Parallel 50

Back from the jamboree

2007-08-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

How do you sum up an event that keeps you going day and night, introduces you to hundreds, if not thousands of people and celebrates a 100 years of serving youth?
I could start with the clouds of dust. The Newfy contingent with their samples of seal meat and salt cod. The zip wire dumping you into the water from high above the lake. The thousands of handshakes. Freezing cold showers. A million corny jokes and meals cooked by teenagers. There was the daily mob of kids and adults pouring over badge collections and debating the relative value of ghosts, shadows and bloods. There was the Taiwanese contingent in their immaculate uniforms and prized contingent badges and a U.S. contingent with their 6:30 a.m. Reveille on the bugle.
There was all of these things and more at the 2007 Scouts Canada Jamboree in Camp Tamaracouta, Quebec. To sum it up will take more than one column but let me get started with my first thoughts.
My son Robbie and I returned last weekend from a two-week trip to the national jamboree celebrating 100 years of Scouting. One hundred years ago on Aug. 1, Robert Baden Powell gathered 22 youths at a camp on Brownsea Island, England to promote the skills young men needed to be effective scouts – skills Baden-Powell decided would be useful in their everyday lives. From that camp was born a world-wide movement that over 100 years has touched the lives of millions of young people and shaped the minds of the resulting adults. There is and has never been another organization like Scouts in the world, except, of course, the related Girl Guide organization.
It's not as cool as it once was but it remains strong. There was a time when Scouts was the pre-eminent organization for youth in the world – certainly in Canada. Nowadays, pre-teens and teenagers have a myriad sports to choose from, hundreds of electronic diversions and, at times, a mountain of cynicism to surrender to. In the face of all that, Scouts has seen declining numbers. Once it was all things to all kids but now it has to compete with activities that have a whole lot more gloss and immediate appeal than a dusty old organization with its old fashioned devotion to citizenship, outdoor skills and personal development. It's ironic that at a time when our society needs it most, Scouts is at a low point in young people's esteem.
What other activity still insists that a promise made is a promise kept? That doing service for our fellow man is the highest of callings? That we're responsible for being wise in the use of our resources and that self-reliance earned in the face of outdoor challenge is a skill that can be universally applied throughout one's life? There's no delusive promise of a multi-million dollar contract at the end of your Scouting career. There's no immediate payoff of attaining a pretend higher electronic level or free game. Success is not attained by cheat codes and restarts. You are only as good as your word and your actions speak louder.
It's a favourite strategy to point out famous people who were Scouts: Daniel Radcliffe, the actor portraying Harry Potter; soccer star David Beckham; Microsoft owner Bill Gates; Beatles co-founder Paul McCartney; and movie producer Steven Spielberg. The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong was a Scout. Out of 241 former and present astronauts, 142 were Scouts.
Over 100 years, Scouting has contributed immeasurably to the world by forging value and ability in young people. Interestingly, one of the main reasons parents cite for putting their children in scouting is the values
Some values have adapted to the modern age. Scouts are now environmentalists. Leave No Trace ethics replaces the drainage trenches dug around your tent and camp kitchens made from branches hacked off nearby trees.
An old Scouting manual once advocated an activity where you build catapults and situated them in a circle around a field. In the centre was a pile of debris that Scouts would try to hit with flaming balls launched from the catapult. Okay, so the insurance companies in today's age of legal liability, litigation lawyers and risk assessment forms forced the end of flaming catapult balls, but they still leave much to capture a young person's inherent sense of adventure and fun.
And fun was the order of the day at Canadian Jamboree 2007 (CJ '07). After months and sometimes years of fundraising and planning, Scout troops from across the country and from other parts of the world, gathered at the oldest continuously running Scout camp in the world for CJ '07. Camp Tamaracouta Scout Reserve was established in 1912 and was the first of many Scout camps established across the country – the closest is Camp Gilwell in the Comox Valley.
I was thinking about the fun as I plummeted towards the surface of Lac Tamaracouta. Actually, I was screaming "Woohoo!" as I faced the prospect of hitting the lake sideways, strapped to a chair with an automobile seatbelt. People who know me know that screaming "Woohoo!" is not usually my style but, hey, when you're suspended 30 feet over a lake, you go with the flow, right?
Our daily routine involved rousting one Scout or another from their tent and dispatching them to the sub-camp HQ to pick up the morning's allotment of food. The bleary-eyed youth would grab the cart and stumble towards the food line and try and stay awake waiting his turn for the morning's supply.
Then the youth would cook breakfast with varying degrees of leader involvement – hey they're learning; the leaders, that is. Learning to stay out of the process and let the youths fulfill their responsibility.
With camp cleaned up, the units would set off to their first activity of the day before returning for lunch and taking in the afternoon's event.
Because attendance at the jamboree required being part of a unit of at least four boys and two adult leaders, I accepted a response to my e-mailed query for a group that had room for myself and my son. We were invited to join the 1st Coldstream Scouts from the Okanagan and boy did we luck out. This was an experienced group that knew how to get the best out of a jamboree trip. It also turned out to have three of the nicest Scouters (adult leaders) I've had the privilege of meeting. Like me, these were three men who had given up two weeks of their annual vacations to get the youths in their charge to experience the camaraderie and adventure of a national jamboree.
The youths were fine young people as well and we all dedicated ourselves to the serous business of having fun. We rode zip wires, we built rafts, we scavenged, we walked backwards down vertical rock faces, we snorkeled for strategically placed metal pipes and we joked and joshed with each other until we stumbled back to our campsite exhausted.
Participating groups were organized into sub camps and our campsite in Blue Springs sub camp was right at the entrance and beside the 'main street.' Which meant our tents were soon covered in the dust kicked up by thousands of feet. In the evening the main street was alive with bands of roving youths roaming free and wired by a day of activity.
A sunrise celebration was held on Aug. 1 in conjunction with celebrations all around the world, reminding us that Scouting is alive and well and one of the most extensive youth movements on the planet. The world of Scouting was united that morning and, as well, ready to face the challenge of today's world.

