Photo gallery - Beautiful late fall - Debbie

 *************************************************************************

I am so lucky!

I received this fantastic news this morning via email below! Just heading off to Western Union to claim my prize! LOL

"I am notify you of the 300,000.00 Dollars, deposited here in the western union office in your name.Contact this email customercare@westernunionagency.com for claims."

PS: People at Western Union Said it was a hoax. Shocks! Back to being poor! Problem is I maxed out my Master Card in anticipation!
 

 *********************************************************************************

GVAC Special Meeting - December 18, 20012

************************************************************************

Coldstream Council Meeting - December 17, 2012.

Agenda package.

*******************************************************************************

Coldstream Community News

By the end of this week, Canada Post will have delivered the December newsletter to homes and businesses within Coldstream.

However, the Community News newsletter is not delivered to those homeowners who have indicated to Canada Post that they do not wish to receive unaddressed admail.  I have placed an ad in the December 16 and 19 issues of the Morning Star regarding holiday hours and also included a notation that if residents did not receive the newsletter, they can either pick up a copy at the Coldstream Municipal Office, or click on image below.  In this version you have direct access to links provided in the document.

****************************************************************

Letter to the Editor - Morning Star

Former Councillor Shawn Lee is somewhat optimistic in his evaluation of Kal Beach. As a beach the property is a liability as it requires continued maintenance with no direct revenue. In order to change the value of the property Coldstream Council would have to rezone the property to something like tourist commercial. I wonder how such change of zoning would affect Council's popularity? I fear even to think about it!

********************************************************

OCCP Newsletter - December, 2012

****************************************************************

Readers write - Wolf Talk a success.

Wolf Talk brings Solutions.

Most of the 30 people who came to hear Sadie Parr speak in Vernon on December 5th, left with a new understanding about wolves. Far from being freeloaders on the top of the food chain, wolves benefit the ecosystems around them, from the survival of forest and riverbank vegetation to the health of the caribou, deer and other animals on which they prey. The brutal war against wolves that is waged all over the world and is now proposed in BC, is leading to the extinction of one of the most intelligent and beneficial species that inhabits our forests.

"Yellowstone Park is a prime example of how wolves benefit an ecosystem. In the 1920's when the park got rid of wolves, elk, moose, caribou and other ungulates thrived and behaved very differently than when the wolves were around. Now they ate everything in sight, including the vegetation along stream banks, causing severe disruption to the ecosystem. The fish and the beavers disappeared, along with numerous birds and other species. The animals left no longer thrived but got weaker and susceptible to disease. Seventy years later, the park reintroduced wolves. Browsing animals started behaving differently, allowing the vegetation to grow tall enough to reproduce. Now the fish and beavers have returned along with the plants needed to support biodiversity" said Parr.

The streams have benefitted too. The beavers keep the rivers from drying up while, at the same time, healthy vegetation keeps the rivers from flooding, and all this biological interaction helps maintain rich soil that better sequesters carbon — gets it out of the atmosphere and back into the ground. In other words, by helping to maintain a healthy ecosystem, wolves are connected to climate change: without them, these landscapes would be more vulnerable to the effects of those big weather events we will increasingly experience as the planet warms.

Parr stressed that there are only a few places left in Canada with enough genetic diversity to allow wolves to survive if left alone. “If wolves can't be allowed to live in BC, where will they live?” she added. She also dispelled the thoughts that wolves are killing a lot of cattle, saying that transport, disease, and other occurrences are responsible for most of the deaths and that the best way to protect one's farm animals is to shepherd them as used to be done by farmers. Wolves fear people and will not attack when a human is present.

“Habitat destruction is to blame along with government's misled "management" plan for the low numbers of the caribou. These animals need large tracks of old growth forests, not little islands here and there.” The provincial management plan includes sterilization that most often leads to rejection, sickness and eventually death, helicopter chasing until complete exhaustion, gunning down wolves year-round, trapping which often results in weeks of extreme suffering, trophy hunting, and even offers bounties for the largest animals. Since wolves live in family groups, killing a large member can leave the pack without the ability to hunt successfully or even survive.

She urged everyone to write the provincial government to ask for an extension to the deadline for commenting and to let them know that the barbaric wolf management plan they propose is not what we want for the wolves, our forests, and for BC. Instead what BC needs habitat corridors, where large tracks of forests are connected so that a healthy predator-prey system can survive.

Jungyon Drake

250-307-7442

**************************************************************

Coldstream COW meeting - December 13, 2012

Agenda package.

********************************************************************************

GVAC meeting - December 6, 2012

***********************************************************************

RDNO Board meeting December 5, 2012

********************************************************************************

Morning Star Newsclips - December 2, 2012.

 Comments on the 2013 sewer rates.

My biggest problem with the current system is the unfair high cost to low sewage contributors. Table 1 below compares the cost differences and the cumulative percentage of customers falling within given volume ranges. Over 62% of customers would receive lower bills and everyone would pay on the basis of the unit price ($3.85 per m3). Nobody is penalized.

Council’s major concern was that the proposed rates would affect high users unfairly. In fact, no one is treated unfairly. The base fee is based on $3.85 up to and including 20 m3-s (although at full 20 m3 it is 10 cents cheaper per m3). All additional usage is charged at $3.50 per m3.

If Council wishes to subsidize anyone or any group they must spread the cost of such subsidies to the entire community and not just to the sewer customers. We don’t and can’t subsidize property taxes why should we subsidize user fees for sewer? In fact, we encourage water saving by charging a premium on high users. Let’s make it fair!

 ****************************************************

IS GREED IN SESSION AT LANGLEY TOWNSHIP COUNCIL?

It's an early Christmas present for Langley Township Council
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP/CKNW(AM980)
Janet Brown | Email news tips to Janet
12/4/2012


They've voted themselves a big pay raise.
The Mayor's salary will go from 105 thousand to 121-thousand dollars in 2016. Councillor's salaries go from 42-thousand to 48.
Councillor Kim Richter voted against it and she wants taxpayers to speak up in opposition, "I think they need to get very involved in the budget process and if they're not happy with the compensation rates, make their voices heard."
Mayor and Councillors also get a car allowance of nearly 400-dollars a month plus mileage of 55 cents to the kilometer.

Other Councillors who voted against the plan were David Davis and Bob Long.

*********************************************************

Photo gallery - Coldstream Christmas light-up, 2012 - Debbie

 *************************************************************************

Parks MOU now on line

Parks Memo of Understanding

The Parks MOU that has yet to be ratified by Coldstream and Vernon Councils is now online at the links above. (Updated schedules are posted)
 
Coldstream to debate at Dec 3 meeting (Pages 67-107)

**************************************************************************