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Re: We do not want to send our children to Spring Creek. I would like to respond to Shelley Phelan’s letter to your paper last week.

Re: We do not want to send our children to Spring Creek.

I would like to respond to Shelley Phelan’s letter to your paper last week. While it seems that an easy solution to the school board’s financial woes would be to not open Spring Creek Elementary School, there are many reasons that this is not the best solution.

• The portables are filled to capacity. One of the classes is within one or two students of reaching the limits set by the fire department. The Ministry of Education has not put a limit on class sizes for intermediate students, who are the ones using the portables. The primary classes are smaller, but because there are no washrooms, the decision was to keep them in the school building.

• The washrooms are another issue. They were built for a school population half the size of what we have now. Take a look at them at the end of the day to notice the kind of hard use that they receive. It is no wonder that during flu season we had 14 per cent of our children away sick on one day.

• The staff has limited lunch and coffee breaks. They have to shoehorn into one of the tiniest staff rooms you will ever see. Stick your head in there during lunch (that’s all that will fit) to see it filled with double the staff it was designed for – not very restful!

• Our school secretary is handling double the load that other schools have to handle. The playground supervisors are trying to keep an eye on almost 600 children during recess and lunch. The RMOW is frustrated by their attempts to re-sod the upper field at the school as they watch it beaten into submission by the pitter patter of those 600 pairs of feet.

Please appreciate the effort that was made on our behalf to acquire a new school. Had it not been for the glacial bureaucracy in place at the time we would be in this school now. The reason I joined the PAC in the first place was to see how this school developed and to be a part of it. A committee was formed that included parents to find a site. Looking back perhaps more public input could have been solicited, as has happened with the Modified School Calendar survey. The school is almost built and we must live with the decisions that were made. Whistler has seen fast paced growth and we need to learn to adapt to the changes.

The new principal, Linda Watson, came to our last PAC meeting and had some words of wisdom for the parents of the school. To paraphrase, she said to prepare children for the change that parents should emphasize the positives of the new school. Children will pick up on the negative feelings that their parents have about the school and it may make the change over more difficult for them. Both schools will have a smaller population, which may have some positive effects. There is an opportunity to create a new school culture – make this the kind of school you want for your child.

As far as Intrawest goes, both Whistler-Blackcomb Foundation and Intrawest have not only provided the property and some of the site preparation, but playgrounds for both schools at a cost of over $100,000. We are the envy of other school PACs who have to fundraise to provide those facilities. Instead we can focus on raising money for programs and capital items that have a direct educational benefit. We thank Intrawest for their generosity.

Once again the financial problems are caused by a lack of support from the provincial government. Please write the Minister of Education, our MLA and our premier if you want to see education properly funded.

Cathy Jewett,

Chair,

Myrtle Philip Community School PAC

 

Spring Creek Community School is not the problem… it’s the solution.

At a time in our province where school districts have to close schools due to declining enrolment, once again we can feel fortunate to be living in an area that continues to attract young families.

From the day Myrtle Philip opened her doors, she has been over capacity, and now showing the signs of that growth. Portables are a band-aid solution and you only have to spend a few days in one to understand how inadequate this learning environment is for our children.

The strains are felt in other areas besides the physical building. Our primary children are cramped at one end of schoolyard while our intermediates are equally compromised at the other end… conditions that challenge all to maintain behavioural standards. They need space outside too!

Necessary adjustments need to be made as students across the valley divide between two schools. But in the end, a far better learning environment will prevail at both Myrtle Philip and Spring Creek. This combined with our dedicated administration and teaching staff, will produce the environment we all wish for our children: a place where they grow to love learning and become socially responsible individuals.

Barb Leigh

Chair, Spring Creek CSPAC

 

Get on the bus, Shel!

As a past school trustee for this district I must respond to Shelley Phelan’s letter in regard to the new Spring Creek Elementary School.

As Ms Phelan has pointed out, schools all over this province are being closed and enrolment decreasing. Children in the northern part of the province are being bused long distances to school or are relying on Distance Learning Programs, but I still believe that we have a good solid public education system and the results to prove it. Our teachers, principals and administrators are the backbone of this system and deserve our whole hearted support.

Spring Creek Elementary School is a "go" (funded by the province, not the district) and many parents and children are looking forward to being a part of the new school community and all that it will have to offer. Whistler parents and the board fought long and hard to obtain a second elementary school and we should thank our lucky stars that it was not one of the many cut from the provincial budget. We will do away with a situation that has seen as many children in portables as in the classrooms at Myrtle Philip, a school literally bursting at the seams!

Let us not forget that a boundary is not "The Berlin Wall" and should the population of Spring Creek increase, as Ms Phelan assured us at the 2002 board meeting it would, it can be adjusted.

Spring Creek Elementary has a strong, dedicated PAC under the leadership of Barb Leigh and great parental support that can only be added to by the assistance of all parents whose children will be a part of the new school. I would encourage Ms. Phelan to move forward, and turn her negative energy into positive ways that will ensure that the new school is the best possible educational experience for the children (hers included) who will make up its community.

