I am first to say HAPPY FRIDAY ALL. Looks like this may be it for summer 2013. Enjoy this last blast of summer. Wow it has been nice.

Have a great day everyone.

with regard to councillor stolz and his comments on the ckpg news yesterday, good job.
the province is certainly suspect in dropping the 10th ave liquor location only to try and open a new shop a few blocks away.
very interesting to see mike morris’ comments on the same subject, very calculated and definitively qualified.
very much a member of the rcmp, and that is were i have the greatest issue.

WHOOOHOOOOO!!! More bums begging me for money as i leave save on foods! Thats why i live downtown but drive to college heights to shop.

The government has to get ready to make sales of BC Bud through its liquor outlets. ;-)

I think Washington State is an interesting case to look at for private versus public liquor sales. They switched from public to private almost two years ago. No government stores at all.

Result?

1. More expensive liquor.
2. more taxes to the state.
3. more buyer beware since different stores will have different prices on the same product.
4. some good sales to clear shelves of the brands which are not moving.

Having the two keeps people bringing up the old public versus private competition argument which is really just for blowhards.

Everyone knows the best location to put a business is as close to your competitor as possible.

Speaking of RCMP, the whole notion of having to have liquor stores some distance apart from each other is ridiculous. There is no such regulation for shoe stores, clothing stores, etc.

Let Mr. G sell beer and wine. Why go next door or downstairs as is the case in places like 5th and Ospika and First and Tabor? Might as well have them in the same store. They are in the same small shopping centre.

Totally idiotic.

From he link below:

Myth: Liquor privatization will increase social problems.

Fact: If government liquor monopolies made residents safer, Pennsylvania would be at or near the top in social outcomes. In reality, we rank higher than the national average in binge-drinking and underage drinking. We also rank higher than most bordering states in alcohol-related deaths per capita.

The West Seattle Herald compared crime statistics in two areas before and after privatization. It may be too early to draw conclusions, but they found that alcohol-related crimes were down after privatization.

http://www.keystonepolitics.com/2013/04/washington-state-alcohol-privatization-was-pretty-successful

JOB OPPORTUNITY
Seeking someone to do a ten minute presentation for me on Monday afternoon. Unable to do myself due to family obligation. Sizeable renumeration.
Anyone interested??

Those very exclusive cold beer store licenses have made some families very wealthy in this city. It is like winning the lottery to have them. To “select” a few people in every city in the province to get rich and have no-competition near them was and is wrong. It should be wide-open or only Government operated stores.

I guess the BC Gov’t run liquor stores need to compete with the little guy for some reason. They’re planning walk-in beer & wine coolers in some BC locations.

Segment below from the story…

The province says it’s going to open walk-in coolers at three liquor stores, in Burnaby, Duncan and Salmon Arm, by the end of September.

The pilot project will expand to Oliver, Osoyoos, Mill Bay and Grand Forks later in the fall.

MMMMM Beer…
With the weather like this there aren`t enough cold beer stores…ever.

Earlier this week I was driving by a house or worship on the corner of 5th and Foothills. Perched upon the most weed infested lawn I’ve ever seen was a “No Trespassing” sign. I thought to myself, how odd. During my whole life on this planet I have never ever seen a sign with that choice of words on or near any other house of worship. I’m sure there is a reason. Anyone? Anyone?

The house of worship you speak of is the mosque and I can only assume that the signs have to do with the severity of vandalism they have suffered by the ignoranance of people who do not understand that not all Muslims are terrorists.

Well said Chloe!

Go offer to weed their lawn Harbinger.

Apparently not all Muslims believe in weed & feed either!

Course, it must be tough for the average Muslim to buy fertilizer…what with the average knuckle dragger assuming he’s going to make a bomb out of it rather than just improve his lawn!

Wow! Most interesting rebuttals. Carry on.

I sure enjoyed the orange/red moon last night. Our world is pretty amazing!

Nice to see the Lib’s sticking it to the consumer once again with massive hydro rate increases on the horizon. I guess they need to offset the capital cost giveaways for ORC plants and the purchase of power from IPP for $100.00 – $130.00 per megawatt.

Thinking a radical Muslim represents the entire religion is the same as thinking Sheri green actually represents th citizens of PG

I recall one fairly minor incident of vandalism at the mosque. Have there been more?

If you had a heart attack and needed the most qualified doctor in town to bring you back to life and fix your heart, you’d be dealing with a member of the Muslim faith. Many of the Muslims in town are doctors. If I ever caught someone vandalizing their mosque, I’d kick a hole in them first then call the police. Not the Muslim way but probably would stop the vandals from doing it again.

