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Thank you, Doug Perry Thank you, Doug Perry, mastermind and master-make-it-happen-guy behind the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, for everything you do.

Thank you, Doug Perry

Thank you, Doug Perry, mastermind and master-make-it-happen-guy behind the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, for everything you do.

As I walked through Whistler Village on the past two weekends and saw the incredible amount of buzz, activity and dynamism animating the whole resort, that's all I could think: "Wow. Thank you, Doug Perry. Is everyone within a hundred mile radius of Whistler thanking you? They should be."

When this year's TWSSF began, I had just returned from a tour of many other leading North American mountain resorts as part of my work. Every destination I visited after late March was a ghost town. Sagebrush bouncing down empty streets. Lifts carrying lone skiers up deserted mountains. Businesses not just quiet but closed. Gone fishin', nothin' better to do. But not here. Here we have a late April buzz of activity, particularly on the weekends, that rivals most ski towns at the height of their winter season. This does not happen anywhere else in North American skiing.

In addition to the vitality that Doug's tireless work brings to our struggling resort and to the mountain sports industry at large, he also shows all of us a good time – and he does it in classic, colorful, high-spirited Whistler fashion. I, for one, was out every day and every night, soaking up engaging cultural experiences, getting out on the mountain, meeting new contacts, hanging with old friends, and having a totally fun, thoroughly exhausting, utterly memorable great time.

Wow. Thank you, Doug Perry. If every small merchant, large corporate entity, ski and snowboard industry person, culture-junkie, partier and Whistler-lover within 100 miles hasn't thanked you profusely, they should.

Now I have to go take a nap.

Susan Reifer

Whistler

Mountains of thanks

Whistler-Blackcomb would like to say a big thanks and congratulations to Doug Perry, Sue Eckersley and the whole team at W1 who worked tirelessly over the last several months to deliver an epic TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival this year. It was, in our opinion, the best ever.

Anyone in the resort who doubts Whistler’s future and questions where our soul is need only have attended a single one of the many sold out photography, film, fashion or DJ events, taken in one of the dozens of free concerts, or skied around the mountains this past week to witness the quintessential Whistler. The buzz was everywhere – from world famous athletes to the ski and snowboard industry to mainstream media to our visitors from near and far.

The festival embodies what this resort is all about. It’s stylish, youthful, vibrant and most importantly, it’s fun. And it makes people want to keep coming back to visit us!

An incredible amount of W1’s effort and vision goes into the planning and staging of the event, and countless members of the community lend their business support or volunteer their time as well. We’d also like to say thanks to many of our own employees who work extensively in support of the festival.

As the number one spring festival in North America, every other resort is watching our moves and copying us every step of the way. We need to ensure that this now-legendary festival, and all that we do, continues to be innovative, ground-breaking and fun, long into the future.

Thanks Doug and the W1 team.

Dave Brownlie,

Whistler-Blackcomb

Attack of the second dimension

The author of last week's article about the 72 Filmmaker Showdown may have overlooked the award for best actor in a film. For this I would like to nominate our mayor, Ken Melamed. Not only does he save Whistler from an evil two-dimensional triangle that shoots laser beams from its eyes, he also tells the villain to "Peace out!"

Seriously though, I approached Mr. Melamed with a pretty far out script for a movie and without any hesitation or further convincing he agreed to participate. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

Thank you to Ken, as well as the organizers of the Showdown for putting on such a fantastic event. It was a fun night.

If you’re curious to watch the film you may download it from www.kramer2005.com

Jamey Kramer

Whistler

Themes for all ages

On behalf of the Howe Sound District Parents Advisory Council (DPAC), I would like to express my appreciation to everyone that made Barbara Coloroso’s presentation possible last Thursday night. Connie Rabold, Laura and Boyd Godfrey of Garibaldi Highlands Elementary PAC handled the PR and posters. Jane Smith and Andrea Beaubien organized transportation for Squamish parents. Anne West and Trish Sturdy arranged transport for the Pemberton parents. Our School Board absorbed the costs of transportation and along with DPAC, Myrtle Philip Comm. School PAC and Spring Creek Comm. School PAC were the major financial sponsors of this event. Every PAC in our district contributed something, but Whistler Secondary PAC and Signal Hill PAC contributed extra to the finances. Thank you to Barb Leigh, for handling the money.

We are proud to say that despite a socially packed evening, that over 400 parents, teachers, principals, vice-principals, school trustees and our lone superintendent made it to listen to an inspiring woman. The themes of Ethics and Bullying are for all ages. We have only to look to the Richmond Fire Dept. and the "Bingogate" scandal in our province to see that even adults can learn these lessons. It is important to instill a strong sense of caring and compassion in our children by modeling these values ourselves.