Finally, let me say that we are a small town with many great attributes and so much to be thankful for; two elementary schools and a soon to be expanded high school give us a reason to look to the future and that future is our children and their education. To be involved and to offer them the best we can is our legacy.

Alix Nicoll

Whistler

 

See you on the trails

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I am writing to thank you for sharing five exciting years with me as President and CEO of Tourism Whistler. We have achieved many things together and I am proud of the results generated for our members throughout this time.

Together we delivered double digit growth in room nights and there is a team in place at Tourism Whistler that has never, in my opinion, been more agile and responsive to market conditions.

Financially the organization is strong and stable. This strength allowed significant and strategic investments in the Association's assets that will continue to drive business for this resort. Among these investments, the Whistler Golf Club's $1.8 million upgrade and new market positioning has branded the course with the best in Canada.

Perhaps most significant of these investments, the renovation and expansion of the Whistler Conference Centre will be a catalyst to a truly four season resort. The LEED certification as an environmentally sensitive facility will position the facility to compete with the best in North America within its competitive set.

Achievements such as these can never be attributed to one individual – the outstanding team at Tourism Whistler and the support of Tourism Whistler's members and its Board was essential to our success.

Although these past five years have flown by, and there is much work yet to do, I have left Tourism Whistler to seek new challenges – the first of which will be using my accrued vacation time to enjoy our fabulous Whistler summer! Beyond that, I have a variety of opportunities awaiting me that may keep me in Whistler or take me abroad.

Again, thank you for working together with me – I remain convinced that we have an outstanding resort community with a bright future.

Suzanne Denbak

Whistler

 

This letter was addressed to Health Minister Anne McLellan and Justice Minister Martin Couchon.

"Marijuana is harmful and will remain illegal," what an inane thing to say. Booze and cigarettes are legal so I guess they are not "harmful" since they don't really cause you to misbehave or die.

I read a letter once (in a newspaper) where a woman said she had seen lots of fights break out in bars but the only time she'd ever seen a bunch of pot smokers come close to fighting was when an argument developed over what to order on their pizza.

Three plants do not make a dealer and if you discourage growers, smuggling will increase. Is this new legislation a step in the right direction or just politicians playing both sides and not a good move at all? You tax the booze dealers, the tobacco dealers, even gasoline could be said to be "harmful". Why don't you tax the marijuana dealers instead of spending so much money making a futile attempt to stop them. At least spend our money to crack down on smugglers and leave the growers alone.

Let the people smoke their pot in peace.

Leanne Lamour

Whistler

 

Re" Rena Worden's complaint about work done on Pemberton's Blood, Sweat and Fear bike trail, I'd like to offer a different perspective on the matter.

I've been riding this trail since it was new. I count myself lucky to have been part of the early riding scene in Pemberton when some truly classic characters banded together to build our original cross-country bike trails. Testament to the wisdom of these early builders is the lovely flow and sheer cleverness of their routes, combined with careful thought to erosion control. Alas they didn't foresee the trend to shuttling, monster downhill and free-ride machines, gratuitous corner-cutting and sliding, and the growing population pressure that have combined to overwhelm their work. Many of the trails' fine twists have been blunted and descents dumbed down to violent ruts and naked rock.

What is today the steep rocky section in the lower third of Blood Sweat and Fear was once a moss and fern-covered drop with a clean line and an obvious exit to the left. Over the years, as more and more riders pressured the trail, the incessant push of sliding tires almost entirely cleaned several inches of soil and flora from the 10m by 10m face. Water erosion started by tire cuts finished the job leaving nothing but rock and root. This section has now become a free-for-all multi-lane route where any number of tire-sliders rip down the drop and past the exit, dead-ending into bushes below then climbing back up and out.

Irrespective of someone's dream clean riding experience, my main concern is with the sustainability of the trail. It was painfully obvious the trend here was deeper encroachment into the bush below the exit. Too many riders no longer could or would make the original turn-off in time, leading to the de-facto establishment of a new departure into a small ravine.

If Worden looks carefully, she'll see that I did far more work on this section than she notes. Large quantities of dirt and crush were re-piled and tamped onto the exposed rock to visually guide riders to the original exit instead of the bush below, and the drainage over the rock face was changed to guide water away.

Regarding her lamented lost trick: a narrow two-foot section of exposed side-hill rock at the exit that had originally been mostly buried in soil was pick-axed in some places and filled with crush in others to make the exit more obvious and inviting. This work was planned but held off over a couple of years and dozens of rides until it became absolutely clear that the trail was going down hill fast and needed corralling. To be clear, Worden's trick wasn't part of the trail's original design. It was an interesting transitional feature, an ephemeron that arose only through trail abuse and that would in time be lost again as the entire section migrated to a new exit.

Every year, hundreds of repair jobs are made on Pemberton's trails in an effort to keep them rideable and on-track in the face of rapidly escalating riding pressure and to temper the indulgent routing of some newer trails and diversions. Most repairs are invisible and simply taken for granted by the vast majority of riders who surely assume that mother nature or "someone else" takes care of things. If one of my favourite old cross-country trails degrades beyond reason and I see a way to repair it with a few hours of effort, then I'll just go out and do the job. Certainly one person's sign of decay can be another's pet feature, it all depends on perspective, but if your window of observation is small, you can't appreciate the big picture. No trail is "natural" nor are trails static, so let me suggest that we simply enjoy what's there while we can but also work hard to keep our trails in good shape for as long as we can.