Happy Friday the 13th all!!!

Harbinger—I know where you are commenting on. I do believe it may have something to do with the number of times the temple was vandalized (by small minded people) – when it was being built!
I don’t know how you would feel about your church being vandalized constantly!!
The sign and fencing, are probably there to stop the breaking of windows, etc.
The main entrance is certainly open and accessible to all!

During the construction, and even after the ‘opening’ there were several incidents of vandalism(sp?). How many times should they have to replace windows?

Resident. They are also sticking it to us with the increase in ICBC rates.

Seems the Liberals want to get all their dirty work done early in their mandate.

I hope those that supported these clowns enjoy all the increased costs.

The increase in ICBC rates is due to an increase in claims, their severity and cost of settlements of claims in court.

Yesterday I observed a woman texting while driving, several people speeding more than 20km/h over the posted speed limit, people disobeying stop signs (rolling through without coming to a stop), failure to signal before changing lanes…and so forth. Even saw one very close call.

And it was not an extraordinary day – one can see this every day everywhere, not only in P.G.

It’s not reasonable to expect the rates to stay the same with this irrational driving behaviour or even to decrease, no matter which government is ruling from Victoria.

I assume that ICBC has a mandate to stay in the black.

The Liberals are like gang-bangers with a protection racket going. They realize the rank-and-file British Columbian is deathly afraid of turning the keys to parliament over to the NDP, so they play on that to pass whatever increases they like. Not saying they aren’t accurate.

Anyone know where to go to find out what the plans are for the hundreds of acres being cleared west of Happy Trails RV?

got to love those liberals leaked hydro document of a projected increase of 26 percent coming soon even after gutting hydro of some 545 million put into general revenue it will never end!!!

ice, do you have link for more info?

thisisme – Asian investors are up there again looking at that property again today (about their third visit I believe). Rumour is it will one day be a very large North American freight distibution center. Despite all of Palupos complaining, it is quite possible that some people know more than others and the longer runway wasnt built just for a photo op ;)

thisisme, I have heard that Inland Kenworth is moving up there.

bornandbread – yes, they have the 40 acres to the south of Happy Trails. There will be a Timmies up there soon too.

doh! – sorry, to the North

Interceptor: “Despite all of Palupos complaining”

He complains about a lot. After a while, you just tune it out. He’s the smartest guy in the room. If you don’t believe it, just ask him.

johnnybelt,
must agree with your comment.

Conservation killed a momma bear and her 2 cubs at the Inverness trailer park today. Is this or was this necessary? Could nothing else have been done? This is just horrible.

Johnnybelt. I agree with youR comment also. If I put you and Polar 7018 in a room with me I would be the smartest.

A couple of Asians looking at property doesn’t necessarily morph into a huge distribution terminal. Distribution terminals are located next to large population areas, not in a remote part of the Country.

The Airport Runway was completed in 2007, so as the little old lady stated in the hamburger joint.

WHERE,S THE BEEF.???

Something I found funny / fascinating this week.

London Drugs have made a vinyl records section now that CDs are dying out. I’m not sure when that popped up but interesting how things come “full circle”.

I know that vinyl has been kicking and screaming for a while (unlike 8Track and cassettes) but this is the first time I’ve seen the resurgence in a major retailer.

Not cheap either. $30 and up.

The sales guy was even using them to demo the stereos instead of a CD or digital file.

My guess is that there will be some sort of major truck stop go into that site, service station, restaurant, hotel, motel, etc; They would capture the traffic from 97 South and North, also from the East, so it would be a natural fit.

Just for those who didn’t know, Husky Oil is owned by a Hong Kong Billionare, and perhaps it was his people who are looking at the site, who knows??

Guess we will have to wait and see how it shakes out.

willyj, that is horrible. I hope that at least these bears were causing a problem in the trailer part and they weren’t killed just because some idiot called in because they were passing through.

I don’t call the Conservation Office because of their policy. I know they don’t want to kill the bears either but with a lack of funds apparently they have to.

Sad.

I would like to know if anyone is aware of a class action lawsuit I could join against BC Hydro for their gangster style blackmail on the new meter roll out. I am sure it will be coming shortly and sign me up. Lets just hope the BC Utilities Commission reigns them in.

Billposer I think you are right. As I recall some windows were broken during their long construction phase when the building was not used. I drive by everyday and as far as I can tell they have had no such incidents since.

