I am John Allsopsa国际传媒 son.
My father was recently recognized by the office of the mayor for his ongoing voluntary work in helping to maintain a tract of the KVR trail near his home in Penticton and was praised in a recent letter to the editor by Arleen Maeck of Penticton.
The location is often littered with dangerous objects like used syringes and other drug paraphernalia, therefore my father took it upon himself over the past several years to clean it up on a daily basis to ensure the safety of those who use the trail, including small children who are obviously more at risk from these types of things.
I鈥檓 making an appeal for help as my father was recently evicted from his residence and my siblings and I are scrambling to find a solution. As for the circumstances of his eviction, he lives alone, and being quite an outgoing person, on several occasions invited homeless people from the area into his apartment to offer them food and for a bit of company. As I under-stand it, he was warned that this represents a threat to the wellbeing of the other residents, but his non-compliance has resulted in his being served with a formal eviction notice.
I am also reaching out wherever I can in the hope that someone is able to help us find a long term solution. Neither my siblings nor I are homeowners and there-fore unable to offer him a suitable living arrangement. Adding challenge to the situation, my father has a very modest income from his pension and has no investments or assets.
Our dad is very active and independent, being of sound mind and quite physically and mentally capable. He is committed to advocating respect for nature and the natural world, recently publishing an excerpt of his. His independence and commitment to community matters have made him an asset in various communities from Kitimat to the Okanagan, where he has volunteered huge amounts of his time to education and crusading for green spaces and the preservation of nature -- to name a couple of the areas which he is passionate about.
I am sure there is a lot more background information that I could provide, but in the interest of brevity, if someone can offer a solution, please feel free to con-tact me at 250-462-8148.
Patrick Allsop,听Penticton
Dear Editor:
I can鈥檛 help but wonder just exactly what the policy platform the NDP candidate, the unaffiliated candidate and the independent candidate will trot out over these next few weeks of the provincial election campaign.
The planks of the Conservative Party of BC presented by party leader John Rustad and the Penticton-Summerland candidate Amelia Boultbee regarding the many important issues facing British Columbians has been clearly presented and in the public domain for months and is readily available on the partysa国际传媒 website.
Over the last several weeks, leader David Eby and the brain trusts of the NDP have realized that to appear as relevant and sane and representative of the wishes of the majority of the voting public it just might prove useful to copy and pay lip-service to all of the policy plat-form of the Conservatives. Sorry Dave, and NDP candidates, that ain鈥檛 gonna wash.
What exactly can ex-UniLib candidates鈥 platform consist of other than what their former leader Kevin Falcon and that party stood for, which in the most part was purely a cut-and-paste of John Rustadsa国际传媒 vision for our province.
I can鈥檛 help but think that the main thrust of their campaign will be... Hey, we鈥檙e conservative too, but we鈥檙e not like those extremists, grass-root populists.
The independent candidate in our riding while a stalwart conservative individual of integrity and a former member of the CPBC, still embraces the partysa国际传媒 same policies. At this juncture, the battle for a dignified future for our province whether some may like it or not, still rests in the party system. One last chance.
The Greens鈥 Malthusian policy marching us back to neo-feudalism is not worthy of comment.
Come October 19th and in the advance polls, reflect on what future you wish for our province.
Brian Gray,听Penticton
Dear Editor:
Biblical scripture presents wisdom prefaced with the words 鈥渢he fool hath said in his heart,鈥 which can also be applied to the denial of climate change, denial of the necessity for vaccine mandate and the denial of need for universal medicare.
The mantra of those touting privatized medicine is 鈥渢he outcomes are better,鈥 which has proven to be patently untrue.听听
Alberta claims a drop in opioid tragedy, a claim repeated by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons. Hopefully itsa国际传媒 true.
Regrettably, Alberta and Saskatchewan have their own special method of tabulating statistics.
Rather than admit COVID-19 was decimating their elders, particularly in long-term care, COVID was no longer named. 鈥淒eath by 鈥渃omorbidity,鈥 a term for a 鈥渃oexisting condition,鈥 oh, such as age.听 A delightfully ambiguous catch phrase to avoid admitting to failure to implement COVID precautions or provide adequate care and vaccination.
In fact, a Western premier cold-bloodedly said: 鈥淭hey had a good run of it, anyway.鈥
An administrator of a care home, interviewed on television , upon the simultaneous deaths of 27 residents, ill, dehydrated, untreated, said: 鈥淲ell, I hope they don鈥檛 all die.鈥
Where opioid crisis is concerned, there is undoubtedly an equally ambiguous and self-serving lingo, and it won鈥檛 translate into actual publicly funded treatment.
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein had a solution for the financially impoverished. He put them on a bus with a one-way ticket to another province.
Survival of the fittest, by its real definition, is privatization. You can be as healthy and as well housed as you have the money to purchase.
And what do you know, sa国际传媒 Conservative leader John Rustad echoes these very sentiments, parroting Poilievre. Be careful what you wish for. Their lust for pow-er is not concerned with your well being.
Zoltan Lawrence, sa国际传媒
Dear Editor:
David Bond is always a voice of reason and source of sound information, but his recent column (Sept. 24) fails to acknowledge that the government is the citizenry and vice versa.
Governments that get out over their skis and too far ahead of the people are both suspect and vulnerable.听 It is much safer for our leaders to determine where public sentiment is going, and get out in front so as to appear to lead.
Governments that are perceived to be out of touch can fall victim to schemers with shiny objects, shallow slogans, ready nicknames and in the U.S., red caps!听 Do not expect too much climate leadership from governments, Mr. Bond, until public sentiment demands it.
