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Plunge into Darkness (12.22.06)
Bah, humbug! That’s right, it’s the jolliest time of the year and happy-go-lucky me is gosh darn ticked because the town I love was made a fool. That’s right, Squamish looks pretty stupid thanks to BC Timber Sales (BCTS) spiting in our face while logging the Powerhouse Plunge.
The storyteller in me likes to think BCTS Manager Jerry Kennah will be visited by three ghosts.
The Ghost of Timber Past could shown him how BCTS’s incompetent mismanagement led to the destruction of countless jobs and families fed on forestry. He could also see how the Plunge was an official trail built with Ministry of Forests money, so him saying it’s an illegal trail is just another misrepresentation of the truth.
The Ghost of Timber Present could rub his face in his embarrassing lack of vision and baffling hatred towards the people of Squamish. Highlighting his most appalling comment following years of countless volunteers spending literally thousands of hours away from family and friends to attend meetings, create reports, and play by the rules with BCTS. The ghost could show him how his comment that the logging and road crossing “probably won’t ruin your day” is akin to telling a starving woman “you could stand to lose the weight.”
The Ghost of Timber Future could show how his arrogant clutching to a
failed system made the entire community of Squamish come together like
all the Who’s down in Whoville celebrating their utter contempt
for BCTS and their foul, outdated practices.
Oh, what’s the point: he probably wouldn’t listen to them
either.
He definitely didn’t listen to our elected representative’s repeated attempts to make the province listen to our unified community. I was briefly hopeful that our MLA, Joan McIntyre might make a difference since she made an effort to be seen as helpful. Unfortunately, her support from the fence has shown just how sadly ineffectual her voice is at making her government’s out of touch system listen to reason. On one hand the Province wants to encourage the millions being generated by mountain biking, while BCTS’s abuses the power that should have been striped from their cold, dead, incapable hands long ago.
Perhaps the most horrific statement through this ordeal was Kennah mentioning that he hopes forestry and recreation can “work hand-in-hand if managed properly.” Well if that doesn’t hit the nail on the ignorant head. BCTS’s complete incompetence as managers is a main reason the industry is in such a shambles.
So what can we do? Well, I’ve spent too long in countless meetings
to think my time was wasted so I will continue to play by the rules. However,
even our Mayor joked that he’d handcuff himself and Joan McIntyre
to machinery to make the point that the failed process of the past must
be changed if we are to make the most of our future. The only question
left is how hard do the old boys have to be slapped to realize there are
better ways of making money out of these woods?
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