I think the city should force them to take down the construction fence seeing as it is no longer under construction and the lawn should also be maintained. If need be install some lighting and surveillance cameras if they are unsure about security of the building.

I don’t think it has anything to do with religion, but rather community standards.

Palopu what happened to the economy and air freight right when the runway was lengthened?

Still construction going up there related to airfreight, some one must know something. A fairly new development affecting the recovery of airfreight is the very large newer airliners like the 777. Bedsides passengers and baggage they also haul freight and this is increasingly cutting into the recovery of airfreight in dedicated freighters.

Actually, the runway and airport is one of the few things Palopu has gotten right, despite the economic downturn. Most everything else he says is just pessimistic noise.

I agree Eagleone. I drive past everyday as well. The fence should be removed. A place of worship should be welcoming. If nothing else to promote religious tolerance. There has been plenty of vandalism to the churched in PG over the years, there is no immunity as all are vunerable to jack asses.

Just read the recent write up on the Gred Matters murder. That whole operation was a royal screw up from the beginning. Poorly trained RCMP para military unit. The unit, trainers what a mess. I suppose Greg being a combat vet they where scared shitless of him.

Like how the mom said to the ERT type you look ridiculous then gets assaulted by the hero thrown in jail and charged with assault. Yep real hero’s. Must have blown his ego.

They would not even let her talk to here son, isn’t the point to diffuse a situation.

This whole incident was a cluster f… from the beginning, heads should role and charges laid.

The mosque had an open house for non-Muslims around the time that it opened as I recall, so they have made some effort to be welcoming.

Maybe the Mosque could borrow some holy water from the Mormon church on 5th…that lawn always looks fantastic.

IIO already probed the incident seamutt. The newest news is from the mother, what happened to the brother who Greg called the RCMP on? The standoff was almost two days wasn’t it? If he was a danger to family member would they let another family member in when he already said he would ‘take care of him’ if the RCMP didn’t? After the taser didn’t work and he kept advancing with the hatchet raised, was he going to trim some tree branches?

I remember the day after the incident the family saying he had no weapon at all, and was shot unarmed… If my pair of nail clippers is a weapon for an airplane so I would assume a hatchet is also weapon.

This is before the courts so the site mod will probably have to remove these comments but the above is just an opinion, as are your comments

PrinceGeorge states; “The increase in ICBC rates is due to an increase in claims, their severity and cost of settlements of claims in court.”

Did you all know ICBC posted a $77 million dollar profit last year… yup they posted a $60 million dollar profit the year before as well.

http://www.columbiajournal.ca/03-09/ICBC.html

I can’t believe we are in for four more years of being screwed over, hope those who voted for this Liberal government are happy!!!

That aside, have a good weekend everyone :)

Sorry it was still a cluster f…

I am sure there could have been ways she could have talked to her son. Isn’t it true they wouldn’t let his doctor talk to him?

Just wondering why his phone didn’t work, or why the family couldn’t call him up?

Here is a good summary on the so called Mann caused global warming scam costing us billions. At least Australia dumped the carbon tax and the government that brought it in. Down in the states those bird shredding wind generater owners can even get permits allowing them to kill a permitted number of eagles. Where are the greenies on that? Oh ya having a smoke in with Trudeau. Wonder if their dope is organic?

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/13/ipcc-ar5-renews-demands-for-governments-buy-their-climate-change-pig-in-a-poke/#more-93778

Now off to Costco to fill up my big fuel guzzler. Love the sound of a big block V8.

Found an interesting factoid on climate change the other day that I didn’t know of as well. Maybe you guys knew that there have been underground coal seam fires that have not gone out for over 100 years. The coal fires in China alone are estimated to account for the same CO2 as ALL the cars and trucks in North America produce. The climate change scientists also state that the ‘Gates of Hell’ in Derweze only accounts for the CO2 of one natural gas electrical plant – but just look at the thing. It has been burning since 1971 and is 70 meters across.

Why haven’t we all heard of this before?

JohnnyBelt. Don’t be bashful, and let us all know some of the things that I got wrong. I am kind of interested to see what the H you are talking about.