Heading off

2007-07-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, the first segment of my summer vacation is coming up.
On Sunday, I will fly to Montreal for a three-day visit with my son and Scouts from 1st Coldstream Scouts and Venturers from the Okanagan. We will then attend the Canadian Jamboree at Camp Tamaracouta just north of Montreal. This is a national jamboree being held in the 100th anniversary of the creation of Scouting worldwide. My son and I linked up with the Coldstream group earlier this year so that we would be able to attend this gathering of over 5,000 Scouts and Venturers and their leaders from across Canada, including Scouts from the U.S. and Europe.
This will be a fantastic opportunity to experience a national jamboree and visit a part of the country I would rarely get a chance to see. I actually have been in Montreal before. It was when I first emigrated to Canada as an eight-year-old. We landed in Halifax, were processed by immigration and then flew to Montreal where we stayed for two or three days while our dog was in quarantine. We then flew from there to Labrador City, NFLD where we lived for the next three years and I worked on acquiring a Canadian accent. I like to joke that I was bilingual for the next five years or so as I spoke Canadian at school and with my friends and with a Scottish accent to my parents at home. Eventually, I dropped the brogue entirely and now only use it to amuse my kids.
So I was pretty young when I was in Montreal and don't really remember much. One memory I have was seeing my first snowplow clearing the streets (it was November, a good time to emigrate to Canada from Scotland). But other than that, not much else.
So, this will be my first time there as an adult and I look forward to visiting this great city. The jamboree is quite an undertaking and I believe I may have access to my blog and will try to post some updates of my visit. Maybe even some pictures.
So, if you're interested, check back here periodically over the next two weeks and I'll give you my first attempt at remote reporting to my blog.

