Recent comments

Some people do read your words, Charles. Much of your writing, however, triggers reflection rather than a need to respond. I had assume that encouraging reflection is what motivates you to write.

You may be right about the 96 vs. 4 percent, but I am reminded that the 4 percent are as much part of the species as the 96 percent.

André Comte-Sponville is one philosopher whose writing helps me understand (at least a bit better) what distinguishes humans from spruce trees. He shines a light (for me) into some of the corners that trouble me. “A Small Treaties on the Great Virtues” and “The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality” are examples of his writing I am referring to. What I like about him is that he lives today, and his thoughts are expressed from within the reality of today whereas many of the thoughts from philosophers of way back when, although still true today, were expressed at times quite different from ours in terms of the knowledge of the world and all of that which makes it different from the moon and Mars.

Don’t give up, Charles. Keep on writing.

“The Pathway to Prosperity in British Columbia runs through its Rural Places” is a well timed, well researched and well written discussion paper which should be compulsary reading for anybody who is running in the upcoming election. Thank you Director McGregor for bringing it to our attention.

Important Public Meeting:
The Future of K-12 Education in Rossland
Thursday, February 28, 7pm
RSS Gymnasium
The Rossland Neighbourhood of Learning Committee invites you to come out and discuss our current situation and plan for the future.

We believe there will be a K-12 solution in Rossland this fall.

This is a meeting for the whole community. Share your thoughts, discuss the options, and consider how you can get involved!

You really did get your mojo on, congratulations on the great races!

Since this interview about a week ago, Joines has racked up a total of four medals. This article shows how well Canada's been doing as a whole.

Today's the last day of the Championships, team races. Follow the results on Alpine Canada's site.

And here's Joines' AC site, and her personal site.

the retiring generation of us boomers are changing some old patterns, and one of these is communities that are mostly retired workers living in former industrial towns. take gold river, ocean falls and even kimberly is going in that direction 

and if you took away all of the tax dollars paid by people affiliated with cominco,one way or the other, there wouldn't have been a town here after 1905 when the mines were shut down by the old mining causes ghost towns scenario.

we are still a bedroom community for teck cominco, and some of us seem to be trying very hard not to see that. all the doctors and engineers wouldn't be here if cominco hadn't intervened and got the hospital kept in trail either.

rossland has a lot of steep terrain and long winters so it probably won't make a viable old folks home either. 

Pat; the smelter is not an industrial base to Rossland.  The smelter does not pay a tax to Rossland in any sense of the word.  Cominco does not sponsor anything in Rossland to any extent that it does in Trail.   Employment most certainly does not fall into the category of being a industrial base. 

The Ski hill and the upgraded golf course were supposed to bring millions of dollars from tourist dollars into the financial structure of Rossland.  This has never happened nor will it ever do so.  There are far more people hoteling or  moteling it in Trail or Castlegar then traveling to the hill or golf course by bus than there are people hoteling it in Rossland. 

My view point is being taken from historical patterns, not nice to have or wouldn't it be nice scenarios.  If Rossland loses its schools, what is there to keep families in Rossland or what is there to draw young families?

I am going to be the alarmist in this and will do so based on my knowledge of the history of N. America, in particular, Canada.  I am a profound history buff who spends countless hours reading about the history of Canada and this country’s pioneer settlement practices and patterns.  To really understand and gain an in-depth knowledge of Canada’s history one “must remove” all emotional connections with what one is reading.   A point blank, non-emotional understanding and recognition of history is imperative when we want to learn and advance through the teachings left by history. 

Canada and the USA is riddled with ghost towns.  When we read and study the reasons these towns became ghost towns, we first see the industrial commercialism of the town drying up.  At least this is what most historical stories focus on and the readers, like sheep, tend to just accept that the industrial base of the town caused the town to become a ghost town. Well why wouldn’t we, wasn’t that what the authored stories focused on?

In a book The Making Of A Ghost Town, authored by Mindle Parkison,  University Press, 1964, Parkison, a professor of history at Harvard University, stated that, “though the industrial base of the town diminished, it was not until the educational system of the town died that the people of the town rapidly vanished.”   In other words, it was not the industrial aspect of the towns that caused the towns to become ghost towns, it was the ending of the school system that actually killed the towns. 

