Published: August 20, 2008 6:00 PM
Editor, The Abbotsford News:
Blueberry cannons! Coming soon to a field beside you? You better believe it!
If you aren’t yet affected by propane cannons or similar noise-makers in the blueberry fields, be thankful. Some people may live within earshot of a distant propane cannon and they might think, “It’s not that bad.”
If that faint boom you hear from over the hill every 15 minutes “isn’t that bad,” can you imagine a point where it would become “that bad”? What would it take?
How about that same faint boom 100 times louder?
How about a sound like a shotgun blast in a field next to your house, every five minutes, all day long?
How about three or more cannons operating in the same nearby field, all set on automatic timers, each one detonating at different five-minute intervals from 6:30 in the morning until 8 at night?
Think it will be “not that bad” then?
This is a very real possibility and it’s happening all over the Fraser Valley. There is nothing in the law that can stop anyone from doing this as long as it’s in the name of agriculture.
Don’t think that people won’t do the absurd, because they will. And don’t think that municipal noise bylaws or the police will protect you, because they won’t.
Propane cannons and similar noise-makers will affect property values detrimentally. Selling a house at its full value (if at all) will be very difficult if that house is in an area where cannons are firing.
Besides causing immediate hardship to their neighbours because of the explosive and constant noise, inconsiderate people operating these things will cause their neighbours’ property to be worth less. How’s that for a good neighbour? Makes you want to go and give them a big friendly hug, doesn’t it?
If a cannon begins firing near your home, you’re out of luck. No government body nor the police will help you. Even those of us on neighbouring farms are being denied the right to peace and quiet.
Don’t wait until cannons move into your area. They have to be dealt with NOW! This is serious stuff and it needs to be dealt with seriously.
Concerned? Get involved. Contact your MLA and your local government. Help all the other beleaguered residents of Ban the Cannons fight this invasion of our right to peace and quiet.
Don’t wait until you decide it’s “very bad” because by then it will be too late.
Until cannons are banned, I would strongly advise someone to not buy a home within hearing distance of a blueberry field. Got your eye on a nice 10-acre property in a quiet, peaceful setting? Better think twice.
Until propane cannons are banned, there are no guarantees that what happened in our neighborhood won’t happen to you.
Visit our website www.banthecannons.com, and if you’re concerned about cannons in your neighbourhood, please e-mail us at: bancannons@hotmail.com
C. G.
Abbotsford
