Congratulations on the newspaper awards
Sir: Happy and good news is always needed these days.
Congratulations to all the staff at The Journal for the recent awards. I always knew you were special.
I enjoy your publication each week. The local content has something, or someone, of interest to our home.
I always scan the names of the young sports teams to see who we recognize, after taking care of children in our home for the past 20 years.
And the art of photographer Glenn Ogilvie is amazing.
Again, I say congratulations to you all.
Mary Ettinger
Sarnia
Expressing different opinions a cherished right
Sir: In the April 26 edition of The Journal, our community newspaper, letter writer C.M. Laws used a public forum to speak out against a person who expressed an opinion that is shared by many Canadians.
Essentially, what the writer was asking you to do is publish only opinions with which the writer agrees.
Canada is a free country, and under the same Charter of Rights that C.M. Laws refers to is the right to freedom of expression.
C.M. Laws demanding ‘group think’ from readers is asinine. Telling a newspaper what it should publish, or someone how they must think, is a very slippery slope and a dictatorial tactic. No one should ever feel like they can be, or attempt to be, someone else's thought police.
If a person is not inciting hatred or violence towards another, they should be allowed to add their voice to the discussion. The Journal should be proud they give a VOICE to all sides of an issue.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with mourning for the lost lives of babies (or embryos if that makes people feel better) through abortion.
Canada's infant mortality rate is .45%. Left to gestate, 99.5% of those "embryos" aborted would survive, and who knows what they would accomplish with their lives?
If abortion is a legal method to end pregnancy, then so be it, but trying to shame the media and people into silence is a pretty weak way to win an argument.
Sincerely,
D. McLaughlin
Sarnia
Summer jobs funding criteria not the same old song and dance
Sir: Letter writer Stanton Earle accuses Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu of "tap dancing around the truth" (May 3 edition).
I suggest he is an expert clog dancer with little regard for the truth, which he enthusiastically tramples underfoot.
His sentence connecting this Summer Jobs Funding issue with active physical opposition to obstruct a woman’s rights is laughable.
Whether something is lawful or not is not the problem with the Liberals’ funding criteria. They are not asking whether an organization accepts that abortion is legal in Canada; they are insisting that you say you support it.
Smoking and drinking alcohol are lawful in Ontario, but most Ontarians don’t smoke and not all drink. What if the government made it a condition to receive state benefits or pensions that everyone had to sign a form to say that they supported both activities!
That would be control, and there would be uproar.
What you believe is irrelevant, as long as you pursue your beliefs according to the law of the land. What crushes freedom of belief and speech is when someone says that if you don’t publicly support their viewpoint, you are ineligible to participate in their society.
That indeed is a slippery slope, particularly for clog dancers.
Keith Patrick
Sarnia
Thanks, Sarnia Journal, and keep doing what you’re doing
Sir: Just wanted to say congratulations to you and your staff on being named the best weekly newspaper in the province.
I’ve always been one to enjoy sitting first thing in the morning with my tea and reading a newspaper in hand, not online. And it’s becoming more difficult to do, as every newspaper worth reading wants you to do it on the Internet.
Although now I must confess that I read The Sarnia Journal in the afternoon when it arrived on our doorstep.
I really look forward to sitting down and reading from beginning page to last page. The feature articles are most informative on what’s happening in and around Sarnia.
Phil Egan’s articles on the history of Sarnia are fun and nostalgic, especially when one can remember the topics, such as the recent story on the introduction of the rotary telephone!
Tom St. Amand’s trivia challenge is a highlight for me as I’m a real trivia buff (hardly ever miss Jeopardy; also I taught with Tom at St. Patrick’s on East Street).
From local sports to ‘What’s Happening,’ we’re kept informed of what’s going on the city.
Ads are ads, necessary for revenue, but even they are informative about the businesses in Sarnia.
Thanks so much to you and your staff on producing a tremendous product. I hope it continues, at least until my name appears in the Death Notices.
Doug Vosburg
Sarnia