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Make it safe “The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill and lingered until….” Somebody died. All winter I walked from the Brio bus stop along the poorly plowed shoulder of Highway 99 to cross at the Blueberry lights.

Make it safe

“The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill and lingered until….” Somebody died.

All winter I walked from the Brio bus stop along the poorly plowed shoulder of Highway 99 to cross at the Blueberry lights. All winter I cringed at the thought of being hit by a car. All winter I watched the snow creep closer so that by December I was walking on the white line of a highway where the speed limit is 60 and where there are drivers who have never even seen snow let alone have driven in it.

Then it was summer and I realized that no matter what season or which side of the road you walk on, the Brio Blueberry bus stops are death traps!

All it takes is a second, changing a CD, looking away from the road to check out the view or poor weather conditions. Something needs to be done so that the tragedy that happened this week does not happen again.

Extend the Valley Trail (like the one in Creekside) with a guardrail separating the cars from the people who are simply trying to get home. We all know it is possible to blast through rock!

This tragedy could have been avoided. Instead of focusing on erecting more hideously ugly yellow what-chama-whos-its perhaps someone could make it SAFE for people to walk home to their families. If the Whistler Council members and their children were forced to walk this route, even once, they would realize how appalling and just plane dangerous it is to force citizens to walk along the shoulder of a major highway.

Do something Whistler!

Andrea Mueller

Whistler

Tragic death preventable

It totally sickens me how the municipality sees fit to waste a gazillion tax dollars to build a grandiose structure of a library in Whistler and even justifies the ridiculous cost, yet won't spend a dime on streetlights on the 99!

First of all this is Whistler! Council’s first and foremost responsibility is the safety of its denizens. It is a tourist destination, not a cultural centre like New York or London etc... In the age of Internet, with Amazon and chain bookstores, why of all things waste our money on such a frivolous and costly venture? I am not against a modest library, but there are way more important priorities!

This death on the highway, as sad as it is, may have been prevented with proper lighting!

My sincerest sympathies go to the taxi driver and the family of the victim. All the books in the world don’t amount to the worth of those two tragedies...

T. Klein

Whistler

To the great Whistler community

After having the time of my life last week in the B.C. Bike Race with Whistler resident Sarah O'Byrne, I hit a rather low point this week. Or rather I hit a ditch whilst descending down Whip me Snip Me during the Loonie, taking a blow to the head and fracturing my sternum. With not a moment’s hesitation, other racers stopped in their tracks and were ready to help. Most notably Kira Cailes dropped out of the race to provide first aid, along with various others whose names I unfortunately don’t remember (I was a little dizzy!). They gave me total confidence that everything was under control, quickly and efficiently assessing my injuries and calling an ambulance to rescue me from the trail.

The firefighters and paramedics lifted me out of the trail and delivered me to Whistler Medical Centre, where I was then given fantastic care by Nurse Francesca Cole and Dr. Fern Von der Porten.

After having been discharged from the hospital, my fantastic friends in their classic Whistler style of caring and looking out for others, have driven me around, fed me, looked after me in every way possible and been the best surrogate family I could ask for!

I have also received exceptional physio treatment from Bianca Matheson at Peak Performance who continues to amaze me with her ability to fix your body (she also helped me out a few times last year when I fractured my vertebrae, among other things!).

I could not be more appreciative to everyone for helping me in what was a frightening and potentially serious situation. When I thanked one of the kind men that day, he simply said that's just what the Whistler community is all about and that some day you're going to need help, it just happens that on that day it was my turn.

This demonstrates everything I love about Whistler and is a community that you should all be very proud of.

Emma Smith

London, UK

More than logging at stake

There are more issues involved in the Blackwater region logging dispute than just saving the natural environment and natural resources used for necessities by the local people who gather roots, berries, and medicines. Being that the company called British Columbia Province of (0000014906) registered in the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, and a company called Canada (0000230098), do not and cannot have a treaty with the original people of the St'at'imc tribal lands, they can only amalgamate with other defacto (of facts but not of law) companies created through registration of entities.

Therefore, be it resolved all the defacto companies and persons registered to conduct business within the St'at'imc tribal lands must have permission by the traditional people through ceremony witnessed by the people to do commerce on these tribal lands, unless individuals remain non-commercial and their only need is to provide basic necessities for themselves and for their family.

Senk'lip

Hi There,        Bored stupid

This is about the three very bored and obviously stupid individuals that I found throwing large rocks into the beaver dam on Whistler Road Sunday July 29th.

I watched them firstly throw rocks at the fire hydrant and, when they became bored with that, they quickly switched to the poor, defenceless beavers.

I was so upset by this that I decided to stand up for these creatures that could not stand up for themselves, and of course being the very poorly educated individuals that they obviously are, their answer was "we're not hitting them".

While they may or may not have actually hit them, throwing those rocks into the dam affects them in some way; it's unfortunate they realize that. Imagine you and your family are sitting in your living room and someone throws a large rock through your window. Although it narrowly misses hitting any of you, it causes a lot of damage and you are all left shaken.

Now imagine the beaver going about its tireless work to build its damn, minding its own business and someone decides to throw rocks into its living room. Now think about how really stupid that was.

As a person who is not native to Canada but who now calls Whistler home, I have come to learn many things about this beautiful country and the nature that surrounds us and I have often watched the beavers in that very damn with amazement. Never once did it occur to me that someone would get more satisfaction trying to hurt the animal or damage its home.

One person managed a few words that night. I hope that person sleeps well at night after such unkind and gutless human actions. How proud that person’s parents must be.

Why not do something constructive and research these amazing creatures to understand the great things they do for our environment, and then maybe people will think twice before throwing that next rock.   Lee McCleery

Whistler

Clik-ing with community

A letter of great thanks is in order to everyone that joined in on the fun and festivities that was the Clik contest. Tuesday night at the "Grind" was awesome. The turnout was great and the sponsors are owed a huge thank you for supporting Clik, the 24hr photo competition.

I would like to thank Dave from Whistler Brewing and Chris Quinlan from Behind the Grind, Rob Schuster, Steve Toulch, Joe Lyons and of course Rick Clare from Foto Source for making this event happen. Thank you all very much again and please check out www.clikcontest.com for the winning photos and event info and upcoming details. Stay tuned.

PS. Whoever received the three belt buckles in their prize pack that night that say "judge" on them could they please turn them in to Whistler Foto Source as they are the judges’ prizes. Thanks Whistler!

Arne Gutmann

Whistler