Goodbye Ken and Patricia

2007-02-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

Ken Daneliuk and Patricia Rodgers passed away tragically on Monday morning. They were crossing the old Island Highway. It was dark, wet and they, by all accounts, dashed across the road after getting off a bus. They were hit by an SUV near the Ocean Grove Store.
We do hundreds of stories in a given year and most of the people we write about are people we have known for years as part of our news beats, or they are people we've never met until we interview them for a story. Others we never do get to know and only know of them through a third party.
I never knew Ken and Patricia and I never met them directly. I used to see them regularly on the rare occasion I would take the bus into work. One or the other of them was usually on the bus when I got on. Sometimes they both were there.
Ken was a distinct individual. He had kind of a hunched over posture and a frequent smile. I once took a picture of him when I did a story on the Beacon Club's manager planning to walk the Great Walk from Gold River to Tahsis. He and small group of club members gathered round the manager's foot to pretend to tie her laces. Ken rounded up some people for the picture, cheerfully mugged for the camera and was an all-round good sport.
Whenever I saw him on the bus, he was frequently joining Patricia. They were known as "boyfriend and girlfriend" and it was obvious that Ken doted on Patricia. He watched out for her. Directed her as to where to go. Kissed her goodbye affectionately.
They both had their challenges but were obviously happy with each other. They obviously spent a lot of time with each other; how much, I couldn't say. They left this world together, however, in a sudden and tragic way. Their memorial is tomorrow (Feb. 10).

Highrise Horror!

2006-09-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

I tend to have a sarcastic twist to the way my mind works, something I continually suppress in this job.
Although maybe if I didn't, I'd have long ago found gainful (so to speak) employment with London, England's irreverent Fleet Street tabs.
For example, when considering the headline for Wednesday's lead story about council's approval of zoning that would allow 8-12 storey "highrises" downtown, I quashed my first headline thought: Highrise Horror!
My first inclination was to mock the apocalyptic nature of the debate around this issue. I had visions of the opening scenes of CSI Miami where a helicopter camera films while flying around the Miami Beach highrises glowing with the reflected light of the setting sun. In the streets below, murder and mayhem run amok because the city couldn't keep out the developers of office towers and glass edifices.
Every issue that comes before council carries nothing less than the total ruination of our idyllic way of life here on the sleepy east side of Vancouver Island. Or so it seems from the nature of the debate. The vitriol, the anger, the anguish – it all seems so dire. Is it really going to be so bad? Are we paving paradise to put up a tower? I'm afraid I don't think so.
Sure, Campbell River is in a spectacular natural setting and we shouldn't be ruining that but Campbell River is also an architectural disaster zone. We have old, dumpy buildings squatting on the shores of a gorgeous stretch of water, surrounded by majestic mountains. What man hath wrought on the shores of Discovery Passage disgraces what God hath rendered.
Considering that Campbell River is little more than 50 years old, it's commercial and civic buildings are already past their prime.
I find it laughably ironic that in the early 90s the electorate rejected a plan to build a showcase civic building on the former six acre site created for the community as part of the Discovery Harbour project. The irony arises out of the people now saying we need to something worthwhile with the remaining 3.5 acres. It should be a park, some say. It should serve the community, others add.
I remember former city councillor Bill Harrison telling me back then that the city wanted to put something on the property that is worthy of the site, a showcase for the city. Well the voters didn't want that, rejecting a multi-million dollar community centre that would probably look real good down there right now.
Now, we're in danger of losing the property to a private developer because the money might be more useful to the city now than the site. And, to entice the developer, the city wants to rezone it to accommodate up to 18 storey buildings because developers recognize what a spectacular site it is.
However, I'm predicting that after the public hearings on what to do with that site, we'll see the city backtrack and revisit the idea of putting a community facility there.
The city has wisely separated that piece of property from the other chunks of land downtown that might attract investment if they're zoned for higher density.
I'm sorry but I really believe that we can accommodate taller buildings downtown if they're done right. By keeping a close rein on proposals, the city can shape its downtown into an attractive, livable and vibrant section of town. Right now its dominated by the Tyee Plaza parking lot and the Discovery Inn. The DI has stood alone down there for years now, "towering" (at six storeys) above everything else.
There are forces at work urging the city to do this and Campbell River will be hard pressed to resist them. Look at what happened once the Discovery Centre Mall opened and the first big box stores rolled in. Then all those chain restaurants popped up all of a sudden. Like them or not, the way they suddenly appeared leaves me with the image of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike.
And should the city resist the forces currently being held at bay by an unworkable downtown real estate model? Do we not want increased economic activity? The right kind, certainly. But something's got inject some life in our moribund city centre. A few years ago, people were complaining that commerical developments proposed for Dogwood and the Jubilee Connector were going to suck the life out of our downtown. Now, there's a proposal that could inject some life into downtown and everybody is up in arms. Sorry, some people are up in arms. Whether it's everybody is hard to say (see my previous column on that).
There seems to be such resistance to change around here. Rejuvenating our cityscape does not have to destroy our natural setting. Maybe some people will lose their view but I won't. I can't afford a view. But I think it will be relatively simple to sculpt a skyline that takes advantage of the ridge behind downtown and avoids plunking 18 story towers all over the downtown.
I live in Willow Point and attended on Saturday the opening of the "$10 million mile," as it was once so sarcastically coined. There's an example of civic projects making things better. Willow Point was a mess with that old, two-lane, gravel-shouldered bottleneck. Sure, it cost a lot of money, way more than originally forecast. But was that a budget overrun or an unrealistic evaluation of how much it would cost?
Regardless, Willow Point looks great. In fact, I predict that Willow Point is going to attract a lot of development attention because of the upgrade. What's the most desirable commercial location in town now? Willow Point is now pedestrian friendly, pleasantly landscaped and not a highrise in sight – ha, ha.
So where am I going with this? I don't know. There's potential danger with highrises, certainly. A hundred years ago or so they were hailed as the ultimate in human architectural achievement but then soon proved to be cold and lifeless edifices that were used improperly by lining them up one after another. The streets were deprived of sunlight and winds whistled down the concrete valleys like a wind tunnel.
So, Campbell River should use them judiciously.
Mayor Roger McDonnell is going to take some heat for saying Campbell River has to grow up but he's certainly right. He'll hear that phrase thrown back it him for years to come but people do have to recognize that this isn't a little fishing village clinging to the tidal shores of Discovery Passage. People want some kind of economic development but that will come with some kind of cost. A higher density downtown might be the price to pay.
But, you know, it's not the end of the world. It can be done right and we can avoid the highrise horror people sound like they're expecting.

