Beach Bites

A trip to the Semiahmoo waterfront this time of year might include more than a relaxing day at the beach and getting a nice tan. You may leave the beach with a nasty surprise and some very itchy skin courtesy of two completely different pests that can leave you scratching and heading to the drug store in search of relief from itchy welts and red rashes.

Several people who spent time at Crescent Rock beach this weekend complained of itchy lower extremities that required sleeping in full length pyjamas with consideration for wearing mittens to bed.  At this point in the year the sun is already down to nearly thirteen hours a day and the angle is constantly getting lower in the sky.  This results in less sunlight reaching the plentiful eelgrass beds that cover much of the sandy bottom of the bay.  Due to the lowered rate of photosynthesis, the eelgrass starts to shed its long green blades, which then wash ashore in mass on the high tide.  This thick raft of organic material is a great feeding and breeding ground for sand flies that can deliver a nasty irritating bite to unsuspecting beach goers.

When visiting our local beaches it is a good idea to avoid the high tide mark and the line of seaweed that is deposited there by the waves.  The worst times for sand flies is in the early morning, at sunset and when it is cloudy.  Windy days reduce sand fly activity since they are small and tend to avoid travelling in high winds.  After a rainfall the cooler and wetter conditions make for a surge of sand flies along our shores.  Sand flies can be avoided by not laying directly on the beach but instead using a blanket or lounge chair to relax on.  Besides wearing sunscreen to the beach, if you realize that sand flies are present you might want to consider applying insect repellent, especially to your feet, ankles and lower legs.  Above all, avoid walking or standing in the line of seaweed on the beach and if you need to cross it, do so very quickly and briskly walk away.

The other irritating menace at our beaches is swimmer's itch.  This is a skin rash you get from an allergic reaction to a small worm shaped parasite called schistosomes.  Their life cycle is divided between infecting water snails and then the blood stream of waterfowl.  In the summer when the water is warm, the schistosome larvae leave their snail hosts and swim at the surface of the water looking for ducks and other birds to infect.  If you swim in the water at these times, it is possible for these small worms to burrow under your skin.  They tend to die immediately but the body's reaction to them is what causes the swimmer's itch.  To reduce exposure, it is best to stay away from the incoming tide that may carry an abundance of this parasite, especially during warm summer weather.  Moving quickly away from the shore to deeper water can also help limit your exposure to this nasty little pest.

At the nude-friendly Crescent Rock beach and at Crescent Beach there are sizable eelgrass beds that are covered with snails, which act as hosts for this parasite.  The entire Boundary Bay region attracts a large amount of waterfowl that use this important area of the Pacific Flyway migratory route, increasing the presence of schistosomes.  Besides avoiding the incoming tide and keeping away from the shoreline, ensure you towel off immediately after leaving the water.  Showering will also remove these parasites but not after they have already burrowed under your skin.  Kids are at most risk of swimmer's itch because they tend to spend a lot of time in shallow water at the shoreline plus frequently go in and out of the water without getting dried off.  Keep in mind that there are public showers available for use free of charge at both White Rock and Crescent Beach.

Regardless of which of these pests is involved, the effect is often a red rash, raised welts and itchiness that leads to scratching and additional infections.  Here are some simple remedies that may reduce these symptoms that can last from several days to more than a week.

• Apply plain calamine lotion.

• Take antihistamines. For children, consult your health care provider such as your local pharmacist.

• Take shallow, lukewarm baths with 3 tablespoons of baking soda in the water.

• Take colloidal oatmeal baths.

• Apply cool compresses to the affected areas.

• Avoid scratching as this may result in the rash becoming infected.

Cutting the Cord

Last week from August 19-22 the grass Spartina Anglica, better known as English cordgrass or common cordgrass was sprayed throughout the Mud Bay Region using the pesticide Habitat Aqua along with a wetting agent.  This invasive species originated from southern England and was first found in this area in 2003 after spreading north from Washington State where cordgrass was accidentally introduced in 1880.  It is one of four species of cordgrass growing on B.C.'s coastline with much of it found in the mud flats of Mud Bay in Surrey and Delta.  

This extremely aggressive shoreline grass will form large mats across the waterfront that trap sediment raising the height of intertidal areas while clogging drainage channels and covering naturally occurring mud and sand flats along with native eelgrass beds.  In turn this eliminates habitat for aquatic life and waterfowl that would normally live and feed in these areas.  Here is the list of environmental and economic impacts from this plant as identified by Fisheries & Oceans Canada.

• A loss of critical rearing habitat for fish such as juvenile salmon, clams, oysters and crab.

• A loss of valuable habitat for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. Boundary Bay is a major resting and feeding area for more than 320 bird species

• An increase in the risk of flooding

• A loss of water access from shoreline areas and beaches and for boats

• A loss of more diverse, native plant species

• Disruption of saltwater ecosystem structure and function

• Competition with native marsh species

• May negatively impact native wildlife

• Competition with other plant species

Here are a few links for more information about Spartina and control measures being used against it in both B.C. and Washington State.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/invasive-species/pest-management/spartina_pup_2019_22_faq.pdf

https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/commoncordgrass-spartineanglaise-eng.html

https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/priorityspecies/spartina-cordgrass/

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

 August 19, 2024

Support Salmon Sessions

This Saturday, August 24th, is the second annual Salmon Sessions Music Festival in support of the Little Campbell Hatchery.  Located at the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club, 1284 184 St. in the Hazelmere Valley of south Surrey, this live event features five B.C. bands from 4-11 p.m.  Funds raised by this musical event will go towards building a new modern fish hatchery high above the flood prone Little Campbell river.  Tickets are available from the Penmar Community Arts Society at penmar.ca with adult $45, youth and children $20.

9:30 pm Daniel Wesley: West Coast music staple and headliner, blending rock, reggae, and folk.

The Naked Truth

A New Church In Town

"Love is the first essential quality. It forces us to travel on the path. Love automatically leads us back to the Father." - Maharaj Charan Singh Ji .

I thought it was rather odd to hear about traffic jams in south Surrey a week ago just up the hill from 32 Ave. and 176 St (Hwy 15).  I drive through this corridor fairly frequently and other than the Country Woods subdivision on the west side and a smattering of old farms and empty development sites on the east side, there is not much to see, let alone attracting people in such numbers that it would cause traffic chaos.  With a little internet sleuthing, that's when I discovered the massive religious conference centre tucked away behind the farm buildings located at 2934 - 176 St Surrey, BC.  In case you were unaware of it, this is home to the local chapter of Radha Soami Satsand Beas that is part of RSSB Canada.  The large gathering was due to the presence of the group's leader Baba Gurinder Singh who was in Surrey to meet with his followers.

Here is the skinny on this world-wide religious group with information taken from the official RSSB website at rssb.org .

"Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) along with its international affiliates is a religious organization guided by the fundamental spiritual beliefs found at the heart of most religions, under the mentorship of a living spiritual teacher.  In the Indian language, Radha Soami means ‘lord of the soul’, Satsang describes a group that seeks truth, and Beas refers to the town near which the main centre is located in northern India.  RSSB was established in India in 1891 and gradually began spreading to other countries with it now holding meetings in more than 90 countries worldwide. It is a non-profit organization with no affiliation to any political or commercial organizations.

The basis of every religion is spirituality. With the passage of time and changing social values, the basic spiritual teachings often become embellished with extra rules and rituals, and eventually take the shape of a formal religion. Despite its extensive outreach activities, RSSB tries to maintain the integrity of its spiritual core and preserve the simplicity of its teachings. At the heart of the RSSB teachings is a belief that there is a spiritual purpose to human life – to experience the divinity of God who resides in all of us. It is through this experience that we will realize the truth of the concept that there is only one God and we are all expressions of his love.

Central to the RSSB teachings is a spiritual teacher who explains the purpose of life and guides and instructs members in a method of spirituality based on a daily meditation practice. The present teacher is Baba Gurinder Singh, who lives with his family at the main centre in northern India.  By performing the meditation practice according to the teacher's instructions, individuals can realize the presence of God within themselves. It is a solitary practice that is done in the quiet of one's own home. Members commit themselves to a way of life that supports spiritual growth while carrying out their responsibilities to family, friends and society. There are no rituals, ceremonies, hierarchies or mandatory contributions, nor are there compulsory gatherings. Members need not give up their cultural identity or religious preference to follow this path.

To build on the primary spiritual practice of meditation, members are vegetarian, abstain from alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs, and are expected to lead a life of high moral values. A vegetarian diet encourages respect and empathy for all life and acknowledges that there is a debt to be paid for taking any life unnecessarily. Abstaining from intoxicants improves one's ability to concentrate and calms the mind during meditation. Members are encouraged to be self-supporting and not be a burden on society. They are free to make their own choices in life and maintain any cultural or religious affiliations they choose. RSSB does not involve itself in the personal lives of its members.

Inherent to the Society’s philosophy is the importance of seva, meaning selfless service, or voluntarism. Voluntary service is the backbone of all activities connected with RSSB. All administrative functions, construction of Indian and international centres, feeding of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who visit the headquarters in India, writing and translating books and magazines explaining the teachings, are done by members on a voluntary basis. Mahatma Gandhi embodied the importance of service in his statement: “The best way to find your self is to lose yourself in the service of others.” It is believed that through service, one loses one’s sense of self-importance and becomes humble. That is the foundation of a spiritual life

I thought it was rather surprising that this new-age spiritual movement had quietly flown under the radar with me but many Canadians of Indian ancestry are obviously aware of its existence.  A religion that doesn't care what your religion is sounds a bit like an oxymoron but considering the battles between religious groups over history, maybe it's a good thing.  People around the world are flocking to non-traditional religious groups because they have lost faith in mainstream institutions.  Our economy is seen as unstable and inequitable, younger generations cannot afford a home, politics has become polarized and corrupt, the media is viewed as being untrustworthy, and churches are struggling from sex abuse scandals.  It should surprise no one that people are attracted to an Indian guru preaching a healthy positive lifestyle, fellowship and belonging, plus inner peace with outer calm in an increasingly chaotic world.

