“A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have...

Alex Atamanenko, MP for BC Southern Interior, and Linda Worley, RDKB Area B Director, witnessed firsthand area residents’ dissatisfaction with CP’s response to their ongoing concerns with the recent addition of night trains on the local Castlegar to Trail run. In September, CP Rail implemented the decision to redeploy locomotives...

What is a thinking person to make of the new landscape of sexual consent? Since October 26, when Jian Ghomeshi left the CBC under a cloud of uncertain meaning, things have moved very fast indeed. On Parliament Hill, two NDP women have brought messages to the Liberal leader about two of his MPs and he has suspended said MPs,...

Was it, or wasn’t it? Was it or wasn’t it a bad call, or was it or wasn’t it a great game. The 2014 Grey Cup delivered it’s share of glitz and glimmer and, at the same time, some controversy as the Calgary Stampeders hung on to clip the Hamilton Tiger Cats 20-16 Sunday before 52,000 plus fans of Canadian Football at BC Place...

Since 2005, Eileen Delehanty Pearkes has researched and explored the natural and human history of the rivers of the upper Columbia River Basin.  She speaks frequently at conferences and symposia throughout the Basin on the history of the Columbia River Treaty and its effects on Basin residents.  She has recently completed a...

In Part I of this column, I attempted to present over whelming evidence that human activities are affecting global climate.  The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is composed of over 2,000 atmospheric scientists from every major country.  In 2001, the IPCC stated unequivocally that human activities are having...

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF CASTLEGAR, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL This is a call for calm. And a call for respect.  Your city workers are on a legal strike – for the first time in 60 years. That’s a long relationship and one that needs to be protected and respected. Much has been said during this dispute and while most of the...

I’d like to thank the residents of Castlegar for your patience and understanding during the labour strike by our unionized CUPE city employees. We are now in snow season and our management staff are working around the clock to keep the roads clear and safe. We appreciate that residents and businesses are helping to keep...

Nov 25., 2014 Dear Mayor Chernoff and Council, This Open Letter proposes a human-to-human way to break the labour dispute impasse that -- to put it mildly -- is negatively affecting all our citizens in a number of ways, and not just in practical terms. How about all councillors get together with all of the City's striking...

I believe that true faith, no matter the stripe, is the most beautiful, miraculous thing a person can be given. And I believe it comes through questioning and soul-searching and observation. I believe that the ugliest thing ever visited upon humanity is blind faith. No questioning, no use of our God-given gift of discernment,...