Dear Editor
I read with disbelief the letter to the editor from the Battlefords Agricultural Society in the July 18 edition of the News-Optimist.
Dana Alexander is 100 per cent correct when she says, "no responsible organization can properly plan with a lease that may be terminated on just six months notice."
City council needs to realize agriculture has been and continues to be the backbone of our economy. The Battlefords serve a large agriculture trading area. Where will we be if these farmers decide to spend their money in another community? The local agriculture dealerships in the last couple of years have invested, and continue to invest, substantial money in their facilities to serve the agriculture sector better. Maybe it is time for the City to do the same.
City council needs to reconsider its position. The Ag. Society has served the community for the last 127 years. Let's do the right thing so they can plan and build for the next 127 years. Rather than shut them down, the City should be selling them the land they have been leasing for $1.
This reminds me of the fiasco the City had going with the doctors of the SpesMed Medical Centre until the community spoke up and said the situation was ridiculous.
Let's, as a community, speak up once again before it is too late.
Rita Chamberlain
North Battleford
