In response to the Mayor's letter

Letter to the Editor,
Was the point missed by the Mayor or is she failing to see it? First thing, my hat is off to the four young girls who actually showed interest in the Town of Rainy River. Especially when most of your fellow students or at least when I went to school, were trying to figure out how to distance themselves from Rainy River as soon as they were done High School.
My daughter came to me shortly after the Locum house story appeared in the Record. I do not know what sparked her to be annoyed, but I listened as she ranted about the cost of housing, the conditions of roads, the beautiful park that goes unmaintained sometimes and numerous other thoughts she had. She then said "I want to write a letter to the editor", and she asked me if it was okay. I told her it was her opinion not mine that matters, and if she felt she had to comment, to go ahead.
So four young girls drafted a letter to the editor. The point was $700,000 to build a house is insane, when so much other work is also needed in the Town of Rainy River. Also, I believe the girls meant no harm to anyone trying to beautify our town. So, please do not be offended by the comments made.
At no time were these girls saying we did not need some type of residence for locum housing which Rainy River has not had in the past. We have a building for student's which is funded by other organizations. Locums have stayed there when students are not there. Also, students have stayed in houses around town. So I guess I would have to ask, in the surveys that were put out, did the locums ask for a nice respectable house to stay in? If that is what they are looking for, I believe there are two houses in town maybe more respectable and located in a distance from the hospital with a much lower price. I was wondering if we could purchase a house already built for $80,000 to $200,000 and keep raising money and see if there were students actually interested in becoming doctors. Maybe the remaining fund could be used to send them to school with some type of commitment back to their home town.
Concerning the Mayor's comment about the skateboard park. I would like to believe that as a elected official before making comments you would have all your facts straight. As you may well know, my daughter races a stock car. On the back of her stock car for the past three years, every year except the last year, she had a decal on her stock car saying, "Help Support Rainy River's Skateboard Park." Kids and parents sign the back, put money into a donation can, which still has money in it, for the skateboard park. We also brought both our stock cars to the arena where a dance was held to support the skateboard park. There she took pictures of many parents, children and with the help of our neighbour; these pictures were put on buttons for $5.00 each. All the funds donated went to the skateboard park. Our stock cars were also in the local parade and there buttons were handed out. She also spoke with Ken Boshcoff, who told her when the skateboard park became closer to reality to call him and he would see if he could help. One weekend when we came home, the skateboard park area was turned into a tennis court. This sort of crushed the hopes of the few students who were working towards the goal of the skateboard park.
In closing, your statement about easy maintenance, I hope if you can't utilize buildings already in town that the Locum House is built so it can be easily repaired and resold down the line if it needs to be.
Finally, I'd like to say again, good job girls! Keep taking pride in your town and don't let this discourage you in the future from voicing your opinions, you are the future.
–Rick Bourre,
Rainy River