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Letters to the editor for the week of December 27th

Community needs to support Meadow Park
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In reading the Pique last week I noticed a common thread between (Bob) Barnett's editorial and GDs column, Maxed Out.

Both individuals were talking about giving and gifts. Both mentioned the raising of user fees at Meadow Park Sports Centre in lieu of raising property taxes.

Being a property owner and not a person who is using the facilities at the rec center a lot I would like to ask other property owners to consider a gift to the young families in town.

Raising a family here can be challenging in many ways not the least of those challenges is a financial one. The young families living here along with other young adults make good use of the facility.

As Max pointed out higher fees may lead to less use, less use equates to less need, and eventually a spiralling downward of the quality of the experience.

I would encourage other property owners to let council know that it makes great sense to add a few dollars per year to my tax bill and keep Meadow Park accessible to all.

In the long run having healthy, fit kids saves our health care (system) a fortune. Having happy, vibrant and healthy people living and working in the resort is great for business, and like it or not, the more successful we are as a resort the stronger your investment (ie: homes) value is retained.

Doesn't seem like rocket science to me that Meadow Park Recreational Centre is a great asset and we should do our part to ensure it is used.

Rick Clare

Whistler

Runners say thank you

As avid year round runners, we are very happy to see that our Valley Trail is being cleared of snow (Alta Vista to Cheakamus Crossing).

Thank-you (Mayor) Nancy (Wilhelm-Morden) for hearing our voices. Thank-you to the Finance and Public Works Departments for considering our concerns while preparing the 2013 budget.

We truly do live in a wonderful place!

Shauna Peachman, Katie Svenson, Whitney Reynolds and Alexa Maxwell

Whistler

Carollers welcomed in Emerald

It was dark, snowing heavily, driveway NOT cleared all day as we were decorating. There were signs of life, as a few season decorations were lit.Then to our surprise our doorbell rings. To our delight we received four couples of carollers and two dogs covered in snow, joyfully singing Christmas carols at the top of our stairs at our front door.What a pleasant surprise. You made our day and season through your goodwill and reminding us of carolling we did as youngsters in the 50s!You will know who you are as there were at least three headlamps to substitute for Rudolf's red nose.

Thanks again, this is the true spirit of Christmas.

John and Sandee RossEmerald, Whistler

Plastic bags banned in North Pole

Ho ho ho! Santa Claus here — I see (from Pique's Maxed Out column Dec. 13) that you haven't been following the news carefully. Those "high school" students are actually Grade 6 students who are very concerned about the environment. In fact, 21 out of 25 students in that class take the bus to school.

I've been hearing complaints from the bears in Whistler, who've mentioned the amount of plastic garbage in the valley. Slumber has told me that he's worried about plastic in the environment and its potential harm to animals around the world.

Last Christmas when I was delivering my presents to all the boys and girls in France, I noticed that something was different. The air was fresher and the cows were happier. I went home and told Mrs. Claus about this. We did some research and discovered that France, San Francisco and even Aspen, Colorado, have banned plastic bags to make their environment better (Aspen's ban is on just two local grocery stores).

After debating with the elves, I've decided to ban plastic bags from the North Pole. I hope you'll rethink your ideas on plastic and consider reducing plastic in your life.

If you help the Earth, the Earth will help you!

You may disagree with the debate regarding the ban but some local stores, such as Oracle are already plastic bag free, and are making a difference.

Happy Holidays, and remember "Create memories, not garbage."

Santa and Jane Millen's Grade 6 class at Spring Creek Community School

Road safety as simple as walking on right side of the road

I don't get it, I'm entering my 15th season in Whistler and every year when driving at night I see people at the last second walking with traffic in dark clothes on the highway.

I can't say for sure but I think it's safe to assume that most of these ninjas have been drinking and are not completely aware of what's going on around them.

In a resort town with too many rules and way too many signs, how is it possible after several deaths that there are no signs telling people to walk facing traffic?

We have signs everywhere warning people that they may slip and fall on ice and snow, I think it's strange that people need to be told something so obvious.

It's survival of the fittest but I really don't have any desire to accidentally clip someone because they made a bad decision.