We have an example of a small town not far from us by the name of Green Wood.  This little town is surviving solely because they still have their school.   Their industrial base of mining had ended thirty years ago but their educational base is still intact.  Everybody thought that when the banks moved out and when the BC government cut back on their municipal funding by nearly 50%, the town would rapidly become a ghost town.  Well the one thing those people fought tooth and nail to keep was their school.  This one factor is now recognized as what has kept the young families in the town and has delayed the inevitable factor of the Green Wood becoming a ghost town.

How does this relate to Rossland?  We all know that Rossland does not have an industrial base.  We have a ski hill that operates for about three and a half months of the year and a golf course that is struggling to survive.  So why has Rossland not become a ghost town?  Simple, because working age families still have a local school system for their children.  When young families look for a new location to move to, what are the first two questions about a possible new location?  “How is the work situation in the town or is it within reasonable distance from the new home?”  The second question, and the one that most often is the determining factor, “Is there a school system for the children?”

History has repeated its self countless times that the local school system is the foundation of the community and is the determining factor as to whether or not young families will accept the community.  So where does Rossland fit within all of this?  Study the factual happenings of history.  Rossland has no viable commercial industry and is about to lose the local schools.  Do you want to believe what history has repeatedly taught you or do you want to bury your head in an emotional sand pile and believe that this town will last without a local school system?  This city can survive without one of these factors, but not both.   We can study countless budget scenarios all we want; however, if Rossland losses its schools, will a well planned budget even matter?  History tells us “IT WILL NOT!”

This definitely crossed my mind right at the start, Shelley, and it's worth considering. But a quick glance through the budget makes it pretty clear that the city spends money on a lot of different things...

If there were a "same amount" question, how could you 'vote' when most of us would agree with most of the items there?! You'd run out of stars for one, and it's not a question you prioritize: "I REALLY want the same amount spent on X, and only sort of want the same amount spent on Y." It makes no sense.

This survey was intended to highlight areas within that budget that respondents felt needed more or less funding, and to highlight particular ideas for how to change the way the city does it's business, either to save money or do things more efficiently or effectively.

I assumed that respondents would understand that not mentioning an item is much like saying that it should retain the same funding. Clearly, if you vote neither to increase Tourism Rossland's budget, nor to decrease it, you've implictly said that it's receiving about the right amount.

I'll add that Thoughtstream is not quite like a traditional "survey." Here the point is to allow people to write out their thoughts and ideas without the boundaries and assumptions of a traditional survey.

What you're alluding to would be better served by Survey Monkey, for example. There, we would have used a great long list of all the things the city spends money on and the respondents could choose from "way more, more, the same, less, and way less," for example.

BUT, this kind of survey typically gets WAY fewer respondents and is a lot more onerous to read through and complete. It would not give people the opportunity to offer innovative solutions, and it might make people feel like they needed to know a lot more about the budget to answer, so even those who started the survey might not want to finish.

Here, people are just voting on other people's ideas. It keeps it simple!

As has been brought, repeatedly, to the attention of the SD-20 board members at the recent public meetings there appears to be a chasm of error in the figures, financial and otherwise, they have provided as the basis for their decision-making. There also appears to be much doubt as to the manner, and/or transparency, in which those figures have been calculated.

At the February 12 meeting at RSS the board was asked, among other questions, the following:

"A simple yes or no answer please. Is the SD-20 Board confident that, if scrutinized and/or challenged under the microscope of a more formal public arena, the figures you have presented regarding this process would stand as fact?"

The reply, after being pressed back from an explanation to a clear yes/no, was "Yes".

Unless put to further scrutiny, in whatever manner is possible, it is certain that all parents and children within SD-20 will have to accept the figures SD-20 created in preparation for these meetings and live with whatever decisions come of it on February 25.

Which brings us back to our original topic: Amalgamation.
Since the present system doesn't allow for proper representation, I would love to see a new government that would allow and encourage de-amalgamation in areas such as ours. That's worth fighting for!