Dear Editor:

I realize I am just a teenager, a dot in society. I have kept up to date with the "community" quarrels, though that is a lie because we are not a true community if we cannot get along. The "feral cat" issue is the one that got to me the most. I see that people have all sorts of opinions on the matter.

The "cat people" are concerned about the cats' health, and there are the people that have nothing better to worry about but the upkeep of their beautiful gardens and lawns, which have sadly been violated by the innocent cats that don't know any better. I may not know everything, for I have not grown wise yet in this world, but I assure you that the opinion I get from my generation is that they will clean up the messes left to us. I agree with the "cat people" that the cats are very innocent creatures that have full right to live and eat when they can. I agree with the men and women who are worried about their health, though I would like to believe you have enough common sense not to not walk up to a feral cat and pick it up, resulting in infection. But I certainly do not approve of the time wasted in writing a letter to a newspaper complaining of doo-doo on your lawn. Because, ladies and gentlemen, these people must have pretty good lives going for them if the most they can complain about is poop in their petunias. Now for the bylaw officer who is walking around cleaning up cat feeding sites (which as long as they are not on someone's property are causing no harm to anyone). He is too busy looking for people feeding cats than to notice a pit bull out and attacking little dogs in the arms of my peer (which so happens to be a very good friend of mine). The situation could have been much different if my boyfriend and his other friend weren't there to save both the poor small dog and my friend. Who knows what could have happened if they had not been there. So, to the people that have nothing better to do than to complain of stool in their yard, I ask you, how would you feel if you opened the paper one morning to a picture of an 18-year-old boy's face scarred and stitched?

Brianna Aspinall-Woodward
Merritt, B.C.