SOOKE NEWS MIRROR -- WEDNESDAY, Wednesday, APRIL april 22, 22, 2015 2015
Help promote Sooke and area I had 4,727 readers for the 13 reviews I personally (important point) wrote on Sooke businesses, activities, scenic places, etc… in Sooke and our Sooke region. I still think the challenge needs to be formalized to help everyone understand how easily we can make Sooke and the Sooke region more in the mind of people so they think Sooke more often than any other place like Tofino, etc. We will get more visitors, more dollars will flow through our region and into the local businesses, etc… easy and at no cost! It is not only through Trip Advisor but with Yelp and Google + that we can market our region for free. Also use through Facebook (every time you notice something about Sooke) comments, likes, share, etc. that highlight every time what is about Sooke and the region. Frederique Philip Sooke
Paper is getting out of touch Really, that “Big Bad Oil” cartoon in the April 8 edition of the Sooke News Mirror was seriously out of touch with the community. The “protestors” shown in the cartoon are nothing like the people active on the “no more tankers” issue. Satire needs a little spice of truth— that cartoon seems closer to slander. There is a little truth in the cartoon. That placard showing environmental issues from the past? Acid rain, the ozone hole and green house gas emissions: each of these issues was identified by science, brought to governments’ attention by citizens and has resulted in legislated changes to production and use of materials to lessen the environmental effects of pollution. Perhaps this nod to informed citizen protests was unintended. The editorial themes in “Our View” recently also seem a little out of touch. After lecturing Sooke’s volunteer community on how to
www.sookenewsmirror.com www.sookenewsmirror.com
We asked: What is your favourite thing to do in the spring?
I like to go out and do photography.
Get out and go for a walk, to the beach, the park, enjoying the great outdoors in general.
Everything out in the sun.
Margit Hart Sooke
Eric Day Sooke
Mathew Peter Sooke
behave one week, the next week they are asked to use less of their energy to protect the environment and more to lobby for sidewalks. The mayor, council and staff are competent to sort out planning and funding sidewalks. When I connect the dots, I see that getting a competent mayor and council is huge and I thank the idealists and altruistic people who voted in District of Sooke. Heather Phillips Otter Point
Illegal dumping concerns EMCS students We are 25 Edward Milne community schools Environmental Studies students who would like to see an end to the illegal dumping of wastes in and around our beloved Sooke. Our exploration of Sooke’s supernatural backyard has revealed some horrific dumping grounds. We’ve seen everything from appliances and mattresses to run of the mill household garbage. All of these sites have been near rivers and creeks and we worry about toxins leaching into local water systems, harming salmon spawning grounds and transporting plastics into the ocean. We are also concerned for
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What happened to the Sooke News Mirror reporter and /or it’s editorial staff in not noticing the error? This sort of article – while important-shoots itself in the foot by reporting such silliness. Fred Whittaker Sooke
Go hiking in the hills.
letters
letters
Petra Sielopp Sooke
will go from 300,000 barrels of oil to 900,000 per day; an increase of three times. Yet the number of tankers transporting the stuff in the article goes from five to 34; an increase of nearly seven times. Did no one attending not speak up about this wild discrepancy of simple math?
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Submitted photo
the edward Milne community school’s environmental studies class has been cleaning up sooke.
local wildlife that might consume bits of plastic or be poisoned by leaching toxins. Our class decided to clean-up Sooke’s worst dumpsites located at the gate to Butler Main Road. Sooke Disposal kindly donated a massive bin for us to use. At first glance, we thought the cleanup would entail hauling out the mattresses, plastics and drywall on the side of the road. However, when we moved into the bush, we were mortified by the amount and type of refuse there. We pulled out more than 20 tires, gallons of paint cans and used motor oil, furniture, bags of household garbage including kitchen and toilet waste, hundreds of Keurig coffee cups and aerosol cans. We
removed layers of garbage unearthing older layers beneath. “How could somebody do this?” we asked ourselves. Our class feels good about our clean-up efforts but we also know that we must stop future dumping. Presently, there is a maximum $2,000 fine from the CRD for dumping if a culprit is caught. Capturing individuals can be difficult as the dumping occurs late at night and CRD resources are limited. It is our hope that bringing public awareness to this problem may help hinder illegal dumping. Sooke residents can recycle electronics at the Salvation Army for no charge. Also for free, Sooke Disposal will take appliances, automotive bat-
teries, paint and aerosol cans. EMCS is also collecting scrap metal in our parking lot for the next month. We are asking our community to help bring better awareness to this issue so that we might preserve Sooke’s natural beauty for all! EMCS Environmental Studies Class 2015
Math mistake bypassed Your front page on oil spills while interesting contains an awful mistake by the Kinder Morgan speaker and, apparently, not noted by any one. As reported increased pipeline capacity to Burnaby
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