News Leader News
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- August 1, 2006
Dear Editor:
Recently Stephen Harper said that Israel is justified in attacking surrounding Arabic nations. Why am I not surprised? For years while in opposition, Stockwell Day insinuated that anything Arab countries do is heathen and needs to be destroyed while Israel can go on killing with impunity.
A Federal Liberal government in Canada pretty well guaranteed that they would not criticize Israel but for the most blatant massacres. On the other hand, to have a Conservative government in Canada means that we support Israel, no matter what. I believe that it has something to do with Biblical prophecy---speaking of fairy tales, once upon a time I also believed that Canada had become mature enough to separate church from state.
As of today's news, Harper, O'Conner, Day, Toews and company may have some splainin' to do. Israeli bombs have wiped out a family of Canadians vacationing in Lebanon. How will they handle this one?
We can readily understand how indignant our government would be if this was a Canadian family vacationing in Israel and had been hit by Arab bombs.
But, the situation has been reversed; will these Arab-Canadian lives have the same value as Israeli-Canadian lives? Very interesting!
Sincerely,
HPToews, Princeton
Dear George:
Re: our letter FLEMINGS ISSUE THREAT, in the July 24th issue of the News Leader.
You have just undone what we were trying to achieve in getting our lights back.
By using the word THREAT, you have done myself and my wife irreparable damage to our respectability.
For the word threat is not even in our vocabulary.
The word threat denotes a tone of violence which we deplore. Did the word ULTIMATUM not enter your thoughts as better journalism?
Yours truly,
Don Fleming, Princeton
Dear Editor;
I agree wholeheartedly with the issue that M. Masiel brought up in the July 25th issue of the Similkameen News Leader in regards to ATV and dirt bikes ruining the KVR trail experience.
I know the frustration of dealing with these ignorant individuals first hand because I am constantly kicking them out of the Provincial Park where I work and it's not just young people. (Ignorance has no age barriers).
I don't see why these people are allowed to ride these noise polluting, habitat destroying machines on the trail and especially in town limits. I would think that there were bylaws in place to stop this kind of annoyance to the general public, but I guess not or it's just complacency?
There seems to be a handful of idiots that create problems not just on the KVR trail but also in the tunnel area (speed limit...what good are speed limits if they are not enforced?) where I live and pay taxes. I want answers. Does one have to start a vigilante group to get anything done? Evil flourishes when good men (or women) stand by and do nothing.
- Derek Wood, Princeton
To The Editor;
There are practical solutions to awkward problems. We do not have a deer problem at the house where I live on the Third Bench because of our fence.
It wasn't expensive nor is it ugly, nor does it block the views across the valley which we enjoy so much.
It keeps the deer away from our property including the garden and the coyotes away from the cats. Materials for the fence were obtained locally.
Please feel free to stop by and see how we did it.
- Mary Bedford, Princeton
To the Editor:
Something has been stolen from Princeton. It's a small thing, and maybe few have noticed it - but it has been stolen.
I mean the rails-to-trails bike path that goes from Princeton to Penticton. For a while, this marvelous trail brought bikers from all over the world through Princeton and our area. The day has been when I've heard French, German, Dutch, Swedish, English, and goodness-knows-what languages on the trail. Lately however, the trickle of bikers that remains, has come down to use the road.
Why?
Because the trail is now virtually unusable by bicycles. It is so rutted and loosened that it is difficult, even dangerous in places, to ride on it.
This is because it has become a freeway for dirt bikes, ATV's and even pickups. Last summer I was run off the trail by a pickup heading my way at fairly high speed, which gave no indication of slowing or leaving me any room. I saw another one a day or two ago.
When the trail was put in, the old railroad bridge not far from us was blocked by steel pylons put there to block vehicle passage. The pylons lasted a few weeks; then someone cut the locks on them, and removed them.
Recently, large boulders have been placed at the entry to the bridge. These have already been towed out of the way.
The bike path, funded for, and paid for by bikers, has been stolen by individuals who have no respect for others, whose motto is "You can't keep me off that trail." I guess we can't - but it's still theft.
Well, there is a solution:
Move bike traffic down onto the 'pavement' and let the motor vehicles have the old rail bed to mess up as much as they like.
Of course, you'd still have all the unlicensed motor bikes and ATV's that regularly use the paved road by the lakes - but think of the benefits: a whole new tourist industry: spelunking in some of the larger potholes in the pavement, and maybe even a restaurant on the North Rim of a pothole near my place - think of dinner while you watch the sun setting over the Western rim and how quiet it would be with all the motor traffic up on the bike trail.
- Nat Brown, Princeton
Deer Editor;
We found the letter by Karin Green, printed in last week's newspaper, offensive and ill-informed. We have lived in this town for 7 years and during that time we have found the deer problem to have become totally unacceptable.
Unlike Karin Green we live very close to downtown and on the day we read her letter we counted 8 DIFFERENT deer in our garden some of them visiting 3 times in that one day! This is a typical day for us.
Like Karin Green we can accept a weekly visit but this feels more like invasion. We cannot let the dog out in our own yard without first checking to see if there are no deer sitting under our trees, or running along the top of our hillside ready to knock 10-20 pound boulders onto our suspecting 10 pound canine (just as well we don't have small children frequenting the
yard!).
We have neighbours who have lived here for 40 years and who are as frustrated as we that no one on our recently elected Council appears to be doing anything to help. We are not near wilderness we are very close to Bridge Street. These are not wilderness deer these are urban deer, born and reared in town, destroying our and our neighbours' yards by eating ALL species of plants and flowers, urinating and defecating over the lawns, demolishing the hillside, damaging the recently repaired irrigation system, boldly confronting our retired neighbour and generally making life very unpleasant.
We are professional people who work very hard, but when we relax we would like to be able to enjoy our property not spend our time removing excrement, replanting half-eaten annuals that will probably never flower (believe us THESE deer eat EVERYTHING), fearfully watching for the safety of ourselves, our neighbour and both our dogs. Welcome to our world!
- Nick Mills & Jacquie Rowe, Princeton