Wes McIntyre

Whistler

My picture of a hero

Editor's note — The Grade 8 class at Whistler Secondary school has been studying the representation of adolescents in the media and found that they are over-represented in articles about crime and under-represented in articles about heroes. Along with their English teacher Brianne Aldcroft, they decided to share stories of teens they see as heroes. Below are the first of several letters Pique will publish in coming editions, which share the stories of those teen heroes.

In real life, teens are continuously convicted of doing despicable acts that most would never think of, but most teens have a good, kindhearted side to them. Nicole (Niki) Leroux, who is now 22 years old, was one of those special teens that spent their high-school career volunteering many hours to clean up rivers in Newmarket, Ontario, and setting up foundations to support environmental causes.

Leroux's most special project took over two years. This project was based in her hometown Newmarket, Ontario. There, she and her friends spent time cleaning up the Holland River — once part of nature it became overly polluted. Reconstructing the river was not easy as so much garbage had collected, but they managed to do it. The section of the river was reclaimed and various wildlife returned for all to enjoy.

Niki has undertaken several international projects specifically for kids that do not have any food or any clean, healthy water to drink. She has done the Water for Water project. She did this by selling bottled water on hot days in Ontario. By selling bottled water she raised enough funds to finance the building of several clean water drinking wells in Africa. Niki then expanded her efforts by setting up a foundation in the same country, for kids that do not have any food. She raised these funds by selling locally sourced necklaces and bracelets, back in Ontario, for more expensive prices. Niki has changed people's natural lives to make them better.

When, Niki cleaned up the stream, set up a foundation and initiated the Water for Water project, she changed nature's way of living. If any teen volunteers their own time to help or fix others' daily lives they are truly amazing people. Imagine if you had no home, no food, no water, nothing at all, what would you want others to do? Teens do take part in volunteer work around your town and community to make people's lives better. Niki is one type of teen who has made a difference.

Kat Kranjc

Grade 8 Whistler Secondary School

My hero

On October 9, 2012, Malalal Yousafzai was brutally shot in the head and neck by a Taliban gunman as she was returning home on her school bus. She miraculously survived and is recovering in a U.K. hospital. The Taliban are still threatening her life.

Malala Yousafzai was born into a Muslim family of Pashtun ethnicity in July 1997. Yousafzai was shaped in a large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself. At the age of 11 she started to write a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC that documented her life under the Taliban rules. In this blog she also wrote about how the Taliban was trying to control the valley and her views on promoting education for girls and women. At 12, the New York Times did a documentary on her life and she began to rise in public awareness.

In the days immediately following the October 9 attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On October 12, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin. The Taliban is still making threats against her life but the public seems to be behind her recovery and her position on life in Pakistan.

Former British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, launched a United Nations petition in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari in November. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has announced that November 10 will be celebrated as Malala Day. She has been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize and, has won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize.

Stephanie Denroche

Grade 8 student at Whistler Secondary School

Congratulations Mark Blundell

I would like to congratulate Mark Blundell on receiving the Diamond Jubilee Award.

I cannot think of anyone more deserving of that award. Mark has been very active in the community of Pemberton. He works very hard for this community and is generous with his time and makes many donations.

Mark was very instrumental in the raising of funds for the Pemberton Dragon Boat Teams. He has always championed the 4H Club and supported its many activities. He has been an active member of the Pemberton Legion and a member of the Lions Club.

Mark and his wife Carolyn have privately helped many families and individuals in the valley, never seeking recognition but helping others because they are kind individuals.

Mark has always wanted the best for Pemberton and has been involved in many ways. He is past president of the Pemberton Chamber of Commerce and still works very hard with them. He is a past councillor for the Village of Pemberton and is the alternate director for Susie Gimse at the Squamish Lillooet Regional District. He is the present chair of the Pemberton Health Society.

Pemberton and District are indeed fortunate to have Mark and Carolyn Blundell as business owners and residents. They quietly go about helping people and working for the betterment of the community.

Congratulations Mark. It is a well-deserved award!

