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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - June 28, 2005
Dear Editor;I was very disturbed and offended by MP Jim Goukıs recent constituency letter and survey in which he implies that the NDP doesnıt care about protecting children because it didnıt support Conservative bills on child pornography and raising the age of sexual consent.
While his letter and survey are obviously just warm-ups to the next federal election in which the NDP will strongly challenge Mr. Goukıs tenure in this riding, I am still very offended by the surveyıs simplistic questions that mask what are quite complex issues.
For example, if the age of consent is changed to 16, what happens to 14 year olds who become sexually involved with each other?
And what good would more laws against child pornography do when enforcement of existing laws is already extremely difficult in a consumer society which objectifies and denigrates children in so many ways?
If Mr. Gouk and his party are really serious about truly protecting children, they would, in my opinion, be demanding immediate action to fully implement the United Nations Declaration on Rights of the Child in Canada.
They would, for example be putting forth proposals to immediately end the shocking levels of child poverty in this rich country. They would be asking why Northern European countries have child poverty levels of less than 5% while in Canada 20%, or 1 in every 5 children are living without adequate food, shelter, and other resources needed for full emotional, physical and intellectual development.
They would also be taking full advantage of this minority government to fully support the NDPıs budget initiatives to move more money and resources into childcare, housing, health and other programs that benefit children and their families.
I believe that all children have the right to grow up wanted, loved and respected, not only by their immediate family, but also by the whole community and the entire country. Every child needs to feel safe, to have a quality of life that allows them to reach their full potential and to know that adults are doing their best to make this a safe and an environmentally sustainable world for their childrenıs children.
Thatıs my measure of whether or not a person, a party, or a government really cares about protecting children.
- Bud Godderis, Castlegar, BC
Sir,
After Mother Nature gave us those dark cold windy rainy days, the sun came out and felt it time to take the little woman for a buggy ride to Merritt (help the female disposition -- men have that natural inborn understanding). When talking to your spouse is like talking to a post and she agrees. We did just that ---- attached a happy face to a post in the back yard and named her "Emily". You got it "Emily Post". Conversation with her does wonders. It truly was time for a ride. You want peace not pieces in a long meaningful relationship. Didnıt go to Penticton, nice as it is, old folks see it enough on medical and hospital appointments. On a beautiful warm June day there is nothing more breathtaking than wiggle-woggling your way along scenic 5A with itıs lakes and exceptional ponds.
Did you know that at one of them all manner of frogs from everywhere gather in the evening and hold a "Croak Fest" that makes the Merritt Mountain Fest pale in comparison? So if you want to croak thatıs the place to be. We almost did. There are mean big potholes on 5A. Where were the highways maintenance people? Obviously they were there first and disappeared in them. Probably ended up in Shanghai. (hence the term "Shanghaied").
Merritt is expanding and bustling --- unlike Princeton it has highways that are a must to prosperity. Princeton is not always cheap to the consumer. Fuel in Merritt was cheaper. Asked the young female gas jockey how she liked her career -- "great but sometimes lonely".
Maybe get a nice companion we suggested, "or a good book" she replied - "I 'd opt for the book" she added, "they're less of a pain."
Now there's the typical young female B.C. grad. Not only intelligent, charming and beautiful but also well read. In this month of June the month of brides and meaningful relationships.
Princeton is not Merritt. Each has itıs own unique personality and like a good marriage --always has to be worked on and always something new to share and enjoy. Helps the disposition.
- Regards, Joe Schwarz
To the Editor;
A PLP customer has asked me to elaborate on the cost of grow-ops on a customerıs power bill. This customers point was that the rest of the customers should not have to pay more because someone else has stolen power from the utility. This customer also suggested that the power utility should be compensated by way of restitution from the proceeds raised by the sale of goods seized by the Crown during the busts on illegal operations. This is a good idea but at this time not possible in that no one really knows what happens to any proceeds raised in this way other than it is collected by the Crown.
The customer went on to say that they felt that the entire legal/justice system was not taking the illegal production and sale of illicit drugs very seriously. That people everywhere should start writing their MLA and MP complaining about the light sentencing and lack of serious consequences being administered by our court systems to those who break the law. I certainly agree with them on this point.
Grow-ops are at what we at PLP consider epidemic proportions and our social system generally does not seem to be able to cope with this problem. We are responding to several RCMP requests every week for power disconnections, etc. This does not happen without creating costs for wages and equipment for PLP that are not recoverable directly from the perpetrators or the RCMP. All these extra costs do escalate PLPıs operating costs overall and in that way do affect the rates for electricity. It usually takes a year or more for these costs to actually filter into the actual rate tariff structure.
Recently, PLP was successfully sued for damages by an owner of a premises that was used by a marijuana grow operation after PLP tried to recover the estimated cost of the power stolen. The owner said that by cutting off the power to this premises he had lost his source of income leading to him losing the property to foreclosure. PLP was just following the procedures prescribed within its Tariff as filed with the BC Utilities Commission. PLP appealed this lower court decision to the Court of Appeal and lost its case there as well. Both courts missed the whole point, an illegal operation was going on at this place and the electrical wiring was tampered with and was unsafe according to the electrical codes. PLP could not have legally reconnected this property until the wiring was repaired and inspected.
