LETTER: Does the $6M bill for infrastructure upgrade benefit developers? Will it ruin The Mountain Kingdom?
Dear editor,At a City of Rossland financial planning meeting late last year, I asked questions about the justification for the Columbia/Washington infrastructure upgrade project. After a few vague and unqualified answers about the need to replace 100-year-old infrastructure, further discussion was cut off on the grounds that...
ATAMANENKO: The U.S. Right on crime campaign
Two prominent US Republicans, Newt Gingrich (former Speaker of the House) and Pat Nolan, (former Republican Leader of the California State Assembly) are saying that the American style “tough on crime” approach is not working. They, along with other US Conservative leaders are spearheading the Right on Crime Campaign, a national movement urging states […]
QUNFUZ: How many martyrs?
Our thoughts and prayers are with the heroes and heroines and martyrs of Libya, and with our brave correspondent in Tripoli, now under fire. Communication is on and off, mainly off. Here is her most recent report. Since she sent it the phone lines have been cut entirely and the city’s electricity is also disconnected. […]
COMMENT: Back to the "Good" Old Days?
“The disparity in income between the rich and the poor is merely the survival of the fittest. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God.” —John D. Rockefeller, 1894. During the first 70 years that followed this pronouncement by one of the 19th-century’s leading robber barons, […]
City looks to collaborate with province on lowering Columbia Ave. speed limit.
One of the realities for many small cities and towns in rural BC is that often our main streets also function as provincial highways--as is the case with Columbia Street in Rossland. While those highways do bring economic spinoffs in the form of traffic, they also--as Rosslanders well know--bring the less desirable realities...
Lions and Rotarians combine forces for park repairs
At the end of March 2009, the Rossland Telegraph reported on some vandalism incidents at the Lions Club campground that resulted in about $10,000 worth of damages. The roof of the gazebo had its shingles stripped off, as did the roof of the storage area. Also counted amongst the casualties at the well-used campground were the...
Harper, Autocrat
As tens of millions of Egyptians celebrated their victory over a brutal dictator and began the task of creating democracy, the story from Canada was of democracy going backwards. For five years under Stephen Harper, Canada has been subjected to a systematic erosion of democracy (as I document here). Canada is not Egypt and Harper is […]
Rossland Neighbourhoods of Learning project update
The Rossland Neighbourhoods of Learning committee recently submitted a proposal to the Board of Education for School District # 20. The proposal outlines a vision for changing educational paradigms across the District, and two scenarios for educational configurations in Rossland. It is hoped that this proposal will be considered...
COMMENT: The West Kootenay's Incredible Shrinking Labour Force
Over the last couple of weeks I have heard several comments about a “mini boom” that will result from development projects such as the Waneta Dam, the expansion at Firebird Technologies in Trail, the new casino in Castlegar and some recovery in the forestry sector. Based on B.C. Stats data, we may have a long […]
Rousseau, Nasser and the Egyptian revolution
In watching the live streaming coverage of the Egyptian revolution on Aljazeera I am awe-struck by the incredible humanity of what is unfolding in that country. I imagine Jean Jacques Rousseau wandering amongst the throngs of people and being equally amazed and delighted. For the character of this uprising, this outpouring of frustration and joy, of kindness […]
