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Opinion
ARCHER: City staff aren’t immune from taxpayer scrutiny but here’s a better idea
PENTICTON - City Hall has quite the series of plot lines going these days, with lawsuits, legal threats to citizens, complaints from residents and rallies outside on the street. Mayor and city councillors have taken a lot of heat from the media and public, whether it’s about vote results, a development project, or the use...
BROTHEN: How to break the rumour-mill in your small town
The village of Ashcroft recently learned that the Central Cafe, a fixture in the little town, would shut its doors permanently. Most business-owners would just pack up and keep mum on the details, but cafe owner John Douglas took to social media to tell his customers the truth about why he couldn’t run his restaurant...
STAHN: Even our goals for voter turnout are sad
In the 2011 municipal election less than 30 per cent of eligible people voted in Kamloops. This is a typical trend across B.C., and even the country, in most municipal elections. To break it down into very simple terms, less than a third of people chose to speak up when it mattered most. Nearly everyone...
PROSKIW: The lesson of the day: It’s okay to fight dirty
At a recent B.C. Teachers Federation anti-government rally, one of the speakers brought someone with her to the microphone. Her five-year-old son was suddenly before 300 cheering people on the side of a busy highway. The boy tries to hide in her arms a few times but after some gentle prodding he eventually parrots “I want school.”...
GOG: A good walk ruined by golf and no one even walked anywhere
Recently someone who doesn’t know me very well suggested we should play golf together. Apparently it’s obligatory when you live in an area of the country infested with golf courses. I must have had a few glasses of wine, because I agreed, despite never having played before. Once reminded of my obligation I thought I...
LOEWEN: Does Christy Clark need an intervention?
Christy Clark is a high-stakes gambler. It’s breath-taking to witness. It’s time for an intervention, folks. And, frankly, we’d better get on board this interventionist’s couch with Ms. Clark before she ruins her own life along with the future prospects of the families of British Columbia whom she is mandated to serve. Christy Clark’s gamble...
PARKER: Calling for re-integration to real life
The other day I got my first real pay check in two years and I immediately went and got my nails done, because I have priorities. Actually, first I called James, the guy who calls me twice a day from TD Canada Trust asking when I can pay down my student line of credit that...
STAHN: One more loss to the teachers strike
I always loved back to school time as a kid. It meant new clothes, new school supplies and getting to see all my friends again after what seemed like forever. This year students have been stripped of that experience and parents have been denied the ability to plan and schedule based on a normal school...
ARCHER: Can you have your event and quiet weekend too?
There are always going to be people who don't approve of noise, location or some other detail of an event. Even events like Challenge that are very well accepted by the community and city officials get some negative remarks, such as blocked off roads, congested traffic and loud fireworks. Following social media this week, it...
HELSTON: Why Vernon teachers weren’t picketing outside schools this week
Earlier this week, I went out to cover strike action on the local front. The problem was, I couldn’t find any teachers. There was little sign of them in the city; no sound of car horns being honked in support, no thumbs being wagged in the air, no protest signs, no chanting, no teachers. In...
GOG: Hello? Computer? Can you hear me in there?
Computers are stupid. The simplest of tasks, tasks that they were specifically designed to perform, can befuddle them completely. Last night I tried printing something. It said it was printing. I waited in growing frustration while it didn’t print. I tried talking nicely to it. Nothing. Eventually one of those annoying little boxes popped up...
LOEWEN: Whither the church?
What was once a weekly source of spiritual succour and a place for meditative reflection has been hi-jacked and turned into a turd. The church of my childhood has disappeared and returned as a big box store. Casting back the old eye-glass on the last half century, I understand the rot to have begun even...
