Letters to the editor

Love your neighbours and your friends

I call you friends with all the warmth and care that this wee little Canadian heart can muster. You live south of our border and are amongst some of the greatest people I've ever known. I've met you on every corner of this planet and my life is forever enriched because of you. Yes you're American and I'm Canadian and I adore you! Go figure?

This is, in particular, in honour of my good friend Mike Brown in San Francisco. He fought in the Gulf War. He has definite ideas about how his country should be run.

Now, I'm a tree huggin’, peace lovin’, Coastal B.C. girl and we don't always see eye to eye on a lot of political things. But that's not the point. I may not like George Bush but I sure do like Mike. He's a wonderful, kind human being, as are all of his friends (who also happen to be American).

To my fellow countryfolk I ask you this... where is your heart? Where is your tolerance? Where have all those great Canucklehead qualities gone that make Canada a wonderful place to live? Don't be afraid to love your neighbour as yourself. It won't make you less of a patriot. It might actually make you feel good.

I love this land with every ounce of my being. I am so proud to have been born here and feel lucky to have been raised in such a beautiful, free, peaceful and tolerant society. Why would I ever criticize someone else for loving their country as passionately as I love mine? Stop the bickering – it’s embarrassing! Wouldn't it be nice if we could all learn to live with a little less fear and whole lot more love?

Angie Nolan

Whistler

I see you wrote a nice tribute to Pat Carleton, congratulations. I have known Pat since 1932, when I was 10 and he was with the Nabob Coffee Co. Pat had a stall in the Food Building in the PNE. My father, "James Martin Imports," also had a stall in the PNE Food Building, right next to Pat, who was peddling coffee. My father was peddling Gold Medal Malt imported from England.

When I decided to get the BA service station built at Whistler, Pat recommended me to the oil company. He also was a backer of Alpine Village that Andy Pulas and Ian Davidson designed for us. He was not a financial backer, but an advisor as to what and where Whistler was going. We have lost a true pioneer, what we used to call one of the Five Muskateers: Eric Beardmore, Cheakamus Inn, Walter Zebrowski, Father Andy Pulas of the Spaghetti Factory, Glenn McPherson of Okanagan Helicopters and myself of Alpine Village.

Those were the early and good old days and I think we should remember their foresight and show our appreciation. One thing I suggest that could be put to council is to purchase and install benches at the base of Whistler Creekside for Walter Zebrowski, Eric Beardmore, Glenn McPherson and Pat Carleton. They are available for about $190 each. A brass placard on each one with their names and dates is about $25 each.

I'm not having any plans at the present time to join them as there is still a lot of great skiing left for me on Whistler.

Sandy Martin

Pitt Meadows

I can’t help it. It’s too ironic (and not by accident, I don’t think). Back-to-back, first I read (Pique, Dec. 9, 2004) that council has approved Bombardier’s product launch of Sea-Doos, even though Sea-Doos aren’t "consistent with Whistler’s goals, particularly The Natural Step, which is the backbone of the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan."

I flip the page and read "CSP Volume I adopted," that "it’s already proved itself to be a powerful tool," and that councillors were calling for champagne. Sadly, the CSP has already shown how weak it is. It is only as good as the will to implement it.

Further, the paper is loaded with news: soon Mount Mackenzie will have the most vertical, Banff ski areas lose business and the Interior of B.C. gains. I get the sense there is a lot of fluidity in the ski business. If we compromise on the best that we have to offer, that is nature, it cannot be good for Whistler. Definitely not in the long run.

Ruth Tubbesing

Vancouver/Whistler

Re: Mackenzie finally becomes a reality (Pique Dispatches Dec. 9)

The first paragraph of your article gave me the impression that Revelstoke was first identified as a ski area 20 years ago.

As a part of a West Vancouver group, Hollyburn Heritage Society, I have been helping to collect history of skiing on the local Cypress Mountain ski area (venue for snowboarding and freestyle during the 2010 Winter Olympics). It has also involved coming across history of skiing in other B.C. areas, Revelstoke being one.

