LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- March 4, 2008
Revenue Services of BC
Medical Services Plan
PO Box 9085 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E4
Gentlemen;
I am receipt of your billing for medical coverage for three months for the amount of $162.00.
Being a resident of Princeton, we have seen our medical coverage reduced severely, while your premiums remain the same or increase.
At this time, our community has less than one-third medical coverage than large communities enjoy.
With a population of 6,000, we are left with one local doctor, and minimal emergency services. As you can see from the information sent out by Interior Health, this situation is not likely to change soon.
The nearest hospital is a 100-kilometre trip, which would also be the nearest physician. Imagine in this day and age a four hour round trip for a senior just to retain their driving license, of which the examination is not covered by MSP. Imagine the same trip for a child with a broken limb or childhood illness, going to emergency, and after traveling two hours still getting to wait in the emergency room for 45-minutes to three hours to be attended to.
To make matters worse, physicians in Penticton are overbooked and refuse to take patients from Princeton, so the nearest family doctor is in Westbank, only 2 1/2 hours by vehicle. An average round trip to Westbank with today's gasoline prices and a small car costs about $40.00.
In April, when Mr. Campbell's tax comes into effect, $50.00 or better?
The point of my letter is that since I am not receiving the same level of service as the rest of BC or what I previously enjoyed, YOU are not entitled the full premium.
Therefore, I enclose a cheque in the amount of $18.00 to cover March 1 to March 31.
If this is not acceptable I suggest you fix the problem, or start covering transportation charges fully.
Sincerely yours,
Corry Oerlemans, Princeton
(Editor's Note: Corry sent this letter February 24th and thought it would be a good idea if other residents responded in the same manner).
To The Editor;
RE: Feral Cats - the perceived problem
The perceived feral cat problem has been caused by inconsiderate humans that are either too irresponsible or too lazy to get their cats spayed or neutered, and then abandon them to wander around, trying to survive on their own.
Additionally, there are the humans that just dump kittens anywhere because they don't want to deal with them properly. If these kittens survive, they eventually begin to have kittens themselves.
By the time an abandoned un-spayed female cat is having her third litter of kittens, her other kittens are having kittens. All because a human decided they didn't have time, or energy, or whatever, to care for the cat that they originally agreed to take care of!
So don't blame the cats!
People need to be educated about taking responsibilities more seriously, especially when caring for living creatures.
In Keremeos we have recently formed the Similkameen Feral Cat Rescue Team. We raise funds by donations and fundraising events. We attempt to educate people to properly care for their pets, and educate them about what happens if they don't.
With our donations, we live trap the feral cats (you know, the cats that were originally owned by someone but then dumped to fend for themselves), have them spayed or neutered, and then release them back to where they were caught, and provide food and shelter for them.
This way they cannot reproduce and when they are altered and regularly fed, the cats are better mousers, helping keep the mice and rat population down.
- Betty Hansen. Keremeos
To The Editor;
The indelible tragic events of President John Kennedy, Dr. King and Robert Kennedy occurred during our time with a very young family which many times would visit the marvellous west coast of our great neighbour - the USA.
There are some very good candidates in both parties in the present US Presidential race but it is with grave concern we view how Presidential hopeful, Sen. Obama is being denigrated in the media by talk show hosts and others.
Even comedian Mr. Colbert in his 'report' has likened the names of Sen. Obama's children to Saddam Hussein's two notorious deceased sons for a laugh.
All agree Sen. Obama is a gifted, charismatic, talented individual who has tapped into the highly charged American mind set of suppressed anxiety and frustration.
Undue attacks by the media or others on Sen. Obama could set off an unprecedented fire storm of protests and violence including those who now have I. E. D. experience.
Canada does not have a vote in selecting the next US President, although that President can profoundly affect our economy and will be the defacto
'Commander-In-Chief' of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
Wise are those who exercise charity and prudence - a rare phenomenon in politics.
Regards,
- Joe Schwarz, Princeton
