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Letters to the Editor for the week of November 16th

Cenotaph relocation a community affair Whistler's cenotaph looks stunning in its new location and fits in as if it has always been there. Many people contributed to this community initiative.
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Whistler's cenotaph was relocated to Olympic Plaza last week thanks to a grassroots effort by a local citizen group. A symbol of remembrance

Cenotaph relocation a community affair

Whistler's cenotaph looks stunning in its new location and fits in as if it has always been there. Many people contributed to this community initiative. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all of them.

Thank you to my co-committee members Doug Forseth, Arthur De Jong, Garry Watson, and Jon Paine for readily jumping aboard the 'move the cenotaph ship' with your support and commitment. Behind the scene, Brian Buchholz and G.D. Maxwell provided invaluable advice and support, as always.

Many thanks to the Rotary Club of Whistler who adopted the project, especially Mary Scott and Ken Roggeman for their help with grant applications and finance support and Ken Martin for his support.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler, when presented with our plan, became quite excited about the new concept and were valuable partners in its execution. Many thanks to Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, Martin Pardoe, Jan Jansen and Annie Oja.

The project would not have been possible without the generous funding support of the American Friends of Whistler, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, the Community Foundation of Whistler through the Community Fund for Canada's 150th and the Veterans Affairs Commemorative Partnership Program.

The Whistler construction community readily embraced the project with Tom Barratt designing the new location, Another View Landscaping redesigning the flagpole area, Brian Ayearst, Rory Lebroco of Cancor Cutting and Coring and Mike Stone from Whistler Blackcomb for cutting the cenotaph from its old location, moving the 4,000 pound stone, and cleaning and sealing the stone so beautifully; Spark Electric for the subtle lighting and Flow Irrigation for ensuring the plants are watered.

The very moving cenotaph re-dedication ceremony was again due to the contribution of many community members. Thank you to Steve LeClair and Tara Merrie, colour guard sentries of the cenotaph; Josh Anderson and the ambassadors from the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre; Mayor Wilhelm-Morden for her kind words; Nicole Fitzgerald for her beautiful rendition of O Canada; veterans Garry Watson, Jay MacKenzie and Fraser McGaw for their moving words; and students Jessica Wells and Wils Moore for creating and reading their poems.

Thanks to Dean Feser from the Maury Young Arts Centre for the sound system and once again thanks to Rotary for hosting the reception.

Thank you to Brad Nichols and Nadine White from the Whistler Museum and local library, respectively, for their remembrance-themed displays. And thank you to all the teachers and students who contributed creative writing pieces about remembrance.

Braden Dupuis and Clare Ogilvie from Pique Newsmagazine were very supportive of the cenotaph project and I thank them for their coverage of the journey to move the cenotaph.

Anne Townley
Whistler

Customer service lacking under Vail Resorts?

Am I the only Whistler patron to notice that many customer service facilities that used to work pretty well with the old Whistler Blackcomb management are now not working at all under Vail Resorts' management? Earlier this week I tried to contact a customer service rep (during normal business hours) using an 800 number provided by their website. I eventually hung up after listening to a solid 15 minutes of ads for lodging, etc.

I had to physically go in to Whistler Guest Relations and talk to a real person face to face to get an answer about my season pass. Today, I was trying to find out what the season pass holder "Bring a Friend Skiing and Riding Discount" is. The website says there is such a perk but it does not specify the value of the discount (sort of an important detail). So this time, I tried the live chat that they offered (again, normal business hours). The chat said I was first in the queue with an expected wait time of one minute. Ten minutes later it was still saying the same thing! To say I am unimpressed with Vail Resorts' management is a large understatement. 

Nick Stowell
Whistler/Toronto

Whistler's community spirit on display again this Remembrance Day

It would be impossible for me to name and thank everyone who contributed to and supported this week's Remembrance Day service — so, I will just "thank everyone" who contributed and supported last week.

Even with the new and much larger venue, I believe that the true Whistler community spirit of remembrance and support for our veterans and for our serving military was shown to be as near and dear as it has ever been.

 Our veterans and visiting military alike voiced their combined "thank you" to the community for its support and which I am proud to pass along on their behalf.

Brian Buchholz
Whistler

Thank You for Feeding the Spirit

Thank you to everyone who helped to make Feeding the Spirit at the Whistler Museum a success this year!  As part of Connect Whistler, Feeding the Spirit aims to give newcomers to the community a brief introduction to Whistler's history; this year the event drew over 100 people to the museum for historical Whistler trivia and a free meal. The Museum would like to thank Whistler Community Services Society and all of our sponsors: Creekside Market, Whistler Roasting Co., Misty Mountain Pizza, Splitz Grill, Farfalla Hair & Esthetics, Coastal Culture Sports, Purebread and DavidsTea.

Allyn Pringle
Events & Community Manager, Whistler Museum