Opinion
JONESIE: Just because you can say it, doesn’t mean you should
I must be getting old because I think I’m feeling nostalgic for old rules in the news publishing business. Doesn’t sound like me. Old newspaper rules that make no sense today must fade out, change or die. Publish a submitted news release? For some, sure, why not? Space isn’t a problem and re-writing press releases...
Budget 2014: Time is not money for city councillors
HOW COUNCILLORS SPENT TIME DEBATING BUDGET KAMLOOPS — Councillors spent 75 per cent of this year's budget debating just 15 per cent of expenditures. We know, because we've been tracking the 275 minutes councillors spent publicly debating the city's supplementary budget—their wish list above fixed costs of running the city. We suspected—and confirmed—councillors would spend...
LOEWEN: At your service 24/7
I can't wait to get off work and see my baby she'll be waiting up with a magazine for me clean the bathrooms, clean um good oh you're lovin I wish you would come down here and sweepameoffmyfeet this broom'll have to be my baby if I hurry I just might get off before the...
GOG: All these buttons and not a single one for Ovaltine?
This week I decided to take a mad leap into the twentieth century and buy a Radar Range, apparently now known as a 'microwave oven.' All I wanted was a machine to heat my porridge in the morning and my Ovaltine at bedtime. Put the mug in, turn the dial, hit 'Start' and presto, steamy...
PARKER: In defence of the muffin top
This morning I ate a lemon cranberry scone from Starbucks. Now, I have undoubtedly admitted way worse things on the Internet before, but even typing those words out makes me feel morbidly ashamed. You see, in a grandiose attempt to become Victoria’s Secret ready for the interior’s blazing inferno summer season, I made the call...
EDITOR’S NOTE: Your turn
Last week we promised something different from our columnists, and hopefully you see our commitment to quality. When we find them, we help them. We don’t bury them. And we’ve got room for more. Now it’s your turn. Come and try out for the team. If you’ve got the chops, we want to hear from...
FOERSTER TRIAL: The night Taylor Van Diest was killed
KELOWNA - Taylor Van Diest wasn’t embarrassed to be the teenager who’s too old for trick-or-treating but goes anyway. Halloween was her favourite day of the year, and she wouldn’t miss the chance to dress in costume, this year as a zombie, and go giggling door-to-door with her best friends. She worked hard at her...
GOG: Outta the way, grapefruit head
The snow has melted, the sun shines. Which can only mean any time now the only roads worth driving will be once again clogged with packs of brightly-coloured bicyclists. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against bicycles. I used to have one myself, rode it everywhere. Before I learned to drive, that is. Of course...
JONESIE: Don’t let do-gooders hijack distracted drivers
Someone needs to stop the do-gooders. Please. Before it’s too late. They’re gathering their minivans together like locusts, feasting on good sense, forcing politicians to flee like wasteland farmers to Victoria to do something, anything. Because WON’T ANYBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN? If someone doesn’t rein them in, your days of 'distracted driving' and mine...
LOEWEN: On Writers
'Cause I gonna make you see There's nobody else here No one like me I'm special so special I gotta have some of your attention give it to me (Chrissie Hynde/Pretenders, “Brass In Pocket”) Writers are, for the most part, a very bad lot. Full stop. The only professionals more egregiously whorish and pimpish than...
PARKER: Nothing is solved by glitter alone
On my fifth birthday I managed to convince my mother to host a neighbourhood-wide masquerade party in my honour. If this request of mine doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about me, it’s because you’re a passive reader. To spare you the humiliation, though, I’ll tell you the full story as a means...
A high school book with sex, alcohol, drug use: Ban it?
IS IT IRONY? STUDENTS HAVE THEIR SAY KAMLOOPS — After a Kamloops father went public this week about his efforts to get a book banned from high school reading assignments, we took the conversation back to some South Kamloops Secondary school students. Dean Audet is pushing School District 73 and its partners to remove The...
Just what does a raptor wrangler do?
KELOWNA – There are few things less appealing to summer tourists than a park or beach covered in bird feces. An adult Canada goose will eat more than a kilogram of grass and damage 1.5 square meters of parkland every day. Multiply that by thousands and you will have an idea of how serious the...