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22 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer
Dear Editor:
It is with great interest that I read the past few
weeks of Letters to the Editor regarding the very debatable
issue of development potential in Jumbo.
I am pleased to see you have started publishing
these letters again after your previously imposed hiatus
that, by the way, most of us didn’t feel had any
secret agenda behind your decision to do this, but just
that it was an unnecessary restraint on an issue very
important to community members on both sides of
the debate.
Well, you’ve righted this wrong . . . and then some,
as we are now seeing a volume and quality of opinion
not seen before . . . or should I say that perhaps we
HAVE seen it before.
I do have to say that recently your ‘Letters’ page(s)
are some of the best reading around, and I think it is
quite unique to seemingly not put any limitations on
the length of submissions, and so encouraging people
to vent their opinions in quite imaginative forms.
I, for one, would rather read about someone’s
thoughts on any local issue - cross-country skiers
clashing with snowmobilers over the shared use of
trails, local food production and community greenhouse
projects, or opinions of Jumbo pro or no - than
see another half dozen photos of where the Pioneer
travelled to on vacation last week, but I digress . . .
Th ere seems to be a trend in both local papers to
publish a submitted letter that has already been seen
in the other paper, the latest case in point was Ms.
Rombach’s tome about why she feels Jumbo would be
a good thing for the community to get behind and
support.
Well, I won’t comment (much) on the fact that
her arguments seem very idealistic rather than scientifi
c about how changing an ecosystem up there by
clearing ski slopes and seeding grass will be a benefi -
cial kickstart to the foodchain, and allow many tasty
snacks for the grizz who has now, based on various
reported sightings, escaped from the zoo of Mr. Hasburgh’s
endless imagination.
Speaking of which, I think it’s great to see how
Mr. Hasburgh’s ironic wit has galvanized so many in
opposition to Jumbo to come forward themselves and
write earnest/thoughtful letters expressing their doubt
that hitching the future of nature and wildlife in the
B.C. backcountry to a freight train of urban American
and Canadian voters may not be the safest option, as
once done, JGR is a decision there is no going back
on, no matter who is in which political offi ce.
Th e passionate and well-written letters from the
two longtime ‘nail-pullers’ who ski and hike in the
Valley summarizes what so many feel; that whatever
LETTERS
is up there now, even in its acknowledged un-pristine
state, (which still clearly includes more than a few
living grizzly bears, if you believe the reported DNA
studies, as well as numerous anecdotal sightings), is
better saved in its present state than have boutique
shops and restaurants of a small town up there, even
with all the environmentally-sound safeguards the developers
have met/promised thus far.
And to imply, as Mr. Hasburgh has done, that it is
really a choice of two evils, either the JGR, (not so evil
according to Mr. Hasburgh, with its sound environmental
plan), or further logging and/or strip-mining,
or even gas and oil exploration, seems very pessimistic
at best.
What, exactly, has happened to the option of leaving
well enough alone? Th at’s what it seems that so
many people are now asking. At any rate, the reading
in your paper just gets better and better!
It seems like both Ms. Rombach and Mr. Hasburgh
are very concerned that this contentious issue is
damaging our community with a darker, negative side
to this debate.
Th e alleged name-calling and ‘blitzkriek of insults
by backbiting hyperbolic hyenas’, to quote an only
modestly hyperbolic Mr. Hasburgh, or the tragic loss
of free speech, as found by Ms. Rombach, are attributed
to the warring factions of marauding citizens over
this debate.
I guess that I have missed the meetings where this
nastiness is occuring, or the clashes in the streets. Th e
only things I have seen thus far are opinions, though
strongly voiced, or laced with subtle ironic wit as acknowledged
by Mr. Hasburgh, not chaos, and general
infringements of one’s basic rights. Clearly this is a polarizing
debate, but I don’t see it taking anyone’s existing
livelihood away, nor ripping apart the community
at its seams with grudges set and to be held against
folk for their opinions on this matter.
Talk about hyperbole! If indeed someone is found
March 2, 2007
Reader enjoying recent letters
“It’s great to see how Mr.
Hasburgh’s ironic wit has
galvanized so many to
come forward . . . “
- Joe Hildes
to be promoting false ‘facts’ in a public forum, in order
to sway public opinion, then perhaps that individual
should expect to be taken to task in a public
forum themselves. Being overtly nasty is never helpful
in a small community, but you have to expect some
opposition in a public debate . . . when did we all get
so sensitive?
And further to Mr. Hasburgh’s hilarious schtick
of an American in Canada, along with his keen but
perhaps faulty knowledge of how taxes from megadevelopment
projects boost local goverment services,
I would ask him to perhaps clarify how Invermere’s
local health care services will be adequately funded to
absorb all those needing acute medical attention from
the new Village of Jumbo Glacier Resort.
Th ose thousands of denizens made up of accidentprone
tourists all testing themselves on the slopes, and
those forgetting to take their cardiac medications thus
developing chest pains while strolling the boutiques
and indulging in a plate of spatzle in one of the fi ne
restaurants up there.
All these tourists, badly in need of urgent care at
our local hospital, having been faithfully been brought
down in an Invermere ambulance. Th e local hospital
workers - doctors, nurses, lab and X-ray techs - appear
already to be stretched on busy holiday times here. So
will the locals, including Mr. Hasburgh, be content to
accept longer waiting times in the emergency department
to get his sore neck assessed after slipping off the
road while teaching his B.C.-born son how to drive on
our treacherous mountain roads?
But I was in the middle of making a point a while
back . . . oh yes, deja vu. So if the citizens of this valley
get carried away and can’t be trusted to see their letter
printed in only one of the local papers, then perhaps
you editors can help us out by sifting through to see
if one sounds vaguely familiar, or if, indeed you have
already seen it in the competitors ‘Letters’ page (you
DO read the other paper, don’t you?), then don’t republish
the old letter, but save the space for some new
opinion/perspective, or even, if you are really, really
stuck, then put in yet another picture of the Pioneer
on its world tour, as it’s better than having deja vu all
over again.
J. Hildes
Windermere
Editor’s Note: Since our newspaper’s circulation is
now at 8,000 plus several hundred online readers,
we must continue to serve the majority of our readers
who don’t purchase Th e Echo. We apologize to
those “overlap” customers who read both newspapers
for the necessary duplication of material.