News Leader News
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- June 13, 2006
Dear Editor:
You may have heard in the news that our provincial government is in the process of donating multi-millions of our tax dollars to the large forestry companies to upgrade their roads. They say that the object is to facilitate the removal of beetle-killed pine trees, pine trees that have also been donated to those same companies by the present administration.
Lets go back about ten years to a time when Mike Harcourt hammered out a deal with the forestry giants. The industry leaders, the government and all the pundits agreed that more expensive trees would keep the American softwood lumber lobby at bay. That extra money would in turn be plowed back into enhanced forestry management. Our forestry industry knew that even by paying more stumpage, as demanded by the Americans, they still had many advantages over the US industry such as cheaper access and recovery, the most modern equipment resulting in more efficient milling methods, better trees, and lower wages. In other words they still had a distinct market advantage over their US counterparts.
The object of this letter is not to debate the latest version of a proposed softwood lumber agreement but to show Victoria's misguided forestry management practices. If Gordon Campbell's solution to softwood lumber peace is to give the forestry giants even more subsidies, then I would suggest that he better get busy at finding offshore markets. Subsidies equals trade sanctions---pretty basic logic. Just what part of this equation doesn't he understand?
Sincerely,
HPToews, Princeton
LET THE DEER HAVE THE FEAR
Are we waiting for a more serious sort of a slip?
Maybe an old person breaking a hip?
Some want to pet the nice deer,
so alfalfa and apples left near.
Now the danger is present and clear,
how do we, " LET THE DEER HAVE THE FEAR?"
There are whistles heard only by dogs.
And vibrators which ward off ground-hogs.
Surely in this technological age,
there's a better strategy to wage;
than to put the deer down
after a pet is pounced upon.
Now the danger is present and clear,
how do we, " LET THE DEER HAVE THE FEAR?"
- Joe Breznau, Princeton
To The Editor,
Sir,
Princeton's proven mule deer problem -- "sleeping with the enemy" - the wind blown bacteria laden crushed mule deer droppings strewn on our back yards and school grounds. Their potential diseases and other hazards by these marauders.
Some solutions:
- Thin out the deer with a yearly community sponsored "Princeton October Venison Fest."
- Round up deer, corral them in the old highway works yard and auction them off.
- Citizens "deer fenceČ their property where applicable and the costs deducted from their property taxes and the town reimbursed by the federal and provincial government. Ours cost approximately $1.50 per foot without labour costs.
- Have information billboards and notices in public and medical buildings and in tax notices about the hazards of deer and the restriction of feeding them.
- Offer a $1,000.00 prize to Princeton's ingenious "Think Tank" the school kids to come up with an implemental solution.
How can we manage the 'terror' problem when we can't even solve our 'deer' problem. Where's the leadership and the will?
- Regards,
Joe Schwarz, Princeton
