July 9th, 2008
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July 7
Finance
City Of Greenwood Total Expenditures:
2005 $865,468
2006 $984,605 (increase 13.8%)
2007 $1,266,004 (increase 28.8%)
Encouragement
Having a hard time?
Life got you down?
Everything seem impossible?
Don’t lie down!
Don’t give in!
Don’t lose your faith in God!
Greater things are yet to come
Greater things yet to be done
Greater things still to become
Wait Times
A typical Canadian seeking surgical or other therapeutic treatment had to wait 18.3 weeks in 2007, an all-time high, according to new research.
“Despite government promises and the billions of dollars funnelled into the Canadian healthcare system, the average patient waited more than 18 weeks in 2007 between seeing their family doctor and receiving the surgery or treatment they required,” said Nadeem Esmail, co-author of the 17th annual edition of Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada.
“It’s becoming clearer that Canada’s current healthcare system cannot meet the needs of Canadians in a timely and efficient manner, unless you consider access to a waiting list timely and efficient,” Esmail said.
Wait times increased to 18.3 weeks from the 17.8 weeks observed in 2006. This is primarily due to an increase in the first wait, between seeing the general practitioner and attending a consultation with a specialist.
Total wait times increased in six provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. This masked the decreased wait times in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Ontario recorded the shortest waiting time overall (the wait between visiting a general practitioner and receiving treatment) at 15 weeks, followed by British Columbia (19 weeks), Quebec (19.4 weeks), Saskatchewan (27.2 weeks) and New Brunswick (25.2 weeks). Nova Scotia (24.8 weeks) recorded the longest waits in Canada.
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July 5
Motion Passed
Greenwood Council passed a motion to approve the borrowing of an amount not to exceed $73,000 to pay for the purchase of the Forshaw property.
Councilmen Harris and Fieber opposed the motion.
Driving Stoned
Canadians who drive when high will not be able to refuse roadside drug tests under new laws.
Police can now require drivers to submit to roadside analysis.
Officers also have the power to take suspected drug-impaired drivers to a police station, or hospital, to give a blood, urine or saliva sample.
Under the old law police were obliged to tell drivers suspected of being high that roadside tests were not mandatory.
But now the law says refusing the test will be a criminal offence.
Drivers convicted of drug-impaired driving now face a minimum $1,000 fine for a first offence and a month in jail for a second conviction.
From Market Place
The Queen’s Budget
The Queen’s budget increased about $4 million this year. Her total annual budget is now $80 million.
Last year’s expenses covered things like catering and upkeep at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
It also covered travel, like her $800,000 trip to the US last year.
The Queen's office says rising costs are partly to blame, but the increase is twice the rate of inflation.
Sales Down
A local business on Highway 3 reports sales dropped in both May and June this year compared to the same months last year.
It is the first time sales have dropped in seven years of operation.
The business said local support continues to be good but highway purchases are down.
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July 3
Relationship Problems
Get Out Of Town
Mr. Bowers had almost two pages of charges against him: multiple breaches of probation (11), several assaults (3), two sexual assaults, three uttering threats, one obstruction of justice and one possession of controlled substance.
It took the court six minutes just to get the charges sorted out.
His lawyer, Mr. Gelber, arranged to put in guilty pleas on some of the charges and received a stay of proceedings on the remainder.
Judge Sperry said the 42-year old Mr. Bowers had been behind bars since Feb. 9th and he would consider the time served as adequate.
Judge Sperry said, “You have served 4-months (pre-trial). That is the equivalent of an eight-month sentence. I wouldn’t send you to jail for more than nine. It is clear the relationship between yourself and Ms. (name withheld) is toxic and you need to be apart. Your having agreed to leave the jurisdiction as an alternative to other official coercion to keep you apart works well. You will be out of the province of British Columbia and you will not return for a period of two years. Do you understand all that?”
Mr. Bowers responded in the affirmative.
Judge Sperry ordered a DNA sample deposited with the police.
Assault Breach And Threat Charges
Mr. Taylor said he was assaulted with a hammer and had his life verbally threatened. Judge Sperry cut off Mr. Taylor’s long and seemingly open, free-speaking testimony.
Three times the judge challenged the truth of the testimony. “Either you are a generic liar or you don’t really pay much attention and just say the first thing that comes to your mind. You do not appear to be a truth-sayer to me”
Judge Sperry called for a break.
Ms. Underwood defended Ms. Correia against the charges. After the break she entered a guilty plea.
Judge Sperry suspended sentence and gave two-year’s probation and a no contact order. He indicated that a further breach would result in jail. He said their relationship is clearly toxic.
