LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- November 27, 2007
Dear Editor:
Please don't read this - unless you care...Part 4
I hope you enjoyed a few weeks without my input - or even better, you thought about things and what is possible and necessary to do and get done in Princeton.
What history has this town had - let's say, in the last 50 years? (And I know less than half of it I am sure!)
The two worse things were: someone had the genius idea to blow away a rare big cave (Vermilion Cave) - if you think about it, we wouldn't have to worry about tourist money coming into this town with a cave being just a few hours from Vancouver!
The second goldmine we had was the old steam train running behind Subway to Summerland and Tulameen. Well, if we still had tracks going to Tulameen there would be another Omore than good enough' reason to stay as a tourist here in town for a night or two.
The scenery between our towns is quite a bit better than riding the train in Summerland, I would say...now it seems out of our hands with the Trans-Canada Trail in place....
And what is 'hunting' us these days in Princeton?
The nasty pine beetle takes over and may ruin a good portion of our wood industry. Drive up to Merritt and Kamloops and you see what it will be like anywhere in BC in two to three years.
Unless we have a minus 40 degree cold spell for a few days it's unstoppable...also as everyone knows the very high dollar is not helping us here much and on top of it it will take the US at least another five years to get back on their feet with housing, etc. so the sales in the south will slow down no doubt.
Let's hope there is other places in this world we can supply wood to make up for lost sales to the US in the future.
What about the mine opening? In my opinion it's the same thing - a long-term gamble to think that this will be the cure for Princeton. I hope the mine will open as probably most of us would like to see and the sooner the better. But for how long? Ten to twenty years, maybe?
I think as a town is it great to have Weyerhaeuser with 24-hour shifts running day in, day out for the most time and on top of that reopening the mine sounds great. But if we don't try to become independent from these two great employers we are asking for lots of trouble mid and long-term. As we fix up and clean up our town we will become more valuable to people from the coast to move here or visit more often.
If I had the say here in this town what would I do? (7-month plan) November O07 - Talk to the Town, Jim Pattison and Steve Brodie to switch properties so that Jim can build a brand new
'Save on' in early 2008 and Steve gets his bar rebuilt on the 'old' Overwaitea lot starting late 2008. Mr. Pattison couldn't find a better way to keep business running like always and get a new place built in town at the same time - why not think about this idea?
November O07 - The ugly highway sign beside the Weyerhaeuser Roundhouse should GO! We can have a new advertising sign somewhere along the highway - no problem - but not right there and not that cheaply made. It really is embarrassing to all of us showing off that sign.
November O07 - Pull out the other 12 fence posts at the town entrance at the 3rd Bench. Get some topsoil spread out, plant some plants - it's only a two-year project so far!
November O07 - Pull out that yellow 80-year old car behind A&W sitting on the other side of the river. November O07 - Someone starts to build 50 benches, 50 garbage bins and 20 picnic tables to be ready for spring. No concrete. We have the best bench builders in town, as I've said before.
November O07 - Get someone like Stan to take his digger and scrape down the whole hill behind Home Hardware that shows that nice red stone...and on the bottom there would be space for another bench next spring. Beside it will be a board like the ones on the Trans-Canada Trail explaining the rock was used by Indians to make paint, etc.
December '07 - Enjoy Christmas season!
January '08 - Decide which buildings in town will be painted in which new, fresh colours. We could use a computer program to help us out with colour ideas, if possible.
January '08 - New Highway 3 Princeton Map and business directory should be designed. It has to be built and installed before late April. The Osoyoos one looks nice!
February '08 - People working on a design for the Ozig zag' from Pharmasave to First Bench. Have you ever walked down it? You can break your neck easy on that one.
March '08 - The burned down house near the wooden bridge should be demolished.
March '08 - The old wood frame structures between Esso and Irly Bird and behind Similkameen Vending should be demolished.
March '08 - We knock down the walls between Billy's Restaurant and The Villager. The sandstone is worth more than you think!
April '08 - We ALL paint the town as I suggested a month ago!
