BOLLOCKS TO BOLLARDS

Editor:

I would like to thank B.C. Parks staff for implementing a new commitment to inclusion policy. Readers can access and review the policy online at tinyurl.com/4ytu5rak.

The new policy will hopefully address inclusion and access issues for the public at large and, in particular, seniors and people with physical disabilities and/or physical challenges.

I would particularly like to see this new policy applied to the management of the boat launch in Paul Lake Provincial Park.

The boat launch includes steel bollards to prevent people from launching their boats into the lake using their boat trailers. Seniors and physically challenged/disabled individuals simply cannot lift their fishing boats on and off a boat rack from the roof of their vehicles.

Using a boat trailer is the only practical way for these folks to launch their boats into Paul

Lake and it is a travesty of responsible and fair management when a grandfather or physically challenged person cannot take their grandchildren or children fishing or boating on Paul Lake because of the bollards.

I strongly encourage B.C. Parks staff to manage the boat launch at Paul Lake in the same manner as they manage the boat launch at Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park. Lac Le Jeune — smaller than, but similar to, Paul Lake — has a boating speed limit of 20 km/h in place to address safety and shoreline environmental concerns and this management approach has worked extremely well over many years.

If you would like to be able to use your boat trailer to launch your fishing boat into Paul Lake, send your feedback to B.C. Parks staff using the website link above.

Elmer Fast Kamloops

It was a plastic Ziploc bag that contained three other small Ziploc bags. On one bag were symbols of the old peace sign. On a second bag were symbols of human skulls. On the third bag was the pink residue from some kind of powder.

The material ended up inside a plastic doggie bag and was discarded into a garbage container.

We used to have a reasonably safe community, but drug use has taken over and permeates almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives.

A lot of us don’t venture out after dark. We may fear what our kids or grandchildren may contact when playing in a park or even walking along a city street or Rivers Trail.

Even walking our dogs has become a risk to the animals who do not have the capacity to recognize threats to their well-being.

Thanks to Coun. Katie Neustaeter for stepping outside of her comfort zone and proposing a bylaw amendment to ban drug use in parks and other public spaces.

Maybe being a mom lets her recognize that steps need to be taken, steps that are not easy ones to tread. And dare I thank Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson for coming out of the sea of people inexperienced in politics to try to make a difference to our community?

Surely Neustaeter and Hamer-Jackson can find some common ground to at least start to understand each other.

John Noakes Kamloops

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