Keep up the great work Tehkummah!

To the Expositor:

Right decision made: from the outside looking in!

Good morning, afternoon or evening, depending of course on when you are reading one of Ontario’s finest weekly news sources.

I am presently writing this from our residence in Chesley, but as always am missing our property at Silverwater. (Thirty-four trips on the Chi-Cheemaun this year so far).

I like reading newspapers and I especially enjoy the Letters to the Editor section. I find this section to be sometimes interesting, sometimes informative but usually always passing on someone’s “opinion.”

I find most writers to be passing on a “self-serving message” for one reason or the other. Some write out of concern, some to clarify issues and others I believe type just to hear the keyboard rattle.

Okay, so where am I going with this.

If you are familiar with the geography of the Island you would realize that the quickest, easiest and most direct way from South Baymouth to Silverwater is via the Government Road in beautiful Tehkummah Township.

Council this year wrestled with the decision to replace the bridge on Government Road at the Manitou River and right or wrong decided to go forward with their plans to replace the bridge this summer.

Tehkummah had previous secured government funding but the project needed to be done this year otherwise Tehkummah would need to re-apply for this funding.

Anyone who has every applied or even remotely thought of applying for work over, on and in a waterway will tell you it is a horrible time consuming process with no guarantee of success.

Your paper has previously indicated that the bridge was in serious need of replacement and had been given a life expectancy of five years or less.

I stopped by the job site the day after the demolition commenced and was amazed how quickly old worn out concrete can crumble. Years and years of hot, cold, ice, snow, salt age and vehicle traffic had definitely caught up with this bridge.

As I pondered what this bridge had been subjected to over its life I also thought of how many thousands and thousands of spawning rainbow trout and salmon that had passed underneath. The Manitou River is of major significance to rainbow/salmon reproduction as well as host to various other varieties of aquatic species.

Oh, and now for my opinion.

First off I am not a resident of Tehkummah so I bear no direct financial burden for this replacement but the detour has added approximately 45 minutes of drive time per round trip.

Tehkummah council, in my opinion, was very wise to proceed as they did. Does anyone want to roll the dice on when this bridge might expire and what might possibly be on it when it goes? Does anyone want to risk an unforeseen collapse into a prime spawning river, and as always, there is no good time.

Anyone who follows politics (as I think one previous writer might have a political agenda) should realize that both the provincial and federal governments are tightening their purse strings. If Tehkummah had not taken advantage when they did there is no guarantee of similar fundings.

Too bad the members of Tehkummah council didn’t have a crystal ball. Only then could they predict when the perch will arrive in South Baymouth. How I will fare in deer season or whether there would be issues beyond their control this project.

Did Tehkummah council show “due diligence and reasonable judgment” in its approach to this project? Yes I believe they did.