Editor: We just returned from being away for a month and were aghast to see the newly installed, shockingly offensive razor-wire gulag at the Canmore Provincial Courthouse.
While we can appreciate the need for a secure prisoner-transfer facility at the court, we wonder why such an outrageous installation was necessary.
Has there been a spate of prisoners escaping from the custody of armed Alberta Sheriffs escorting them the dozen or so steps between police car and court entrance?
Do handcuffs (not to mention side-arms, pepper spray, and Tasers) not work any more?
It seems to us this hideous eyesore is a misguided and ridiculously overbuilt solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
What possible reason could there be to have installed such a thing at the entrance to our town? What kind of message do massive coils of glaring razor-wire send to our community and our visitors? Hardly welcoming.
Why not, at the very least, screen the razor wire (if in fact it’s needed, which is entirely doubtful), with some kind of lattice material to disguise it – much like the nearby cell tower that was disguised as a tree.
Or, cover the bay’s top with frost fencing, creating a cage so that egress would be impossible, and eliminating the need for the razor wire. Surely our justice system can do better than this offensive installation.
This is not the community we live in.
Susan Webb and Eric Kuhn,
Canmore
