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Carmen remembered I met Carmen Ahiers so long ago I can’t remember where or why we met. All I know is that as a new arrival in Whistler, suddenly I had a new friend.

Carmen remembered

I met Carmen Ahiers so long ago I can’t remember where or why we met. All I know is that as a new arrival in Whistler, suddenly I had a new friend. Carmen would phone me for coffee at Nesters, or sometimes we’d meet at the old Cookie Co in Sundial Square. It was 1991 or 1992.

Often we’d spot each other on the highway and wave, a familiar scene for anyone living in a small town. We each drove really old Volvos at that time, so it was easy to spot each other.

In those days, Carmen lived in a little tumbledown shack in White Gold. It was nothing to look at on the outside, but it was very warm and cozy on the inside. There were always interesting people hanging around that house, and Carmen could usually be found working in her little garden around back, or making fleece clothes, or cooking a healthy meal. It was a great drop-in spot.

Carmen took people in. Most years she would host a Christmas Dinner at her little house for her orphaned friends. I usually went home to visit my parents, but she never failed to invite me. I’ve seen the photos and heard the stories; they must have been incredible parties. She would prepare dinners for 20 people in that little place.

Carmen became a bigger part of my life when we started sharing an office in Function. I was tired of working out of my cramped little studio apartment, and she had just rented a huge office, which she offered to share with me. We were strange bedfellows in that office, she was sewing her fleece creations and running her phone card business, and I was fixing and selling computers. I can’t remember how many times my customers, carrying computers, would march straight past the door because Carmen’s operations just didn’t seem very computer-ish. I’d have to call out to them with reassurances that they had the right place, and then they’d have to step over little piles of fleece clippings and past racks of hats and vests. I still have two of those NEMRAC vests in my wardrobe, custom made.

I remember those as really good days. Our businesses grew and we shared many laughs together. We had that office for two years, and then circumstances changed and our businesses evolved and separated. We both bought places. We upgraded our cars. Carmen moved to Pemberton and settled into her new condo and started to build her dream house at Lillooet Lake.

Although we didn’t see each other daily any more, we never lost touch. Carmen was a customer, and we continued to socialize; we saw each other, either for business or pleasure, probably a dozen times a year. We continued to wave at each other on the highway. She always invited me to her get-togethers, whether at her Pemby house or her property on the lake. I was always amazed at the number and diversity of her friends.

Last year, Carmen’s health went into a serious decline. I dropped in to see her at her Pemberton house and found her confined to bed, in great pain and barely able to move. I sat on the end of her bed, trying very hard to be cheerful and nonchalant, when suddenly I got very emotional, realizing for the first time that Carmen might actually be losing her battle with cancer. As this happened, Carmen looked at me with a slightly comical expression. I felt like such an idiot. She was not thinking this way. She would never quit, she’d never ever give in to this disease.

Three weeks ago, we passed each other on the highway for the first time in a long time, still driving our Volvos (but newer ones). In the next moment, my phone rang – it was Carmen. Wanna have a coffee? Sure! I spun a U-turn and raced to see her at Riverside Café. We sat and visited for 20 minutes. She looked pretty good. She told me she had to visit hospital again, but it was to be a relatively minor thing, or so she said. After coffee I left in haste, as I was late for an appointment.

Last week, I got the news that Carmen had passed away.

Carmen Ahiers was a special person, and she lived a very full and interesting life. She never wasted a minute watching television. She was very forthright and honest. She had a great laugh, and laughed a lot. She had an enormous heart and shared her life with many, many people. She loved dogs and owned two. She never lost hope in the face of her illness, and she fought it with grace for 10 years. I admired her greatly.

So long Carmen, you will be missed.

Tim Allix

Whistler

If you go into the woods today…

I am writing this to remind Pemberton residents and trail users that hunting season for deer opened Sept. 10 and will remain open until Nov. 30. Those who use all Pemberton trails, except for the loop around One-Mile Lake, Nairn Falls and some of those on private property, may encounter deer hunters at any time.

Some of these areas are for shotgun use only, however that fails to instill in me a sense of personal safety. Although I believe the likelihood is small that a person walking or biking may be accidentally killed, it is certainly not a safe place to bring your dog.

The SLRD, through its Recreation Awareness Plan, rejected the idea of a small area of land set aside for non-hunting purposes but instead promised a series of information sign kiosks "highlighting approved and appropriate use of land," which were slated to be in before this hunting season. As far as I can see these have not been installed. The plan also promised a series of articles reminding the public about the start of hunting season, which I am sure will accompany this letter in this paper since hunting season started last week.

