OurVWiEWS Services rendered f there is one thing we know [sent the West Kootenay, it snows — sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Tuesday and Wednesday were one of those occasions when Old Man Winter decided to have a little fun with us, blanketing us with a foot of snow. Under ideal conditions, snow removal crews would have been fast at work, clearing our roads and neighborhoods of that darn white stuff. They weren't, though, and a heck of a lot of people would like to know why. The News was besieged with calls Wednesday from angry citizens who demanded that a story be written on “the haphazard ways” the City of Castlegar, Bel Maintenance and Emcon Services Inc. are dealing with snow removal. It was. Snow removal is a contentious issue at the best of times, but it is an issue that must be addressed. Like ordinary citizens, the City of Castlegar, Bel Maintenance and Emcon Services Inc. knew we were getting another dump of snow. Why, then, did they wait until what seemed to be the last possible moment to have crews out clearing our streets? Citizens have every right to demand better services from the three. After all, it is their tax dollars that are underwriting all costs of snow removal. Adrian RAESIDE We’re a strange place, Life in a lively centre for culture Rosenberg was here as Castlegar. At least if you read last Saturday’s Vancouver Sun. In particular Saturday Review, the weekend supplement on ideas, arts and entertainment. The first reference to Castlegar is in the index along the bottom of the front page of the Review. But the Saturday Review index is more than an index; on NORMAN R Comments from the a juror for the Kootenay Boundary Regional Juried Art Exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre. She and Vancouver video artist Paul Wong had to select 15 works from 85 entries. The 15 pieces will be shown along with winners from other regional art shows at the provincial juried art it i Crossroads _| exhibition in Trail in May. ile aise 8 ete tS eeeeemes © Rosenberg gave the times too cute — reworking of popular idioms. Last weekend’s choice was: “Oh You Lucky Dog”. The “You” being the first word in the index item entitled “You ever been to Castlegar?” (I’m not sure I like the inference of that. It’s like: “You ever been to Timbuctoo?”). region and its artists a warm review, calling it a “beautiful area (and) such a lively centre for culture.” I’m not sure Castlegar has ever thought of itself as a “Lively centre for culture”. Nelson, yes. Castlegar? But that’s obviously changing. (The airport, however, doesn’t get any @ Saturday, January 23, 1993 o % i > < ~ 2 Please address all letters to: Letters to the or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters coWH E ED ITOR Tired of taking a back seat? I am. From the time I left home (near the Pedestrians forced to take a back seat Most people have vehicles. Although some people don’t... strangely enough, we pedestrians do have a back seat, which we are forced to take every time it snows. I’m talking about the sidewalk snow removal on Columbia Avenue. The snow removal system in general is a disgrace, and I realize it is a big job, but I think when it comes to the sidewalks, priority should be put where it is due, and that is Columbia Avenue. It should not be 8th Street, where I saw the city’s only sidewalk snow blower this afternoon, Jan. 20/93. The Kootenay Post-Secondary Education Review Project has received much publicity in recent weeks. Questions have arisen on such issues as the necessity for the review, the impact that the review panel’s decisions will have on Selkirk College programs and the appointment of Dr. Margaret Fulton as Chair of the Review Panel. I have already met with Dr. Fulton, and found her to be professional in her approach and interested in obtaining information from a wide range of sources before making her recommendations. My concern, as a resident of the Kootenays, is that we have a tendency to grumble when things are not right, but forget to say anything when things are going well. Almost 800 students from different parts of the Selkirk College region, and beyond, are enrolled in university courses at the Castlegar Campus of Selkirk College. Midtown Plaza) at 12:30 p.m. to walk downtown, until I walked back at 3:30 p.m., the sidewalk of Columbia Avenue had not been touched. I think it’s about time the City of Castlegar stopped forcing pedestrians into putting their lives in jeopardy by having to walk on the roadway of our busiest street...