A day of contrasts

2005-10-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

A day in the life of a community newspaper journalist is one of contrasts.
On Tuesday, I started the day out having breakfast with the business community covering a speech by MP John Duncan on the softwood lumber war with the U.S. and a presentation to the Daybreak Rotary Club recognizing its Maritime Heritage Centre project. The (long) day ended with me covering the labour movement with the local teachers holding a rally outside the school district office. Start with business and end with labour. In between I labour to write stuff and layout pages.
I've been thinking a lot lately about tailoring our content to attract younger readers. It's an issue that newspapers all over North America are fretting about. There's lots of suggestions but few people actually doing anything concrete. It is a difficult thing to radically change your look and content to cater to a single demographic. Newspaper – and community newspapers in particular – have relied on trying to be all things to everyone so narrowing our focus is a risky business. You want to attract younger readers (who apparently are not reading traditional newspaper much any more) but you don't want to alienate loyal, older readers. A dilemma.
I did come across an exciting project that I think can provide me with a prototype to follow. It's a project by the Readership Institute and the Star Tribune in Minnesota wich developed prototypes for revamping your paper to make it more appealing to younger readers. I like what they do because I think it is a dynamic style that will appeal to anyone. Look for me to incorporate some of the suggestions.
In the meantime, if anyone has suggestions of their own as to what a community newspaper can and should do to appeal to younger – say twentysomething – readers, I'd love to hear them.