In Canada, only sa国际传媒 and Quebec have shown much leadership on the climate file, but that will rapidly disappear if a populist government gets elected in either province.
Richard W. Hall, Penticton
Did NDP handle COVID properly?
Dear Editor:
The NDP machine is apoplectic over comments John Rustad made, regarding the COVID mRNA vaccine. Red faced and about pop a blood vessel, they scream 鈥淎NTI-VAXXER鈥 鈥淗ERETIC鈥 听and whatever else they can come up with.
My context of 鈥淩ustadsa国际传媒鈥 statement was simply that he doesn鈥檛 believe that the mRNA vaccines were effective. Well, neither do I, my wife, my friends and a multitude of others who after having three shots, not only caught COVID but also spread it.
We are done!
Do we believe in vaccines? Absolutely! We believe in vaccines that prevent us from getting a disease. I suspect if you were to ask Rustad that question, he would as well. The other sin, however, was challenging Dr. Bonnie Henry, media darling, purveyor of $400 shoes, chunky jewelery and the prison warden with the golden voice that locked us in solitary for almost two years.
Thou shalt not question our saviour.
During the lockdown, binge watching Netflix and trying to make sourdough, we tuned to her almost daily reports on Global TV. After a few months, as Global TVsa国际传媒 ratings spiked, I started to get concerned. Henry was becoming a rock star, with women copying her fashion, kids drawing pictures of her and people banging on pots to cheer for our healthcare heroes putting their lives on the line for the zombie apocalypse.
Except, they weren鈥檛. Hospitals were half empty as critical tests for cancer and other far more serious ailments, were cancelled because of what amounted to a flu. I wonder how long it would have taken people to start to question the whole thing if instead of Dr. Henry with her velvet voice and good looks, Teressa Tam, was the daily messenger?
Ask yourself why desperately-needed doctors and nurses were fired because the wouldn鈥檛 take an experimental vaccine that didn鈥檛 prevent getting or spreading COVID?
Also, ask yourself where the independent inquiries went, both federal and provincial, that were promised to examine what went right, what went wrong and how the billions were spent, in governments handling of the so-called crisis. We are still paying the bill and will for decades to come so damn right, question it!
were spent, in governments handling of the so-called crisis. We are still paying the bill and will for decades to come so damn right, question it!
Andy Richards, Summerland
Dear Editor:
I do not believe at all any information that comes out of the director of PACA Matt Hopkins. You are delusional if you expect the public to believe 90,000 plus bikes were in the bike lane to date. Or 637 per day. (Herald, Page A1, Sept. 25).
This is spin to justify the over $8 million of our taxpayer dollars to pay for this waste. The taxpaying public is extremely upset at this bike lane and the upcoming ruin of South Main Street.
There is not a demand for these bike lanes and you are providing false information to the public for your own self-interest. Less than 1,400 people voted on the bike lane as city council refused to put it to a referendum. Here are the numbers presented to council. On all four phases of those affected on route there were a total of 1,071 responses. A total of 679 or 63% said no. 392 or 36% said yes. That equates to less than 1% of the citizens of Penticton.听听
Why is PACA misinforming the public? A counter at Eckhardt and Martin really that cannot tell what is triggering it. Anyone who walks by triggers a count. I drive the area daily and there is no true and accurate bike lane counter placed in this area.
Hopkins is extremely bias on the issue and wants to ram more bike lanes in our city. This city council does not want an independent bike lane count from outside source as they previously voted it down. They will tout your false spin at the next council meeting on the greatness of bike lanes. Here is what a true and accurate bike lane usage counter looks like.
TUBE counters count cyclists by detecting the pressure exerted by bicycle wheels on pneumatic tubes. Once pressure is exerted, a precise and patented algorithm (ARGO) identifies the shape of the pressure signal based on a wide-variety of criteria -- including signal strength, duration, minimum and maximum amplitude, and more -- to determine whether the passerby is a bicycle or not. The counting algorithm is accurate to 97% and ignores the other modes such as trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians. As the basis of TUBE counting technology is pressure exertion, a bicycle will be detected regardless of the material of the wheels or frame.
PACA did not use any technology like this for their false and inflated numbers. Their information is extremely flawed and not even remotely scientific. We do not want your spin or false information. Until the above technology managed by an outside independent source is used no one believes you. Nice try conveniently introducing bike lane usage spin as the city prepares to destroy South Main Street.
Mike Hawley, Penticton
Dear Editor:
Justin Trudeau is such a hypocrite spewing all us Canadians with mansplaining while he spews jet fuel all around the world on his way out of his dead-ender political career.
Here is the perfect obscene example -- 听 huge carbon footprint jet setting around the world while the rest of us are supposed to pay his bloody quadrupled carbon tax.
And now he is in New York staying at his new lavish $9 million condo living it up, glad handing with Stephen Colbert on TV while at the UN lecturing the world on what Canada stands for.
Ironically, he doesn鈥檛 represent or stand for most Canadians who just want him and his worst-ever Liberal government gone.
And to make matters worse, both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-Fran莽ois Blanchett selfishly continue to keep the thieving, scamming Liberals in power when they should force a vote of non=confidence.
What an embarrassment! When will our worst ever political nightmare end? Someone has to tell all you politicians what Canadians are really thinking.
Greg Snider, Creston
Dear Editor:
Loser, Whopper Trump will not make the U.S. Presidency.
Stay well.
Joe Schwarz,听Penticton