“Columbia Avenue.” Robert Meredith “Pedestrian” 4 Castlegar Sidewalk plows were nowhere to be seen Wednesday. Input needed for future of local post-secondary education Approximately 2500 students throughout the West Kootenay region benefit from the college’s wide range of programs offered in its three campuses and five centres. It is through Selkirk that the UBC Bachelor’s and Master’s in Education programs and the transition of students from a local high school to a local college is higher in Castlegar than anywhere else in the province. In its own words, the review panel wishes “to collect views from a wide range of people in the Kootenay Region.” I believe that it is of great importance that organizations and individuals in this community respond to the panel’s invitation to submit written briefs expressing their views. A submission outline is available. Submissions need not be lengthy, but must reach Dr. Fulton by March Ist. Public hearings will be held throughout the Kootenays in late March and early April. The review panel may be contacted by telephone at 775-0285 or by fax at 775- 0291. The address is 1404-555 West Hastings, P.O. Box 12081, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 4N5. I chaired the Selkirk College Board until May of 1992, and, undoubtedly, I do have a bias in favor of the college. At the present time, however, I am simply a concerned member of this community and a parent who has been well satisfied with the post-secondary opportunities offered in this area. This letter is written on my own initiative and in that capacity. Let us be sure that the review panel hears from our community. Elizabeth Fleet Castlegar High school violence no longer just a big city problem In recent weeks, reports of violence at the high school seem to that by sending our children to a small city school they would be But the item itself was much more be a common discussion around our house — a discussion that safe, but that just isn’t true anymore. Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Member of the B.C. Money well spent? Hardly. Citizens deserve the most bang for their buck. Instead, they are getting a snow job. favorable. It was a full-page article by the paper’s art critic Ann Rosenberg on her recent visit to Castlegar. kudos from Rosenberg. She saw it as more than just lively; it was downright “hair- raising.”) please see NORMAN page 7 Stree WALK Question: What do you enjoy doing most when it snows? VO Jody Rossetti Robson Robson “I like to go G-T racing.” making snow Nathan Roussy “G-T racing and Josh Evin Robson “Snowboarding!” forts.” Lisa Tipping “Building a snowman.” Lara Benbow Brilliant Robson “Going sledding and throwing snowballs.” and not longer than 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer can be reached between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. greatly disturbs me. I have heard of three separate fights occurring in the school or on the grounds of SHSS in the last week, two resulting in students being beaten fairly severely. When did events evolve to su ch a state at the high school that students regard fighting as a normal part of school life. The threatening, slapping, punching and all out fighting seems to be escalating at an alarming rate in our schools. We thought I think it’s time that school officials recognize this as a serious problem and start addressing it as such. Please start asking some pertinent questions to students and parents — and parents stop thinking these are isolated incidents — they’re not. I think we will all benefit. Mary Ann Fullerton Castlegar Norman continued from page 6 Two of the artists she makes mention of in her article are Ootis- chenia’s Garry Graham for his black-and-white platter and Rob- son’s Richard Widdifield for his paintings of Nelson’s Baker Street at night. (Widdifield’s paintings are algo on display at the Castle- gar library). While Rosenberg doesn’t say 80, her article points up how fortu- nate we are in Castlegar to have the National Exhibition Centre at our doorstep. Admittedly, it is not in the most convenient location — outside the city boundaries and at the end of a dead-end road. But it’s easier to get to than Vancouver's art gallery and you can usually park within a few feet of the door — something that can’t be said of similar facilities in larg- er centres. If you want to see what cap- tured Rosenberg and Wong’s fancy — or perhaps take issue with their selections — you can catch the juried exhibition at the NEC until the end of this month. Rosenberg’s piece wasn't the only mention of Castlegar in the Saturday Review. A second came in the supple- ment’s cover article on UFO en- thusiast Milke Strainic. Castlegar is apparently the hotbed for UFO interest in B.C. (If anyone can tell me what that says about us, let me know). Strainic is the Canadian na- tional director for the Mutual UFO Network — MUFON for short. It’s an organization that tracks UFO sightings.) He says there is a certain area near Castlegar that has a high concentration of flying saucer zealots. They call the area “Valley of Lost Souls”. Mmn . .. a valley,. I wonder where that could be? Any guesses? Strainic says one fellow from this valley phoned to tell him about the coming end of the world. He said the “mother ship” will de- scend, and the “chosen ones” will all board the ship. He doesn’t say where they are headed — or how many are cho- sen ones. If you know anyone who is talk- ing like this, I have a bit of advice: put away all the sharp objects. I’ve lived here going on 12 years and haven't met anyone yet who talks about “mother ships” and “chosen ones.” Must be the crowd I hang out ith. Castlegar: famous for art and 8. What a combination.