our views
A6 Thursday, March 8, 2018
Langley Advance
www.langleyadvance.com Published by BLACK PRESS GROUP LTD. Publisher: Lisa Farquharson Our offices are located at Suite 112, 6375-202nd St., Langley, B.C. V2Y 1N1 Published on Thursdays, and delivered to homes and businesses in Langley City and Langley Township. www.langleyadvance.com
OUR VIEW
LOOKING BACK
New era not so hard
Airport a failure?
T
Eighty Years Ago March 3, 1938
• Chilliwack MP H.J. Barker told the House of Commons that $90,000 had been wasted on Langley Airport. It was too wet and foggy to ever make it as an airport, he maintained.
Seventy Years Ago March 4, 1948
Throwback Thursdays Contest:
• Council, after considering a $32,000 surplus and government grants of $145,000, turned down the school board’s request for a $296,031 budget.
Langley Centennial Museum collection
Sixty Years Ago
Each week, Langley Advance readers are invited to submit a suggested caption – factual or funny – for this historic Langley picture above. Go to langleyadvance.com, search ‘Throwback Thursday,’ and submit through story link. One lucky reader wins a gift certificate from the Cora restaurant on the bypass. See the entries online. Last week’s photo (inset) showed the British Columbia Electric train at Michaud Crescent. The rails used to run through the center of Langley Prairie. The winner of this week’s contest was Sharon Holborn, who suggested “Is this the train to Hogwarts?’’
March 6, 1958
• A businessman’s tour to mark the beginning of education week flopped. Only five men showed up.
Spring about blossoms and blisters
T
hey say March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb. The weather here is certainly living up to the “lion” part of the equation so far. The other day, I headed out for an early dinner with family. It was lightly raining as we pulled out of the driveway, began sleeting within two minutes, which turned to heavy hail that turned the road into a slushy river. The sun was out again by the time we got to the restaurant. On the other hand, whether March actually goes out like a lamb is debatable. Maybe it’s more of an ornery billy goat that’s decided to give us a good kicking. Some years we get a bit of mild weather, sunshine, and a weeks-long shower of cherry blossoms. Other years, it’s more random
bouts of hail, incessant rain, or an countries marked the start late cold snaps that leave farm- of the new year in late March or early April, around Easter ers chewing their nails bloody. or other significant Despite this, early religious celebrations. spring remains one That makes sense of my favourite seato me. February feels sons. like the last, lifeless The best thing husk of the old year. about March: it’s not Then along comes February. March, all new enerFebruary is brief gy, both destructive for a reason. No one and life-giving. could take a full 30 The days are londays of that month. Matthew Claxton ger, and soon they’ll At 28 days, it’s at outstrip the nights least twice as long as it needs to be (and don’t get me and keep expanding until the glorious long twilights of June. started on Leap Years!). The frosts will recede, the Yes, there’s Valentine’s Day, winds will die down, and green a desperate attempt to enliven shoots will emerge everywhere. the dreariest and greyest of There will still be some bad months. Slathering mid-February with pink hearts is a bit like weather – we’re still in Canada, trying to dress up road kill with after all – but March is the beginning of the end, at least. tinsel. It’s useful to remember that • Read Bob Groeneveld’s Odd Thoughts at langleyadvance.com in ye olden days, many Europe-
Painful Truth
here is a great deal of confusion in society right now about how to deal with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. International Women’s Day, which is today (March 8) seems a good time to look at where things stand. Allegations are swirling around many prominent and not-so-prominent men. People have lost their jobs or social standing. Some are being investigated for criminal activity related to victims’ revelations. There will be countless criminal and civil court cases by victims empower by #MeToo and #TimesUp. In short, this is about women and hopefully men who care about respect and dignity, standing up and saying they disagree with a whole lot of things that have just been considered part of everyday life in the past. They are objecting to a spectrum of behaviours that range in severity from verbal abuse right up to sexual assault and murder. These behaviours all come down to an attempt to diminish a person based on gender. Not sure how to act in this new era? There’s an easy litmus test. Think of the person you respect most in the world – be it a loved one or celebrity. If that person was in the room with you, would you still make that same sexist comment or vulgar gesture or social media posting or unwanted sexual advance? As for those who resent having to change their language or actions so that other around them are not made uncomfortable or humiliated, buck up, snowflake. You’ll get used to it. Women have a head start by several thousand years. Ask them how. – H.C.
Fifty Years Ago
Langley in
history
Looking back through Langley Advance files
March 7, 1968
• McDonald Cedar Products received an ultimatum from Township council: the Fort Langley mill had to get rid of its burner by the end of the year.
Forty Years Ago March 8, 1978
• School trustee Dave Bell, a member of the committee to investigate the feasibility of building an indoor swimming pool in Langley, revealed that a “wave pool,” aimed at full leisure activity rather than competitive swimming, was being considered.
Thirty Years Ago March 2, 1988
• Langley’s oldest high school, Langley Secondary, received $2.6 million to build a new gymnasium.
Twenty Years Ago March 6, 1998
• The Greater Vancouver Regional District board voted to take control of local transit, despite opposition from Langley Township Mayor John Scholtens. More Langley History at: langleyadvance.com
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