May '08 - We are actually almost READY for tourists to arrive!
June '08 - We take some awesome photos of our town for the Princeton website. I think we should have only old cars from everyone living here parked in the streets for these pictures. That would make a great website just perfect!
** It would be nice if a few people would take these hints just a little more seriously!
*** I can see just all the existing doctors and nurses partying all week if they see the new doctors arriving and making $100,000 more in three years...that may be a fast fix to get someone here, yes, but you won't keep them happy here. A pleasant environment will.
One more note and it is about the student 'drop out' problem we apparently have these days. I personally can't believe that someone is allowed to drop out of school at any time before Grade 10 or 11.
When I was growing up and a kid didn't show up in class without a doctor's notice there was major trouble. Nowadays you see some kids at any age during any time of the day wandering the streets and no one cares.
We are not doing students favours by supporting staying home or letting them go home early because they did something wrong inside the classroom or school yard. In the long-term they will just fail one thing after another and they will have big problems finding a good job without proper education.
If someone causes trouble in school we honour him or her with giving them time off school? That's what they want at that age because they just don't know the long-term consequences...but we do!
So maybe - like in the old days - staying IN for another hour would make way more sense.
- Stefan Dietz, Princeton
Dear Editor:
Princeton needs some TLC. We have a beautiful town in a beautiful setting but it needs some work to make it even better. The letters about town beautification from Stefan Dietz last month were a call to action thank you Stefan!
The Princeton Arts Council has decided to follow up on what he said.
A particularly ugly area of town is the stairs coming down from First Bench and the west end of Billiter Street. The stairs are run-down, unattractive and dangerous. We suspect that many people avoid using them, especially in the winter. The concrete wall at the end of Billiter Street and the big garbage bin in front of it are an eyesore.
With British Columbia's 150th birthday coming up next year, Princeton will be hosting numerous cultural and recreational activities that will attract many visitors. It would be shame to have their memories of Princeton marred by visions of ugliness and neglect.
The stairs need to be repaired to make them safe. The railings need fix-up and painting. The garbage bin needs to be moved so that it isn't Ocentre stage' every time you look west on Billiter. The concrete wall needs to be painted a historic mural would be nice.
The Arts Council has written to Council about our concerns and is willing to help fix up this area. We could help paint the stair railings and would be happy to organize the painting of a mural on the concrete wall.
We encourage other community groups to take on a town beautification project. Look at the list of projects in Stefan's letter of October 2nd (e.g. benches, coats of paint, landscaping, a community events board, etc.). Maybe we can even have Obeautification' bees (like the old barn-raising bees) during Arts and Culture week.
As Stefan said, it's not a competition between the Town, the Lions, the Legion or the Elks. We can all pitch in according to our capabilities and take pride in having made Princeton a better place to live and to visit.
- Rika Ruebsaat, Princeton
President, Princeton Arts Council
Letter to The Editor;
Based on news reports the Polish gentleman who unfortunately died while being subdued by the police at the Vancouver Airport served a 5 year term for robbery, had a rather unsettled life which also included alcohol and left an alcoholically ill wife - all in Poland.
He himself would appear to be unstable.
In this less than perfect world of increasing violence, suicide bombers, shoe bombs, Anthrax, AIDS, etc. the police, the airport and others are being blamed.
But how about Canada's Immigration Service? Canada is a beautiful, compassionate country and should be considered a privilege to enter.
It is perhaps an exaggeration to say Canada lets anyone in and if you want to do crime for Heaven's sake do it in Canada.
You don't get anything for the crime anyway except leisure time, good accommodation, food, health care and an education so that you can do the crime more profitably next time.
That's the average Canadian citizen's prevailing thought.
We'd all hoped that the Harper Government would correct this obscenity. We're still waiting.
On what basis did Immigration Canada feel the Polish gentleman was qualified to come to Canada? Could it be, had he been refused, he would still be alive - but in Poland?
Regards,
Joe Schwarz, Princeton
