Dear Editor:

What is happening to our mountain?
First we mountain residents were approached by a developer, Adrian Erickson, who had a vision and dream for 6,000 acres on Anarchist Mountain, and while some of us were hesitant about his plan in the beginning, many of us were pleased and impressed with the quality and attractiveness of the Regal Ridge development as it progressed.
We certainly could have done much worse with an uncaring developer ravishing the land.  We ended up with a developer whose vision included conservation lands and high-quality statues at the entrance to most of his roads.
Unfortunately, Regal Ridge is no longer. It has been replaced by Osoyoos Mountain Estates, a title that reflects none of the richness of the previous title nor the development. It is bland, out-of-sync and makes no sense.
Where is Osoyoos Mountain?  I’ve checked my GPS and Google Earth, to no avail.
We are Anarchist Mountain.  Why change the name? It is my understanding the new company could have kept the name Regal Ridge but chose not to.
As one travels up the mountain, one is met with attractive and high quality statues that set this development aside from all others, creating what I call an outdoor art gallery, with each statue representing the main road into a subdivision.
These statues set the general theme for the whole Regal Ridge development. If I were a resident on one of these roads, I would identify my location with the statue at the end of my road and feel the statue was an integral part of my subdivision.
I note recently that one of these statues has been removed, for reasons unknown, but I hope it will be returned soon to its proper place.
And then there is the billboard at the rest area/brake check. This used to be the Regal Ridge development sign, tastefully done.
Now one is met with a huge white billboard announcing the Summit Cafe.  This billboard sticks out like a sore thumb and certainly is not in keeping with the Regal Ridge theme.
Surely they could have created something more aesthetically pleasing. I hope the vision of Regal Ridge will be carried on by this new company.

Irvin Redekopp
Osoyoos, B.C.