To give you a hint,. I stated that the HST was nothing more than a lousy tax grab by the Liberals, and that it would be kicked the hell out. Hmmmmm. Seems like we no longer have an HST tax.

slinky, seamutt, so good of you to bring this to the fore, greg’s death.

recall the iio’s mandate does not cover specifically investigating the ‘investigation process’ nor the ‘decision to immediately arrest’.

to say the taser, cew ‘didn’t work’ is an interesting point, while it was deployed, and it didn’t ‘put him on the ground and disable him’ i suspect it ‘worked’ perfectly, and the description of greg ‘continuing to advance, hatchet raised’ is suspect, given that he was being influenced by the voltage flowing thru his body at the time.
why did the rcmp choose not to video the incident?

Got my Hydro letter today, can chose a radio off meter for 100 bucks and 20 a month to send someone out to read it – keep my old meter and they will charge 35 dollars to read it – get a standard new meter at no cost. Must reply by Dec 1st

So if there is an extra 15 bucks to read a old meter over a new meter does that kind of tell you there is a untold reason the want the new meter?

Shutting down small neighborhood tot parks… replace with bigger all inclusive parks in more central locations. That certainly seems like the right thing to do. I’m thinking council will pay for this with their 31% raise. Comments from council is that they are neglected and no longer maintained. Really? Now who would have made sure there’s no money for maintenance?

I thought the reason the deal fell through with the golf course purchase was that the city required 15% of the land to be park space. If the problem is park space is too much to maintain why not drop that 15% from the requirement because they can’t maintain it anyway and have the whole area sold?

a_britishcolumbian ‘didn’t work’ was my wording, the national post report stated that it ‘appeared to have no effect’. The shooting officer stated that ‘There was no hesitation in Matter’s advance with the hatchet raised’ according to the IIO report, ‘I switched off the safety of my rifle, and aimed at Matter’s center of mass’

Nice range of topics!
Hydro wants us to use less power so that they can sell more out of province at an inflated rate.
ICBC is more into real estate than insurance. They need more of our money to fund their real esate ventures and pay their enormous CEO bonuses.
Greg Matters was a disturbed vet thanks to his service in the military, our govt’s rotten treatment of war vets is to blame more than the actions of the RCMP. They are trained to deal with criminals, not trained vets with psych issues.
If climate change is really what they believe it is, we are all screwed. Big business’ environmental policies are pretty much “drive it like you stole it, run ‘er till it is dead” Dont believe me? drink the water from Canfor’s outfall into the Fraser river at Intercon/PG Pulp. This kind of treatment of our earth wont change until it is too late. Neither will our air quality
City keeps crying poverty, parks are an easy out for them. Their core review did not cover their unwise property acquisitions (PG Hotel, old Norgate bldg, Ed Delorme’s shop) Nor did it cover unused property holdings (Now defunct 4th ave yard, property behind studio 2880). Also, what “broke” city enters an obligation to host the Canada Games? Now we are funding the Kin center rebuild, Civic center beautification, repaving streets with “found” money. Now apparently there is a move to develope the site of the old ice oval to accomodate another new hotel complex! Wish I was this broke….. Happy Friday!

Sorry about that dig Canfor, you were but one example. I just cant stand hearing how gravel roads, wood stove smoke and street dust are all to blame for the air we have to chew on EVERY day!

Costco gas was down to 127.9 a litre around 6 pm .

Palopu: “JohnnyBelt. Don’t be bashful, and let us all know some of the things that I got wrong. I am kind of interested to see what the H you are talking about.”

You must have a pretty poor memory if you can’t remember some of the ‘discussions’ we’ve had over the years.

Slinky c02 grows trees does not fry eggs.

Just imagine if there was no video at the Vancouver airport incident. There was a very different story until the video came out. So we are supposed the just believe what happened in the Matters killing. All they are doing now is trying to get their story straight.

An ERT trainer in Vancouver tells his pupils be careful out there everyone has cameras, WTF.

Noticed Northern electrics sign up at the bottom of Peden Hill. Did council not vote it down?

Seamutt…..I don’t get it. You love tar sands oil, love the sound of your big aZZ v-8, but you get all bent out of shape over birds dying in wind turbines …..are you a cat person or a dog person ?

Thanks for posting the link to the Columbia Journal and the story about ICBC making a profit. That’s better than losing money because some of the profits are re-invested and some go to the government! That was one of the reasons why ICBC was founded as a crown corporation by the NDP way back when. The perceived problem at the time was that the government wanted to get its hands on any potential profits rather than the profits going to some private corporation. And it worked! I have enjoyed the highest possible safe driving discount ever since discounts came into being, so I have no complaints other than that far too many people make claims based on the result of poor driving habits and causing rates to be higher overall than they need to be.