www.mapleridgenews.com - THE NEWS -- Friday, May 25, 2012 -- 7
THE NEWS/letters Ad offended youth, think again EDITOR, THE NEWS:
Re: Ad seriously crossed the line of decency (Letters, May 23). When reading The News (May 18), I saw the ad for the Caddy Shack of a woman pulling down her panties, or then again maybe she is pulling them up, and I predicted someone would complain about it. Sure enough, as predicted, someone did. Leah Pillet, “not a prude,” complained that this ad was not appropriate for a “family community paper” and “it does not need to be so blatantly shown” in case some youth may be reading the paper. Welcome to the 21st Century. Do you really think this ad is going to corrupt the minds of today’s youth or perhaps offend them or teach them something they don’t already know? Give them some credit as to their daily surroundings – they are exposed far more to sexuality by the average television show today. Also, how many youth really even pick up any paper today, to read? Most youth today, read, converse, and exchange ideas through electronic devices. I am not trying to diminish that the ad was not explicit, but to offend today’s youth, think again. KEITH DYMOND MAPLE RIDGE
online comments Mr. H ‘one of a kind’ • Evan Nevatie · Works at Omnitech Services Ltd.: Re: Garibaldi secondary mourning loss of ‘Mr. H’ (mapleridgenews.com). This article says he had no children of his own, but yet I feel he had so, so many that he helped flourish. • David Goode · Preston, Victoria, Australia: That’s too bad. He was probably the best teacher at GSS. • Nikki Banks · Maple Ridge, British Columbia: He was a wonderful man. He’ll be missed in the school. • Sacha Oddstad · Return to Work Specialist at Canadian Pacific Railway: You had a positive impact on so many lives. Your spirit will live on. • Sammy Irwin · Garibaldi Secondary School: Rest in peace Mr. H, you were my favorite teacher throughout those long 5 years and I couldn’t have imagined having a better social studies and geography teacher. You were so thoughtful and easy to talk to, I know you will be well taken care of and we will never stop thinking about you. • Haruo Chikamori: Not only just his students, but to everyone in the school. Always ready to raise a hand in greeting. I remember walking down the halls at Garibaldi and he always greeted me in the morning with, “Good morning, Hugo.” My thoughts go out to his family and to all those whose hearts he touched. He definitely did, including mine. RIP, Mr. H. You were one of a kind. • Kyla McCorkindale: RIP, Mr. H. You will be missed, not just in GSS, but in the whole community. One of the best teachers in the school who wasn’t afraid to tell a joke and discuss almost anything. My thoughts go out to everyone. Bless it be. • Jennifer Hennessey · Vancouver, British Columbia: A great article! Glad to see Mr. H honored. He really was loved ... an allaround great man.
Letters welcome Letters to the editor should be exclusive to The News and address topics of interest to residents of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Include full name and address, as well as daytime phone number for verification. Keep letters to 500 words or less. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. @ E-mail letters to editor@mapleridgenews.com.
Make wise decision in Albion EDITOR, THE NEWS:
I am writing to express my concerns about the proposed development at the corner of 244th Street and 102nd Avenue in Albion. I am mostly concerned about the proposed changes to not only the OCP, but also the Urban Boundary, as well as the Albion Area Plan. All this to accommodate one developer. Why? We, the community, fought long and hard, and I personally, through petition, collected more than 3,000 signatures from voters to save the Jackson lands and have the farm become a park in its natural state. We did not go to all this effort to have some absentee landlord who purchased the property as farmland, at farmland prices, knowing full well it was zoned agricultural, only to curry council favor at this later date to change the designation so to profit on it. The owner should either sell it as farmland if he no longer wants it and let someone else use it for agriculture, like a hobby farm, or for vegetables, or just as a
beautiful piece of property to live on. This property is surrounded on three sides by parkland, as it is, with 244th Street being the dividing line between the current development and the farm. I also understand council is considering allowing this developer to use approximately one to 1.5 acres of the Jackson lands to address drainage issues on his three acres. The wildlife, the wetlands on the farm and the natural topography will be disturbed forever to accommodate drainage for this development. Manmade wetlands and replanted areas can never duplicate nature as it already exists. We are nothing but arrogant to think we can. Any runoff from this development will be directed into Jackson Creek. This includes any chemicals from car washing, fertilizing of plants, and dumping of household chemicals in the sewers. What impact is this going to have on the wildlife inhabiting this creek? From the plans I have seen, the amount of land from the farm needed for this