Whistler Secondary School provided the venue, thank you to Bev, Magy, Kris, Barb and Nancy for making the arrangements. Childcare was provided by members of "Trex", a Girl Guides of Canada program for girls 12-17. They supervised 24 children, including some infants. The donations generously given by the audience will go to DPAC to help defray costs of the evening and to contribute to the "Trex" program.

Stay tuned for more parent education – Terry Small, Study Habits (Sept./06); Barry Macdonald, Mentoring Boys (Winter/06); Saleem Noon, Sex Ed. For Parents (Nov./06). Parents are invited to fill out the Parent Education Survey distributed by their PACs to tell us what you want to know more about. Along with her DVD, Whistler Cable Six will be airing an interview with Ms. Coloroso. More info can be found at

www.kidsareworthit.com ; Barbara’s books are available at Armchair Books. Thank you to anyone I may have forgotten to thank personally.

"As a parent you have a choice, you’re either a spectator or a participant."

— Michael Burrows, CEO E.D. Smith

Cathy Jewett,

DPAC Chair

Howe Sound School District

Take pride in Pemberton

It is amazing what can be accomplished when people join together towards a common goal. This past weekend we witnessed firsthand what can happen when an idea is born and a community embraces this idea because they believe in it.

The Rotary Community Clean-up Day was a huge success. We are grateful to all the people who showed up to lend a hand and pick up litter throughout Pemberton. This includes many individuals, entire families, both schools, the Youth Centre, the Sparks/Brownies/Girl Guides, the Lions Club and the Pemberton Rotary Club and their families. You could feel the energy all weekend… the clean-up crews were everywhere and the Mount Currie backdrop and glorious weather made hard work feel easy!

The beautification projects chosen required that we reach out to local developers for heavy equipment, qualified operators and supplies. These ‘Community Builders’ stepped up without hesitation to provide whatever necessary. If you look around, you will see the results of countless hours of volunteer time and thousands of dollars in donated equipment and materials.

We encourage everyone to keep the momentum going. We will plan more beautification events, but we need more businesses and individuals to come forward and help with these projects.

Sometimes we need to put a little bit into our community in order to get something out of it. Fortunately, Pemberton has many citizens eager to do this.

Thank you to the Community Foundation of Whistler, Terrane Developments and staff, Carney’s Waste Systems, Whistler Resort Management, Glacier Creek Developments, Martin Dahinden, Sabre Transport and the many volunteers who helped make the Pemberton Community Clean-up a success.

Let’s keep Pemberton beautiful.

Lisa Ames

The Rotary Club of Pemberton Centennial

Twenty memorable years

I would like to extend my most heartfelt thanks to the Friends of the Whistler Public Library, the Board of Trustees, and the Four Seasons Resort and to all my friends, colleagues and library friends for honouring me with such a wonderful retirement party last week.

I was overwhelmed by the number of people who came and deeply touched by the kind words expressed about my contribution to the community.

Twenty years ago to the month I was busy ordering the first books for the new library that opened in August 1986 in the basement of municipal hall. During the years that followed the library grew by leaps and bounds and eventually was moved to its current temporary location, the trailers previously occupied by Canada Post.

Over the years the library changed and evolved but the basic reasons for its existence have remained the same – a desire for the community to satisfy their recreational reading needs, to have access to information, to participate in programs with their children, to meet new people, to enjoy the (relative) peace and quiet of the facility.

My job at the library evolved as well over 20 years. For the first few years I was the only paid employee and did everything that needed to be done – selecting, ordering, cataloguing and processing books, answering reference questions, checking books in and out, reading stories to pre-schoolers, participating in fundraising events and even cleaning the library!

Today the library has eight permanent staff members, four on call clerks and two summer students who work hard to make the latest books, films, audio books available to everyone and to keep the computers and Internet running.

More recently my professional duties became more administrative and took me away from the front desk and contact with the public. I missed meeting the youngest members of the community and introducing them to the magic of Olivia or Where the Wild Things Are ; recommending a good Elizabeth George mystery; demystifying e-mail for a first-time user; giving an enthusiastic three year old her first library card and explaining that she didn’t need to "rent" the books; finding the answer to why there are no tides in Denmark; and most importantly, meeting so many interesting, friendly and diverse people from all over the world.

Although I have retired from my position as Library Director, I will always remain a strong and passionate advocate for libraries and eagerly await the opening of the new facility next spring.

Joan Richoz

Whistler

Zero waste for Whistler?

Is the Resort Municipality of Whistler really serious about reducing the amount of garbage that Whistler produces? I am always shocked when walking around the village with how few options people have for their recycling/waste. There may be a garbage can in one spot with no recycling container; then around the corner there is a recycling container with no garbage.