Naturally yours,

Don PItcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People

July 8, 2024

Spear Grass Stabbing Dogs

Several years ago I became aware of a native plant species called "foxtail barley", better known as "spear grass", whose scientific name is hordeum jubatum.  A veterinarian at the Island Animal Clinic in Richmond raised the alarm about dogs being brought into his animal hospital who had been jabbed by the sharp seeds of this pant that needed to be surgically removed.  The offending grass believed responsible was growing at the Dyke Trail Dog Park at the foot of No. 3 Road where infrequent cutting of the grass and weeds had allowed it to grow and proliferate.  This weed likes to grow in disturbed soil, in arid conditions and on the sides of roads and I have seen it in areas across Richmond.  

On June 14, 2021, I wrote a TNT titled "A Fox in the Dog House" where I explained the dangers of this plant and its needle sharp seeds (you can scroll down into the archives to read it).  By chance while investigating another noxious weed story in the marshes of Blackie Spit, I walked by the off-leash dog area and was alarmed at what I saw.  Both of the gated entrances were full of foxtail barley, along with large areas of the dog free area plus all around the perimeter fence.  A nearby garbage can that people use as a poop bag drop off (which dogs love to pee on) was also surrounded by this noxious weed.  The story about the sick dogs in Richmond, coupled with myself and crew removing large amounts of this grass from a boulevard, plus finding it at Blackie Spit in a dog park were all part of this initial story.

Since that time I have watched as foxtail barley has spread into areas where I have never seen it before.  Richmond is infested with it and I believe that our hot dry summers, reduction in watering times for lawns plus indifference to a well maintained property are all to blame.  For the very first time, I actually found foxtail barley growing in several lawns of a strata property that we took over earlier this year.  Needless to say, once I saw the tell-tail barley heads appear, we took steps to manually dig out every piece of this shallow rooting plant.  I also noticed it growing wild along 24 Ave in south Surrey at the Christopherson Steps that lead to Crescent Beach, including in one of the neighbour's lawns.  While leaving the 54-40 concert in White Rock last week, I saw foxtail barley throughout much of the east beach parking lot and Marine Drive areas.

With all of this in mind, I figured it was time to once again visit the Blackie Spit off-leash dog park to see if this area had been cleaned up of foxtail barley after i reported it to Surrey Parks three years ago.  The double gate entrance areas that were infested with this plant in 2021 had been cleared of all vegetation and there was no foxtail barley to be seen.  Unfortunately that was not the case with the dog park where there are now large areas of this noxious plant that have doubled and tripled since that time.  I stood in a large field of this grass while my wife took my picture and ended up with many of the sharp seeds stuck to my socks.  In other areas the dried seeds lay in the thousands on the ground waiting for soft dog paws to step on them.  The garbage can by one of the entrances is still ringed with foxtail barley, where it grows very well from constantly getting watered with dog pee.  

While I understand the issues and costs of controlling this weed, it is the epitome of negligence that Surrey apparently cleared out the dog park entrances of this grass and yet allowed it to remain in an area where dogs are left to run off leash.  The sharp seeds can easily penetrate the feet, legs, ears and eyes of animals, especially dogs.  If the needle sharp seeds are eaten or breathed in, it can cause injury or even death, with huge vet bills as the seeds need to be surgically removed one by one.  Calgary has adopted new bylaws to help control foxtail barley, Lethbridge has resorted to spraying for killing infested areas, Saskatoon and Regina warn their residents of the hazard to pets.  With warmer summer weather and drought conditions, Surrey and other cities throughout the Lower Mainland need to work to control this prolific plant and help residents to protect their pets.

Here is a link to a PDF pamphlet put out by the City of Saskatoon that contains lots of information about dealing with foxtail barley.

https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/files/documents/community-services/parks/UBS/foxtail_pamphlet_web.pdf

Naturally yours,

Don PItcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People.

Needless to say, Surrey Mayor Locke who ran her Surrey Connect election campaign on a promise to keep the RCMP in Surrey was not happy with the verdict.  She believes the court case showed multiple problems with the police transition on many levels that put policing in Surrey in question.  As was previously the case, Mayor Locke reiterated her financial concerns about the transition stating "The true cost will have an extremely onerous impact on the City of Surrey and especially Surrey taxpayers.”  There has been no decision on whether the City would appeal this decision or abide by it, with Locke putting the 7% increase on Surrey property taxes squarely on the costs for the police transition."  It was previously revealed that without the costs associated with changing the Surrey Police of Jurisdiction (POJ) that there would have been no increase to property taxes in Surrey for 2024.

Whether this is the end to this long-running legal saga remains unclear as Mayor Locke has not revealed if the City will continue fighting over this forced decision that dates back to when Doug McCallum was elected Mayor of Surrey back in 2018.  Brenda Locke has not said if she will challenge or accept the NDP government's offer of $150 million to help fund the transition.  Mike Farnworth has said the SPS will replace the RCMP as Surrey's POJ on Nov. 29, 2024 with the transition expected to be completed and fully staffed by the fall of 2026.  Surrey's Mayor is now planning a budgetary review that will likely take place in September so that taxpayers know what the costs, including that of the police transition, will be for the 2025 budget.  Brenda Locke is on record as saying  “We know the cost implications are worse than we thought so we want to make sure our residents know and are prepared and they know who is imposing this.  That’s important because it is certainly not any of the Surrey MLAs that stood up for the taxpayer in Surrey.”

In case you missed that cannon shot across the bow, Surrey's budget review will happen in the fall before the 2024 B.C. General Election on Oct 19th.  Currently there are 9 seats in Surrey with the NDP holding 7 of them.  An additional riding will be added in Surrey for the 2024 election, bringing the total to 10 seats up for grabs.  You can bet that with the timing of the promised Surrey budget review and the costs forced on Surrey taxpayers for paying for the police transition that Mayor Locke will use the numbers to torpedo the NDP election chances in Surrey.  Several of the current NDP MLAs in Surrey have already poo-pooed the idea that the forced transition from the RCMP to Surrey Police Service will hurt their re-election chances.  I would expect them to focus on cost of living, housing, health care, education and transportation, while ignoring the police transition boondoggle and public safety.  Unfortunately for them, the 32.5% increase in Surrey property taxes that will happen over three years, born mainly on the costs related to financing two police forces, will hang from their necks like a dead albatross.  

So enough with the nautical terms, let me get down to brass tacks on this issue.  The "Keep The RCMP In Surrey" (KTRIS) group with tens of thousands of members who supported their referendum will likely become politically active to fight the change towards the SPS.  I would expect the B.C. Conservatives to use the POV fight in Surrey against the NDP since the ridings here represent over 10% of the seats in the Legislature.  With the tides of change swinging to the Conservatives in Ottawa, it favours the growth in the B.C. Conservatives here, while the United Party (aka Liberals) continue to decline.  In fact, a survey from Research Co last week showed that 42% of respondents favour the NDP, with the B.C. Conservatives in a strong second place at 32% and the Greens and United Party now tied at 12% each.  Even more revealing, 39% of decided voters aged 18 to 34 said they would vote B.C. Conservatives, with 34% supporting the NDP, 16% for the B.C. Greens and a lowly 9% for the B.C. United.  This is a shocking demographic shift away from the NDP, especially in Surrey that has the highest youth population of any city in B.C.

With these numbers I'm starting to think that the B.C. United Party may be going the way of the old Social Credit and headed to political ruin and obscurity.  If the NDP think that Surrey is going to be a cakewalk and that they will easily win back the seats they already hold, they might want to take a hard look at the polling numbers.  The real fly in the ointment has to be Surrey's Mayor Brenda Locke and the Surrey Budget Review that likely will come out a month prior to the vote.  With high cost of living and public safety being tops in the minds of most people living in Surrey, will voters want to support the NDP for forcing the police transition ahead regardless of the costs to residents here?  We are still a long way from the provincial election and anything can happen in the next five months but I think the NDP will have a fight on their hands over the bully tactics they've used against the RCMP and Surrey City Hall.  

Expect the "KEEP SURREY RCMP - KICK OUT NDP" lawn signs to sprout like mushrooms here in the fall.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish acknowledge we live work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People.

The Legion serves all Veterans

The Royal Canadian Legion was founded by Veterans and for Veterans. We advocate for the care and benefits for all who served Canada, regardless of when or where they served. The Legion also provides representation and assistance to Veterans, including currently serving Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP, and their families, and access to our services is available to them at no cost, whether or not they are Legion members.  The Legion helps thousands of Veterans each year and makes significant positive changes in their lives. 

The Legion exists so that Canada never forgets

The Legion understands the importance of honouring past sacrifices and acknowledging the courage of those who served and still serve today. Through Remembrance Day ceremonies, the Poppy campaign, commemorative activities, youth education programs and more, the Legion helps Canadians to honour and remember.

The Legion serves our communities and our country

Legion Branches are the cornerstone of communities across Canada, and provide one of the largest volunteer bases in the country. With 1,350 Branches from coast to coast to coast, our members provide local services and supports to build a stronger Canada. Whether helping local Veterans, supporting seniors, providing youth sports programs, raising funds, volunteering to help those in need, or simply offering a place to gather for fun and celebration, Legionnaires provide essential services in their communities.

Since 1954 the Crescent Beach Legion #240 has operated with a Liquor Primary Club License that carries with it special rules and conditions as follows.

