Harbour Key residents fed up

Editor:rnThis is an open letter to those people who obtain their supplies of drugs from the suspected dealer who lives and sells out of a house on Harbour Key Drive in Osoyoos.
Be notified that the residents of this street intend to monitor all cars going down this street. We will be forwarding license plate numbers to the RCMP on a regular basis. We intend to watch, take photos and monitor all activity on our street day and night. We have been assured of assistance from the RCMP who will respond to our calls when we notify them of suspicious activity.
We are fed up and we're not going to take it any more. We WILL take back our street and YOU may be stopped any time you enter Harbour Key Drive.
The United and Angry Residents of Harbour Key Drivern(Editor's note: While normally we don't print letters without names, the list of names on this letter was too long to print. There were 30 signatures on the letter.)

Editor:rnRe Time for discussion about drugs is now, not when it's too late, Jul. 27rnPlease spare us all from the relentless ignorance of the media. Crime and drugs would not be as closely intertwined if our government, to speak of another institution seemingly run by ignoramuses, had not decided to make drugs illegal. If tomatoes were banned, we would presently be inundated with thousands of home-based tomato grow-ops. If waffles were banned, the cops would be unable to cope with a 'rising tide' of waffle crime.
Want to reduce crime? Legalize all drugs.
Want to fix the grow-op problem? Legalize marijuana.
Want to fix the needle problem? Legalize all drugs.
Want to save lives? Legalize all drugs?rnWant to reduce costs? Legalize all drugs.
Want to reduce corruption? Legalize all drugs.
Want to reduce the spread of disease? Legalize all drugs.
Alan RandellrnVictoria

Editor:rnIt is interesting, that finally the issue of public beaches provoked the interest as shown in the last issue of Osoyoos Times. It must be recognized that public beaches in Osoyoos do not exist as assumed by many. The elevated water level by 4 feet by the manmade construction, the Zosel Dam in Oroville, WA, covers the Osoyoos Lake natural high water mark boundary and by this all public beaches are continually under the water. The natural high water mark is around 909 feet a.s.l.
The problem is caused by the fact that many interpreters of the public beaches location and access do not take the impact of any man made constructions on the legal boundaries as recorded by the Land Act. All waterfront landowners should check it carefully. The Oroville Zosel Dam, built in 1927 in a contravention of the existing treaty between USA and Canada signed in 1909, eliminated public beaches and subsequently the rights of the land owners are negatively affected by this construction. The levels of newly built Zosel Dam, built in 1985, enhanced the damage even more, notwithstanding that the International Joint Commission Order for its building stipulates in Sect. 17 that Canadian owners should be compensated by the owner of Zosel Dam for any damage caused. That was never done, the land has been de facto expropriated unconstitutionally.
Until some order is done in this, the fences will go to the water and many attempts to go on a beach are legally trespassing.
Ivo Tyl

Editor:rnResponse to letter to the Editor by Mayor John Slater in July 13 issue of the Osoyoos Times.
It would appear that our mayor or who ever wrote said letter (signed by Mayor John Slater) is incapable of understanding legal judgements.
I refer to Osoyoos (Town) v. Nobbs 2004 BCCA 431 at the Court of Appeal for British Columbia before: The Honourable Madam Justice Rowles, The Honourable Mr. Justice Braidwood, The Honourable Madam Justice Saunders.
In my previous letter of June 29, 2005 I stated re: Nobbs the court finds that The defendants are not in breach of the section 8.2.1 of the Town of Osoyoos Zoning By-law 1085 as they are not using the lot for the purposes of a recreational vehicle (park).
Although this was the ruling of the previous trial judge R.W. Metzger, it was also upheld by the Appeal Court ruling.
Since the issue of the appeal was the use of Nobbs' lot as a Recreational Vehicle Park contrary to By-law 1085 and the right to assess water and sewer rates on the basis of use as a recreational vehicle park, it is hard to understand how Mayor John Slater considers this a victory for the Town.
True, there were some minor concessions to the town like the removal of a shed and deck (both built after 1997). Also they had the counter claim overturned and didn't have to repay sewer and water charges of previously ordered, but not because of classification of land but rather that it was service provided.
One wonders if this waste of taxpayers dollars was done on good judgement?rnIf the Town receives a costs award in the Nobbs case will it be flaunted in our face while the rest of the costs are hidden away under the Town's secret Freedom of Information file?rnIs the appeal re: Rattlesnake Canyon a similar exercise in futility? Was the appeal voted on by council?rnMayor John Slater previously stated that the judge had made a mistake (Rattlesnake Canyon decision) and it must be appealed or all the Town's By-laws would be useless.
Surely someone on council or administration must know that we have the right to challenge any By-law without affecting the others, as each By-law must stand on its own merits. Take away that right and our country becomes a dictatorship.
Edmund Burke famously said, The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.rnI encourage the taxpayers to read the reasons for judgement and appeal court order of the Honourable Madame Justice Saunders on the government website http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/ca/04/04/2004bcaa0431.htmrnFor those who do not have access to the internet let me know and I will provide you with copies of the court case (altogether 8 pages).
Sy MurselirnOsoyoos

