Slow down

The Pilot received the following letter to include in the Letters to the Editor section.

To the coward that ran over my Father's dog

Dear Editor,

You know who you are. My 10-year-old daughter and our 10-year-old neighbour know your extended cab, white truck with a short box and tinted windows. They know how the force of the impact hit a small beagle and sent him flying over the hood of your truck. They tried to pick him up off the road.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. (15 minutes after the school bus stopped in that exact spot), you drove, excuse me FLEW, through our community. The speed limit in Loon Bay is 50 km/hr, by the way. The girls in the garden, who have been warned not to go on the road, were playing in the snow nearby. They heard the roar of a loud, fast truck and a big bang. They looked up to see a beagle, Bud, flying through the air landing on the hood of your truck, fall to the road. You in your truck speeding on.

No stopping for you. You didn't care that the dog was killed. You didn't stop to ask if those 10-year-old girls were okay; if it was their dog, if there was someone who could help them scrape Bud off the road.

Our girls will never forget. The speeding truck, the big bang, the dead dog. They will never forget that the person driving that truck kept on going - didn't stop. Didn't care.

My father cared. Bud was his companion. A small beagle who loved the woods, loved the outdoors. Who cried if my parents weren't home by 9:30 p.m. to let him in. Who slept in a wicker chair by the wood stove. Who was loved.

Maybe, to some, Bud was just a dog. And yes, he shouldn't have been on the road. But you should not have been speeding through our community. Heaven forbid that had been one of our children. If they had been running after a stray volleyball? Could you have stopped in time? Not likely ...

As I sit in my living room at 7 p.m., I can hear and I can see the vehicles speeding past. I know this continues all day long. Most drivers may not realize it, but there are children in Loon Bay. People who walk the roads. Dogs that get away.

I am begging you to please lower your speed. Drive the speed limit. Watch out for our children. That big hill, Mount Misery, has a passing lane. Use it. Think twice about speeding through our community. Think about the consequences. Think about what I have to tell my father when he returns home today. A man who loves his dog. Think about two 10-year-old girls who are looking for an extended cab, white pickup truck with tinted windows and the indentation of a small beagle on its hood.

Please obey the speed limit sign. We love our children. We loved our dog.

Stephanie Luscombe

Community of Loon Bay

Speed limit 50 km/hr