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In memory of Erin

On Sunday, April 4, 2010, our tiny mountain town lost another one of our most vibrant souls, Erin Solowey Wanamaker. Erin had a kind spirit and an ability to keep everyone laughing in any occasion.

On Sunday, April 4, 2010, our tiny mountain town lost another one of our most vibrant souls, Erin Solowey Wanamaker.

Erin had a kind spirit and an ability to keep everyone laughing in any occasion. Erin loved his life here in the mountains and his family and friends so much. He was well known for his amusing stories, party antics and giant bear hugs. When Erin tipped his head to the side and flashed me a giant grin, he had again successfully convinced me to come along on another adventure that usually made a regular evening turn into a story we would tell.

Erin was loved by all who knew him. His kindness, laughter and hugs will be missed in this community. I send my thoughts and love to Erin's family: Susan, Dennis and Lucas. He loved all of you so much and often told me stories about his life with you.

Erin, I didn't know that I could miss you even more than I loved you. Ride on, Manimal.

KJ Johnson

Whistler

 

Salmon migration

I would like to echo and thank Bruce Kay for his letter "A sinister soap opera" last week. If we do not remove fish farms from the Canadian wild migration route, wild salmon will be an imported luxury sold beside King Crab.

There are no salmon farms in Alaska; they chose not to risk their wild salmon. In Norway, Scotland and now Chile, fish farms have left behind a mess that cannot be remedied - ever. Due to "ISA," Chile has lost over 70 per cent of its salmon in the last 18 months.

We are now at the 11 th hour; it is not too late. A big problem is poor communication and a powerful salmon farm industry lobby. For example, last fall the Saturday Globe and Mail ran a full page article on Alexandra Morton and her findings on how sea lice are affecting wild salmon. The following Saturday, Mr. Paul Sprout, Regional Director General of DFO Pacific Region, the Honourable Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea's most trusted advisor, wrote a rebuttal letter to the editor. He stated that farm salmon lice and wild salmon lice are not related! It seems misinformation like this has been a recurring policy undermining biologist's efforts to slow fish farm expansion.

Marine Harvest, one of the largest Norwegian farm corporations here, has been dragging its feet on its closed pen pilot commitment. Hopefully it will decide to go ahead in the near future.

I would like to thank those of you that signed petitions and even better sent donations to the ads recently published to help protect wild salmon habitat.
To those that missed the ads, please take the time to visit the following sites and even more importantly please sign the petitions.

www.adopt-a-fry.org

www.livingoceans.org

www.wildsalmoncircle.com

www.bettersalmon.org

Alexandra Morton et. Al. are walking from Sointula to Victoria, April 22-May 8, to deliver petitions, hopefully petitions that include your name. I will be joining her migration on May 8 for the last leg to Victoria, join us if you can.

Please sign the migration petition at www.salmonAreSacred.org and be counted. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Jim Horner

Whistler

 

Who wants this party?

I am writing in support of Councillor Grant Lamont's view on the expenditure of $150,000 to celebrate the success of the outstanding Olympic Games at Whistler. (Lamont opposes plans for Post Olympic party, Pique March 18). I would like to say he deserves credit for coming forward with some other suggestions of how this amount might be spent in a more meaningful and lasting manner, if indeed it needs to be spent on something related to the Olympics at all.

I have difficulty understanding why we would want to have another social event to celebrate our success at hosting the Olympics when we have just recently finished a four-week celebration - full of activities for everyone - and in a little over a week we will be hosting another 10-day, fun-filled event. Prior to and throughout the Olympic period there were many opportunities to participate in free nightly concerts and many other social activities for any locals who wanted to do so. The RMOW has also had the benefit of gifted jackets and tickets. As well, some members have participated in celebrations at the houses of the various nations and the VIP lounges during the Games. In my mind this would seem like enough.

As Grant pointed out, many non-profit and other community organizations are struggling to stay afloat, due to cutbacks in grants. With what seems to be a constant shortage of daycare spaces in town, and the need to improve on infrastructure outside the village, ie: street lights at the busy bus stops in the various subdivisions, or on some parts of the Valley Trail, I find it difficult to justify such a large expenditure on something like another celebration.

To satisfy myself that I am not completely off base in my thoughts about the above, I took it upon myself to conduct a quick survey to see what the mood of other members of the community was. I tried to be fair in my selection of people and contacted a cross section of resident and non-resident homeowners, business owners, employees, VANOC volunteers and frequent visitors to the town. Of the 50 people I contacted by phone, or other means, I tallied the following results:
Four of them were undecided about whether or not they would support such an event. The remainder of the responses ranged from "silly or foolish," "a waste of taxpayers money," to "It's over, it was a great ride, let's get on with it." In my brief discussions with them, I concluded that they felt, if we do indeed need to spend the money on something related to the Olympics, let's be creative and come up with some ideas for a tangible legacy that would still be in existence five-10 years from now, and that would serve the community and future generations in a meaningful way.