• Must only sell liquor to members and their guests. 
• Must not advertise to the general public.
• Must keep a guest register for any non-member who will be in a service area when liquor is sold or served. 
• May permit members to store personal liquor they have purchased from the club in a locker at the club establishment. 

Obviously these rules are rather controlling and antiquated, especially the one about not being able to advertise.  Trying to attract a younger clientele to their club, the Crescent Beach Legion began the process last year of applying for a Liquor Primary License.  You can read all about this in the Surrey Planning and Development Report that was necessitated by this license change at https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/planning-reports/PLR_7924-0020-00.pdf .  The biggest change with the new license is that it will allow the Legion to serve the general public as in a bar or pub.  No membership is required, even though as the saying goes, membership has its privileges and does help to support the club.  It is interesting to note that the Legion hours will not change, the RCMP and city's By-laws had no concerns and not a single comment was received from the community about this change after signs were posted and letters sent to nearby property owners.

On Friday, the Crescent Beach Legion #240 received official notice that their liquor license application had been successful and they could now operate as a bar or pub.  I would like to note here that the White Rock Legion #8 at 2290 152 St. also completed the same liquor license change last year allowing anyone to stop in, enjoy food and drink, or take in a show.  I would like to invite the public to visit the Crescent Beach Legion that is becoming legendary for its live music shows, which have earned it the nickname of the "Rockin' 240."  On Wednesday it is the Blue Grass Jam starting at 7 p.m., Thurs. is spaghetti dinner $5 before/$10 door at 5:30 p.m. with the Happy Hour band followed by bingo, Friday night is the Lynard Skynard tribute band Longriders at 8:30 p.m., tix $20 before/$25 door, and on Sat. night it's a 80's and 90's double header with Three Times More Handsome band along with Supercramp for only $10 starting at 7:30 p.m.  An upcoming show you will not want to miss is the Wailing Walker band on Friday, May 31st for $20 featuring rockin' rhythm and blues..

Please visit the following websites, Instagram and Facebook pages for more information on our local Legions.  Make sure you check out their events pages to see what is in store for the summer months.  Above all, follow the Legion's battle cry of "Join us - We're on a mission to have fun and support veterans."

Royal Canadian Legion

https://legion.ca/home

Crescent Beach Legion #240

https://www.club240.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/CrescentBranchLegion/

https://www.instagram.com/rcl_branch240/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3sgPPL2ahWYDjdWFAV5w5XO1wV26qG7Ydam2bCBgEU4y7yd8PigK_mmIE_aem_AX7qM17imrU7S5-Jbw1Qg7B3WauMgXRd08E15nzaIvErJA6xPscFWnxQGb2V5wxx1MEHiLEUvrWpeMdv9iA0j1fZ

White Rock Legion #8

https://www.legion8whiterock.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/p/Royal-Canadian-Legion-008-White-Rock-100063467025348/

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

This TNT is really the tale of two cities, with two public beaches and two different ways to deal with parking.  White Rock has always had issues with huge waterfront crowds, traffic jams and a lack of parking in summer.  Compounding this problem is the over half million dollar a year lease paid to the BNSF Railway for using the railway corridor land for parking lots, paying Metro Vancouver their parking lot tax plus upkeep and maintenance along the promenade.  With all of these costs in place that need to be recovered, the City of White Rock now charges $4.50 an hour for their summer rate from 10 a.m. to midnight.  All parking east of Oxford Street is limited to 4 hours maximum, excluding the parkades, which have a daily rate of $16 for those wanting an extended stay at the beach.  At the far end of East Beach behind the Washington Avenue Grill or WAG, the Semiahmoo First Nation operates a parking lot on their land that charges a flat rate of $8 per day.

Meanwhile over in Surrey, the parking at Crescent Beach is free, attracting budget conscious families to this waterfront on warm sunny days.  Unfortunately the Blackie Spit parking lot and gravel overflow lot are often packed solid with cars, with much of the streets throughout this tiny seaside hamlet lined with vehicles.  A study last year by the City of Surrey revealed there were over 400 parking spots that were either marked with illegal no parking signs, illegal tow away zone signage, or where parking areas had been claimed by residents with fencing, hedges, boulders and obstacles.  Since that time some of the Crescent Beach residents have realized the road frontage is not their private property or personal domain and have removed much of this signage.  I drove through Crescent Beach prior to writing this TNT and counted over 80 no parking or tow away zone signs that are still posted.  Some of these are so old the red printing has faded to white and the towing companies listed have been out of business for decades.

It is not the end of an era and there are currently no plans to start charging for parking in Crescent Beach, but changes are coming.  Surrey Council has recently approved a number of Crescent Beach parking and safety improvements that will take place over the next three months.  Here are the changes as posted on the Surrey.ca website at https://www.surrey.ca/renovating-building-development/engineering-infrastructure/capital-construction-program/crescent-beach-improvements .

1. Review, amend and update existing on-street parking signage to ensure a consistent approach (whether angle or parallel parking is required), adequate sight lines and parking hours, which will include two-hour parking on portions of Sullivan Street and Beecher Street that are in proximity to commercial areas;

2. Increase way-finding signage to the Blackie Spit parking lots (including gravel overflow) at the entrance to Crescent Beach, as well as within Blackie Spit;

3. Minor modifications to the existing gravel overflow parking spaces in Blackie Spit to improve turning movements;

4. Adding on-street parking fronting the vacant City Lot/Park at 12254 Beecher Street (McKenzie Road);

5. Completing sidewalk connections for missing “gaps” along Sullivan Street, particularly west of Kidd Road bus stop and Alexandra tot-park area, to improve accessibility access to the beach area;  

6. New accessible walkways on Wickson Road, Target Street and Alexandra Street;

7. Pilot temporary "No Parking” on one side of McBride Avenue (north) for summer 2024; and

8. Develop concept plans for pathways along McBride Avenue (north) and Kidd Road, between Sullivan Street and Gilley Road to improve walking and access to Crescent Beach and Alexandra tot-park.

Bad Engineering Kills People

The title for this TNT is a simple statement I use often and usually for very good reason.  For those people who have followed this column for over 15 years, you know that the state of public roadways and the safety of the travelling public are rather high on my agenda.  Behind the scenes I'm often in contact with the Transportation Ministry, Mainroad Group, local MLAs, ICBC and the police to bring dangerous road conditions to their attention.  Locally, this has included a campaign to have median cable barriers installed on Highway 99, that eventually went from 80 St. in Delta to the Peace Arch border crossing.  A TNT and email about a failed guard rail on the Serpentine River bridge that drowned a young lady led to an extensive investigation that resulted in 18" concrete dividers being used to protect the unsafe mounting posts on similar bridges throughout B.C.  The Hwy. 10 hill headed towards 120 St. got widened and separated because of my concerns, which I had first made a year before a deadly crash that killed two 17 year-olds.  The old Bailey bridge was closed to truck traffic and an announcement made about its replacement immediately after a TNT with photos revealed the extent of the decay on this 50 year-old temporary bridge.

That is only some of the larger and more dangerous road safety initiatives I have taken on over the years.  One of the others was at the interchange of Hwy. 91 and Hwy. 99, in particular the on ramp from Hwy. 91 southbound heading onto Hwy. 99 southbound.  The curved portion of the on ramp is not properly engineered, is not banked steeply enough, has a decreasing radius and originally did not have the tall concrete no-post barriers at the end of it.  This made it possible for an out-of-control vehicle to cross into the southbound traffic at an almost 90 degree angle.  I became aware of this problem when this is exactly what happened, with a multi-car collision resulting in several serious injuries.  After that crash I fired off a few emails about my safety concerns on this dangerous on ramp and how the no-post barricades ended far too early.  It wasn't that much longer before an even larger accident occurred at the very same place but in this case it involved a semi-truck and trailer.  It failed to negotiate the tight corner and drove straight across the southbound lanes, through the centre median and halfway into the northbound lane of Hwy. 99, fortunately without killing anybody.  After another "I told you so" email, more no-post dividers were finally installed to stop these cross-over accidents.

Even with all of these upgrades, the on ramp from HWY 91 southbound to Hwy. 99 southbound remains an accident waiting to happen.  The decreasing radius on ramp has not been changed, ensuring that drivers going too fast, vehicles with bald tires, cars hydroplaning in the rain or trucks with shifting loads fail to negotiate the corner.  The last lamp standard on the curve has been knocked over many times before, with it being put up again in the very same spot, which dare I say drives me crazy.  The worst portion of this entire interchange is where the on ramp ends and you have to merge into traffic on a bend in Hwy. 99 under the Hwy 91 overpass.  It is pretty basic physics that the mirrors of a vehicle attempting this maneuver will not show the driver the traffic beside and behind due to the curve in the road.  Throw in the overpass above, changes in light and shadow, changes in precipitation along with roadway conditions and you have a recipe for disaster.  A quick check of ICBC crash statistics shows that in the past four years there were 232 crashes in this area.   It is no surprise to me since I often use this for my route home and am constantly caught in massive traffic jams from accidents in this location. 

So here is where the rubber hits the road.  Last Monday traffic was snarled for hours on the Hwy. 99 southbound when a semi-truck and trailer flipped over at the end of the HWY 91 on ramp onto Hwy. 99.  It rolled over and slid across both lanes of the highway with the trailer getting caught by the median cable barriers.  This is the exact same spot where another transport truck lost its load several months ago, dropping a large slab of pre-cast concrete onto one of the southbound lanes of Hwy. 99.  In this area more concrete-no-post barriers are needed to protect the traffic on Hwy. 99 from those losing control on the on ramp curve.  The Hwy. 91 on ramp needs to be rebuilt to eliminate the decreasing radius corner and increase the angle of the road to stop truck roll-overs and vehicles losing control.  I should mention here that the street lights need to be moved away from where they keep getting hit by skidding cars.  As far as the merge lane, it needs to be extended several hundred metres south of the Hwy. 91 overpass and to only allow traffic to merge once past the overpass where the road is straight.  You don't need to be a genius to figure this stuff out, you just have to watch the pattern of repeated crashes, rollovers and dumped loads in this location.  Anyone who has been stuck in the traffic chaos at this spot while trying to get home to south Surrey and White Rock knows how a simple commute can turn into an hour's long ordeal.

