THE
NEWSPAPER.COM
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012
LETTERS
A11
Send your letters to ‘Now’ editor Beau Simpson at edit@thenownewspaper.com
School shooting requires action, not just talk
Maria Szabo, Surrey
Casino bad idea for city The Editor, Opening a casino in South Surrey is not a very bright idea. As a student, young adult and daughter, I am concerned. It truly is a bad decision that Surrey council made. If the casino does open, many families will break apart due to the lack of communication and the increase of tension between family members. Instead of thinking about school and their future goals, students will be making plans with their friends to go to the casino. Moreover, the crime rate will go up. The people, who
will go there and come out with what they have won, will get mugged. This is already happening at other casinos. Also, because people will be getting easy money through the casino, people may end up turning to drugs. A new casino will also mean an increase in traffic, which means that there may be more accidents occurring. Opening a casino will make Surrey a bit more dangerous. Nausheen Khan, Surrey
Old NHL is gone forever The Editor, I never thought that I would feel this way. I used to follow the NHL as an escape from work, world conflicts and news about the financial crisis. Turning on a hockey game after work enabled me to disengage from all of the headlines about labour unrest. It is ironic that my one-time escape from all of this rhetoric has now manifested itself as something even more unpalatable, the NHL labour talks. All its ugliness now exposed. I will never look at a puck drop with the same innocence. To hear a
referee’s whistle blow now conjures up images of police confronting rioters on the streets – the smell of $6 concourse popcorn now seems burnt. Goodbye my old friend, I will remember the old NHL fondly, the new version has lost a fan.... Gerd Peters, Surrey
Eco Club is owed apology The Editor, Re: “Roses and rotten tomatoes,” the Now, Dec. 13. There has been a misunderstanding. I quote directly from the paper: “A recycling truck full of rotten tomatoes to the youth who are desecrating beautiful holly trees in Royal Kwantlen Park. They have made a muddy mess cutting down blackberry bushes and all these beautiful holly trees. Who would authorize such an activity? And when is Surrey parks going to pick up the mess?” As a student from Kwantlen Park Secondary and a participant from the group of “youth who are desecrating,” I feel you should hear our story. First, everything we do is approved by the City of Surrey. We do not go around cutting down the bushes for the fun of it – the blackberry bushes and holly trees are invasive species. These
species are choking out native species. This problem was recognized by a few of our classmates last year, and a club was started to help fight the problem. The name of the club is Eco Club, and we have been taking trips every Friday that the weather is nice to take out the invasive species. If this has just been noticed now, it is because we are finally beginning to make a difference in the ecosystem. We are a group of locally aware students who are just trying to make an environmentally-friendly impact. So perhaps an apology is in order because there are about 20 students who participate in this activity, excluding me. P.S. I love your newspaper. It is so local and awesome! Aneet Malhi, Surrey
Tomatoes back at you The Editor, Re: “Roses and rotten tomatoes,” the Now, Dec. 13. Regarding the reader who sent rotten tomatoes to “the youth desecrating beautiful holly trees in Royal Kwantlen Park.” I would like to clarify that we are removing invasive species (English holly and Himalyan blackberry) that are overpowering native
Whalley youths, spend some time to actually see what they are doing. If you are just passing by you do not really know what is happening unless you ask.
plants in the park. We are doing this with the approval of the City of Surrey parks and recreation department, using their equipment. This is part of our school’s community service projects. As an ecologically-conscious person, I’ll take the liberty of diverting the “recycling truck full of rotten tomatoes” to the compost.
Brianne Welch, Surrey
Bus snub is irrational The Editor, It is disappointing that the new bus service between Langley and New Westminster is not going to make any stops in Surrey. To get more cars off the road and provide the maximum convenience to the public, more express bus service is needed to run on that specific bus route. The decision to not stop the bus in Surrey is silly and irrational on the part of TransLink and the Ministry of Transportation. Overlapping layers of bureaucracy make irresponsible and shortsighted decisions. If the bus service is made attractive, convenient and economical, more people will use the system, which will result in fewer cars on the roads. In the long run it will help reduce pollution and congestion on the roads. There should be a long term plan in place. Alas, it is not so.
Shakti Ramkumar, Surrey
Get informed before judging The Editor, Re: “Roses and rotten tomatoes,” the Now, Dec. 13. Someone wrote that the youth “desecrating beautiful holly trees in Royal Kwantlen Park” should be given a recycling truck full of rotten tomatoes. To whomever wrote this, I don’t think you stayed to actually see what they were doing. I am not one of those youths, but I do know them. They are a part of the Eco Club in the high school there. They were in fact cutting down plants, but what they were in fact cutting down were the invasive species that are all over the that park. These youths are very kind and generous people; they are simply trying to make Surrey a better place. Please, before you judge
Kalwant Singh Sahota,Delta
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The Editor, I’ve been thinking about how much the people in Newtown lost – their children, their spirits and their feeling of safety. Those kids may have lost a friend, a teacher, a crush, a good night’s sleep – and some lost their lives, their next birthday, their freedom. Why is this happening again? The U.S. has had 11 incidents of mass shooting since 1966, resulting in the deaths of 187 people, according to Global. I am 18. Every year since I was 11, I take special time to pray for the Columbine massacre that happened in 1999 after learning about it on a news special I watched one morning before school. I was five when it happened, but that event affected me, even years later. Even though Colorado and Connecticut are a long way away from Vancouver, it still hits home. This is our society, our parents, our children and our teachers. It will be me, my children and my children’s teachers one day, unless we can put an end to the violence that always seems to take us by surprise. We shouldn’t be surprised anymore. We should be willing to take action.