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Niagara Falls
Friday, March 29, 2024
Letter to the editor: Do not steal fruit

SUBMITTED BY RICK MELOEN, HERITAGE TRAIL COMMITTEE.

Dear editor:

I am writing in response to the article “Trekking down the Heritage Trail,” (The Lake Report, Aug. 1), in order to make some corrections.

The plans for the trail are for a crushed stone surface, not an asphalt surface.

An awful statement was made that hikers along the trail “could snag a peach from a tree or grapes off a vine.”

This is theft and trespassing on private property.

Apparently, there is a need for educating the public that the fruit and produce grown in our community is not there for the taking whenever you feel like it.

Any hint that it is acceptable behaviour to help yourself to fruit hanging from a tree or a vine is doing a disservice to the hard-working farming community and is encouraging unlawful behaviour.

Would you or your readers steal fruit from a grocery store just because there is plenty available? I don’t think so.

Am I upset by this flippant remark? You bet I am!

Get out and enjoy the beauty of nature and the bucolic scenes of well-tended orchards and vineyards, but keep your hands off.

Rick Meloen, chair

Heritage Trail Committee

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Editor’s note and clarification: The Lake Report did not intend to condone or promote people stealing fruit or trespassing. We’re sorry to have given that impression. It was an inadvertent oversight on our part. On the section of trail about which the writer was commenting, berries, grapes and fruit are within easy reach of hikers, just a few steps away. However, no one should leave the trail, trespass on private land or take what isn’t theirs.

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