mine, was out for her afternoon walk, stopped and helped Sandy. Karen found 4 more discarded poo bags making the total of 104 bags picked up. Shocking I am sure! Between the two of them, they sorted recyclables and garbage into smaller bags. Placed the smaller bags into one large bag then carried the heavy bag back to Sandy’s house.
Since the cleanup, I have met quite a few people out for their walks, they had noticed the gully cleaned up. They ask me if I know who did it and I tell them. They cannot believe people would even discard the bags there to begin with.
Sadly, this is not the only area in town some dog owner(s) throw down their poo bags or hang them on tree branches. They throw them down the bank on the north side of Nelson Street hill, the north side of Collingwood Street hill, under hedges or along the grassy side of the street, in the gully where Pearson Street turns onto Ironwood Drive. The people who own that property cleaned up the discarded bags and put up a sign asking people not to discard their bags there. Apparently the sign did not work. I just don’t get it!
People who do this have no respect for other people’s property. On my street, we also have owners letting their dogs do their business on our lawns down by the road and just walk away not picking it up. Please pick up after your dogs and take it home with you. There is no such thing as bad dogs, it is bad dog owners.
Besides cleaning up the gully, the postal box by the gully is always being grown over with vines and trees. Sandy cut down the trees and vines to almost ground level and then swept away the dirt and debris that was all around the bottom of the postal box. I also found out another good man named Fred that lives on Nelson Street West, has also cut the trees and vines down. A big THANK YOU to both Sandy and Fred from all the people who use that postal box.
Sharon M. Dunn, Meaford