But the most obvious thing missing is instructions… directions… signage, telling people what is actually garbage – people don’t know. Their biggest concern is figuring out how these containers open.

What about one standard unit that has all the right holes and handles so people don’t get confused at each corner?

I dare you to open a garbage can around the village and count how many of the things in it should be in the recycling container: newspapers, coffee cup lids and heat sleeves, cans, bottles, plastic shopping bags… the list goes on. How about an ad in our two favorite local papers, every week, forever, with a simple Road Map to Recycling detailing what’s what in the recycling world. A lot of our guests and locals need to be reminded – or learn about – recycling all of the time, every day,  if they are going to do it.

I can guess that quite a few of the tourists and locals who are here from another area on this planet do not know all of the options for their waste. Let’s teach them something while they are here about the many ways Whistler is reducing waste. Let’s be the example we want to be.

Janice McWilliam

D’arcy/Whistler

Sneaking through the back door

As the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, I share the concern of many Whistler residents about the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) intention to use a Public Private Partnership (P3) to upgrade Whistler’s wastewater treatment plant.

Water privatization is sneaking through the back door in Whistler in the form of a P3. In this case, three companies are bidding to build, design and operate the facilities and infrastructure of the municipal sewage treatment plant. If this happens, sewage treatment will no longer be a public service accountable to the community.

Many of you have received a letter from the RMOW on this subject from Brian Barnett, General Manager of Engineering and Public Works. This letter ignored the growing evidence that demonstrates that both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) threaten a community’s control of its water, and falsely insisted that wastewater and drinking water are not linked.

International water companies have already used the provisions in trade agreements like NAFTA to directly sue governments for losses on their expected profits. And currently, WTO negotiators are writing new rules so that the qualifications, licensing requirements, and standards companies have to meet will not be too "burdensome."

I hope that the concerned residents of Whistler join together to stop the corporate takeover of our water. Please, join us.

To learn more write to

whistlerp3@hotmail.com .

Maude Barlow

Council of Canadians

Volunteers make a difference

The communities of Whistler, Pemberton, Mount Currie, Birken and D'Arcy are filled with people who choose to provide volunteer service in the form of fund or awareness raising, a shared community goal or to assist people in need. National Volunteer Week is celebrated this year between April 23 rd and 29 th and I would like to thank the volunteers in each of our communities who offer their time, energy and resources in service of others.

As a program manager who relies on volunteers to provide support to victims and witnesses of crime and trauma, it is hard to imagine what our Whistler-Pemberton RCMP Victim Services program would look like without the dedicated service of volunteers. Our victim service volunteers are temporary guests in the lives of those affected by crime or trauma, providing active listening and emotional support, liaison between agencies, facilitating emergency accommodation and transportation and providing referrals to appropriate services. Offering, on average, 55 hours of service per month, our volunteers sign on at 5 p.m. and are on call throughout the night until 8 a.m. weekdays and, on weekends, they are on call 24 hours.

Victim service volunteers make themselves available to serve both locals and visitors who are affected by crime or trauma responding to call outs from our RCMP officers, a client themselves or from the victims' advocates, friends and family members who are seeking support. I would like to commend each of you for your generosity of time, energy and spirit. Thank you so much for the work that you do!

Kerrie Palmer

Whistler-Pemberton RCMP Victim Services

Marmots want to dig

The Marmots 4 & 5 year old preschool program is operated by the Whistler Children's Centre, which is a non-profit organization that opened in 1991. Over the past few years, the centre has required extensive repairs and maintenance, which has left the centre with no extra resources outside of meeting operational needs.

The preschool programs at the Whistler Children’s Centre follow the High Scope Preschool Curriculum approach which is an "active learning" method of educating children from birth to young adulthood. Children’s interests and choices are at the heart of High Scope programs. We provide children with a wide variety of materials (toys, art supplies, equipment and household objects) and plan experiences that build on their interests and expand their learning.

We also encourage their early development by observing, understanding, and supporting what they do. The children in the Marmots preschool program are especially interested in gardening (with the temporary bursts of Spring, Whistler is getting!) and unfortunately due to the centre’s financial situation, there are no funds to purchase soil, seeds, mushroom manure or gardening tools to allow the children to really participate in a hands-on manner in their interest.

If you are interested in making a donation of any of these materials (used tools will do perfectly), please contact the Marmots preschool program at 604-932-1119 and we can arrange a tax receipt. Thank you for helping keeping Whistler’s children enjoying the outdoors!"

Kirsi, KJ, Sue, Andy & The Marmots

Whistler