Dear Editor:
The York Lake Road issue is still a very hot topic - especially for those of us that must drive it daily. This matter has made the paper in the form of a Letter to the Editor on June 8, 2011 and three months later on CTV supper news broadcast on October 14, 2011. At this time Barclay Westerhaug stated he thinks there is a committee who are going to take a look at this situation. Here it is, time for the snow to fly and the RM thinks they may be looking at the situation. There were 166 days from May 1 to October 13 to deal with the problem with the road, look at what needed to be done and then take action.
All of us who live at York Lake or on the York Lake Road realize that this past winter and spring took a tremendous toll on many of the Saskatchewan roads, but the RM of Orkney has taken no action in this matter other than the occasional grading of the areas that are now topped with gravel. There are still extremely deep craters which pose huge driving risks.
As Bob Rae stated in his television interview, the large majority of the road work was completed by a very kind and generous resident at York Lake.
The acreage owners along York Lake Road purchased their property with a paved road to their property. It is my understanding that it is the RM's responsibility and obligation to maintain the road in the same condition. Perhaps we all need to be taking our vehicle bills in to the RM office to be reimbursed for rim damage, wheel alignments, broken shocks, etc.
What happens when the sanitation companies can no longer access the east or south road to pump the holdings tanks of the 70+ home/cabin owners at the lake?
How safe is it for the school bus to transport our children to and from school on this road?
How quickly would an emergency response vehicle be able to respond to a fire, accident or other health emergency?
Is it going to take a serious injury or death before the RM of Orkney will realize how serious the situation is? Whose family will be affected by this possible tragedy? Will it be the school bus with our precious child on board?
Let's all work together co-operatively for a solution we can all be satisfied with.
Respectfully
submitted
Donna Evans,
Resident at York Lake
