Reconsider before you rage
We used to think of road rage as a peculiarly American problem. After all, they apparently shoot each other on their freeways. We like to condemn them as “gun-happy Yankees,” taking pride in our wonderfully Canadian peaceful efforts world wide.
But we’re only half right at best, for while their highly policed city populations seem to prove our anti-gun Canadian stance right, their relatively little-policed but major gun-owning rural populations in most cases indicate there’s something else afoot. In the cities it’s mostly greed, hatred and crime while in the country it always seems to have more to do with something political. I believe this is a fair observation.
And now road rage is lifting its ugly head on our streets as well. You know why? It’s like that well-known cartoonist who said: “I has found the enemy, and they is us.” Not U.S. but us! Many among us will testify that Penticton (and the Okanagan in general) is home to some of the rudest, most selfishly pugnacious drivers they’d ever had the misfortune of slowing down for so much as one second. Many times I myself have muttered “don’t blame me just because you slept in!”
But we also realize that like crime and one-world politics, the problem likely has as much or more to do with their own nature than it does with being a little late. Yeah, they’re late all right – late for an appointment with their maker the way some of them drive.
All I know is that once you get to the place where one extra second of time is life and death to you (though, of course, there are, indeed, times like that), you had better stop and reconsider your life.
Holger Goerlitz
Penticton
*****
Weberg fundraisers grateful
We held two fundraiser barbecues to raise money for Jamie Weberg, the youth pastor at the Church of the Nazarene and also the chaplain of the Penticton Vees hockey team.
Jamie was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in February. We reached out for support from our community and the response was overwhelming. The events were a huge success.
We want to thank Colin Powell and his staff at the Marketplace IGA. Without their support these events would not have been possible. Colin and his staff have confirmed to us how well the Marketplace IGA is connected to the heart of the community.
We would also like to thank the Gliege/Mason families (A&W restaurants) as well as the Kettle Valley Station Pub for their support.
Karin Crowley
Penticton
*****
Loss of garden hard to explain
I write this letter for myself but also for my son. I just had a difficult conversation with him on why they are shutting down the beloved community garden we go past almost daily.
The only answer I could gather from the article was that the city and council think it’s not pretty enough. Explaining that to my four year old was of course met with another “why?”
This left me with a loss of words, honestly. These days to think that a gravel or concrete parking lot with manicured lawn around the edges and perhaps some ornamental grass is prettier to look at than growing vegetables and fruit makes no sense to me and if possible even less sense to my son.
He is sad we cannot watch the vegetables grow and get ideas for our home garden boxes. He’s sad those vegetables won’t go to the Soupateria to feed hungry people any more. He’s sad they won’t be making the food for the worms any more with the compost. You see every time we walked by this garden if there was someone working they would take time to talk to my children about what they were doing. My son would like to someday work in a field where he can grow and care for gardens and landscapes (often after watching the city parks department hard at work). I get the feeling he’d much rather be working in the vegetable garden though rather than tending to the manicured grass around a parking lot. Kudos to everyone who was a part of C. URB, you did a wonderful job and thank you for involving my children in the process.
Shelly Hebert
Penticton
*****
Garden decision misguided
In response to the Mayor’s comments on the appearance of the C. URB gardens: “A largely unused parking lot with untended, weedy gravel verges is more attractive and in keeping with community standards than vegetable gardens?” Enough said.
Eva Durance
Past-president
Penticton Urban Agriculture Association
*****
Thank you for your help
To the kind people that helped me after my fall on Farrell Street on Saturday, May 3, to the dog I didn’t get to pet, to the emergency room doctor that embroidered my nose and to my wife who was everywhere — thank you.
Carl Harris
Penticton