News Leader News
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- June 27, 2006
Dear Editor;
I was amused reading the Letter to the Editor from my Viking friend the other day where dear Mr. Toews complained about the deplorable condition of Provincial Highway #40, better known in the neighbourhood as the Osprey Lake or Princeton-Summerland Road.
We were immediately rewarded with a flurry of activity from the Road Maintenance Crews who managed to dump several loads of asphalt here and there, leaving most potholes untouched. As a result the paved portion of the road to Osprey Lake remains a patchwork of fresh pavement several hundred feet in length, here and there, and several thousand potholes which continue
to deepen and expand.
Now, as is customary on my part, I often take this road to Summerland. About 40 K of it is unpaved, but I find the trip interesting as I drive through the pristine wilderness of our countryside. That is, until yesterday when I had to fight my way through the worst road conditions yet to be experienced in this Province.
I had to keep my eyes glued to the road so as not to destroy my vehicle in potholes, washboards, loose gravel and whatever else. Worse yet, when one reaches Thirsk Lake, one is faced with the rusting hulk of an abandoned vehicle which now has been vandalized and rendered useless by apparent thievery.
I have faced this condition only once in my life. That was in Africa, in Zaire to be more precise. (now the Republic of the Congo).
I don't know if the words 'preventive maintenance' forms part of the vocabulary of those charged with the upkeep of this Highway #40. Perhaps we could wait until it is completely destroyed prior to thinking about rebuilding it again.
- John Akerley, Princeton
The Editor;
CanWest Global would have us believe Osama Bin Laden is the greatest threat facing Canada today. It seems terrorists are ready to destroy our ability to govern ourselves in a functional democracy, inviting foreign abrogation of our sovereign and human rights.
Fortunately Gordon Campbell and Stockwell Day have a plan to protect us. Mr. Campbell realizes that, in North America, there are hundreds of thousands of bona fide Tradesmen and Women available to meet the requirements of the public spending boom in British Columbia. Mr. Campbell's problem is that these people are Union members.
Campbell and Day have decided to import 30,000 people from India, with the largest number of HIV/Aids infections in the world, to create a scab labour pool thus protecting us from the terror of unionization.
Do you think Osama could introduce an Aids epidemic into Canada, simultaneously forcing wages downward via the manipulation of our labour market? Could he arrange for gas prices to soar toward $6.00/gal in a country that produces far more oil than it consumes? Or threaten to usurp the vast resources in Canada's arctic? What about dictating the terms, and therefore the results, of our electoral process? Could Bin Laden wage economic terrorism using P3's to create massive unsecured and unserviceable public debt load?
Maybe we, as Canadians, should start viewing terrorism in terms relative to the propaganda and assaultive behavior we are subjected to by global media and politicians representing our own corrupted political system.
- Robert MacKay, Merritt
To the Editor;
In the small town of Keremeos /Cawston there are four people who have very BIG HEARTS.
I was travelling back to my old hometown of Princeton to attend a Teachers Retirement Dinner and my car decided not to start after a visit to the Bears Fruit Stand.
I phoned BCAA and within a half an hour my Prince, (the tow truck driver named Duane), came to my rescue in a tow truck named, 'Big Red.' He drove us to a place in Cawston called...the Car Doctor.
Ryan and Earl, (the Doctors) took me in right away and examined my car and found that it was the starter that had died.
They phoned various outlets to look for a starter, but the one that my car needed could not be delivered until the following morning. Knowing my story that I had to be in Princeton for the dinner, their receptionist, Ann, drove me to Princeton and right to the front door of the relatives that I was staying at! How wonderful and generous !
The following morning I arrived back at the Car Doctor's at approximately 11:30 AM. My car was fixed and ready to roll!
Thank you Duane, Ryan, Earl and Ann for all that you did to get me to the dinner and for the courteous and quick service you gave me.
How lovely to experience the big hearts of small towns..... I miss that!
- Louise Szczepanik, Kelowna
Dear Editor:
I have a pet theory. I like to think of it as being original even though I know it's not. In my previous life as a working contractor I found that even though I had more years of quality experience than most in my trade, my employers when confronted with problems they did not understand would hire experts from far away.
The more distant they were, the more qualified they were presumed to be, and always cost much more to hire. Almost always after the fact I was called on to repair the work performed by these professionals. So, my theory goes something like this; the farther you are away from the problem, the more likely you are to know how to fix it.
Recent actions from people we've elected to office corroborate my theory: One year after the disastrous Interior and Okanagan forest fires, our premier hired a defeated Manitoba Liberal Premier to tell us how to fix our forestry management problems.
Let's see if I can follow his reasoning---don't ask the experts in the industry, ask a defeated crony who knows all about mixed farming.
Just yesterday, I heard that Prime Minister Harper has hired a defeated Conservative Prime Minister from England to investigate once more the Air-India bombing that happened twenty two years ago. He is not allowed to find fault only to dominate interminable nightly newscasts.
The appointment of this defeated ex-Prime Minister can only be described as brilliant (as they say in Britain).
He meets both requirements; he knows much more than we do because he lives so far away and will also be much more expensive than a Canadian.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
HPToews, Princeton