Nigel Protter

Pemberton

 

Re: Wasted in Whistler by Lisa Richardson.

"You can tell a lot about a place from it's waste. Last season's skis. An A-frame cabin. A couple of hundred Aussie Workers per year…." You forgot to take a shot at the Kiwis, English, Japanese, Scots, Brazilians and all the other people who make Whistler there home for a year or so in their life. We are also part of the active community.

Apart from that good article. I'm from Sunshine Coast Queensland, a place just as inspiring as Whistler. As with all, who realize the planet is not going to ever get any better ecologically, give back what you take so somebody else can enjoy it. It get's me steamed to be in the gondola, especially now with all the snow melting, seeing beer bottles, granola bar wrappers, chip packets and other trash. If that's happening there what's going on in these people's homes?

Still a lot of ignorant people out there.

Nick Sullivan

Whistler

 

The Whistler Library is another fast ferries scam, by similar minded people for similar reasons.

The politicians at the time got it stuck in there heads they wanted to champion the large catamaran building even though navel architects around the world put a moratorium on designing and building catamarans of this size.

After consulting many shipyards and engineers and navel architects the government finally put it to them this way, if you want to make hundreds of millions of dollars just ignore your peers and build us what we want. So the navel firms who spoke out against the design lost all government contracts for over eight years and the unethical firm that built them what they wanted made millions and ended up buying the three ferries for pennies on the dollar because they are unusable as ferries but suited for stealth military medical ships for the US military machine. And to make it worse the RCMP commercial crime division sees nothing wrong with this. Go figure. So how does the proposed Whistler library/museum rank with this?

Listen to the mayor and some councillors they have it stuck in their heads that Whistler needs a $10 million library/museum for no other reason than it’s their concept that a town must have a big library as a status symbol. The library has paid consultants thousand and thousands of dollars to pour honey potion in there ears while back in reality the private companies and citizens who where suppose to buck up for the $5 million have said no. Like the fast ferries the library/museum is not viable and the present business model that they use to attract customers competes with viable private sector companies in Whistler.

So go ahead guys, ostracize me more but what this town really needs is to move the propane storage facility that is the heart of Whistler.

Shane Bennett

Whistler

PS this is why we need Counselors/Voters Ambassadors

 

I am writing this letter to acknowledge the people who worked very hard to make a dry after prom party a reality for the whistler secondary class of 2003.

A very special thanks to Sue Oliver, Nancy Routley, Brenda and Gary Baker, Kirby Brown, Sean Richard, Candice Shwartz, Jacqui Tyler, Max and Lee at Merlin's and to our volunteers, Tessa Mclaughlin, Caroline Stroud, Carter Hack and Sue Belyea.

Many donations were received from local businesses to make this night a great success, in particular: Whistler-Blackcomb employee experience, Whistler Transit, Obie Media, Earl's, Whistler.com, Showcase, Evolution, Hyak Wilderness Adventures, Rogers Chocolates, The Gap, The Great Glass Elevator, Escape Route, Sushi-ya, E-sound, Inspired Group, The Body Shop and Levi's.

While dry grad can be a tough concept for a population struggling with peer acceptance, and a community that openly promotes a party lifestyle, I tip my hat to the youth who took the moral courage to give dry grad a chance.

Wishing you all the best in all that awaits you!

Greg McDonnell,

Community Outreach Youth Worker

Whistler Community Services Society

 

A very big thank you to Tapley’s and all the staff for generously donating their time and space for Mae Palm’s fundraiser. The event was a great success and special thanks goes to Don Pashleigh, Gavin Philp, Big Rich, Paul Winch, Jo Moore, Michelle Whitfield, Miles Kostuc and the rest of the staff. Thank you Karen and Craig Boyce, Kim Punter Jeoff Cotter, Dave Brownsberger for your ideas and energy. Patricia Westerholm thank you for your awesome and timely press releases and a big thanks to the Pique for running the complete story. Thanks Jim Monohan at the Question for running the reminder and thanks Stephanie Matches for the air time on Mountain FM.

Huge thanks to Cristiana Spooner for working on your lunch hour to design a beautiful poster for the event.

To all the people and sponsors who donated prizes, thanks Whistler/Blackcomb, ResortQuest, Whistler Golf Club, SportStop, Nesters, Black’s Pub, Duhblin Gate, Tapley’s, Meadow Park Sports Centre, Dynamic Core Fitness, Mike Chartuk, Whistler Printing, Pemberton Grocery Store, Pemberton Trails Steak House and The Running Room.

Ann VanKoughnet, a very big thanks to you for generously giving of your time, I could not have done this otherwise.

Thank you to everyone who came to the event and donated and everyone who donated and were there in spirit.

Finally, a warm thank you to Mae. You are an inspiration to us all and I know I speak for Whistler when I say you make us all very proud. Good luck in Penticton, whip some butt!

Theresa Wimbles

Whistler