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Re: Weddings in the County Special Issue (June 17). I’m a proudly gay woman and resident of Picton who married my incredible wife both in BC and PEC last year.
We took great pains to use only local businesses for our celebrations here — everything uplifted beloved PEC vendors and friends. Reading the special wedding edition of the Gazette last week and seeing literally no clearly visible 2SLGBTQIA+ representation, during Pride month no less, felt like a slap in the face from the Gazette, every vendor who placed an ad, and every business recognized with a feature story.
Sure, we queer folks haven’t been able to be legally married in Canada for that long (2005), but that doesn’t make queer marriage any less deserving of recognition and inclusion.
In fact, it means we ought to actively celebrate, not alienate, this point of progress even more — especially in a region with such a thriving 2SLGBTQIA+ community that welcomes so many queer visitors year-round.
If you’re truly an ally, show it.
Madeline Smolarz, Picton
Have you ever lost your phone? With all your sensitive personal data, fully protected by the manufacturer’s safeguards and passwords? How did you feel? Really safe? I can tell you I felt sick when I got home and my phone was missing! I never lose things so important, never, yet my wife and I spent two hours combing the car and the house. I phoned every store I’d visited during my afternoon of shopping, even the ones that I knew I left, with my phone safe in my shirt pocket — that’s what the years do to you!
No Frills didn’t have a local number at which I could talk directly to the store, but the call centre operator took a lot of details and set up a case file.
The “find my phone” app informed me that my phone was within 100m of our house, prompting another feverish, yet fruitless search!
Last ditch try, maybe I took my phone upstairs after coming home (no recollection). And then, a passing glance through the window onto the patio, and…there was a phone on one of our patio chairs!
If I was still a Brit, I’d have said “bloody hell,” but I really am a Canadian now (elbows up, let’s dump Trump), so I took action and checked it out. Yes, it was my phone, good as gold, and no Good Fairies in sight! But there was one. Someone found my phone, worked out who it belonged to, and returned it! I can’t begin to thank this person, for what they did, and also for what they represent: honesty, integrity, the soul of what Picton takes pride in. Thank you my mysterious delivery person. I am so, so grateful!
P.S. My wife thanks you too. I’d have been a real bear with a different outcome!
D.L. Morganit, Picton
Please explain why other small towns gas prices are at 1.67 to 1.70 but Picton stations continue to strap consumers with 1.87 prices. Even Wellington is cheaper.
Maybe the Gazette can ask why prices are so much higher in Picton. I am going to boycott Picton stations; perhaps others will follow.
L. Molyneux, Picton
On June 10, I filled up my car in Bath for 170.9. The price in Picton was at 187.9 —a difference of 17 cents! The week before, I filled up in Belleville at 170.9 when the price in Picton was 187.9, again a difference of 17 cents. In both cases I saved $10 per fill up. And it is cheaper again on the nearby First Nations reserve. I can understand a 3 cent difference but not 17 cents. Gasbuddy.com says Picton has the second-highest price in Ontario, by 17 or more cents.
This is price gouging, and it suggests collusion among Picton stations. That is illegal. I am just wondering to which government agency do I complain?
Sandy Murray, Picton
I drove to Oakville on Sunday and filled up in Port Hope for $1.51. The prices in the GTA are now between $1.58 and $1.65. I am not sure what is happening in Picton but it is ridiculous!
Ben O’Brien, Picton
See it in the newspaper