The history of skiing at Revelstoke goes back to at least the early 1920s. Ski jumping was a major passion, brought by the immigration of Norwegian men who pursued this sport in Norway. Revelstoke had a natural ski hill just above town that would soon become famous.

In 1912 Nels Nelsen came from Norway to Revelstoke to work on the railway. In 1924, Nels jumped 235 feet. In 1925 he broke the world record with a 240-foot jump on the local ski hill at Revelstoke and was largely responsible for making Revelstoke famous in world ski circles. He set the record on the famous Suicide Hill, which he designed. This record stood until 1932. After losing part of an arm in a hunting accident he still placed well in downhill and slalom competition using only a single ski pole. He died in 1943 at age 49 years.

In 1938, Revelstoke was studied as a possible location for the Dominion of Canada Ski Championships. I do not know if it was ever selected. World War II may have intervened in 1939. Over those early decades Revelstoke produced several well-known skiers who learned and/or trained on the "big hill," including Earl Pletsch. Jack Roocroft, who was North American champion ski jumper in 1950 and favoured to be a world champion that year, probably also jumped on Revelstoke’s hill.

I learned to ski there during Christmas 1946, when a bunch of UBC students went to Revelstoke with the UBC ski team who were training on Revelstoke's big hill.

Just a bit of history; you may already know about it. As a little 1950's skiers cartoon says: "Old skiers never die, they just go downhill."

Iola Knight

West Vancouver

Re: MPs hail same-sex marriage ruling (Whistler Question, Dec. 16)

I was disappointed to see David Burke give John Reynolds and Chuck Strahl a voice for their bigotry. I am amused to see that Stephen Harper, John Reynolds and Chuck StrahI seem to be the only Canadians who interpret the recent Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage as against same-sex marriage. I am also sad to see that my fears were correct... journalism is dead in the new millennium.

I am so very tired of hearing the Alliance/Conservatives and the Republicans in the U.S. talk about protecting the "traditional definition of marriage". This political rhetoric is so self serving. Which "traditional definition of marriage" are they referring to? The one which forbids interracial marriage? Or where one man marries many women, like Solomon's 1,000 wives? Or where men marry 12-year-old girls? Or where women are property? Or the traditional marriage that is arranged for you by your parents and the parents of a stranger, and you have no choice who you marry? Or where a woman is required to marry her brother-in-law? Or her rapist? In some parts of the Middle East women marry two brothers, because that is what they have to do to survive the harsh conditions of the desert.

I could go on for a few more pages because I have many examples of different definitions of marriage in our culture and others, but I'm sure you get my point. I often wonder why right-wingers are so paranoid about the demise of marriage. Like Chicken Little they run around crying that the end of marriage is neigh, and spending tens of millions of dollars to prevent same-sex marriage. Do they know something that the rest of us don't? Is the population of the planet at a dangerous low? Are we on the verge of extinction? The argument that same-sex marriage will harm the sanctity of marriage, even though the heterosexual divorce rate is 50 per cent (interestingly enough, which is much higher in the "red" states) seems ludicrous to me. Not to mention that 80 per cent of Internet traffic is pornography, which I am sure is not exclusively single men.

My partner, who is my wife and the proud mother of our two children, is a child and family psychologist who has, throughout her career, helped thousands of families to love each other more and respect each other. She has helped hundreds of couples save their marriages, and learn how to be kinder and gentler with their kids, and how to parent more effectively. Mr. Reynolds, how does this attack on our family help other families to be kinder, and more respectful and healthy? With so much child abuse and spousal abuse in our country, so much childhood poverty, there are many more appropriate ways that you could be spending our tax dollars, instead of wasting them on a battle that you will surely lose. Perhaps I could give you some examples of areas where our tax dollars will be better spent protecting families. More affordable and available services for: violence prevention, anger management, drug and alcohol counselling, parenting classes, marital counselling, cracking down on prostitution and escort services, financial counselling.

Same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue, whether it is in January 2005 or after many court battles, there is only one possible outcome. Welcome to the 21st century.