So that's this week's TNT.  Where the fun begins is on Monday when a link to this column gets emailed to the NDP's Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming.  The South Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, who just happens to be the United Party's Shadow Minister for Transportation and Infrastructure, will also get a copy in his in box.  North Delta's NDP MLA Ravi Kahlon and his counterpart for South Delta United Party MLA Ian Paton will definitely be CC'ed. Delta Mayor Rob Harvie and Delta Councillors, plus Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Surrey Councillors will be on the receiving end too since this problem affects many of their constituents on their daily commutes.  The contacts I have at Mainroad Group and the Insurance Corporation of B.C. will also be notified so they are also aware of these problems and the simple remedies on how to fix them.  Lastly will be Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord and Delta Fire Chief Guy McKintuck as it is his emergency services crews that are constantly called in to clean up the mess at this intersection of two major highways in Delta.  I might also share the information in this column with other media outlets in the Lower Mainland so that if nothing is done about this problem, the next time a truck barrel rolls across Hwy. 99 or somebody gets killed, I can stand in front of the cameras and microphones and scream "I told them it was dangerous and they did nothing!"  

Naturally yours,

Don PItcairn

TNT Extra:  A serious crash on Hwy. 99 only 50 metres away from Hwy. 91 at 4:15 on Sunday morning was the result of a driver going the wrong way.  According to officers from the Surrey RCMP who attended the scene, a 68 year-old woman was driving a late model Ford sedan into oncoming traffic.  The Ford struck a Mercedes sedan with two passengers heading southbound resulting in significant damage to both vehicles and leaving the driver of the Ford with serious injuries.  It is believed that alcohol and a per-existing medical conditions were contributing factors to the collision.  The design issues and safety concerns of the Hwy. 91 and Hwy. 99 interchange had nothing to do with this latest crash in this location. 

I wish to acknowledge we live work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

Make Every Day Earth Day

Welcome to Earth Day!  In case you were not aware Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22nd.  With it falling on a Monday this year I thought it would be appropriate for this TNT to delve into the day dedicated to preserving our beautiful blue and green planet.  Earth Day was first observed in 1970, making 2024 its 54th anniversary.  This world-wide event was conceived by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and a Harvard student Denis Hayes who were both concerned about environmental degradation in the United States following a large oil spill off Santa Barbara, California from an offshore drilling platform.  The very first Earth Day attracted over 20 million people to take part, making it the largest one-day protest in the history of mankind.  This year's Earth Day celebration is expected to attract over a billion people to take part in environmental events in nearly 200 countries.    

Every year has a different theme and this year's is "Planet vs. Plastics."  The people at EARTHDAY.ORG are committed to ending the production of plastics that are fouling our planet, polluting the environment, plus poisoning wildlife and mankind.  Their lofty goal is to have a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by the year 2040.  They advocate for education about the environmental and health risks of plastics, calling for a rapid phase out of single use plastics, the need for a binding United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution, and an end to what is called fast fashion (aka trash fashion or garbage garments).  April 22nd is the day meant to "reaffirm our commitment to protecting the environment, promoting sustainability, and ensuring a healthier and more resilient future for all life on Earth."

So how does Earth Day get celebrated in White Rock?  Unfortunately there is nothing to show on the city's website for 2024 but in 2023 they asked residents to "Celebrate Earth Day Everyday" by adopting 5 basic habits.

1.  Fill your green bins with food scraps and yard trimmings for composting. 

2.  Learn how to properly dispose or recycle your waste on the city website.

3.  Think thrice about your clothes:  reduce, repair, reuse to minimize waste.

4.  Let's rid our environment of waste and plastic pollution and ditch the plastic water bottle.

5.  Reduce paper waste and switch to online billing to receive notifications from City Hall.

Surrey kicks it up a notch with what they bill as B.C.'s largest Earth Day celebration, being held this year on Sat., April 27 at Surrey Civic Centre from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. Activities there include the following: 

Food trucks, an expanded sustainable marketplace, Indigenous cultural sharing, kids activities and much more.  

Free live entertainment by local musicians, dancers, and environmental educators.   

Shop environmentally-friendly, artisan products made by local, small businesses from Surrey and the Lower Mainland.

An environmental event for all-ages, Surrey Parks plant sale, a tomato plant giveaway, kids activities, and much more.

No tickets required!  Experience Western Canada’s largest, free Earth Day event in the heart of Surrey City Centre.

Saving the world and protecting the environment comes down to you and personal choice.  There are many local environmental organizations you can join, such as White Rock and Surrey Naturalists, Burns Bog Conservation Society, Surrey Environmental Partners, Friends of Semiahmoo Bay, A Rocha, SNAP and more.  For hands on experience, consider following the Lower Mainland Green Team on Facebook that organizes environmental cleanup of invasive plants from local parks and nature preserves with one planned for next weekend (https://www.facebook.com/LowerMainlandGreenTeam/).  The Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club with its Little Campbell Hatchery is always looking for volunteers to help with club activities, grounds and trails maintenance and keeping the baby salmon healthy and happy (https://www.sfgc.info/).  Looking after the environment and being outside experiencing nature is always a rewarding and refreshing experience.

For those who prefer being the lone wolf, there is nothing stopping you from being an independent environmentalist.  I pick up trash wherever I see it and even have a couple of litter tongs I keep in my vehicle and take to the beach.  Besides doing regular shoreline beach cleanups at Crescent Rock beach, I've personally removed the debris from several abandoned homeless encampments there.  Every few years I'll take on the task of doing a shoreline cleanup from Crescent Beach to White Rock, liasoning with the BNSF Railway to pick up bags of debris left beside the tracks.  You can act as the eyes and ears for a variety of government agencies whose job it is to look after the environment.  The B.C. RAPP line, (Report All Poachers and Polluters) is good to know as is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for anything salt water related.  Having the Parks Dept and Engineering Dept email addresses for both Surrey and White Rock is a good way to report environmental issues that they need to know about.

Residential, Not Racetrack

Surrey and South Surrey traffic crashes  ICBC.

The City of Vancouver is considering a rather novel idea, putting a 30 km/h speed limit on their residential streets.  This is due to the alarming statistic that just over half of all crashes involving pedestrians occurred on residential streets or at an intersection involving a residential street.  This idea is being supported by Vision Zero Vancouver, a community traffic safety group who bring attention to the 50 km/h default speed limit that is deadly to pedestrians.  Their research shows that a person being struck by a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h has a 90% chance of survival, while those struck by a vehicle doing 50 km/h has only a 20% survival rate.  This is the reason why school and park zones both have a 30 km/h speed limit, it keeps children alive.  For narrow residential roads with houses, families, kids and pets, the current 50 km/h speed limit is a death sentence.

It is not like this is a new concept for communities in the Lower Mainland.  Delta has been leading the charge with a variety of traffic calming measures and the use of 30 kmh speed limits at neighbourhoods in Tsawwassen and Sunshine Hills in North Delta.  Surrey has also been looking at this idea, with their Surrey Slow Streets: Residential Speed Limit Reduction Pilot looking at changing driver behaviour by lowering speed limits to 40 km/h or 30 km/h.  This project ended back in Dec, 2022 and unfortunately the slower speed signs have all been removed.  The six test areas showed that regardless of signage, vehicle speeds in residential neighbourhoods were consistent.  Interestingly, a reduction to 30 km/h from 40 km/h did not translate to a significant lowering of vehicle speed.  It was for this reason that the City of Surrey chose to advocate for the provincial government to set a default speed of 40 km/h for all residential roads across the Lower Mainland.  Even White Rock considered a 30 km/h speed limit for all their residential streets but chose instead to monitor similar projects in Saanich and Victoria. White Rock also cited the cost of putting up 30kmh signs on each street in White Rock as being very costly?

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) sets default speed limits of 50 km/h in municipalities and 80 km/h on highways outside of a municipality. The legislative authority for default speed limits in this province is the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA).  The Union of B.C. Municipalities requested in 2019 that municipal default speed limits be set at 30 km/h for local streets.  The province however, did not support this motion and noted that municipalities can set speed limits on individual streets by posting signage at each end of the street.  Instead of a blanket 30 km/h limit, this would create an unnecessary proliferation of street signage that would be costly to install and also add to continual signage maintenance over time.  It was estimated that the cost for posting 30 km/h signage across the three square miles of White Rock would cost the city $125,000.  Of course, they do have 30 km/h zones for all parks and schools plus along the strip of Marine Drive and Johnston Road from 5 Corners to 16th avenue that often has large crowds of pedestrians attracted to the waterfront.  If you have ever been to the beach on a sunny weekend, you know that driving at 30 km/h would be impossible because of the traffic.

If you want a stark visual representation of how bad the residential crashes are in south Surrey and White Rock, ICBC has statistical information and maps available to the public at https://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Statistics. Simply visit this page, scroll down to the "Interactive Tools" tab that shows crash data by region.  Click on "Lower Mainland" and the first thing you will see is the map of the City of Vancouver that is nearly saturated with areas showing vehicle crashes.  Enter a year and the city you are interested in and it will give you the crash map for that region.  It was actually shocking how many accidents happen on small residential streets throughout the Semiahmoo peninsula.  At the closest corner to our house in the quiet little corner of Crescent Heights, there were two crashes in two years, one that involved my neighbour who had an elderly gentleman run a stop sign and hit his SUV.  Of course I had to look at Marine Drive in White Rock that had 102 collisions over 4 years, most of these that happened in the 30 km/h zone.  In White Rock the most dangerous corner is North Bluff and Johnson Road at 152 crashes, while in South Surrey, the intersection of 152 St. and 32 Ave. Diversion clocks in at 364 crashes.

