Learning in park

will continue on

Re: Park intended for enjoyment, not for visitors’ education (Letters, Oct. 30)

Are you serious Betty Gibbens? If you think adding or replacing some more grass and throwing in a few more signs are going to stop people from learning while in Beacon Hill Park I think you’re a tad confused.

Beacon Hill is already one of the largest urban parks in Canada. For the hundreds of thousands of tourists who stroll through the park on a yearly basis there is already so much to learn, with or without signs. Also, Beacon Hill Park already is a historic site.

Change the name a hundred times. Make it bigger. Just don’t take it away.

Frank Charvey

Sidney

Columnist hits mark

on mental health

I wish to congratulate your columnist Vivian Moreau on her column (Reporter’s Notebook, Oct. 23) concerning her mother’s longstanding mental disorder and subsequent death.

She very eloquently described the sad consequences for the patients and families who are dealing with these undiagnosed and untreated conditions. She also illustrated the rewards and consequences of proper diagnosis and treatment which resulted in her being able to enjoy a close relationship with her mother before she died.

Hopefully her courageous and honest story will help shed more light on the necessity for more understanding and compassion for families dealing with mental disorders. Stories such as this should be helpful in encouraging our politicians to financially support facilities and care for the mentally ill in a far greater way than they have in the past.

Thank you for sharing this story, Vivian.

Alma Keenan

Oak Bay

Media handed protesters credibility

I was at the B.C. legislature Friday night to watch my wife and daughter participate as dancers in the 2010 Olympic torch welcoming ceremony.

This was an inspiring spectacle to watch and it made them proud to be a part of this historic event. The show was a huge success despite the efforts of a group of anti-Olympic protesters there to disrupt it.

After these malcontents blocked the progress of the torch relay, they made their way down to the legislature and proceeded to try to disrupt the show.

They succeeded in frightening some of the younger members of the dance troupe but little else.

These ne’er-do-well protesters and their supporters wouldn’t understand the kind of pride of participation these performers were experiencing. Their goal is to oppose everything that doesn’t fit into their narrow definition of what is a worthwhile public expenditure.

These misguided people complain that the Olympics are a waste of tax dollars. Yet, the funding actually comes from a combination of corporate and public organizations and everyone in the community will share the legacy of these Games by way of new infrastructure and increased tourism.

It is disappointing that some in the media give these protesters top billing, focusing on their disruptive antics and completely ignoring the positive contributions of volunteers that contribute to our community.

Scott Bruce

Saanich

Pro-Olympics editorial slammed

Re: Torch run merely a nice moment (Opinion, Oct. 30)

I take strong exception to your claim that those criticizing the Vancouver-Whistler Games have an “anti-Olympic message.” I and many other critics are not anti-Olympics or anti-sports. We are anti-extravagance, anti-distorted priorities and anti-mindless hype.

One such critic, for example, is Jim Taylor. Over the past 50 years, no one has been more deeply committed to promoting sport in British Columbia, both amateur and professional, than this legendary sports writer.

I found it especially interesting that Taylor wrote in the Summer 2009 edition of B.C. Book World: “Were I still with one of the Vancouver dailies, I doubt I’d be allowed to lambaste Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics bid, that movement to excess and misguided enthusiasm, as I would have from the day the bid was announced.”

It is so sad that what was originally conceived as a wonderfully innocent festival of youthful exuberance and international goodwill has now become such a grotesque orgy of profligate spending, corporate greed and political gamesmanship.

British Columbians should be particularly ashamed that public money will be spent so B.C.’s political and business elite as well as foreign dignitaries can gorge themselves on gourmet meals at Vancouver’s Terminal City Club while a lot of our seniors in care homes are being given warmed up frozen food of poor quality.

While we all like to enjoy ourselves at a party, it is simply obscene to be spending so much on this lavish, garish spectacle when we aren’t spending even the minimal amount required to take proper care of the weakest, most vulnerable members of our society.

Gordon Pollard

Victoria

Thanks for nothing, Stephen Harper

Do we thank God that today’s H1N1 flu is apparently not as deadly as the First World War pandemic? As it stands, Canada is entering the height of its spread, unprotected.

Consequently, millions of Canadians will miss six to 10 days of school or work, adding insult to an already injured economy. There will be some needless deaths, as Canada could have protected its population weeks earlier.

In your case, you can directly blame the Stephen Harper government for the week long flu-migraine you are experiencing. Thanks for nothing, Mr. Harper.

Eugene Parks

Victoria