My suggestion to the community is that if you object to this use of taxpayer money, get out there and talk to others about it, because it seems that many people have not yet heard of this proposal. To members of the RMOW, I would recommend that you get out and ask the people of Whistler, perhaps in some form of public meeting, if this is what they really want - and listen to what they are saying, before going forward with the proposed plan for such an event.

Sue Stangel

Whistler

 

No consequences for attempted theft

I couldn't help but notice the lack of investigative reasoning on the part of local police. They can't explain why there might be an unexpected rash of dine and dash incidents. It was just the week before that I read that culprits were apprehended and released without charges when they agreed to settle the bill. This obviously sends a clear message that there are no consequences. Any parent or pet owner knows the result of such tactics... repeat offences!

Why is it that an underemployed, desperate person is usually charged for stealing a snack from a grocery store and others can walk away from a $150 bill without penalty? Are they aware that it's the servers that are required to cover the loss on their minimum wage? To "serve and protect" doesn't apply to protecting servers.

Mike Roger

Birken/Whistler

 

Parents need information

To: Board of Education, Sea to Sky (48) School District

From: District Parent Advisory Council, Sea to Sky (48) School District

Re:         2010 -2011 School Calendar Survey

Parents have welcomed the opportunity to give feedback on the proposed School Calendar for next year; however there has been discussion saying the calendar presented is incomplete. Parents are being asked to choose between a one-week or two-week Spring Break without knowing how many days of the proposed calendar will be affected by whole or half days of school time assigned to Collaboration Time for teaching staff.

Parents appreciate the value of extra training time for teaching staff, but they want to see what the whole calendar looks like before approving more time out of the classroom for students. DPAC's position is that minutes do not equal days. Furthermore, Spring Break is a busy time for parents employed in tourist-based businesses. Any extra time away from school means that adequate safe, effective and affordable childcare programs must be available.

At DPAC's last meeting in Pemberton two priorities became clear when attending PACs were asked for their views regarding Collaboration Time - student safety and accountability regarding how the time is used.

Collaboration time is created by adding minutes onto each school day; this in addition to Professional Development Days, neither have mandatory staff attendance, but regardless are well attended. The time is used by teaching staff to work together within a school to keep current with teaching practices and curriculum. The present situation varies widely in our district, from Whistler schools with six days of Collaboration Time to some Squamish schools finishing 40 minutes early on Fridays for staff time to teachers creating their own grassroots collaboration in Pemberton. Teacher training can otherwise be expensive for the school district as other teachers must come in to replace staff attending training while schools are in session.

Our district has one of the lowest number of days in session in the province. In addition to the decision about decreasing days in session for a longer Spring Break, parents should be aware of other reductions to instructional days, (i.e. W/B's proposed 13 school day district-wide ski program). Too many days may be lost. Parents are active partners in these decisions, they need all the information.

Cathy Jewett

DPAC Chair

Sea to Sky (48) School District

 

There is a role for social media

This letter is in response to last week's feature, The Myth of Social Networks. I'll do my best to keep this simple.

1. Don't waste time on trying to convert the resistant when there are so many who do get your point - focus on where your market is and your vision will spring to life at a much faster pace (ref. 'Tribes' - Seth Godin, a.k.a. social marketing genius sethgodin.com

2. Real genius is making simple of something (seemingly) otherwise complex.

As Pat Montani, founder of grassroots initiative bicycles-for-humanity.org pointed out, software applications are a means to deliver. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Great businesses come from solving problems and helping others achieve their goals. Apps are simply vehicles, not the solution. Building community is where the real opportunities are - in the cracks, not in the technology itself." - Pat Montani

Social media is merely a bunch of online tools enabling people to connect and converse more affectively. Promoting two-way conversations, it's about playing with technology in finding our common identities and building bridges of understanding enabling the world to be a better place - whether in finding solutions to environmental dilemmas, multiculturalism or our economy.

As for whether there's a place for social media in business, does it not excite you that we have such affordable access to tools, which can help us to understand our markets so as to direct what we do in smarter ways? Has a tonne of coin not been invested into such things in the past?

I urge you to visit cluetrain.com. Here's their take, one I think kinda makes sense.

"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter - and getting smarter faster than most companies.

"These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked.

"Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.

"But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about 'listening to customers.' They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf."

With regards to the author's point on corporations dishing out big bucks to clue in on how they can get social media to help them - it's moving too fast for long sweeping board meetings and doesn't have time for so much control. People want a voice. Social media gives them the tools to have one and it doesn't cost them a thing. Think you'll shut them up? Think again.

As for Facebook and Twitter, as any friend of mine will tell you, I'm not their biggest fan, yet brainstorming on making social media more meaningful is what I do - bet all I have on it, to tell the truth. Call me a fool, but I have no regrets.

Facebook and Twitter are applications of social media - not the concept itself. Like any up and coming industry in the world, each new vehicle strives to do the job better than before. Social media is moving faster than any other industry.

Thinking I'm in the right business. Thinking opportunity has only just begun. Society is talking. Stay in a bubble at your own risk.

Caroline Smalley

Thecitizensmedia.com

Whistler