This letter is also to remind hunters that it is illegal to shoot any animal on Crown land unless you have a license for that animal and it is in season. This includes dogs, regardless of what they are doing. Only a Conservation Officer has the right to kill an animal that is harassing wildlife. For the record, I do not condone dogs chasing wildlife and never have.

As many times as I have been assured by the local hunting club that it is perfectly safe to be in the woods during hunting season, I don't want to have to pack my bloodied, dead dog out of the woods again.

Veronica Woodruff

Pemberton

Imagine

Imagine this, a world class, first rate, possibly even a first of its kind, activity centre right in the heart of the village. An arena yes, but with so much more. Imagine this, a permanent gymnastics facility with amazing trampoline facilities for all athletes. An indoor climbing facility to rival the Chief for climbers and mountaineers. Exceptional work-out facilities with on sight labs and testing facilities (that could lead to satellite university facilities). Imagine an indoor or covered amusement park facility in the winter to add to the activities offered to our guests in times of bad weather and low snow years. The whole Blackcomb Adventure Zone could be pulled indoors and run similar to the way it is now, creating revenue for the continued upkeep and sustainability of the arena. Imagine a facility that would hold big name concerts with thousands, like Faith Hill last summer, but without our wet coast weather factor of outdoor venues. Imagine an arena that could have a junior hockey team to support our exceptional amount of talented athletes and hockey players in this very active town.

Just imagine, all in a location which is walking distance to the thousands and thousands of rooms for accommodation. That is environmental thinking! And that would bring together guests and locals in the village.

Just imagine if your council had no imagination at all, that is the only reason I can think of for the pitifully narrow view of the study done. Or it was done purposely to arrive at a desired conclusion that it is too costly because all the imagination was bought up. I certainly hope this is not the case.

A huge thank you to Kristi Wells, Marianne Wade, and Gordon McKeever for listening to the people, and trying to give us the time to properly deal with this monumental decision. As for the other councilors and the absent mayor; you obviously have been reading the paper with closed eyes, and listening with closed ears.

Just to drive the point home I am going to tell a little story from my home town, Revelstoke. There is a huge hydro-electric dam just up the Columbia River from Revelstoke, and when B.C. Hydro pulled into town in 1976 to build this dam they offered to build the city of 8,000 a community centre with an indoor pool. Well the city already had an old outdoor pool and the council of the day decided that the city could not support two pools, so they told Hydro they would take the community centre without the pool. Well you can swim in the lakes by the time it is warm enough for an outdoor pool, and everyone I have ever known in that town has wanted an indoor pool. The city finally just completed a new indoor pool addition to the community centre, for a mere $7 million (and still climbing) of the taxpayer’s money.

Just imagine if Whistler decides too late that we want this arena recreation facility and it costs us much, much, much more with no $20 million from VANOC, because building costs are only going to go up. And again, in this day of $1.20/litre gas, having the facility in the village, where all the accommodation is, is the only environmentally sound choice, which I remember was a concern of the Olympic bid. And again, this will bring together visitors and locals in the village, which is another goal.

Just one last question: Has any of the council bothered to go to the sight of a very, very successful Olympics which is still being celebrated so much in that city that they wanted it back? A Canadian success, the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Where the university still boasts the best sports facilities in all of Canada, and where many national sports teams are centred because of them. I know, I was there in ’88 at some of the events, and I went to university there.

I believe in Whistler, and I believe Whistler could have all these things. Just imagine.

As a final plea: Please, please, please council, let us know what is going on, because I do not "trust you." I am scared as hell that you are selling Whistler out, and moving on to warmer tropical islands.

Kim McKnight Pedersen

Whistler

Time is now, to do both

To mayor and council:

I don't envy you your position. Money being generated has been going down and expectations are going up. I've flip-flopped a lot myself.

I think Eldon Beck's idea isn't enough, and the other ones displayed and offered might be too much. I truly think the answer is a village surface that can be skated on in the winter (the site of the sledge hockey) preferably a semi-open air concept. A space used for various things throughout the year, i.e.: car shows, a travelling amusement park, concerts, town rally, we can create or display anything we want. A place to craft and fashion our vision, our "imagineers" and administrators can choose, possibly a culinary building, university campus, or medical clinic – we have time to imagine and create something special.