A sense of purpose needed

2005-08-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm too overly optimistic, I admit. While people are crying the blues around me about the disintegration of western society, I'm usually the first to say it's not that bad.
You hear it all the time. The economy is collapsing, crime is rampant (when it actually isn't), politicians are all corrupt (well...), public servants are incompetent, merchandise is crap. But I'm reluctant to join in the carping chorus.
In a cynic's profession, the one-eyed optimist is looked down upon with pity.
But even I have to admit that our nation is rudderless, tilting helplessly in the wind with no sense of direction or purpose. It's something that has been troubling me for some time and it took a song to crystalize it in my mind.
Legendary Canadian folksinger Ian Tamblyn (What? you've never heard of him? Now why doesn't that surprise me?) wrote a song sort of in response to Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy. You know, that epic Lightfoot song (aren't they all?) about the building of the Canadian nation on the back of a railway from "sea to the sea." Tamblyn put Lightfoot's song in perspective with Once Upon a Railroad in which he sang of the last cross-country train ride. What strikes me about the song is the perspective it puts not only on the Canadian Railroad Trilogy but also on this country and the symbolism of the national railway. Now, I like trains but I never got too caught up in the preserve-every-stretch-of-rail-in-this-country sentiment of some people do. You'd think that every railway closure was like the loss of a national park or something. To me, trains were an outmoded form of transportation that nobody wants to use, so why hang onto them? Abandoned rail beds make better hiking and biking trails anyway.
Now other than the obvious symbolism of a national railway tying a country together, I didn't get what all the big fuss about the national railway was. Okay, it tied us together but we've moved on from that technology, so what? A country grows, a society evolves, get over it. Tamblyn's song, however, pointed out that the railway debate isn't about the past, it's about the future.
The national railway symbolizes a time when this country had a purpose. It had a dream, a concrete goal to achieve. For the first time in our short history, we no longer have a dream, a purpose or a goal. After the railway was built we set about industrializing our land (well, parts of it like Central Canada. The hinterlands were set up to serve the central core with resources).
Then the wars came and we united to fight evil. You can't beat fighting evil for uniting a country for a common purpose. Canada came of age during the wars, the Second World War, in particular. We became an efficient, productive industrial juggernaut as well as a military power. But it was all because we had a purpose – defeat the Nazis and restore order to the world.
Then the post-war era saw our economy leap forward on the back of abundant natural resources which we could sell off with near-abandon. We also cranked up our industry and the post war period of wealth allowed us to assert ourselves in the world. Education improved and we became a civilized and modern culture. Our purpose at this time became a peacekeeper, a pillar of civilization in a world wallowing in nuclear madness. We saw ourselves as a better people. Canada the good, to paraphrase a term that was used to apply to Toronto.
But now. Now, we can't be a peacekeeper because we can't, or won't, afford it. There is no evil empire to defeat and there is no national building project that we can undertake. Our best friend is also our biggest headache. And we're seen as a diminished force in the world. Our society is retreating into a sort of isolationism as our reputation takes a beating in the world. Internally, we gripe about each other. We're not unified in our approach to everything from medicare to economic development.
We have no vision of what we want to become. Given that there's a lot of dissatisfaction with what we are, the need to grow would follow from that. We could be satisfied with what we are. That's an option. We do quite frequently count our blessings and take pride in who we are and what we've got.
But in reality, there's a malaise in this country that seems to sour everything. We have no confidence in our political leaders to do the right thing. There seems to be few creative solutions to problems. Nothing gets resolved to a level that makes us stand back and go, "Impressive." Usually, our tendency to compromise means nobody is happy with the outcome instead of the proverbial win-win situation. Everything is half-measure.
The reason, I put to you, is because we have no purpose in life. We're not building anything concrete (figuratively and literally). We need a goal.
We're an ambitious lot. We want to be the best and we get cranky when we don't turn out to be (in our mind – ask a developing country if they'd like to trade circumstances and you know what the answer would be). But what are we going to be the best at? What is Canada going to do with itself? Continually fight to keep together? Is our biggest accomplishment each year the fact that we didn't spin apart into 10 or so different fragments? What kind of accomplishment is that?
I fear our lack of a goal will see us drift into a merger with the American federation. For every flare up of nationalism and national pride I see, I see two or more acceptance of Americanism. Now, this is nothing against the Americans. They are who they are because history, circumstance and ambition has built their nation. Americans are in no fear of becoming somebody else but we are.
Whenever we complain about our government it's because it can't build a free market economy that's like the U.S. economy. Our sports are minor league, compared to the Americans. Even our nation-defining medicare is a mess. Scrap it, let's privative health care like, well, like the Americans.
Of course, when you really analyze things, much of what we do is the best in the world but that current popular mindset is very negative and down on ourselves, no matter how unjustified.
But what? What, you say, should be our purpose? I'm interested in hearing some ideas.
Perhaps we should set a goal to be the most productive economy in the world. Or maybe we should set about to be the most ecologically efficient nation in the world. There is an economic impetus to do that. It's a matter of efficiency. Perhaps we should attempt, again, to eradicate poverty in children in our country.
Our goals don't have to be just or exclusively social. Perhaps we could take the Russian and American leads and set a goal of being a major explorer and user of space.
When I went to university, senior governments were being urged to get on board the new industrial revolution of digital technology. Maybe there's still time to revamp our economy and rid ourselves of dependence on resource extraction. Let's replicate what Japan did after the Second World War and become a major manufacturer.
Are these too small in scope? I don't know. It's hard to imagine a goal that would get everyone on board, given our social fractiousness. Maybe we need to disband this country and make it 10 individual nations? Heresy? Maybe.
What could be our purpose in the 21st Century. It's a question than Canadians are going to have to answer at some point.