Coast Capital members need to be aware of this shocking cash grab and to vote NO before the deadline of April 18 at 5 p.m, Pacific Time.  Now is not the time to give Directors the power to increase their collective salaries.  This rule change requires two-thirds support to pass or nearly 67 percent of ballots marked yes.  Members also need to realize that voting is online (coastcapitalsavings.com/election) or by mail with ballots no longer being dropped off at the branches as was previously the case.  If you mail your ballot, you have to consider the delivery time, which Canada Post currently pegs at four days for national mail.  This means your letter should be sent out on or before the morning of April 14 or else it may not be delivered in time.  On Thursday, April 25 the Coast Capital AGSM is being held in the ballroom of the Civic Hotel  at 13475 Central Ave., Surrey.  Doors open at 4:00 PT with the AGSM starting promptly at 4:30 p.m.  It will be interesting to see how members vote, especially on this unnecessary and enormous change to the cap on total salaries for Coast Capital directors. 

For more information and details on the upcoming Coast Capital AGSM vote, please refer to the following links:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/04/03/2857155/0/en/As-Canadians-struggle-to-make-ends-meet-Coast-Capital-introduces-first-of-its-kind-account-that-aims-to-help-people-earn-more.html

https://www.coastcapitalsavings.com/media/puzbx4am/2024-election-booklet-final-and-enhanced-version.pdf

https://www.coastcapitalsavings.com/governance/directors-election/voter-information-and-faqs

Naturally yours;

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

The 1001 Steps are located at the west end of 15A Ave. near Kwomais Point in Ocean Park .  It has not had its name changed but the 1001 Steps and 101 Steps confusion obviously still remains to this day.  This is a serious issue with emergency services being directed to the wrong staircase to deal with problems at the rugged coastline or the BNSF train tracks.  The last time this happened, a woman broke her leg at the 1,001 Steps and the Coast Guard hovercraft instead went to the Christopherson Steps (previously 101 Steps) to aid in her recovery.  For train crashes, sinking boats, forest fires, drownings and injuries on the rugged boulder strewn shoreline, these delays could have serious ramifications.

The old numerical staircase names both need to be eliminated from use to put an end to this decades long problem.  The 1001 Steps should be renamed the "Stevenson Steps" after the Stevenson family that sold the railway corridor to the Great Northern Railway for $1 over a century ago, allowing the rail corridor to be built.  The pedestrian tunnel under the tracks in Ocean Park was a prerequisite for the land sale allowing for safe beach access under the tracks in perpetuity.  Paying homage to early settlers would help teach people some of Surrey's history, while finally putting the staircase confusion of 101 Steps and 1001 Steps to rest.

Another nearby staircase also has a name problem.  Located at 131 St. and 13 Ave., the Olympic Trail has a wooden staircase leading to a mid-bluff viewing platform that looks south towards Washington State.  It is also locally known as Pot Point or Stoner's Point, with the City of Surrey recently taking to calling it the rather boring "13 Ave. Lookout."   With 131 Street formerly called Olympic Road before the names went numeric, these steps that are not even listed on the Surrey.ca website need to have their historic name recognized and added to the Park inventory.  To say it is a local secret would be somewhat of an understatement, with many people completely unaware of its existance.

The City of Surrey would be wise to fix all of these names, put up proper signage at the top and bottom of the staircases plus post road signage on nearby thoroughfares pointing the way to these shoreline access points.  As it is, Surrey doesn't even have the simple blue and white "To The Beach" signs pointing the way to any of these stairs.  Instead they have them far away on 16 Ave, pointing the way to White Rock beach.  Even in the seaside hamlet of Crescent Beach, some signage pointing the way to Blackie Spit would be a good idea and a simple thing to do.  With Crescent Beach being one of two marine recreational areas for almost a million Fraser Valley residents, proper signage should have been installed long ago.

While on the topic of beach signage, there used to be a large green and white sign on 24 Ave. at Crescent Park Elementary that pointed the way to Crescent Beach.  It was taken down several years ago when new curbing was being installed to make student drop-off and pick-up safer.  Unfortunately when the construction was completed, this sign was not reposted on the boulevard.  Now people heading to Crescent Beach drive into the Crescent Heights neighbourhood that is surrounded by a seaside bluff, several ravines and many dead ends.  Putting  this sign back up would save a lot of headaches for frustrated drivers including those towing boats looking for the Marina.

Men In Black at Pink Palace

On Friday afternoon I was driving down King George Blvd. headed towards 8th Avenue when my passengers alerted me to men dressed in dark clothing carrying what they said looked like assault rifles.  This was in the parking lot between the Chartwell Crescent Gardens Retirement Community and the Hilton hotel commonly known as the Pink Palace from its former paint job.  Since I was focused on driving, I did not see the men or rifles but found this all rather concerning considering the recent gangland machine gun attack in White Rock.  Knowing the hotel has frequently been used for filming, I asked them if there were any movie trucks on site and they told me there were none.  I then asked them if they had seen any police vehicles or officers in uniform and again they told me they had not seen any.

Having not witnessed any of this and not wanting to initiate a "man with gun" call to 911, I decided it was best to return and see for myself what was going on.  Pulling over at the entrance to the Pink Palace I found several traffic delineators with caution tape strung between them across the roadway.  A small sandwich board placed facing the road read "Police Scenario Training - Keep Clear of Area."  Nearby was an old stop sign that was faded from red and white to two different shades of grey.  In the parking lot were a number of cars, plus trucks and SUVs that I quickly identified as undercover ERT vehicles with specialized canopies and discrete antennae on their roofs.  There was nobody present by this time, no security guards on site and no badged police cruisers or officers in regular uniform.  I actually never got to see the men in question or the rifles they were reportedly carrying.

Amazingly, when the Surrey RCMP Media Liaison officer was contacted by the White Rock Sun for information, they knew nothing about this tactical exercise.  Because of the vehicles parked on scene, it most likely was the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team (ERT) that consists of RCMP and municipal police services, which is run out of the BC RCMP Headquarters in Tall Timbers Park.  The RCMP website states "The Emergency Response Team deals with situations where extreme danger/firearms are above the ability of detachments or other policing partners.  Team members are highly trained and are specialized experts in weapons and a variety of tactics.  ERT members can provide expert advice to fellow police on weapons."  For more information on the BC RCMP ERT here is the link:  https://bc-cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=23&languageId=1&contentId=5611

The problem with this police exercise is that men dressed in black carrying assault rifles were in a public parking lot walking into a hotel that was visible to neighbours, passing motorists and the residents of the retirement home.  This resulted in a number of "man with gun" calls to E-comm 911 from people concerned about what they had witnessed.  The vehicles with weapons could have easily been backed up to the hotel entrance and the firearms discretely transferred into the building, possibly blocking the area from view with the large Suburban that was on scene.  The parking lot should have been barricaded instead of simply being taped off and signage placed facing traffic in both directions.  Instead of using all undercover vehicles, a couple of marked RCMP squad cars manned by auxiliary police in uniform should have been at the parking lot entrances.  Having men walking through the parking lot with long guns plainly visible was very unprofessional and completely unnecessary. 

I have witnessed RCMP officers walking across parking lots at their headquarters in both Richmond and Langley with shotguns and AR-15 carbine rifles.  Nobody should be concerned or confused by this since the locations are well known, fenced off and obviously packed with uniformed police and squad cars.  When training in a visible area such as the Pink Palace, the public should be notified, the area properly contained and security patrols established.  When movies are filmed at the Pink Palace, I can assure you that any firearms are kept secured and not displayed outdoors unless they have permits from the police and the public and neighbours have been notified.  At the local Semiahmoo Fish & Game club, recreational shooters keep firearms locked in cases as they are transferred from vehicles to the indoor rifle range.  Even the Surrey Police Service who have used this range would not openly carry guns across the club parking lot into the building. 

I understand that the Emergency Response Team has to train for dealing with serious crime arrests, hostage rescue, close quarter combat and barricaded armed subjects.  When holding exercises in leased or rented locations such as the PInk Palace, they cannot simply walk around in public with assault rifles while using unbadged vehicles and dressed in combat fatigues or black clothing.  There have been far too many gangland shootings in BC involving people dressed in a similar fashion with these attacks happening both day and night.  Paintballers and airsoft enthusiasts know they cannot be seen dressed in camouflage and carrying weapons without it being reported to 911 and initiating a serious police response.  Recreational shooters and hunters know they cannot simply walk across parking lots carrying rifles held high.  Those officers in charge of ERT training need to realize that their scenarios cannot panic the public and create nuisance calls to 911.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Iwish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo First Nations

March 18, 2024

The Word For The Day is "Beddian"

I have been a bit of a "word nerd" before it even became a thing on Google or prior to the book being written by Susan Neilsen.  For any writer or word-smith, words are like paint on an artist's palette that can go from mess to masterpiece.  At work we regularly have the "$5 word of the day" for anyone pulling a word out of the hat that amazes and possibly mystifies the crew.  I actually know the lyrics to the song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the 1964 Mary Poppins movie and did not have to look up how to spell it.  It's not very often that a word comes to my attention that I have never heard before and when one does I'm always keen to learn the definition and also where it was derived from.  With all of that said, the word for the day is "Beddian."

