Damage to the benches at the Lookout Park pavilion near Westmeath is upsetting, said Christine FitzSimons, the chief administrative officer for the Township of Whitewater Region. In the park recently, she was upset to find that both benches had graffiti scrawled on them and one of the seats had been bent right down. She said one bench will have to be sanded down while another will have to be replaced. She said the incident has been reported to the police. “I’m shocked and deeply disappointed,” she said. However, she added, “The deeds of a few people are not a reflection of the community.” Photos submitted
Dear Editor:
This afternoon (Saturday, June 4), in conjunction with my annual attendance at the Westmeath United Church supper, I stopped in at the Whitewater Region’s Lookout Park to soak in the view first recorded in the sketches in the Field Notes of Wm. E. Logan’s Survey of the Upper Ottawa Valley in 1845.
The View as always was superb , both of the agricultural land to the east and the forest and river to the west. The grass in the park had been recently cut and it showed the care and pride of the council and ratepayers of Whitewater Region.
I was however angered, saddened and disappointed in what I found in the Lookout’s pavilion. On one side, the seat had been covered with a rant in black marker which the author no doubt sees as a reflection of his/her intellect. Others will have their own assessment. On the other side the seat has been removed by breaking the angle iron frame that supported it, a feat not accomplished by a child.
Just what the rationale of the perpetrator was escapes me but I’m sure he/she or they will be bragging to their friends. I hope that one of those friends will see this, as I do, as an act of stupidity and report it to their councillor so that restitution can be exacted.
John D. Wright
Deep River