Blog fear?

2005-03-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

I received this reply to a earlier to posting:

At 7:12 PM, Fearing Consequences said...

I Wonder if the lack of comment isn't because people are afraid they will be quoted in the paper.... after all, we all know ANONYMOUS opinions are considered invalid.

I don't know if this is a valid point or not. I thought one of the points of blogging is to get your point of view out there and/or generate discussion. I guess people can reply anonymously (as this responder did) or with a pseudonum. If I were to use anything generated by this blog in the paper, I'd confirm it with both the source and from alternate sources. I'd assume that anybody who signs their real name is not shy about having it used. But if anybody is sending a tip for a story or idea, I can assure their anonymity if that's what they want.

I have had two responses to my blog. Both were in reply to the Wal-Mart item. One was replied to from the blog site and e-mailed to my e-mail. I forget at this point whether it was anonymous or not. Once I'm finished posting this I can have a look from the blog page.

The other was from Coun. Morgan Ostler who was partially the topic of the Wal-Mart blog. She replied directly in person, though. It was a very interesting and enlightening conversation. Much has happened since she talked to me but one point I remember in particular was her comment about the seeming inconsistency of voting to allow Ocean Cedar to operate their mill on the estuary for another five years while, at the same time, opposing Wal-Mart on the estuary. Among other things about that she said that the presence of log booms didn't kill the salmon runs - bad DFO management did. All the while logs were being boomed on the Campbell River estuary for the better part of the last century, massive salmon runs were swimming underneath them heading upstream. It's a hard point to argue against. Overfishing on the ocean did more to kill the Campbell's legendary salmon runs than log booms.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart's rezoning application has been delayed to allow council to get more information from the applicant. It will be interesting to see what more they come back with and whether that will convince councillors to approve the rezoning. It certainly sounds like some councillors have reservations.

Wal-Mart continued

2005-02-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

Protesters wave placards and express their displeasure about the choice of a lot adjacent to a Campbell River-side trail to build a Wal-Mart store. Photo: Paul Rudan/Campbell River Mirror

