It took more than three years to get a public information meeting on water meters. We asked them at this meeting to bill us once a year instead of three times, as they already know their projected costs. That way, we get to use our allotted water when we need to use it. Given their track record to date, I don't hold out much hope. Do you think they will listen to the people who elected them? The week prior to this meeting, we read in the paper that our rural directors have arbitrarily decided that rural residents need garbage pickup and recycling. Not only did we have to read about it in the paper but they had arbitrarily set a date for a referendum. They then schedule a public meeting the day after the meeting on water meters. The rural directors' dictatorship is now in full swing, as at that meeting they confirmed their intention to go ahead with a referendum on this issue. Bear in mind that it takes only 51 per cent of the people who voted to pass this; not 51 per cent of the affected residents. And even if you have never had garbage pickup you will not be able to opt out. Nice eh? On Sept. 10 we read in the paper that the rural directors want us to pay another $19 per year on our taxes for parks expansion, over and above what we already pay per year for parks. Without any public input they have asked the regional district bureaucracy to proceed with implementing this new tax. Area C director Edwin Grieve then has the gall to say that the older rural residents don't have the brains to contribute intelligently on this issue. This BS has to stop. These three individuals were elected, not anointed, and quite frankly are driving those of us on fixed incomes out of our homes. We need to drive them out of office. We would like our democracy back.
There is a very simple solution to the Japanese knotweed problem — goats! Apparently they love it and will chomp it right down to the roots. So, does anyone have any lazy goats needing a job and a treat? Take them with dog collars and leashes where needed for a few hours. No cost to taxpayers. No poisons.
Four-way stops and roundabouts — c'mon people! If you don't remember the proper rules, go down to the Access Centre and get yourself a copy of the "learning to drive" book. Don't stop when you're already in the roundabout to let someone else enter. Check out the book and refresh yourself on who has the right of way at a four-way stop. You are a hazard.
Roses go out to Al and Bill of Habitat for Humanity ReStore. You two went above and beyond the call of duty in all you did to help me this past summer. Thank you! I appreciate it. And Deb Roth, you rock.
I am always concerned about my own health and the health of my family. There is so much contradictory information available about GE foods that it is hard to know what to do so I tend to follow the philosophy of first do no harm. If that philosophy had been followed years ago, we would not have so many people dying of lung cancer and addicted to cigarettes and so many people suffering from obesity-related diseases caused by processed foods, trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup, and many other additions to our diets that have been readily accepted by food manufacturers. These are also products we are told not to eat by our doctors and health-care professionals. The scary thing about GE crops is that we cannot control them. It is much like breathing second-hand smoke. For years people were forced to breathe second hand smoke if they went out in public. There is no way to stop the smoke from spreading to all the other people in a room when one person has chosen to smoke a cigarette or a cigar. It is the same with GE crops. There is no way to stop the pollen from GE crops from spreading to nearby non-GE crops or organic crops. I think that is the biggest problem. If GE crops are grown in our region, then all food produced in our region will be affected, just as non-smokers are affected by second-hand smoke from smokers. I applaud the governments of our country for bringing in legislation that restricts smoking so that we are no longer forced to breathe second hand smoke and I hope that those same governments will abolish GE crops so we are no longer forced to eat GE foods against our will. We live in a wonderful province in a democratic country. We should have the right to chose pure and natural food that is not contaminated by nearby GE crops, just as we now have the right to go out in public without being forced to breathe second-hand smoke.
Re: Vehicles proceeding in marked crosswalks: (not 'light' controlled).
The B.C. MVA section 179 (1) states that: A driver may proceed when pedestrians have cleared all the lanes on the half of the highway being used by the driver, (walking right to left), but must yield to pedestrians on the other half of the highway that are proceeding towards (walking left to right) the half of the highway the driver is using, until they have cleared the crossing safely.
MVA section 180 states that: Any pedestrian crossing a highway where there is no crosswalk, must yield to traffic.
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