Elinor Warner

Lumby

Don't walk along highway, please

In the last (few) weeks since the new influx of workers/vacationers have arrived in Whistler, every night after picking my boyfriend up from work around 1 to 2 a.m., I am constantly having to dodge idiots walking/standing either along the side of the Sea to Sky Highway, or blatantly in the middle of it — usually wearing black!

What people need to realize is that that this stretch of road is a HIGHWAY, one that has little to no lighting, and when in a car travelling at 60kph you are very hard to see, if not impossible!

Every year someone ends up getting killed by walking along this highway and I never really understood from a driver's standpoint until I became a driver myself this year, just how common these occurrences are.

To the young guy who was standing in the middle of the road at Alta Vista Tuesday, Dec. 4 at approx 1 a.m., who was so drunk he could hardly stand that when I blared my car horn for him to move — he actually jumped into the way of my vehicle — I feel sorry for the driver who is going to hit you one of these days.

The fact that I had to swerve into oncoming traffic, and was lucky it wasn't snowing that night, leaves me feeling very little remorse for the idiots that decide it's a good idea to walk along our highway.

I would love to know what is going to be done about this? Each year someone is killed yet the new people to town have no knowledge of it, perhaps including this in the Spirit Course would be a good idea?

We have a beautiful Valley Trail that is for the most part ploughed and well lit for you to walk on. If you want to kill yourself perhaps find another way of doing it, so you don't destroy the life of the person that is inevitably going to hit you with their car.

Tiffany Yovich

Whistler

Give way for yield signage

Not sure if the drivers in Whistler these days actually know what a yield sign signifies. B.C. law states, "Except as provided in section 175, if two vehicles approach or enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time and there is a yield sign, the driver of a vehicle facing the sign must yield the right of way to all other traffic."

Three or four times in the past week I have been severely cut off to the point of my ABS activating to avoid people gunning it without slowing through yield signs.

Most of the incidents have occurred while I'm travelling southbound along Highway 99. Traffic is coming out of Alpine without slowing and often with barely a glance towards southbound traffic. This does not include the three times in the last two years I have ended up in the oncoming lane on my motorcycle during the summer, or the numerous times in my other vehicle, throughout the past few years.

Seems some of the residents of Whistler either are ignorant of the law or deem it beneath them. Gotta' love it when someone almost causes an accident and then responds by giving you the finger in their mirror.

Spencer Jespersen

Whistler

Pemberton & District Public Library loses its leader

I am saddened to hear that Shannon Didier has decided to leave her post as director of the Pemberton & District Public Library.

Though I am personally pleased to see her take on new directions and new challenges, this move is without a doubt a loss for the community. Shannon took over as director five years ago; she helped keep it running under difficult circumstances in the temporary set up at the old community centre, and was ultimately an instrumental and driving force when it came time to establishing it in the "new" community centre.

With the support of a strong core staff and the Friends of the library Shannon did not simply set up a new location for people to rent books, she created a place where the community gathers and learns. She helped build an environment where kids through to seniors feel at ease, stimulated and connected to each other. A place where people come to exchange and discover new ideas.

Shannon has brought in wonderful speakers and organized presentations and programs that one doesn't often see in the average small town, all on a very tight budget.

The Library has become a safe haven for our kids, and for community members of all ages for that matter. It is a place where they can, not only discover the wonders of reading, but also engage in meaningful interaction with their neighbours, participate in the widest array of activities and explore new ideas.

The Pemberton & District Public Library is truly a special place as well as the hub of our crazy little town and much of this can be attributed to the hard work and broad vision of Shannon Didier.

For all these reasons I feel it would be a terrible disservice not to acknowledge Shannon and the work she has done for Pemberton.

So on behalf of my family and if I may, on behalf of the greater Pemberton community I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you; for the effort and time you have put in, for the creative thinking and vision you brought and for the gentle thoughtfulness that is definitely reflected in our awesome library. Cheers Shannon, you have left some big shoes to fill and though you will be missed we wish you all the best in your next adventure!

Mike Richman

Pemberton

Christmas light hooray

Many thanks to the Municipality of Whistler and its workers for the wonderful Christmas light display in the Village.

It feels like a magical place.

Ian and Ann Johnson

Whistler