What is interesting about this word is that my wife Sheryl came across it because of numerology and a rather unique upcoming event in my life.  In case you don't know, numerology is defined as "an ancient study that draws meaning from different numbers, number combinations, letters, and symbols in your life that tap into the underlying patterns of the universe and reveal new truths about who we are."  Now many of us are aware of our golden or champagne birthday when your birthday matches the day you were born.  This once-in-a-lifetime event happens to everyone before they reach the age of 31 and it can be a fun reason for some extra celebration.  For those 19 years and older (18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec) champagne is definitely on the menu and the gift list.

I was born way back in 1962 (before the Beatles first album I like to say) and later this month I will be turning 62 years old.  It occurred to me years ago that if I lived long enough I would get to celebrate this rather interesting birthday.  It was only recently that I began wondering if this birthday actually had a name, which turns out is a "Beddian birthday."  Nobody I have talked to about a Beddian birthday knew anything about it.  Unfortunately for many people, theirs had already passed without this milestone being recognized.  My parents, both born in 1938, would have had their Beddian birthdays in 1976 when I was a young teenager and I know it was never mentioned or celebrated.  My sister and a good buddy who are a few years older than me were pissed when I told them about it, never realizing it was numerically significant and missing theirs.  My daughters are choked as being born in the early 1990s, they will have to live to be over 90-years-old to celebrate their Beddian birthdays.

So how did this statistically interesting birthday get its rather odd name?  I found this interesting explanation from a birthday cake website (where else?) that involves a NYFD firefighter, a New Yorker magazine journalist and a New York University physicist.

"On November 5, 2007, The New Yorker published an article written by Lizzie Widdicombe entitled, "The Firefighter'sTheorem."  This article recounts a story about Bobby Beddia, a New York firefighter, and his now-famous birthday observation.  On a sunny August Saturday, Bobby chatted with Rhonda Shearer, a visitor to his fire station, about his great luck in getting to live during his birth year.  When asked to elaborate, he explained that he was born in September 1953, so his age in 2006/2007 matched the final two digits of the year in which he was born: 53.  This phenomenon happens to everyone, but only once in a lifetime, and Bobby Beddia was thrilled to be experiencing his.  Tragically, later that day, Bobby was killed in the line of duty."

"As a tribute to her friend, Rhonda decided to investigate this birthday observation, and the result was some pretty fascinating math—if you’re into that sort of thing.  She reached out to her physicist and mathematician friends for more insight, and the “birth year” eventually came to be known as a Beddian year.  Richard Brandt, a former NYU physicist, observed that Beddian birthdays will only ever happen in even-numbered years.  That’s because, mathematically, the event is essentially a doubling.  Think of it this way: if you were born in 1960, your Beddian year is 2020, the year you turn 60.  1960 + 60 = 2020.  If you were born in 1953, your Beddian year was 2006: 1953 + 53 = 2006.  Do you see the doubling effect?  One of the most basic math concepts is that the result of doubling any number is always an even number; hence Beddian birthdays are strictly an even year occurrence."

So enjoy your Beddian birthday if you live that long.  For those born in 1963, your year is 2026.  For those born in 1970, it comes around in 2040.  For those folks from 1980, it's 2060 if you make it that far.  If you were born in 1990 and are now 34 year old, your Beddian year is way off in 2080.  For those born in 2000, you have to live to be a centenarian in 2100 to celebrate both living to be 100 years old and your Beddian birthday.  Hopefully I have now given all of these people something to live for when they finally reach their golden years.  For our three grandsons born in this century, they will all have their Beddian birthdays when they are teenagers and unlike almost everyone else will actually know about it and get to celebrate the occasion.  All of this because of Bobby Beddia and the Fire-fighter's Theorem where numerology and etymology (look it up) combine.

You can read more about Robert C. Beddia on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Roll of Honor at this link:

https://www.firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/robert-c-beddia

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn 

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people

Fish School at SFGC

Like all organizations, the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club (SFGC) had to weather the storm when COVID-19 emerged and lock-downs were put in place to help deal with the spread of the virus.  The archery and firearms ranges were all closed, hall rentals and weddings were cancelled and public gatherings ended.  Through these trying times volunteers running the salmon hatchery managed to keep separated and ensure that the salmonids were kept healthy until they could be released back into the Little Campbell river.  Unfortunately the "Salmon in the Classroom" program run by the Department of Oceans and Fisheries (DFO) with help from the hatchery at the SFGC were also cancelled during COVID along with school tours of the Little Campbell hatchery.  Now that everything has returned to normal, both of these important educational programs that highlight the importance of salmon hatchery operations are back up and running.

Last fall volunteers manning the fish fence on the Little Campbell River netted 3,700 Coho (of which 350 were hatchery fish), 950 Chinook and 350 Chum, all of which were counted, sexed and released.  Under the watchful eye of DFO officers, salmon were selected to provide brood stock for future hatchery operations.  Currently there are two eight foot wide tubs with 38,000 Coho and another set of tubs with 52,000 Chinook swimming in them.   Outside in the large rearing pond, a further 20,000 Coho are being raised for release into the Little Campbell River in the near future.  Besides all of the salmon being raised at the hatchery, the DFO outfits classrooms with specialized aquariums so that students can experience hands-on the life-cycle of salmon.  Eyed-eggs from the Little Campbell Hatchery are distributed by DFO from the Little Campbell Hatchery to schools in Surrey, Delta and Richmond in January where they are raised for release in the spring. 

In total the SFGC has booked students from over 80 schools this year to visit the Little Campbell hatchery.  This generally involves groups of 25-26 children plus teachers and parents.  Between now and spring break, it is expected that 650 kids will be visiting the property to see first hand what is happening and how the young fish are kept safe and healthy.  The $100 booking fee is quite affordable and helps the Club pay for salmon hatchery operations.  A team of eight veteran guides (with several more in training) assist with classroom instruction and the tours of the hatchery, outbuildings, the Little Campbell river and the neary 30 acres of property.  Currently many of the children are arriving in buses or by mini-van convoy with the fish they have raised in the classroom.  It is expected that before the March spring break that all of the salmonids raised in the classrooms will be released by the kids into the Little Campbell where they then begin their epic four year migration.  It is interesting to note that of the 55 eggs delivered to each classroom, 51-55 salmonids are returned and released into the river.  You can find more information on the SFGC's Little Campbell fish hatchery school tours at:  You can find more information on the SFGC's Little Campbell fish hatchery school tours at: https://www.sfgc.info/copy-of-a-volunteer-s-fish-tale 

The SFGC's Little Campbell hatchery is run by a contingent of knowledgeable volunteers who make everything possible.  This time of year the tanks with the salmonids must be cleaned on a daily basis and of course the fish need to be fed and monitored.  Besides the educational school tours, members of the SFGC recently teamed up with other salmon hatcheries to run the Fishing For Kids booth at the BC Sportsman Show in Abbotsford.  Over the upcoming spring break the young Chinook currently in the rearing tanks will have their adipose fin removed marking them as hatchery fish.  At that time the DFO will supply a pinning machine that inserts a coded wire into the nose of the fish that provides information on health, growth, travel and morbidity when the fish are caught or collected.  The 52,000 Chinook will take twelve people a total of eight days working seven hours a day to complete this task, with the Coho marked and tagged soon after that.  When the salmon are running in October, it takes a total of 450-500 hours for volunteers to man the fish fence, net the salmon and perform the count.  If you want hands-on experience with helping both hatchery raised and wild salmon survive, the Semiahoo Fish & Game Club is waiting for you.

With plans for a new fish hatchery to be constructed currently at the building permit stage, there has been a big increase in interest in the happenings at the SFGC and the Little Campbell hatchery.  It was only a few years ago when it looked as if the property was going to be given to the CIty of Surrey but from those days the club has made a remarkable comeback.  Memberships can be purchased at $110 for the year with $50 for seniors and a family rate of $140.  For this you can get involved in one of the only fish and game clubs that has a fish hatchery on their property.  The SFGC is always looking for volunteers to help lessen the workload on older members who devote much time and energy on the hatchery plus club operations.  With indoor and outdoor archery, a basement firearms range, 200 seat hall and plenty of outdoor activities on the wooded property there is always something going on.  You can check out the club website at https://www.sfgc.info/ or drop by at 1284 184 street in the Hazelmere Valley of south Surrey.  The property is open to the public from dawn to dusk and the walking trails beside the river are always a nice place to connect with nature

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lads of the Semiahmoo people.

Letter To The Editor

TNT The Naked Truth

Don Pitcairn

Pump and Dump

Before taking our winter vacation, I decided to do some snooping for a TNT story after getting snowed out of work in North Delta.  Since I was already in the neighbourhood, I went to see if I could find traces of diesel oil pollution in East Delta, wondering if the fuel I had seen in waterways south of the BNSF derailment site next to Hwy. 91 had migrated through to Mud Bay.  You can read the rest of what is now a train wreck trilogy by scrolling down to the Nov. 20, 2023 TNT titled "BNSF Off The Rail" and the related Jan. 8, 2024 column titled "Droning For Oil."  Just as crap flows downhill, the ditches and streams from East Delta all flow south to the City of Delta pump station at the south end of 112 St. that empties drainage water from there directly into Mud Bay.

Delta pump house holding pond oil slick.

Parking next to the dike gate, I made my way to the massive pump house complex that the City of Delta uses to keep its farmlands from flooding and returning to a bog.  Interestingly, the area is not fenced off and you can simply walk around the complex including on concrete sidewalks and metal catwalks over the adjacent holding pond.  I was not really surprised but still couldn't believe my eyes when I immediately found a thick oily slick floating on the water just to the side of the massive pumps.  There were no oil containment booms or absorbent booms in this area even though an accumulation of floating oil in this location a few kilometers away from the recent BNSF train wreck site should have been anticipated by both the City of Delta and the Railway.