Editor:rnI was leafing through a copy of Osoyoos Times the other day, and being new to the town, thought I'd read some of the non news articles, to see what's happening. That's when I was introduced to Dr. Hepburn. I don't know if he's local, but if he is, I'd like to thank the Times for warning me of who to avoid if my health is in jeopardy. If not, why print his drivel?
He writes of a patient, Norm, who died while playing bingo, as though that had something to do with it. I don't play bingo, but I would think his death has more to do with his doctor than with a dobber. And I would hate to pass while under his treatment, doing something else he objects to, and end up in one of his ego filled articles.
He goes on to call people who buy lottery tickets, 'Dumb and Dumber', and the 'poor of society'. Bemoaning how it's only the foolish who buy the tickets. A lottery ticket is two bucks. It's the equivalant of the wealthy buying high risk stocks. You win some, you lose some. And to say how lotteries are a 'tax on stupidity', where do you think a lot of our provincial funding comes from? Not from the sports you were so proud to say you're involved in Doc.
Finally, he talks about having to wait in line to pay for his gas, as some 'lottery victim' peruses the glass for their next purchase. Hey, maybe you should ride a bike Doc, and not a gas guzzler, so patients like Norm would have a better example. If you rode a bike, maybe Norm….no I won't go there. But it makes as much sense as blaming bingo.
Mark SchooleyrnOsoyoos

Editor:rnOsoyoos Time's editorial Time for discussion of drugs is now, not when it's too late is commendable.
The editorial would have been even more relevant by suggesting; It is time for society to discuss the underlying social and economic issue that fuels drug addiction and crime.
Realizing social problems such as drug addiction and crime are symptoms of the underlying systemic problems in a nation's social economic and legal system. Increased disparities, an increasingly stratified society, and a widening gap between rich and poor, at home and in the world, are what fuel drug induced and other types of violence and crime.
Treating symptoms won't cure the disease, and the editorial recognizes the police do what they can. The police can deter and solve crime, unfortunately the police can not solve the social and economic issues that create the environment that feed drug related and other type of violence and crime.
It is a social, economic and political matter, and hence a question of what kind of society the member and voters that makes up the society want to become.
Subsequently, that requires a discussion between the members that make up society and the elected politicians from a municipal, provincial and federal level, that makes up our government.
Involving the Universities will require that the government identify and formulate solutions to the underlying issues that nurture the drug trade violence and crime in general.
Considering an OCP that does not integrate social and economic analysis and planning with land development, may be good for the Land developer, but it is certainly not good for society at large, and simply doesn't meet modern standards. Hence, overall Community Planning would be the natural stage for such a social and economic discussion between members of the community, the municipality and government to address the issues that fuel the drug trade violence and other crime.
Osoyoos Time's editorial raised the issues, will the community respond?
Kell PetersenrnOsoyoos

Editor:rnLicensed Practical Nurses in BC are at a critical stage in their evolutionary role within Health Care and must collaborate to ensure that the proper path is taken. If you are an LPN, please contact us. If you know an LPN, please cut this letter out and give it to them for their consideration.
LPN's, you are well aware that we do not bargain our contracts with other nurses of the Province. As part of 3 regulated groups of professionals who are legally allowed to call themselves nurses, we believe that it is logical to discuss various professional issues exclusively with other nurses.
This does not mean changing unions, a common misperception. There is a difference between the union to which we belong, and the bargaining association that our union represents us at.
Currently, the Health Authorities Act stipulates that only
's and RPN's may be allowed to bargain at the Nurses Bargaining Association table. Both these groups belong to different unions yet collaborate to ensure common nursing issues are addressed. What is needed is an amendment to this legislation allowing LPN's to sit at this bargaining table also.
In March of this year, a grassroots movement started with a group of LPN's in Kelowna, with the intention of educating every possible LPN in the province to our mission. It has taken a dire shortage of nurses for us to be allowed to practice the skills we have been trained with. With our clinical evolution must come professional evolution.
There are many more details to this issue than we can possibly have printed in a simple letter to the editor. But what we are confident of is that the greater majority of LPN's in this province are desirous of change in some way. Please consider our request to acquire more information so that you may decide for yourself how our situation should be handled. Together, we can make a difference.
Nicole Fishley