I think we do that and twin Meadow Park. We can do both, and I believe with a budget of $40 million, we could do it... $30 million for our village concept, and $10 million for Meadow Park. We, the people, would have to bring $20 million to the deal, but we get both. We deliver the compact Paralympic Games, the village legacy with ice as a winter component to it, and then the Meadow Park twin. We can spend $20 million and get $40 million worth of advantage to Whistler. If we build the village ice only, I guarantee Meadow Park will get twinned in the future anyways. The community won’t be able to use it enough. If we just do the Meadow Park twin, a simple plan (Beck's) on Lot 1/9 will not be enough. People will feel cheated out of a real legacy opportunity. So big money will be spent there anyways.

That is what we should be pointed at. Both.

Taking the buyout of (hopefully) $8 million is too short term. I think Scott Patterson's letter to the editor was appropriate. Whistler Mountain didn't have to build a gondola. There was a simpler, cheaper, and at the time much less risky option. Now the gondola concept looks like the only way to ever have thought, a no-brainer. Construction costs are going to balloon after we build whatever we build, and we are conceptually on track to plateau in RMOW revenue, (with a fixed population inevitably) so building both now, though difficult and ominous, makes sense. It's like the real estate market in town; it's never really affordable, even when it's slow. But if you do get in, then you have something; you find a way to make it work, and are rewarded for it.

This $20 million VANOC legacy is a one-time shot. A no-brainer. And 10 years from now when we look at how much our $20 million got us (or would have got us) we will be forced to reflect. Because 10 years from now that $20 million, will likely need to be $30 million-$40 million with the way our world is eating itself up.

John McBean

Whistler

Flux in the system

I am sorry to see G.D. Maxwell has stopped using TM where the word Olympics appears in his column, it reminded us to stay objective.

Also, this from the Oxford English Dictionary: maxwell n . a unit of magnetic flux in the... system.

Belated regards on his 500 th .

Julie Malcolm

Brackendale

London Drugs welcome

As a long-time customer of London Drugs and a 20-year full-time Whistler resident who regularly shops in your stores all over the Lower Mainland, I would wholeheartedly welcome your presence in Whistler.

It is my belief that having London Drugs in Whistler will make a major contribution to affordability for Whistler residents. Your extensive product selection and your great customer service will be of great benefit to both locals and visitors alike.

I do not understand how anyone who cares about the well-being of Whistler residents could be opposed to all the benefits your presence would offer. I strongly support the rezoning required to make this a reality. The sooner the better.

As regards the proposed location: previous tenants of the underground space have failed in their efforts to provide viable alternatives for themselves, the community and visitors. Your store caters to the whole age spectrum and will be of value to everyone – one could even say it provides a place for families to go together!

I encourage the management of London Drugs and the municipality to fast-track this project for the benefit of all of us.

Carol Fuegi

Whistler

You gotta wonder

Re: The centre of the Games (Pique letters Sept. 8)

When two of N. America’s and the world’s preeminent resort planner/designers (Msrs. Eldon Beck and Paul Mathews) share opinion that the best use of Lot 1/9 is probably not a 4,000+ seat multi-use complex you gotta wonder…

Last week a writer lamented the opportunity lost if the arena, as a legacy, is not built on Lot 1/9. I think we hear more anecdotal ‘evidence’ (sic) of past Olympic mausoleums than we do triumphs. From Calgary’s diminished(ing) Olympic Park to Sydney’s underutilized Homebush (sagebrush?) Stadium and park to Montreal’s Big $0, the Olympic legacy mantle has a record of disappointment heaped upon disappointment. If a museum and trinket shops are envisioned as desired ‘legacies’, we can build those without an ice rink attached.

I too was in Sydney in 2000. The writer last week said he loved the venues that provided the Olympic experience to the non-ticket buying locals and visitors. Sydney didn’t effectively ‘build’ anything for this experience. At Sydney temporary stages, screens and kiosks were erected in five or six locations where thousands gathered to take in the opening and closing ceremonies and events – our family watched the opening ceremony from the venue at Darling Harbour – fantastic! These were all temporary facilities – ‘outdoors.’ Today, in Sydney there is no legacy attached to these venues. To me, the concept of the driving range as "our spectators village" appears to have tremendous prospect. Yes it is outdoors, yes it will be cold and yes it will have energy, vibrancy and the intangibles of people flowing, mingling and coming together in celebration.

If the writer believes that only an ice rink will guarantee Whistler’s Olympic legacy for the ages, I think he needs to broaden his global horizons. I know Whistler can do much better that to hang our hat on an arena as symbol of our Olympic contribution and triumph.