Delta pump house outflow into Mud Bay.

The problem with this pump house is that it uses large mechanical screws to lift water up out of the holding pond where it then flows in a large pipe under the dike and discharges onto the shoreline area of Mud Bay.  Because of this basic design, the screws skim off the top layer of water taking any floating debris or possible contaminates with it.  Leaving the pump house and crossing over the dike pathway, I found the outflow area where the pumped water flowed into the ocean.  It was covered with a thick layer of white foam that was noticeably brown on top.  The wind was blowing briskly from the northeast at that time and there was none of this same foam visible upwind along the shore east from the outflow area.

The shoreline downwind and due west of the outflow was a completely different story.  A thick sudsy layer of the same white and brown foam covered the rocks and logs that lined the shoreline directly across from the pump house  Some of it measured an estimated two metres out from shore and up to 20 cm. deep.  Further west from there the shore turned into several small bays and this ugly foam sludge was piled up against the shoreline even browner than at the outflow.  As nasty as this material looked, even worse was seeing the hundreds of ducks resting just offshore from the foam lined beach.  With cold arctic outflow conditions last week, Boundary Bay that is part of the Pacific Flyway would have been lined with huge flocks of ducks as all of the freshwater inland ponds were frozen solid.

Shoreline of Mud Bay with accumulated foam and flock of ducks.

Because of travel preparations and other chores, I was not able to return to get water samples of the pump house oil slick or the dirty cappuccino foam lining Mud Bay.  I did send out my pictures in a news release to local environmental groups, political contacts and other media organizations.  Just like the original oil I witnessed in Delta farmland ditches south of the BNSF train crash site thanks to HiPics Drone Services, I reported what I had seen to the BC Environment Ministry, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the RAPP line for polluters, plus the City of Delta's Environmental Manager.  I have yet to be contacted back from any of these even though they all received the same pictures you see posted here.

As to what the pump house foam is from, it may be naturally occurring and biological in nature with a rational scientific explanation.  It could also be possibly related to the locomotive diesel oil spill and any dispersal agents applied to the BNSF train crash scene to help with the environmental cleanup.  Considering the visible oil slick on the pump house holding pond, I have reason to suspect it may be the later.  Water quality testing and chemical analysis of the pump house oil slick could explain this mystery but this is the job of multiple government agencies whose mandate is to investigate spills and protect the natural environment.  If they continue to do nothing, I'll be back at the pump house to collect my own samples of the dirty foam and oil slick for lab testing.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

The Naked Truth

Don Pitcairn

Drone-ing" For Oil

In my Nov. 20, 2023 TNT titled "BNSF Off The Rails", I examined the crash scene of two BNSF freight trains in North Delta along Highway 91 that included  several locomotives off the tracks along with a bunch of cars and two oil tankers.  The BNSF Railway engineers and track workers descended on the scene along with hazmat workers to clean up the mess and clear the tracks.  It took only a few days for rail traffic to resume but the cleanup has been ongoing ever since with hazmat trucks remaining on scene.  I thought this story was basically over until I received a call from the owner of a local drone company who let me know there was plenty more to see if you had a bird's eye view.

(click here for aerial view of crash and clean up site)

John Easton

John Easton from HiPics Drone Services (https://hipics.ca/wp) normally uses his UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for mundane tasks such as rooftop inspections, construction planning, insurance reports, property management or agriculture inspections.  Upon hearing about the BNSF train crash not far from where he lives, he decided to use his Transport Canada certified drone and its various thermal and infrared filters to record the extent of the damage.  Time and time again he went back to the well so to speak, showing the progression of the track cleanup and repair plus spill response.  It did not take him long to realize that he was seeing things with his drone from the air that the people on the ground were either missing, or totally ignoring.  

After meeting with John and seeing some of his detailed drone footage, the two of us went to the train crash site for a visual inspection.  Amazingly, while the Metro-Vancouver walkway along the tracks was closed to the public, there was nothing stopping anyone from parking at the truck pullout and walking to the nearby crash scene.  Once there, John showed me a large mound of excavated material covered with thick tarps that he described as being contaminated soil dug out from the worst of the spill areas.  Oil containment booms and absorbent booms were strung across the ditches with absorbent pads floating in many areas soaking up petroleum residue.  In the ditches was a pervasive oily sheen with a brown sludge covering much of the vegetation below the surface of the water wherever petroleum contamination was present.  

Even with the presence of the various containment and cleanup materials in place, it was obvious that some of the oil had escaped from the area.  Heavy rains after the train crash had flooded the Met-Van walkway and the normally grey gravel surface was a mottled brown wherever the oil had been.  A swail beside the highway and the Met-Van forced sewer main had water in it for a long distance past the crash site and it too was covered in oil.  There was evidence that much of the vegetation that had been in contact with the oil was now dying.  Making matters worse, there were a number of culverts that pass from alongside the Watershed park to the south side of Hwy. 91 draining water from the bog at the bottom of the hill.  We saw the oily water and brown sludge disappearing into these large pipes that were pointing south-west to the farm fields on the other side of the road.

Mr. Easton had shown me a map of the east Delta farm land that I was very familiar with from a time long before Hwy. 91 was built when I lived in North Delta.  On it he had noted various culverts, pipes, ditches and pump houses with each one numbered and linked to drone shots and videos he had taken.  We stopped by the culvert outflows west of Hwy. 91 and they were an oily mess, reeking of fuel and covered with rafts of the same brown sludge we had witnessed near the crash scene.  These dumped into a ditch at the edge of the highway that then flowed into farmers fields visible south of 64 Ave.  We drove from there to 112 St., the same road where the last overpass was struck, finding oil collected into many corners of the ditch.  All of the waterways and streams in this part of Delta eventually empty out into Mud Bay at the south end of 112 St. near where the old BC Packers Oyster Shucking Plant once stood.

The farmers at the end of the road who were now aware of the locomotive fuel spill had given John permission to enter their properties to check for oil contamination and for him to fly his drone.  The pictures I took of the ditches posted here don't do it justice nor do they convey the terrible smell but I will say it was enough to almost make me throw up several times.  The heavy rains had pushed the oil out into the corners of the blueberry field and a nearby corn field where it was now laying slowly soaking into the ground.  John informed me that when he first was flying his drone over the area there were ducks, geese, swans and beavers in the fields and ditches.  Now they were completely empty with even songbirds missing from the fields.  A later video he took showed a mallard duck in one of these oil covered ditches and when it flew away, you could see a circle of water that slowly closed up with floating oil.

What makes drone footage so important in oil spills is it is very easy to spot the telltale sheen and streaks in the water from above.  A quick flight can cover long distances of areas that normally would be difficult to access.  Having thermal and infrared ability is also important as different products have various levels of emissivity, which is a measure of how efficiently an object radiates heat.  After seeing for myself the night and day difference that having an overhead view makes for containment and cleanup after an oil spill, utilizing UAV's to track pollution and hopefully clean it up should be standard protocol in these unfortunate events.  As to how the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Transportation, and the City of Delta will clean up this mess is unknown but it looks as if the BNSF Railway was asleep at the switch as petroleum contaminants floated away from the train crash scene.

On a related note, I learned that on Dec. 22, 2020, A BNSF train carrying tankers of Bakken crude oil derailed with ten cars going to ground and three catching fire in Custer Wash.  This resulted in the evacuation of residents from a half-mile radius and the closure of the important I-5 Freeway.  This crash site was only 10 km from the US/Canada border, while the Delta crash site is only 15 km from the Peace Arch as the crow flies.  Doing the simple math, this means the BNSF has had two oil tanker train crashes in less than 3 years, just 25 km. apart.  Anyone living by the train tracks in the Semi-pen can attest to the substantial increase in oil tanker traffic here with the rail corridor being used as a pipeline on wheels to ship petroleum.  A derailment along the Semiahmoo waterfront would likely involve tanker cars falling onto jagged rip-rap boulders and then rolling into Boundary Bay.  If a small spill into a ditch can't be contained, a large spill into the ocean here could be devastating.

(click here to see more drone footage of spill site)

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People.

TNT Year in Review 2023

To help celebrate the end of 2023, here is the TNT Year in Review that is a quick reference guide to stories you may have missed, wish to share, or simply want to read again.  Once you have found a TNT column of interest, note the date and simply scroll down into the archives below to find it.  A simple change this year is this listing now runs backwards from December to January so that the stories match up as you scroll down deeper into the TNT history.

The Naked Truth - Dec. 25, 2023

Christmas Gift List 2023

Pay For Your Propaganda

I must admit I was rather surprised last week when I was on Facebook and a sponsored ad popped up for the "NDP Surrey Tax."  At first glance I thought it might be something that the KTRIS group (Keep The RCMP In Surrey) was involved with since it was them who spearheaded a previous sign campaign and referendum against the Surrey police transition.  It wasn't until I had read through all of the ad that I realized it had been financed by the City of Surrey.  Instead of a link to a section of the city of Surrey website, this campaign has its own website (https://ndpsurreytax.ca/).  You can also find it on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ndpsurreytax), TPFKAT (The Platform Formerly Known As Twitter) now called X and Instagram as well.

It turns out that this "NDP Surrey Tax" campaign run out of Surrey City Hall will include social media posts (read ads), electronic billboard displays throughout the city plus a direct mail flyer sent to all the households in Surrey.  In total this education, indoctrination and brainwashing of Surrey voters will cost $500,000, which sounds better when you say it in your best Dr. Evil voice "half a MILLION dollars."  Amazingly this campaign was never brought up in open Council meaning it was either brainstormed during in-camera meetings that are kept secret or was developed by the City Manager, likely with help from the Mayor's office.  No matter how this advertising campaign was put together, framing the now forced transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service as an NDP Surrey Tax should be viewed as disingenuous and misguided political propaganda.