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July 2
From AFP on Yahoo
Regulations Choke
Despite increasing local demand for zero-emissions cars and trucks, and robust exports of electric vehicles, Canada will not allow them on its roads lament manufacturers.
"It's a daily embarrassment," said Ian Clifford, president of Zenn Motor Company, which builds "zero emissions no noise" vehicles in Canada for export, primarily to the United States.
"Even my employees can't drive to work in a Zenn. It's absurd," he said of federal and provincial rules that forbid electric cars from being driven on most Canadian roads.
Clifford's frustration is aggravated by the view that Canadians are increasingly concerned about the environment and are said to be eager to drive electric vehicles in this ‘warming’ climate.
"We build the car in St. Jerome (Quebec) and ship them all south of the border, where 44 states allow them, and some 45,000 electric cars are in use today,” he said.
But Transport Canada says the vehicles made of lightweight metals and plastics are not safe to drive on Canada's open roads, and would not stand up in a collision.
Grand Forks
BC Provincial Court
A Mr. Beck did not appear on his first appearance for ‘wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer’. Judge Fabbro issued a warrant in endorsed form.
A Mr. McGarva has two charges of ‘assault’ and a single charge of ‘breach of undertaking’ against him. The crown bumped the case along to July 15th.
A Kynba Yacyshyn has various charges of ‘using a forged document’, ‘false pretences’, ‘theft’ and ‘possession of stolen property’ against her.
She did not appear.
Judge Fabbro issued a warrant in unendorsed form based on her promise to appear from April 4th, 2008.
Charges of ‘failure or refusal to provide sample’ against Cherie Parent go to July 8th for trial.
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July 1
Oh! Oh!
If you are driving in Illinois, pay attention in construction zones.
Photo radar programs send citations for speeding by certified mail, imposing a minimum first-time fine of $375. A second fine totals $1,000 plus a suspension of your drivers’ license for 90 days.
Hit a worker, there will be a $10,000 fine and 14 years in jail.
From the website: Real Clear Politics
Why Is There More Ice at the South Pole?
You've probably heard the permanent ice cap in the Arctic has receded considerably, because the people who are worried about global warming talk about it all the time.
You may not know ice in Antarctica is growing. This is an awkward topic for global warming alarmists, because if global warming were, er, global, this shouldn't be happening.
So how could ice be melting at the north pole while it's building up at the south?
"Recent massive volcanoes have risen from the ocean floor deep under the Arctic ice cap, spewing plumes of fragmented magma into the sea," Agence France Presse reported June 25.
"The eruptions, as big as the one that buried Pompei -- took place in 1999 along the Gakkel Ridge, an underwater mountain chain snaking (1,100 miles) from the northern tip of Greenland to Siberia," the AFP dispatch said.
A team of scientists led by Robert Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts have gotten a look at the ocean floor 13,000 feet beneath the Arctic pack ice.
"What they saw was unmistakable evidence of explosive eruptions rather than the gradual secretion of lava bubbling up from the earth's mantle," AFP reported.
Magma is molten rock. Most magmas have temperatures ranging from 700 degrees Celsius to 1,300 degrees Celsius. That's hot enough to melt ice.
According to the data gathered by scientists in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, noted the Web logger "Sweetness & Light," the precipitous decline in the ice pack began in 1999, when the eruptions occurred. If this is a coincidence, it's a remarkable one.
The warmest year on record was 1998 -- nearly ten years ago. Global temperatures have been declining for the last four years. Last winter was the coldest in decades in most of the world.
But those are mere facts. For global warming alarmists, only the narrative matters.
A Little Bit Sloppy
Canada’s immigration and refugee policies are beset with major problems requiring an overhaul but any changes should be made with limited input from politicians, concludes a new book, Immigration Policy and the Terrorist Threat in Canada and the United States.
“Canada’s immigration and refugee system is dysfunctional and in drastic need of a thorough review. When you take into account the political lobbying from minority cultural organizations and special interest groups such as immigration lawyers, there is little interest from our mainstream political parties to fix things,” said Martin Collacott, a former Canadian diplomat and co-editor of the book.
"Any attempts at reform are impeded by an absence of political debate for fear of offending any particular ethnic group," Collacott said. “At the same time, immigration lawyers and settlement groups are well-funded, often with public money, and work tirelessly to ensure political parties live up to their pro-immigration rhetoric.”
The book also notes that Canada’s high levels of immigration with increasing concentration among particular groups has resulted in a growing number of ethnic enclaves where new immigrants have limited need to integrate and sometimes bring age-old ethnic and religious conflicts with them. This in turn makes their members more prone to recruitment by extremist groups.