The Appeal Court even challenged the BC Utilities Commissionıs jurisdiction over who had authority to direct the utilityıs behaviour in this sort of event and upheld the lower courtıs ruling that the utility had treated this customer in a heavy-handed and irresponsible manner by withholding electrical service as it is required to do by following the utilityıs filed Tariff. So where does the system protect the innocent?
The whole community is responsible for cooperating with the RCMP to help catch those amongst us who choose to grow and deal in illegal drugs. It is not just the electricity rates that are affected by these illegal activities but rather our whole social structure is facing high cost escalation as the result.
I strongly encourage everyone to follow this customers good advice and start writing their MLA and MP demanding more accountability from our justice system.
The actual answer to the original question is OYes, the electricity rates are going up due to stolen power but there are other cost pressures as well due to the light-handed approach used to deal with these offenders.
- John B. Hall, President
Princeton Light & Power
Dear Editor;
If you need legal help and have no money you had better access it quickly, before the next inevitable downturn in the economy.
Today I heard the former Chief Justice Wally Oppal, now the new Liberal Attorney General, tell his radio audience that the resurgent economy will allow him to make more funds available for Legal Aid.
What can thinking people deduce from this statement?
/
Justice from the Campbell Government is cyclical in nature--to be dispensed to those in need only when politically advantageous. I believe that there is no justice unless it is equally accessible to all always. I therefore find the formerly respected judge's pandering to political ideology extremely offensive. But then what can we expect to hear from Socred reform. Alliance Conservatives who have changed their name to "Liberal as a matter of political convenience?"
In retrospect, this latest bit of wisdom comes from the same government that believes; if we cut educational funding (until we can afford it?) that somehow, in some way, BC will benefit. Go figure!
Sincerely, HP Toews
To the Editor;
It doesnıt sound like Princeton to me, when a teacher and her class can make a proposal to Council that goes to "in camera" meetings for approval and $84,000 funding without any public input.
That is not the way things should be done. There are a number of things in the proposal that should have public input such as: do we need or want the facility, location, funding, etc.
In my days on Town Council the secrecy of an ³in camera² meeting was seldom used. The construction of a "wading pool" certainly would not have qualified. Are the present members of Council not concerned that the Town as a whole should have some input? No doubt the Council should have the final say, but certainly not before hearing the pros and cons from the public. The residents of the area are the ones most affected by it.
Funding should be a major concern. Any asset is a liability if it needs funding. We have many assets now that go without maintenance funding and/or operation funding. To name a few: the airport (either none or very little weed control was done last year); the Arena; Curling Rink; Museum and Library; Race Track, etc. As a member of the museum I am well aware of the need of a full-time Archivist, something volunteers are unable to supply. Will the wading pool need a lifeguard and daily attendants - or volunteers? I do hope the proposers are prepared to volunteer their time towards it.
Rotary Park was established to help bring people into town - along with their dollars. This proposal will in effect help delete this process. It is the only place that both travellers and locals seem to come together - for shade, picnic tables or washrooms.
I am still unable to see the reason for this project to go to "in camera" meetings. What are they hiding, that the local residents "shouldnıt" know?
The use of Rotary Park by the public as a stop and rest area will be far greater than the four weeks a year for the wading pool.
- Eric Jacobson, Princeton
Dear Editor;
I can only assume that the letter writer from Keremeos was taking a playful jab at our federal representative. Likely, he was still feeling exuberant from his party's recent provincial success.
It is however very amusing to see how quickly our MP rises to the bait. Once more, he needed a whole page to explain his political ideology. Conversely, I think that his entire political philosophy can be wrapped up in one sentence. "Give the rich more money and they will spend some of it by hiring the peasants." It is even more amusing to read all the tripe that he expects rational people to believe. He has never stopped telling us that we get nothing for our tax dollars; that our money just vanishes into a black hole and that the Liberals and the NDP are there, shoveling it in. His party's position is that the rich need more money, and the best way to get it is let the poor fend for themselves.
Once again, I believe that my point has been made in a few simple sentences. Why baffle the public with reams of redundant, boring copy?
Sincerely, HPToews
Sir,
Does it mean anything to be Canadian?
Consider what the first Vietnamese Prime Minister might have said to President George W. Bush on his recent historic visit to the U.S.A.
"Pres. Bush, it's 30 years since the U.S.A. invaded and devastated our country resulting in three million deaths of our people. Here we are now, living in peace, buying your Boeing jet airliners and doing business together. But Mr. President Bush --- now Iraq? -- where's the logic"
Did Pres. Bush seek the Vietnamese Prime Minister's advice on strategy how to exit Iraq? The folly of war?
Hopefully something our young Grads wonıt have to grapple with.
Does it mean anything to be Canadian? You bet it does. Something to be grateful for and happy about on Canada Day.
- Regards, Joe Schwarz, Princeton
