_ Opinion

Drinking and driving:

Tnere is no season

Most people have learned to be responsible about alcohol.
But others need to be reminded.

During a hot summer Saturday a cold drink goes down so
nice after a long bout with the lawn mower or an aftemoon of
ball at the park. Often, the drink contains alcohol and; for
some, the first is seldom the last.

Peninsula police forces don’t care what time of year it is or
whether the sun is beating down in the middle of the
aftemmoon.

With the Spring Counter Attack program, a special
emphasis is placed on combating drivers who have been
drinking,

And police are finding that the people that get hammered
and get behind the wheel are repeat offenders — the same
people who should know better. They’re the ones who have
been caught before and, because they demonstrate a problem
with alcohol, they’re also the most dangerous.

All it takes is one mistake. Too often newspapers report the
camage resulting from a drunk driver who weaved across the
center line and hit an oncoming innocent.

Sludge disposal:
Hinting for some help

Municipal councils on the Peninsula have asked the
provincial Ministry of Environment to take a more active
interest in an initiative to remove sludge from sewage
treatment plants, dewater it and apply it to farmland.

Following a joint meeting of Peninsula councils, the
Environment Ministry was asked to show us what damage is
being done to the ocean environment by pumping sludge
through the outfalls of each of the three Peninsula plants.

The joint committee’s statement was more of an expres-
sion of frustration that the Ministry of Environment has never
provided evidence of environmental degradation as a result of
discharging sludge through the outfalls.

That’s not to say the municipalities don’t recognize that
continuing to discharge sludge isn’t doing any good.

But for the Environment Ministry to simply state the
municipalities are operating the plants in contravention of
existing permits isn’t enough.

Mel Couvelier’s latest provincial budget doesn’t seem to
help much either. It provides for fines against those who
operate contrary to permits but doesn’t provide funding to
make it affordable for the Peninsula municipalities to became
environmentally safe.

By saying, “Take a more active role,» we don’t just want
proof that harm is being done. We want financial help to meet
the permit regulations, in order to stay on top of the rest of
Greater Victoria in terms of liquid waste management.

Letters to the editor must be
signed and contain the writer's
address and telephone number.
Letters should not exceed 500
words in length and may be edit-
ed for clarity, legality or taste.

TheReview

Serving The Saanich Peninsula
Since 1912
9781 2nd Street
Sidney, B.C V8L 4P8
or RO. Box 2070
Sidney, B.C. V8L 3S5
Second Class Mail Registration #0128

656-1151

Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: Glenn Werkman
AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER

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CONTROLLED

Volume 76 Issue No.18

TheReview

No... JUST "SPRING
COUNTER-ATTACK!

Wednesday, May 2,1990 — A6
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Solution offered
for Pat Bay mix

Editor:

I have a suggestion to solve the
safety problem regarding sea
planes and boats, sailboarders and
kayakers in Patricia Bay.

Since the tower at Victoria Inter-
national Airport cannot see the sea
planes taking off and landing, and
since the pilots insist this 1s dan-
gerous, then ban the sea planes
because boats have been using
Saanich Inlet far longer than sea
planes have. 5

The boaters and North Saanich
council then do not have to build a
launching ramp — we just use the
existing sea plane ramp and save
an awful lot of argument and
money:

I am sure the sea plane pilots
would be much happier in a safer
environment.

CI. Doman
North Saanich

Don’t log her

Editor:

This is pursuant to the appeal of
“Class concerned about Car-
manah” (Reader’s Mailbox, Apr.
25) and my adoption of a Car-
manah tree from the Wilderness
Committee in the name of my
granddaughter.

Don’t log “Little Sarah”

In Upper Carmanah —

I adopted her only last week;

She’s barely 500;

Just half of her lifetime

Of helping our gasping earth
breathe.

You would not demolish

A Chris Wren cathedral

Yet this tree is more awesome by
far;

She rises aloft

In great soaring beauty

To her canopy lungs in the sky.

Twelve ring-a-rosy children

Might comfortably hug her

And Jack on his beanstalk touch
top;

But the rest of us mortals

Just gaze up in wonder

At her beauty, her height and her
girth

And thank God for her presence
on earth.

Gert Lawrie

Bak Un ne gC Hoe mle wee ee

Corporations can
do a lot of good

Editor:

The editorial comments
(McHappy Day: The town helps
out Ronald, Review, April 11),
contained in your Big Mac attack
are rather confusing.

On the one hand you berate the
McHappy proclamation as putting

_an official “(public stamp, on a

private business’s public rela-
tions.’’ Then a couple of para-
graphs later you acknowledge
“Ronald McDonald Children’s
Charities of Canada is more than
public relations . . . (it) is a
separate entity that has helped the
children of this country enor-
mously.”

There is nothing in the procla-
mation that says “go and buy a
Big Mac on April 25th,” but it
does point out that $1 from every
one sold goes to charity, and that
this year’s goal is $1 million.

We do from time to time pub-
licly recognize private businesses
that make a substantial contribu-
tion to the community, notably in
this past year, Shaw Cable who
have made large donations to our
Whale Museum, and Ellehammer
Industries who have provided
money for playground equipment
at Tulista Park.

McDonald Children’s Charities
provide Ronald McDonald House,
a home close to Children’s Hospi-
tal for families of children being
treated for cancer or other life-
threatening diseases, as well as
funding many other programmes
relating to child health and devel-
opment. In our own community,
McDonald’s is one of the sponsors
of the Fire Safety Houses, which
are used by our local fire depart-

ments.
Large corporations have the

ability to do a lot of good in
society, and when they do, surely a
public acknowledgement is the
least we can do to thank them, and
hopefully encourage others to fol-
low that good corporate example.

On Wednesday the 25th I did as
I have done for the past several
years. I joined ‘other mayors (who
also issued proclamations), pro-
vincial politicians, community
leaders, policemen, firemen and
media representatives, in working
at McDonalds.

If the proclamation bothered
you, I guess you can work yourself

Se ee

Soe

into a real snit over the fact that we
are all providing “free labor” for a
private business. =:
Mr. Editor, have a McHappy
Day!
Norma Sealey
Mayor
Town of Sidney

Port accounting
refreshing news —

Editor:

It is refreshing to hear that the
Mayor will finally make public a
full disclosure of the finances
involving public funds in the Port
of Sidney development.

The amounts paid for the many
studies over the years, the amount
paid by former Mayor Burdon’s
council for the Stricker property,
the interest paid on servicing that
debt, the amount of expenditure
involved in servicing and improv-
ing this land by the Town staff, the
subsidy paid by the Provincial
government and the amount paid

by the Federal government to build ¢.

the little breakwater — these items
at least must be included in any
balance sheet on the subject.

Against these outgoings of pub-
lic monies, one would expect to
see the revenues including sale of
part of the land, and the lease
payments on the balance as well as
the spinoff benefits to the com-
munity, if any.

I recall that this latter item was a
necessary ingredient to access the
Federal funding, yet there are
fewer boats in that area than there
were fen years ago, now that the
federal floats at the foot of Beacon
have been removed.

I think all of us would like to see
that we haven’t been hoodwinked
by. all three levels of government
into paying quite a number of
millions of dollars to finance a
private condo and marina develop-
ment on prime waterfront land, a
non-renewable resource.

Cc R. Ward
Sidney

The facts about
Memorial land

Editor:

&

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To the people of Sidney and #

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