Dr. Lisa Skerritt

Whistler

Re: All I want for Christmas is... (Maxed Out, Dec. 16)

One thing the writer should really have wished for were better facts for his article. Canada's business poster child sold off its recreational products division of the company quite some time ago. They have nothing to do with BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products), the new company that owns Sea-Doo.

Don't worry, Santa is kind to everyone, maybe he'll bring you a subscription to the Financial Post.

Dave Wilson

Winnipeg

VANOC's decision to request that AWARE cease using the term "Olympic" in our Environmental Legacy proposal somewhat overshadowed our recent announcements on the Legacy proposal and on the recently completed Sea to Sky Land Resource Management plan (LRMP). Some points of clarification:

This is not a proposal for a park.

The "Our Wilderness Legacy" OWL proposal (formerly known as the Olympic Wildlife Refuge Legacy proposal) is not for the creation of a protected area in the sense of a provincial park. In our participation at the Sea to Sky LRMP planning forum the provincial government was very clear that no new provincial parks would be created through the LRMP process. Although AWARE and others stakeholders disagreed strongly with this term of reference we elected to remain at the negotiating table in an attempt to secure some certainty for wildlife habitat in the few remaining roadless areas in Sea to Sky country.

A new designation was recommended by the LRMP planning forum: Wildland zones. In a nutshell, these are areas which are to be managed primarily for their wilderness values, keeping them in an essentially roadless state (mining exploration in all Wildlands, other than the upper Soo Valley Legacy area where there would be no mining exploration, is to be low impact in initial stages but roads could be built to access mines in Wildland zones, other than the upper Soo, should a viable deposit be developed) with no timber harvesting activity permitted. But in no way can these Wildland zones be considered protected areas. Wildland zones will not enjoy the wildlife and habitat protection and management through legislation which characterizes provincial parks.

Compensation is a step towards sustainable wilderness and timber harvesting.

The majority of the proposed OWL has been recommended to government by the planning forum to be included in the Wildland zone. We were unable to reach agreement with the forest industry on about a quarter of the proposed OWL (known as the Soo Finger and the Soo corner) due to high timber values in those areas, but we were able to successfully negotiate the Soo Accord agreement which provides a mechanism and timeframe through which these two missing areas would be added to the wildland zone after compensation was made to the forest industry. This compensation is not intended to reimburse the forestry companies or their shareholders directly but to create a Sustainable Soo Forestry Fund which would be used to fund silviculture, tree thinning and fertilizing programs to benefit and enhance the productivity and sustainability of the entire Soo Timber Supply Area to benefit all forestry license holders.

We're not asking taxpayers for their help.

It was reported that the provincial government would have to provide funding for the Fund. This is not the case. Our intention has always been to do and fund the work needed to bring together the various pieces through non-confrontational and officially recognized means such as the LRMP to make the Legacy possible and then try to work together with VANOC in matching an environmentally enlightened sponsor/partner to this sustainable environmental Legacy.

Together with LRMP negotiator Johnny Mikes, we presented the results of the LRMP negotiations and the recent developments on the proposed Environmental Legacy at a recent AWARE meeting. This presentation will be broadcast by Whistler Cable 6 in the near future. I would like to thank everyone who has expressed their support of our campaign to safeguard wildlife habitat in the upper Soo valley.

Eckhard Zeidler

Wilderness Backyard Co-ordinator

and the board of AWARE

Hockey Night in Whistler

Since returning to play hockey, after taking last year off from the women's league, it has come to my attention that there has been a serious shift in the attitudes and conduct of the players in the league – for the worse.

Over the past three games there have been three serious injuries, on both teams, as a result of what I think should be called rock ’em sock ’em hockey. Our team alone has two players presently out this year as a result of injuries sustained last season, and two more currently on the injured list for at least six weeks. Personally, I had my feet yanked out from underneath me in front of the net last game and will now have to head off to physio after I finish writing this piece. At this point in reading this letter I'm sure people are starting to point fingers, but I would like to talk about something different: setting the bar higher in our level of conduct on and off the ice.