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To all parents of small children who have used or will use public pools:
I have taken my children to South Arm Pool several times this summer. The policy at South Arm is that any child under the age of seven years of age must be within an arm's length of a responsible person. The responsible person must be at least 15 years of age. This is an important rule that must be adhered to for the safety of the children.
My youngest son is six and I do keep him within my reach at all times. The idea that something could happen to him in the pool terrifies me. I have seen children at Sunnyhill Hospital who were victims of drowning or water-related accidents. These children are in various levels of consciousness and their lives have changed drastically.
When I see small children (ages 3-5) in the pool and their parent or responsible person nowhere near them, I am upset. I saw a little girl with water wings on the other day, bobbing and looking quite frightened trying to get to her mom who was not within an arm's reach from her. I saw a boy (3-years-old?) trying to find his mom. Another little boy was stuck briefly under his paddle board - where was Dad? Out of the pool, with his back to his son, talking to someone else. Another child was flailing under his floating device. His parent was not within an arm's reach, either.
I talked to some of the lifeguards at the pool and they spoke to some of the parents involved. Lifeguards can only do so much when the pool is filled with people. They cannot be expected to track down parents when they are not with their children.
I have a question for parents who think it is safe to let their young children play in the water without adequate supervision. Would you let your children play in the middle of No. 3 Road without supervision? I sincerely doubt it.
Each child is unique and can never be replaced. I implore you to stay with your child in the water at an arm's length as the rule states. One mishap at the pool is one too many. We all know that kids love water. It is our duty to our kids to ensure that they are safe wherever they play.
Alexis Alblas,
Richmond
In response to your editorial regarding mental illness, the Canadian Mental Health Association - Richmond Branch would like to thank you for bringing up this often ignored subject.
In particular, I commend you for admitting to having mental illness in your family. By mentioning this you have made it easier for others to talk about their own family members. We know that many families are affected. In British Columbia, one in five people has a mental illness. If we look around our office, a restaurant, or an event we're attending, we can be sure that someone in that small circle is experiencing or has experienced some form of mental illness.
Editorials like yours, continued education and increased awareness will help us remove the stigma associated with this illness.
Barbara Fee
public education coordinator
Canadian Mental Health Association
Richmond Branch
Because of a shared humanity, I too felt sad on hearing the news of the death of Princess Diana.
Despite my desire to feel no more than I do for the thousands of nameless people who suffer and die in equally horrific and needless but less publicized circumstances, I admit to feeling more.
My emotions soon changed to anger toward our sick society as the media quickly began to search for someone to blame, turning initially in a cannibalistic frenzy on their career cousins, "The Paparazzi."
The tabloids can still profit from Diana. I wonder how long after the funeral it will be before we get the first Diana sighting? The lessons of Elvis will have been well-learned by many a tabloid editor. Diana's ability to use the media has been mentioned by a number of commentators. Soon, we'll be hearing about the theory that this is in fact her ultimate manipulation of the press, an elaborate hoax by Diana herself in order to finally escape the limelight. There, the theory is out. Let the sightings begin.
She really is dead though, and who can we blame? The chasing photographers or the insatiable consumers of tabloids, the drunken driver, a reckless playboy or his power hungry father, the future King of England or Diana herself? Or is this search for a culprit just another way of stretching the Diana legend that much further for the ensuing tabloid sales? Remember that famous question, Who shot JR?
Diana may have known what caused her death, but she did not know what could have been done to prevent it, and yet, it appears that in death she may have even greater influence on causes close to her heart. A land-mines treaty may bear her name and many care facilities will be built in her honor. Meanwhile, the culprit will slip away to continue on its destructive path, relentlessly causing misery and suffering in this world, that continues to hope for better things, through the activities of good-intentioned people like Diana.
The questions remain waiting for that same answer. Why do children starve? Why do we still have wars? Why are people unemployed? Why do we make street cares that go so fast?
Why is Princess Diana dead?
N. Smith
via e-mail
May this poem be a comfort to all those grieving for Princess Diana:
Death is an Angel sent down from above
Sent for the buds and the flowers we love
Truly it's so, for in Heaven's own way
Each soul is a flower
In the Master's bouquet.
Loved ones are passing each day and each hour
Fading away like the life of a flower
But every bud and each blossom some day
Will bloom as a flower
In the Master's bouquet.
Gathering flowers for the Master's bouquet
Beautiful flowers that will never decay
Gathered by Angels and carried away
Forever to bloom in the Master's bouquet.
- Author unknown
We will miss you Diana.
Ludmilla Warkentin
Richmond
In light of recent world traumatic events, for the first time in my life I feel compelled to write to a newspaper.
I have been a Richmond resident for the past 16 years, with the last two in Terra Nova. Like others, we chose this location based on its proximity to nature. Recently, with other interested neighbors, we attended the council meeting on the Terra Nova Village project.
While I applaud the freedom of our society which allows people to express their views in public, I was struck by how many of us form those views only from a personal perspective. With comments such as: "It would block by view/my sun" or "It would create more noise, traffic and crime in my area" or "I drive now to the store so others should have to", "My livelihood could be affected by increased competition", "Since I brought in the original development I don't want any future development", could you imagine the original aboriginal people having these same concerns? Our forefathers wishing to settle here had to convince them that change was good.
Whether we decide to turn Terra Nova into a community or not, with schools, day care, parks, single-family, multi-family, and subsidized housing and now retail, will depend on us being open-minded enough to view everyone's needs, not just our own.
As we reflect on the loss of two great humanitarians, let us retain some of that spirit in respect to our neighbors - and not just our neighborhood.
Don McGregor
Richmond
Regional transportation authorities in Ottawa have decided in favor of a diesel light rail line, to be built by the year 2000.
The 40-kilometre system, built on under-used CN and CP alignments, is estimated to cost $110 million, or about $2.75 million per kilometre, to build. The new Ottawa LRT will be cheaper on a per-kilometre basis than BC Transit's proposed RapidBus.
LRT track-sharing with the mainline railways (reminiscent of our previous interurbans) is not a new concept yet no one has planned for this extremely cost-effective LRT alternative.
Using existing railway trackage and sharing the right-of-way with the mainline railways is the modern and most effective way to build useful LRT. Modern diesel light-rail vehicles are quieter than their diesel bus cousins and can effectively network on to city streets to provide the "seamless" or no-transfer journey that is so important to attract the motorist from the car.
All we need is the political will to make it happen, but don't hold your breath. Premier Clark is strictly a "rubber-on-asphalt" man, no LRT for him. Though he vaguely promises LRT, it's singularly important to remember the present NDP government, BC Transit, and the GVRD have yet to employ consultants and/or experts who have modern expertise planning, building, or operating LRT for the current LRT planning process.
The consultants for the Broadway-Lougheed corridor transit study, who have recently admitted that they have not actually built with LRT, are the same who were responsible for the extremely naive, biased and anti-LRT Richmond-to-Vancouver rapid transit study.
Mr. Clark, who commutes to Victoria daily by helijet, firmly believes in dated "blacktop-only" transit solutions. Welcome to our future of chronic gridlock, pollution, more highways and traffic, and an increasing accident rate. Welcome to L.A. North.
D. Malcolm Johnston, chair,
The Light Rail For Vancouver Committee
Delta
