Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Tragedy strikes home, 2,500 km away

I have lived in this area for many years and I am very hurt about the things I hear about drinking and driving. I have family and friends that are gone due to alcohol.

I have lived in this area for many years and I am very hurt about the things I hear about drinking and driving. I have family and friends that are gone due to alcohol. I wish there could be something done about the fact that our younger generations have to see all the abuse of this killer. Things that are being done to help with abuse of this substance aren't enough anymore.

I have moved from this area to make a better life for me and my three children. I am now 2,500 km away from home, yet I still hear of the tragedies and losses substance abuse causes. Will this never end? It is all over the world. When are people going to realize the abuse of this substance is not only killing themselves, their organs, but also devastating the ones they love?

Rhonda F. Joe

Winnipeg

Put hall expansion on ice

It is time to stop the $5.7 municipal hall project. There are too many open-ended projects that could all go over budget. There is the sewage treatment plant, athletes’ village, awards plaza, our new investment in Millennium Place, and of course the library, which still has untendered items. Council is now looking at taking out a loan to finish the library. The last time the library budget was increased we were told that the municipality had $3 million in reserves to fund cost overruns. Where did all the money go?

I do not buy the argument that the municipal hall needs to be brought up to the code. Building codes always evolve, and one would think the hall met all the requirements of the day when it was moved. If every building in Whistler needs to be brought up to the current code, we may as well bulldoze the village.

Let’s put the municipal hall project on ice. After we get past 2010, construction costs should drop and we can revisit the project.

Jim Watts

Whistler

Any Given Friday...

Motorcycle enthusiasts might know the relevance of "Any Given Sunday". Well, my story starts on a particular Friday, May 11th.

I was on my way over the Duffey, en route to Kelowna on my motorbike — yes it's a "crotch rocket"; yes it's "stupid powerful"; but yes, I am a conservative rider. Nonetheless, something happened that left me roadside, broken, and completely void of any immediate memories.

To this day I don't know exactly what happened, but I do have a seriously messed up shoulder that may require surgery, and my head suffered trauma that resulted in memory loss and difficulty with speech. Good news is, the shoulder is reparable and my brain is starting to fire on all cylinders once again.

The purpose of this letter is not to warn riders of the hazards that exist on the Duffey (or anywhere else for that matter) but to thank the many people who assisted me that day, roadside on the Duffey and the days and weeks that followed thereafter.

I would like to say 'thank you' to my ever loving and supportive girlfriend Sara for coming out from Kelowna to take care of me; to John and Linda, and David and Stephanie from Castle Drive who offered a place to get better during my immobility; to Eric for his pies; to the crew at Viking Fire Protection for their constant support; the Whistler and Pemberton Medical Centres; Northlands Medical; to the crew at No Limits for getting my bike back into shape; to Petra and Sasha; Fabio and Bella; Harv and Sonia; every member of the "7:30 p.m. crew" and the "8 p.m. crew" (you know who you are), and to my mom for once again "being there" to help.

It's going to be a lengthy recuperation, but I know it's going to be that much easier having such an amazing community of support. An accident on a "crotch rocket" is never a fun thing, but being able to get better in a place such as Whistler/Pemberton really is a gift.

I will ride again, but till then, thanks for everything...

Mo Povoden

Whistler/Pemberton

PPFI still active

Re: Lobbying for French Immersion in Pemberton Continues

As many parents in our community may be aware Pemberton Parents for French Immersion (PPFI) recently made a presentation to the Howe Sound School District Board to request they consider offering an Early French Immersion program at Signal Hill Elementary School.

For nearly a year PPFI has been working to educate parents about the benefits of French Immersion, encourage participation in our organization and gather support. With over 100 families in Pemberton and surrounding area expressing an interest in having their child enrolled in French Immersion, the Signal Hill Elementary School PAC requested the school hold a call for enrolment in early April. The results showed definite support for an Early French Immersion program (Kindergarten/grade 1) start with 25 students registered.

Our group was pleased with this result, but was advised that the school district administration would be recommending to the school board against an Early Immersion program start this fall because of the low enrolment and the unwritten rule of thumb that in order to establish an Early Immersion program there must be at least 44 students (or two full Kindergarten classes) enrolled for a program to be considered.

Although disappointed that the school board moved not to proceed with an Early Immersion program at Signal Hill Elementary School for 2007 PPFI are appreciative of the fact that the school board did agree to ask staff to develop a policy to establish the parameters around which establishing a French Immersion program would occur and to be open to considering a program in the future should the request come before the school board again.