For example, following the arrest of 18 Muslims in Ontario suspected of plotting to carry out mass killings in the Toronto area, a poll of Canadian Muslims found that 12 percent – the equivalent of almost 100,000 Muslim-Canadians – believed the plot was justified. (From a Fraser Institute Press Release)
“The notion that minority groups are immune from criticism makes it all but impossible to control unwanted immigration,” Collacott said.
Canada’s failure to address its porous immigration and refugee system will likely result in additional US security measures at the border and greater restrictions on Canada-US trade and travel, concludes Alexander Moens, a Simon Fraser University professor, expert in Canada-US relations, and co-editor of the book.
“Canada’s failure to take seriously the security risks posed by its lax refugee system undermines American confidence in our ability to control our borders,” Moens said.
“This leaves the US no option but to tighten its security efforts which will, in turn, further restrict trade and travel and damage the ability of many Canadians to earn a living. Canada is a trading nation, and if our largest trading partner feels it can no longer trust us, that will have economic repercussions.”
Letters
Dear Editor and Judge Fabbro,
Yes, young Mr. Kovacs has made a turn-around in his life, but this tax payer and driving citizen would have a lot more faith in the justice system, if this young Mr. Kovacs would have been given AT THE VERY LEAST a 10 year driving prohibition, so that he can have a good part of his early life as an adult, learning how to deal with the consequences of poor choices in life and not only how they affect oneself, but others, as well.
- Concerned Boundary Citizen
Dear Editor,
Thank you for the news release on Arts in the Park.
I think Judge Fabro is a compassionate man. I also think that the justice system needs to know that unless a person is self-directed to attend detox or rehab or addictions counselling, there will be little value in the offender attending.
At least that's what the stats show ... and those who have experience through AA and Al-Anon.
- Anonymously Yours
Grand Forks Court
A Mr. Nielson faced a variety of breach of probation charges. Mr. Wyllie defended.
He entered a guilty plea on one of the three charges. The matter will go to July 15th for sentencing.
The remaining charges resulted in not-guilty pleas. A date will be set on July 15th for a two-hour trial.
—
The court heard how police in an unmarked-car pulled behind the vehicle of Mr. Jones who promptly backed into the police car. The officer determined that Mr. Jones had been drinking.
The Crown prosecutor said there was no prior criminal record and asked for the minimum sentence.
For defence, Mr. Gibson said his client is 47-years old and an unemployed mill-worker. Mr. Gibson said Mr. Jones has learned his lesson from the March 17th, 2007, incident.
Judge Fabbro said he was satisfied that Mr. Jones was operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
He imposed a $600 fine and one-year driving prohibition. Because of the mill closure, he did not impose victim-fine surcharge. He gave him one year to pay the fine.
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June 30
Past Environmentalists' Predictions
· At the first Earth Day celebration, in 1969, environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, "The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind.
· C.C. Wallen of the World Meteorological Organization said, "The cooling since 1940 has been large enough and consistent enough that it will not soon be reversed.
· In 1968, professor Paul Ehrlich, Vice President Gore's hero and mentor, predicted there would be a major food shortage in the U.S. and "in the 1970s ... hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." Ehrlich forecasted that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, and by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich's predictions about England were gloomier: "If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000."
· In 1972, a report was written for the Club of Rome warning the world would run out of gold by 1981, mercury and silver by 1985, tin by 1987 and petroleum, copper, lead and natural gas by 1992. Gordon Taylor, in his 1970 book "The Doomsday Book," said Americans were using 50 percent of the world's resources and "by 2000 they [Americans] will, if permitted, be using all of them." In 1975, the Environmental Fund took out full-page ads warning, "The world as we know it will likely be ruined by the year 2000."
· Harvard University biologist George Wald in 1970 warned, "... civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." That was the same year Sen. Gaylord Nelson warned, in Look magazine, that by 1995 "... somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct."
Things Heard
A place in China with a million people is called as a small town.
BC Provincial Circuit Court
Ms. Clarkson faced charges of theft. Her lawyer spoke on her behalf and arranged to move the matter over to July 15th to fix a date for an arraignment hearing.
A Mr. Drazdoff, represented by Mr. Gibson, had his impaired driving charges put over to July 15th for arraignment.
Mr. Wyllie arranged to move ‘driving while suspended’ charges against a Ms. Hart to July 15th to give her time to consult with legal counsel.
Grand Forks charges against a man said to be in possession of child pornography are now 623 days old. Mr. Wyllie is the defence lawyer. He has made much fuss about not getting access to copies of the evidence.
The crown has given him access to view a disk at the police station. The crown said that the defence had earlier stated that the only issue was the search warrant. She said there has been no request for the evidence images.
Judge Fabbro said a copy of the disk should be given to the defence.
Trial is set for July 21st.
The accused has appeared regularly on his court dates.
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