Brian Buchholz

Whistler

Employers need to ask

Thank you, Ralph Forsyth, for echoing many of my feelings on the employment world in Whistler in your article of Sept. 1 (The future of work in Whistler).

I am one of the recently departed 30-somethings who had made Whistler my home for just shy of a decade. Though I am sure that my occasionally loose spending habits (who needs RRSPs when you have new skis?) may have contributed to some degree, it is hard to deny that Whistler is a hard town to live in and to move forward with savings and house-buying takes herculean effort. It was difficult to watch family and friends who had made other choices on where to live and work start buying houses and settling down or go on fine vacations or any of the other niceties that come with surplus income, while I remained in my tiny WHA studio, living in an area where the cost of living is higher than the average, while pay was often lower.

I cannot in good faith bemoan low wages though. I can see that higher wages are not always possible within an organization’s business structure. It simply may not be possible for every retail and coffee shop in the village to pay an extra $2-$3 an hour and still remain a viable business.

What caught my eye in your article Ralph was your quoting from D-code. This happens to be the organization where I am now work. We do indeed speak of a number of things that the Information Age Generations look for in an employer. Good corporate and environmental citizenry are strong draws for some employees. The issue you speak of most strongly is creating and retaining happy employees on the front line in Whistler. "Happy staff make happy customers." I could not agree with you more.

Will good corporate and environmental citizenry make your employees happy? Possibly. That is one tactic that works for some companies in some industries. However, something that we advise our clients is that if you want to know what someone wants: ask them.

Consumer-based strategy is at the heart of a good business plan. I am certain that a common question in the marketing departments of Whistler-Blackcomb and the other businesses in town even as we speak is: "what do our guests want?" Shouldn’t an equally common question be: "what do our employees want?" I think that many employers would be surprised at the results of their even informal surveys.

A 2004 D-code study of 20,000 post-secondary students showed that wages fall lower in priority for many employees than other factors. A good initial salary actually ranks seventh in priority for job seekers in post-secondary education (the same age strata that appears in Whistler), behind opportunities for advancement, working with good people, the availability of good training opportunities/developing new skills and having good people to report to.

Higher wages may not be possible, but what if it turns out that your employees are aching for something that is? A good employee retention strategy might include an organizational structure that gives employees added responsibility as they progress. Perhaps your coffee shop barista can help with your ordering of supplies, or your retail staff can help with buying product as their experience, knowledge of, and performance in your business is proven. Some employers have been known to not hire friends of current employees to discourage socialization – this seems contrary to the goals of an employee that you are trying to keep around. The mere fact that you are asking and involving your staff in your Human Resources structure might give them the feeling of empowerment and connection to their employer that will keep them at your business.

Granted, as late some belts have been tightened and there are not always resources to add everywhere a business owner or manager would want to. Higher wages are not always feasible, and it is difficult to track the tangible effect that happy employees have on the bottom line, making it sometimes harder to justify additional resources to that end. However, it’s clear that there are options and avenues that can be taken to achieve your employee attraction and retention goals.

But you’ll never know unless you ask.

James Bishop

Toronto

Two more words

Re: Share the road (Pique letters 8 September)

Dear E. Blouin, I have two words for you, the first of which you should pay special attention to: Road Biking.

Mr. Ebacher’s letter was specifically directed at the difficulties faced by road bikers using the Sea to Sky Highway. Road bikes are light, fast bikes, intended to be used for long rides on roads. The Valley Trail isn’t really suitable for road bikes: you would not, I’ll bet, think highly of a cyclist heading towards you at 20-25 mph on the Valley Trail. Nor, I’ll bet, would you regard that as safe.

Whistler may only have one road, but it’s a pretty good road for road cyclists if you head up to Pemberton and beyond. This summer I was able to get my hands on a road bike in Whistler and take it out. The rides to D’Arcy and Joffrey Lake are well worth it (and so is the ride back to Whistler from Pemberton).

The road to Pemberton and beyond is not busy (trust me – I live and ride in London); it is certainly a great deal less busy, for example, than the road to Squamish. Nor is it narrow. The Valley Trail runs out around the north end of Green Lake, as I recall, so after that, if you are on a bike, you have to use the road. I found drivers on the highway to be very considerate of bikers. It really is not asking much to hope that drivers will see and anticipate passing cyclists on the highway with enough skill to leave them plenty of space.

Greg Banner

London