We continue to receive many letters regarding Wal-Mart's plan to build a store on the banks of the Campbell River.
It's become a hot issue with the unique angle that the most prominent complaint is the location of the building on land "in the Campbell River estuary." The community has spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions on rehabilitating both the estuary and the upper reaches of the famous Heritage River. Locating the Wal-Mart store and its parking lot on that land could impact the river, if not with seeping pollutants, then certainly visually.
There is a popular walking trail along the actual bank of the river and if the Wal-Mart is built on the adjacent lot (it used to be a dryland sort for a logging company), then the parking lot and the building would dominate the inland visual field. If opponents are unsuccessful in convincing city council to reject the developer's rezoning application, then I, personally, would want to see Wal-Mart plant a visual buffer of trees so that you couldn't see the building.
It's interesting to see that this is all coming down to a rezoning application. Council could reject it but I find it hard to believe that council will do that given that Wal-Mart has been negotiating with the city for some time now and, also, given the city's close relationship with the Campbell River Indian Band which owns the land and wants to develop it. It's hard to imagine that council could be so blind as to not see the potential uproar the store location would generate. I could also see that the Band would be rightfully furious if council were to reject the rezoning. Presumably, all parties have been talking about this for some months and to have council pull the carpet out from under the plan at this stage, would be a surprise to all parties I'm sure.
But that's where the public sentiment is these days. A protest rally on Tuesday drew over 150 people demanding the rezoning be rejected.
This issue is not your run of the mill oppose Wal-Mart battle. Many of the protesters don't object to Wal-Mart on the grounds that they are accused of killing competition and using forced Chinese labour, they're more concerned with the environmental implications.
One of the organizers of the rally is city councillor Morgan Ostler. To see her rally the opposition at this date is curious. Did she not speak out against the location during the previous months of negotiation with the big box giant? Why is she coming out with it now? Has the tide of public opinion prompted her stance on this issue? It's an election year.
This one's going to keep burning for a while.

Blogging's a bust

2005-02-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

Managed to get around to checking my blog today.
It's been about a week. I'd almost forgotten I had it. I'm not getting much response. I wonder if there's many bloggers in Campbell River. This blog has been linked to our newspaper's Web page but so far no hits. At some point I'm going to promote it but I'm afraid to make a big deal about it and have nobody care.
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm interested in anything people think we're missing in the area. Did you see something intesting? Something piss you off? Questions about anything? Let me know.
I'll check back more often. Bye for now.

Sea lice, Wal-Mart and letters to the editor

2005-01-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well, the Mirror's editorial page is burning up with missives vollying back and forth over sea lice on salmon and the arrival of Wal-Mart.
The sea lice debate is over who's got the accurate information. As is always the case in these debates, both sides quote either directly or anecdotally, experts and data that conclusively prove their case. For readers (include editors in that group too), it can be a confusing and daunting mish mash of reports and statistics. To determine your own position on the issue, you would need to go to those original reports and read them all. That is one shortcoming of the letters to the editor feature. It's not the place to quote or regurgitate data. It would take up too much space – more than what the paper has to offer. Sometimes we will run long letters on an issue but we're not prepared to provide any one letter unlimited space. The sea lice issue is a hotly contested scientific debate that not only has the general public debating the pros and cons but the academics as well.
Is there a conclusive position on the issue? Probably not at this stage. As a result the two sides lob their expert reports back and forth.
The letters to the editor space works best when people just express their opinion. Yes, it's good to back it up with data but the data doesn't need to be quoted or included. Just tell us how you feel about the issue in general. It's a good idea to direct people to where they can do further inquiry but leave the academic debate to the academics.
Meanwhile, the impending arrival of a Wal-Mart store in Campbell River is beginning to heat up the letters space. Now, this is an issue that is light on statistics and heavily weighted in favour of how you feel about big box stores. There are some studies out there that have been alluded to (as to whether Wal-Mart kills or doesn't kill smaller businesses) but for the most part, the debate is following along the lines of the impact the retailer will have on the character of the community. I still think that most people in Campbell River are supportive of or ambivalent towards the store but the letters are proving that there is some strong feeling against the store out there.
We will continue to watch both debates with interest.

Welcome

2005-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hi, this is a new blog designed to get my paper and myself into the blogosphere (if I'm using tha tterm correctly). I'm hoping this will be a useful forum and source for dialogue, opinion, ideas and information. If you see or hear something you think people should know about affecting the Campbell River area, please let me know about it. If you want to express your opinion about something you read in the Mirror or somewhere else, publish it here.
I want this to be interactive and lively, so join in and take a proactive approach to disseminating information and opinion.