News Leader News
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - July 19, 2005
Dear Editor:
Re: By-Law Editorial
As the article was written with a little humour, it also points out a real amount of Truth. The truth being the bylaws are written in black and white.
Almost all of the current bylaws were adopted by past councils. They were well thought out and put into law for very good reasons.
From time to time, revisions and updates are good policy. Now the problem, for some untold reason the past and present councils have relinquished the power of enforcement to the front office.
Until council does what they swore to do when they took the oath of office and take back the power of enforcement and enforce the bylaws fairly, nothing will change.
The way it works now is: A taxpayer will be notified of a bylaw violation, told to correct it or the town will do it and charge them.
Half a block or a block down the street, the same violation, that taxpayer walks away without even a warning.
These two bylaw violations are a fact that are still going as I write this letter.
Lottery you bet. One taxpayer pays to keep his property in accordance with the bylaws, while the other taxpayer walks away without a word.
There are bylaw violations that were sent to this council signed by 10 - 12 property owners, which to this day have never been resolved. Lottery you bet.
So until the mayor and council take their oath of office seriously and review all bylaw violations as a council, and as a council direct the front office to correct all such violations forthwith, fairly and equitably across the board nothing will change.
A very good start would be for the mayor and council members to read and understand the bylaws.
We already had a sad case of a councilor answering a question put to him by reporter Dawn Johnson a couple of years ago. That councilor by not knowing the bylaws gave out totally wrong and misleading information to the News Leader, which when pointed out to the News Leader was quickly corrected.
Writers Note: There should absolutely no reason for a bylaw written in black and white, easy to understand, take five months to resolve. Lottery you bet!
Yours truly, Don & Julie Fleming
To the Editor;
Hi, my name is Kathie Dunn from Kamloops and I participated in the Trans-Canada Trail Challenge.
I was wondering if you could send me a copy of your paper if you have done an article on it.
My friends and I were on the horses, and can't say enough about the ride.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and all the volunteers really made it special.
Thanks and again, we really enjoyed the town and people in your area.
- Kathie Dunn, Kamloops
Dear Editor;
Those who would denounce Canada's public broadcaster have received yet another blow from Statistics Canada. I won't break down the statistics but I will say that we are told the CBC audience is the second largest listener segment in all of Canada, closely behind the so-called 'adult contemporary music' stations. I believe that the reasons for this disparity are few and simple. Privately owned stations greatly out number CBC outlets and therefore cover a larger area. There are many people, like me, who live beyond the range of the nearest CBC transmitter but can readily access private radio. We resort to satellite and short wave radio to get our daily fix of mostly neutral news and talk shows where everyone's opinion is heard without being shouted down by the host. Our situation is probably due to the fact that the under-funded CBC is unable to fulfill its mandate of broadcasting to all of Canada.
In recent times I've read in the local media that the CBC is a relic of the past; that it needs to be shelved in favour of the inanities of consumerism, assaulting our eardrums and insulting our intelligence, as brought to us by privately owned radio. And that is the main reason for this letter.
On the lighter side, the same statistics also tell us that the higher your education the more likely that you will tune in to the CBC. Another interesting statistic tells us that the least educated segment of the Canadian population listens to country music. I have not yet been able to make a direct connection but would anyone be surprised to hear the twang of Flatt and Scruggs wafting through the halls at the Provincial Ministry of Education?
Sincerely, HP Toews
(Editor's note: As short wave listeners, we are aware of the fact that the CBC has a global presence in the form of Radio Canada International, which has been on the air since 1945. RCI broadcasts in nine different languages, including English. In addition to their own broadcasting towers, RCI is broadcast (in partnership) over 350 other radio stations in 70 different countries).
