Editor, The News:
I wanted to address an incident on the dikes in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge that I experienced the other night.
It was a beautiful evening for a walk with my friend and her eight-month-old golden retriever and my six-month-old golden retriever.
The rules of the dike are now all dogs have to on leash, except designated areas, and bikers ride at a speed that’s appropriate to share the dike.
I make a decision to let my puppy run up to my friend and her dog while I got organized and locked up the vehicle. She was not quite up on the dike, while a biker rides by full speed ahead. My puppy, in an instant, gives chase.
The biker didn’t acknowledge the situation with a courtesy stop so we could get the puppy back on leash, but instead sped up and took the puppy on a chase for at least a half mile, heading towards Harris Road.
I am unable to run and my friend attempted to run and catch up, screaming the puppy’s name and calling to the biker to stop.
Luckily, the puppy stopped when it came upon another group of people with dogs, so he was distracted and stopped chasing the bike.
The point I want to make is, there are situations where all users on the dikes fall short of the rules.
The argument the biker would have, I’m sure, is keep your dog on a leash.
But the cyclist was speeding. And, seeing the puppy, why not stop, for safety’s sake?
How are we all going to get along on this dike?
Frankly, the municipal attempt to create these ridiculous dog parks and leave the dikes to the egomaniacal bikers and joggers is very unbalanced and I say why not have two sides of the dikes be utilized, so we all can use it and have a choice for the owners and dogs and a sense of safety.
It is dumb the way it is because, as you can see, there are two sides to this story.
Brenda Wilkes
Maple Ridge