PPFI believes that the unwritten requirement for two full kindergarten classes is unrealistic and unattainable for small communities such as Pemberton or even Whistler and we are calling on the school board to establish a policy that is innovative and forward thinking in order to provide an opportunity to establish an Early Immersion program. Although Pemberton is a small community, immersion programs have been started in many communities of similar or smaller size right across British Columbia. We do not feel that because we live in a small community our children should be penalized and not have access to the same educational options as those in larger communities, especially when it concerns opportunities to an education in both of Canada’s official languages.

French immersion is the most popular program of choice offered in B.C. with record-breaking increases in enrolment (for seven consecutive years), even as overall school enrolment in the province has declined. This clearly indicates the importance British Columbia’s parents place upon providing their children with the opportunity to be bilingual.

We are asking community members to join with us to help bring Canada’s other official language education to our schools. Our website is at www.pembertonfrenchimmersion.ca and there parents will find a great deal of information about immersion, can sign up to receive e-mail updates, and volunteer to get involved and have their voice heard for choice in education in Whistler-Pemberton.

Joanne Molinaro, Heather Prohaska, Nikki Gilmore, Sheena Fraser

Pemberton Parents for French Immersion

Thanks for tri-ing

Who said triathlon is not a team sport?

The Whistler Triathlon Club hosted two fantastic events Saturday, May 26 thanks to the team effort of the whole club and the community! We hosted the Third Annual Whistler Kids of Steel Triathlon and the First Annual Try-A-Tri.

Thank yous go out to the whole race committee who planned these events over the last six months. Swim Captain: Brandi Higgins, Bike Captain: Paul Nicolas, Run Captain: Kristina Rody, Transitions Captain: Paul Suter, Timing/Results and Maps Guru: Scott Brammer, Food and Beverages: Grace Blok, Registration: Yolanda Foose, Volunteer Co-ordinator: Tracy Torrell, Brochure and Posters: John Blok, Safety Captain: Chris Hodkinson, Sponsors and Prizing: Christine Cogger, A/V and Kid Zone: Alisa Brownlee, Webmaster: Karen Blaylock. There were meetings, lots of e-mails and organizing that took up time from everyone’s already busy lives over the last six months. We made it happen together.

The Whistler Triathlon Club’s vision is to introduce triathlon to the community and give back to the community.

We also had help from innumerable generous people and organizations! Our race would not have been a success without the help of our terrific volunteers! Please see our “Thank You Ad”.

See you next year!

Marie-Anne Prevost and Christine Suter

Co-Race Directors

A late plea for consideration

RE: Parent & Tot Program

I happened to have been at Tuesday night's council meeting when someone from the Sea to Sky Community Services spoke about the Parent & Tot Program. It seems that for whatever reason they were not able to get their application for funding in to the RMOW on time this year and risk not being able to run the program for next year. Although I absolutely understand the need for application deadlines and do not condone handing in funding applications late, I am hoping that this time council will consider accepting this application late as it would be a HUGE loss for all the young families in this community to not have access to this program.

As a mother of two young children in Whistler, I wanted to explain to you what the Parent & Tot Program has meant to me over the last four years. It has been a great social network for myself and for my children and even for the nannies and visitors that are looking for something to do on all of those long cold snowy and rainy days when we can't play outside. The program is offered three days a week and my entire week for the last four years has been planned around my kids going to "playgroup". It gets the kids out of the house and gives them a fun environment to run around, play and be social with other local kids. Colleen has run the program since I have been there and has always been a strong and positive leader, role-model and proactive promoter of the program. There are always tons of fun toys for the kids to play with and always a new art project for the children to do (not to mention sing-song time the kids look forward to before it's time to go). They even have a collection of books available for borrowing and often invite guest speakers to present to the group on relevant health and social issues for helping to raise happy and healthy children.

For many of us living here, we do not have family living in close proximity that we can rely on and visit regularly. And for myself, when I first started having children, I did not have any other friends that had children in this town. The Parent & Tot Drop-In Program is where I met many of my "Mommy" friends and it was a place I looked forward to visiting so I could get out of the house, which was a very necessary thing to do!

Whistler is such a fabulous place to live but one of the main complaints from families visiting and living here is that there is not much to do with young children when the weather is not nice. This is SO true! The Parent & Tot Program provides a solution to this problem three days a week for a good portion of the year.

To mayor and council, I ask of you to please help continue to make this very special program possible — it really provides a great and necessary service to the young families in this community. And to the Sea to Sky Community Services who run this awesome program, I thank you for providing this service to our community, and I beg of you to be responsible enough to get your funding applications in on time and look for other sources of funding so we do not risk loosing this very necessary program that you have created for us.

Thank you for your consideration.

Kasi Lubin

Whistler