I was passed along the generic Tsawwassen protest button recently. It had "Tsawwassen opposed to" in a semi-circle around the top and the following list below: _ Power Lines _ Radio Towers _ Southlands _ Coal trains _ Everything There was a tick mark in front of the "Everything."
Do South Deltoids really protest excessively? Radio towers in Point Roberts is the current cause du jour. A Canadian company that is currently established in Ferndale, Wash. wants to establish a tower farm just south of the border. Allegedly, the signal from these towers will be so powerful as to interfere with electronic appliances in the Tsawwassen area. The protesters believe this will be a bad thing.
Regardless, they will be ugly. Probably not as ugly as the power lines that B.C. Hydro bequeathed us, but ugly just the same. It's a tough battle considering the towers will be in the United States and the regulators there have already given their blessing to the move.
The list is missing yesterday's outrage - overflights. Perhaps this problem no longer exists. With my diminishing hearing capacity, the noise didn't bother me. Now either the overflights have stopped or my hearing is getting worse. I probably should find out which it is. But now that I am ensconced in an office in Richmond on the flight path, I would probably judge the Delta complaints as trivial.
The coal trains are my bete noir in more ways than one. Through the summer barbecue season, the deck table requires a good scrubbing every day to get rid of the black soot. Over the winter the crud builds up on boats in Point Roberts Marina such that by the time spring arrives the boat looks like it has some vile disease.
The Southlands have been debated ad nauseam, but still they continue their tortuous path through the development process and the rabid opponents carry on their rear guard action to derail the process.
Last week a letter to the editor attacked the Delta school board for endorsing the Southlands development. The letter writer stated the chair "does not speak for me and should resign her post as a school trustee immediately."
Let's see now. An elected politician should resign "immediately" because they have an opinion different from someone else? Since it would be impossible to align your opinions with everybody else, all politicians would be subject to immediate departure.
Shouldn't all councillors, other than Sylvia Bishop, be requested to resign immediately as they were subject to wrong thinking by coming to their own conclusion on the Southlands.
Seems rather silly. But wait a minute! Maybe it works. Six weeks ago I trashed former federal fnance minister Jim Flaherty because he didn't have the same opinion on income splitting as mine. Three weeks after that he was gone from the federal cabinet. Pretty good turn around if I do say so myself.
Now let's see, who else is out there having different views than mine - or worse, having the same views. Who should we target for "wrong thinking?" Stay tuned. Perhaps we can whine and win!