drainage issue is approximately one to 1.5 acres. This is no small amount. If the owner needs to drain his land, he should have to do it within the three acres like any of the rest of us would have to. This sets a dangerous precedent for any other landowner or developer who owns land alongside a park or a green space to be allowed the same privilege of using park land to drain their property so they can maximize the use of their land. Do you really want to take this road? I hope not. People have long memories when it comes to what is perceived as favoritism towards landowners and developers at the expense of the public. Albion has an abundance of these landowners and developers who purchased cheap lowlands in the ALR and now are waiting to profit. We need to send them a clear message of protection for our future. It is up to our elected representatives to help us protect the environment and wildlife by making wise decisions. RUTH PARE MAPLE RIDGE
Go back to drawing board on omnibus budget bill EDITOR, THE NEWS:
The federal government’s 452-page omnibus budget bill contains too much for adequate consideration by Parliament, because it is really more than budget-implementation legislation. Only some portions of it are about public finance, that is, about such matters as income tax, sales tax and federal-provincial fiscal arrangements. Paul Martin was prime minister in
2005, and his budget bill was 120 pages long, a record at the time. The opposition leader, Stephen Harper, quite properly asked: “How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote on a block of such legislation?” How is this omnibus “budget” bill any different than the one that he questioned in 2005?
It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. Please go back to the drawing board and come back with a proper budget bill, only. The rest can be dealt with later in an appropriate forum. Canadians are watching and we are not amused.
Strange artifacts linger in the lexicon
W
away, but I still hile chathear “once in a ting with blue moon.” someone Now I don’t know the other day, I used about you, but I’ve the expression, never seen a blue “The world is your moon. Not ever. In oyster.” fact, I don’t think I stopped and that’s even posthought: What sible. the heck does that So how can mean? there be a “once” For that matter, if there’s no such why would anyone Commentary thing? compare a shellfish Andrew Holota Wouldn’t that be to being in control “never in a blue of one’s destiny? moon?” Why not a turnip, or a No less confusing is “over can of sliced peaches? the moon.” Now, I underI mean, is “The world stand being delighted, is your Dungeness crab” or ecstatic, but how that any less ridiculous than relates to a voyage into oysters? space just beats me. And Who comes up with this actually, that should be stuff? around the moon, as any Maybe an oyster farmer? astronaut who has done so Is he the same guy who can tell you. coined “happy as a clam?” More nonsensical though How could he tell? is “pie in the sky,” which is Buried in wet sand your used to describe unrealistic entire existence ... what’s thinking. Apparently, it happy about that? hasn’t occurred to anyone As you can tell, it got me that the expression itself is to thinking about other pretty out there ... silly phrases that have “Burning the midnight made their way into the oil” is another ancient English language. saying that still crops up in Some of them have faded
conversation. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the invention of the electric light bulb and electrical power grids pretty much replaced oil lamps about oh, a century ago, give or take a few decades. But there’s that old expression, still being used to express working late. Same with “fighting hammer and tongs.” Violent confrontation is still pretty much in vogue these days, but with hammer and tongs? Aren’t those blacksmithing tools? Who do you know who even has a pair of tongs, other than perhaps the stainless steel kitchen version? Back off, Jack, or you’ll feel the bite of my rubberized vegetable servers! Oooh, there’s a threat! “Raining cats and dogs” is still oft heard, and it’s just plain weird. Somehow, somewhere, someone decided to equate falling droplets of water with plummeting pets. Clearly, this person was drunk as a skunk. And where skunks get
CHERYL BARON MAPLE RIDGE
liquor, I can’t imagine. Wouldn’t they be asked for ID? You’d think someone else would have immediately challenged the cat/dog precipitation comparison. “Dude, you’re out of your mind. Shut up. It’s just raining really hard, OK?” But no, apparently no one thought to question the insanity of this remark. We just continued to parrot it to this day. And speaking of days, the more contemporary expression “at the end of the day,” makes me crazy. What does that actually mean? Nothing, really, but it’s absolutely ubiquitous. Corporate policies, projects, objectives and all sorts of miscellaneous proclamations and observations are based upon this vague point in the Earth’s rotational cycle. At the end of the day, some day soon, I’d like to see this phrase go away. All day, every day. In the meantime, I’ll just keep on keeping on. If you know what I mean. Andrew Holota is editor of the Abbotsford News, a Black Press affiliate.