Use your brains
Bravo to Drew Foyston of Whistler with his comments about sharing the roads as well as the rules of the roads (Pique, June 25).
It's a far-reaching problem that never seems to get any better, especially when there is no enforcement of it.
It's a really big problem in Pemberton too! In fact, I think it might be even worse.
There's a lot of people out there that don't seem to know what a stop sign is.
Case in point: the stop sign right by Spierings. It's more than just annoying to be stopped at that stop sign and some dingus on a bike just blows through on my right. I honk and they flip me off as if I've done something wrong. Two years ago I almost had an altercation with someone on a bike at that very same corner.
It's not only annoying, it's illegal.
In town it's the very same thing, and it doesn't seem to matter if there is someone on the crosswalk either, or people coming out of the side roads (and on sidewalks) and not watching what they are doing.
There are some days, too, that you could be trying to get home on a weekend day (particularly up the Meadows) where you get two or three people riding side by side. Also illegal and totally ignored.
We have a helmet law — also just about totally ignored — this one a little less so, but when you have an event such as the Slow Food Cycle, shouldn't it be a requirement just to participate? Why should they be allowed to otherwise?
I see many families out there that think it's just fine to put helmets on their kid's heads, but not their own heads. Well done! If you get into an accident that's very serious, who have those kids got to rely on while they grow up? Not to mention that they may be getting the message that when they grow up they don't have to wear helmets either. Well done, again!
Between Whistler and Pemberton, there's way too much dumb stuff going on out there.
I get it, nobody's perfect, but at least use your brains and stay safe.
Rhonda Gilmore
Pemberton
Lake needs respect
Thanks for the mention of good swimming at Gates Lake, but it has created a problem for the locals — the parking on a forest service road, which usually blocks the one lane.
There is also garbage left behind and there are people not respecting private property signs.
GP Phillips
Birken
Teach bears they're not welcome
If a bear comes into your yard, or close to your home, do yourself and the bear a big favour, and scare it away.
A confident attitude plus loud noises like a firm yell, clapping your hands, banging on pots, flashing lights, noise makers, alarms, honking horns or blowing an air horn sends most bears running.
Don't be afraid, this isn't cruel, this is saving our bears from death.
A bear's nose is 100 times more sensitive than a human's.
If you find bleach or ammonia fumes unpleasant, you can imagine what they smell like to a bear. Bleach or ammonia-based cleaners are good for trash cans and other areas where strong scents could attract bears.
Some people have had some success with covered buckets or other containers filled with bleach or ammonia, with holes punched in the lids to let the scent out, placed outside bear-accessible doors and windows.
Bears also dislike the strong scent of pine-based cleaners, but avoid using anything with a fresh, lemony or fruity smell.
Please do your part to keep bears wild.
Ryan Doiron
Whistler
GAS is good for Squamish
Whistler has become a town of crybabies over the last five years or so. Any development in the Sea to Sky corridor immediately causes Whistler to get its knickers in a twist.
Whistler has opposed the development in Britannia Beach to a point that the development was reduced. Now lets talk about their opposition to Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS). Once again Whistler starts to behave like a crybaby.
Whistler has, over the last few years, priced themselves out of the medium income families' ability to afford a ski vacation, or even a summer vacation, at Whistler.
Whistler continues to think that the 2010 Olympics is still in town but it left many years ago.
The GAS project will add value to the entire region and will act as an alternative to the high prices of Whistler. There may be a small increase in the amount of traffic that will travel the Sea to Sky highway but that is the main reason it was improved before 2010.
The change in the traffic pattern will be to travel to the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, as well as to GAS. There will be little, if any, change in the flow north of Squamish.
The main question I have of anyone in authority at Whistler is "what groups or individuals stood in the way of Whistler being developed over the years?" The answer is no one.
The overall Whistler development was considered good for the region, the province, and for Canada. GAS will be the same.
There are a great number of ski destinations in North America that are close to each other and they co-operate by having ski tickets, and passes, that are reciprocal at both resorts, to enhance the experience of skiing.
I suggest to the members of Whistler who have their collective knickers in a twist, take a chill pill, and leave the GAS project to its own resources and stop interfering with progress that is not to the liking of the Whistler know it alls.
Squamish is 59 kilometres away from Whistler, so why do they have so much to say about something going on that quite frankly is none of their business.
Bill Cavanagh
Squamish
Mr. Pinnacle, a Good Samaritan
We were on our way from Sidney, Vancouver Island to the Williams Lake Stampede.
We camped for a couple of days at Alice Lake, headed off early in the morning of June 25, planning on having breakfast after we had gassed up in Pemberton. We stopped at the crossroads gas station.
I guess both my husband and I were a bit grouchy with each other because we were hungry. I stamped off into the office complete with MasterCard while my husband started filling up our Pleasureway RV.
I picked up a couple of newspapers and signed the bill without really looking at it.
Still grumpy, we turned left off the highway and set off to find a suitable café. We had just pulled into a small mall to park, when a young man driving in after us jumped out of his van (marked Pinnacle...) and headed towards us.
I'm thinking "oops, have we parked in the wrong place?"
But no.
Husband Peter opened the window, and the young man greeted us with, "you just paid for my gas."
We didn't really know what he was talking about until he explained — the gas attendant had made a mistake and put his $144 purchase on my bill, and "Mr. Pinnacle" paid our much smaller bill.
So... how to fix it? "Mr. Pinnacle" suggested that he pay us in cash for the difference.
Our new-found friend had realized what had happened, and chased us until he found us.
It gave us such a good feeling about Pemberton to know that there are such honest, considerate and caring people who live there.
I realized afterwards that we were too stunned to ask "Mr. Pinnacle" his name. The only thing I remembered was that he jumped out of a van that said Pinnacle.
Margaret and Peter Ibbotson
Sidney
