Neighbours share their noisy plight!

You make some valid points in your editorial ('This isn't Green Acres,' Times, June 7) but your ending, "Get used to it or go back to the city," sums up the attitude that we have to live with.

This is the usual childish argument that can be twisted for almost any situation.

I admit that we are newcomers to the county. We have only lived here slightly over 20 years while most of our neighbours have lived here much longer.

We moved here because it was paradise - peaceful and quiet - totally unlike the city.

Five or six years ago the blueberry cannons started up, ending the serenity that we had come to expect and enjoy.

If we did decide to move to escape the propane cannons, do you really think anyone in their right mind would purchase a property anywhere in the vicinity of one of these blueberry farms?

How many totally deaf people are looking for a small acreage? Does anyone consider what these cannons have done to nearby property values?

Nobody is complaining about normal farm noises, such as tractors and hay cutting or the common odours such as manure spreading.

These things are expected in the country and only last for a few days at a time, but constant explosions every few minutes for a third of the year or more are totally unacceptable.

The Farm Practices Act was introduced a few years ago with no input from the public and just because a few bureaucrats decided that it was fine for some farmers to destroy the peace and quiet of the country doesn't make it right. It is time that the government had another look at these regulations.

We have a small farm and raise livestock. They are very quiet and donot disturb the neighbours. However, if our dog was barking all day, I am certain that the neighbours would complain and the noise bylaws would be invoked.

It is amazing to me that the noise bylaws are so ineffective in regards to propane cannons.

I invite you to come and use our office for a day in the summer and see if your editorials have the same flavour when your concentration is ruined by constant propane detonations.

B. P. Mount Lehman

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