Here is the information taken directly from the NDP Surrey Tax website that is extremely short on specifics and written in a way to focus blame on the NDP.

The NDP are trying to force the City of Surrey to accept an expensive, disorganized police transition that will do nothing to improve public safety.

Expensive - The NDP Police Service will cost Surrey taxpayers nearly half a billion more over the next 10 years compared to keeping the RCMP.

Massive NDP Surrey Tax - A massive, double digit tax hike will be necessary to pay for the unfordable NDP imposed transition.

No Public Safety Benefit - Today 75% of the police in Surrey are with the RCMP.  Surrey has been given no plan for the transition.

Less Funding For Priorities - The NDP police service will mean less funds for housing, schools, hospitals, transit, parks, rec centres and other local priorities.

The big Pattison electronic billboard highway ads are a little more succinct and to the point.  I can hardly wait to see what the printed flyers will say.

NDP police transition WILL COST YOU MORE

$464 M MORE over the next 10 years

MASSIVE DOUBLE-DIGIT tax increase

LESS $ for schools, health and transit

If you are reading the Facebook comments, ensure you select "All Comments" that does not filter out posts like the "Newest" or "Most Relevant" tab.

The problem with all of this is that the NDP are not taxing Surrey, they are forcing them to continue with the police transition that Mayor Locke and the Surrey Connect councillors want to stop.  Currently, running two police forces in the city are costing tax-payers $8 million a month, with nothing noted about this waste of money.  The name chosen for this ad campaign was deliberately meant to obfuscate the public, kind of like me using the word obfuscate, when I could have used confuse or bewilder instead.  The $464 million number should be questioned and it does not include the $150 million payment offered to Surrey by the BC Government.  A massive double-digit tax increase could be anything from 11% to 20% but there is no mention of the actual amount.  Lastly, paying for housing, schools, hospitals and transit are the responsibility of the Provincial government, not the City of Surrey.  

It would appear that this attack ad campaign is focused squarely on bringing the NDP government some political heat here in Surrey.  There is a provincial election upcoming in less than a year's time and there will be 10 ridings in Surrey with 7 that are currently held by NDP MLAs.  If the members of Surrey Connect really wanted to go after the NDP about the forced police transition, they should have done so directly and paid for it themselves with political donations.  I think a lawn sign campaign similar to what KTRIS did would have been easy, cheap and effective.  Instead of KEEP THE RCMP IN SURREY that helped dispatch Doug McCallum from office, a new updated version should instead read KEEP SURREY RCMP KICK OUT NDP printed in saffron orange and dark blue.  I already had a few made up by my sign guy and paid for them out of my own pocket, with after tax dollars I might add.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and lay on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo nation.

Brae island, Fort Langley, Polar Bear Swim, 12 noon.

The annual polar swim in Fort Langley is held at the beach on Brae Island Regional Park across the water from the village. The swimming usually starts at noon and finishes very soon after.  Unlike other similar events elsewhere in the Lower Mainland, the Fort Langley swim is pretty informal. There are no official sponsors, organizer, registration process, charitable beneficiary or fees. The swim is also in the river as opposed to the ocean, and in some years there has actually been ice on the water. The Fort Langley Polar Bear Swim began in 2014 with a group of friends wanting a New Year’s Day swim but without having to drive across the Lower Mainland to an official existing venue. The event has continued since then and attracts dozens of swimmers and hundreds of onlookers.

Rocky Point Park, Port Moody, Penguin Plunge, 1 p.m.

The Penguin Plunge is an annual event that takes place on New Year’s Day by the pier at Rocky Point Park at 2800 Murray Street.  The Port Moody Penguin Plunge is a fundraising event for the Pleasantside Community Association. The cost for swimming participants is $5 per person, or $10 per family, with proceeds benefiting the community.  This event was cancelled in 2021 and 2022, but returned on January 1st in 2023. Registration typically starts at 11:30 am and the swim happens at 1:00 pm.

Panorama Park, Deep Cove, North Vancouver, Penguin Plunge 2 p.m.

The Deep Cove Penguin Plunge traditionally runs from 12:30 pm until around 3:00 pm at Panorama Park in North Vancouver. The event there usually includes live music and family-friendly festivities, plus the traditional quick dip in the water.  It’s one of the Lower Mainland’s largest January 1st dips in the ocean. With its community bonfire and live band, the Deep Cove swim is also one of New Year’s Day’s most entertaining and family-friendly events most years.  Each year costume judging takes place at around 1:30 pm and the swim starts promptly at 2:00 pm.  Donations at the event benefit a local charity. including North Shore Rescue and the Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue.

Wreck Beach, Pacific Spirit Park, UBC, Vancouver, Polar Bare Swim, New Year's Day 

While not officially endorsed by the Wreck Beach Preservation Society or Metro Vancouver Parks, many of the people who frequent the world famous Wreck beach in the summer return on Jan 1st to brrr-ring in the New Year at Vancouver's clothing-optional beach.  There is no official start time but swimmers enter the water throughout the day, often taking this annual baptism in their birthday suits.  The most popular area is the large sandy beach at the bottom of Trail 6 off Marine Drive across from the Totem Residence buildings. 

This rather elite club is reserved for those brave enough to complete the "Triple Crown" of local swims on New Year's Day at White Rock, Surrey and Vancouver.  The timing of the White Rock Polar Bear Plunge (at noon), the Polar Bare Skinny-dip at Crescent Rock Beach (1 p.m.) and Vancouver's Polar Bear Swim at English Bay (2:30 p.m.) allows for the 'triple crown' of polar bear swims to be completed in just 2.5 hours on New Year's Day.  The swim at Surrey's Crescent Rock Beach must be done in the nude, with photographic proof submitted from all three swims.  The original Mad Hatters, a pair of local women with one wearing a large top hat, first completed these three swims in 2008.  Jamie Kwen from Burnaby (see above photo) has completed a record six of the Mad Hatter's swims, doing 18 swims New year's dips in 15 hours total time.  

Closing/Opening times for Christopherson Steps and 1001 Steps

Closing/Opening times for 13 Avenue Lookout (Olympic Trail)

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which we live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

Not Weed The Knotweed

I went to Harrison Hot springs several weeks ago and took a walk on the pathway around the lagoon next to the lake.  It was a pleasant stroll with plenty of water views but being a gardener what really caught my eye was a large clump of a bamboo like weed growing in the rip-rap rocks used to control erosion.  I recognized this rather exotic looking plant as Japanese Knotweed, one of four varieties of Knotweed known to infest this province.  These include the aforementioned Japanese Knotweed, giant Knotweed, Himalayan Knotweed and bohemian Knotweed  Collectively these plants are one of the 100 worst invasive species as identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  The Invasive Species Council of BC rates knotweeds as one of the top 10 invasive species for BC because of its ability to proliferate in a wide variety of soil types and climate conditions.  They are designated as a noxious plant species under the Weed Control Act plus Forest and Range Practices Act.  

Here is a description taken from the Invasive Species Council of BC (ISCBC) website at https://bcinvasives.ca

Flowers: Small, white/green flowers grow in showy, plume-like, branched clusters along the stem and leaf axis (joints).
Stems: Green stems, or canes, are hollow with varying thicknesses, upright, and bam-boo-like with reddish-brown/red speckles. Stems are gener- ally 1-5 m in height and grow in large, dense thickets. Stems may persist through the winter as bare, grey or straw colored hollow stalks.
Rhizomes: At maturity, rhizomes are thick and woody and can spread up to 20m laterally. Rhizomes have reduced leaf scales that span every 2-4 cm. The underside of the rhizomes has adventitious roots that travel into the soil with penetrable force.
Leaves: Predominantly heart- to triangular-shaped on all species except Himalayan, which are elongated and tapered.  Leaves on all species, except giant knotweed, are 8-10 cm wide and 15 cm in length. Giant knotweed leaves are generally twice the size of the other 3 species. A distinguishing feature
for Japanese knotweed is the zigzag pattern in which leaves are arranged along the plant’s arching stems.

This nasty weed unfortunately spreads both by seed and by fragments of both seed and roots, making eradication extremely difficult.  Attempts at digging it out often inadvertently spread it even further from contaminated soil and portions of the plant not properly disposed of by burying in a landfill 5 metres deep.  Home composting does not work as both the seeds and portions of the roots will likely survive, only to sprout up somewhere else.  Knotweed are often found in areas around streams, lakes and ocean beaches, in piles of landscape material, road and railway right of ways and derelict land.  They prefer moist soil and full to partial sun, making most riparian areas ideal for their growth and dispersal. Seeing Knotweed growing on the shore of Harrison Lake was obviously a cause for concern as not only could it spread around this lake, boaters could also move seeds to other bodies of water.  I reported my find to both the Harrison Village Council and the Invasive Species Council of BC at https://noninvasive/invasives/japanese-knotweed/ so they could take action against this clump of knotweed on the lakeshore.  

Both Surrey and White Rock have taken steps to combat this noxious weed that is mainly controlled by applying the herbicide Glyphosate to the plant to kill it.  Better known by its trade name of Roundup, this chemical is non-selective and translocates down into the roots killing the entire plant.  Treated areas are generally cleared once the plant has died and the area monitored for possible regrowth the next year.  While these two cities are working to solve this problem, unfortunately they are fighting a losing battle.  With the extreme low tides from the full moon, I ventured onto the south facing section of Crescent Rock beach not far from Ocean Park in search of sand bars left exposed.  While the beach was beautiful, I was shocked by the large groves of Japanese knotweed all along the BNSF Railway.  These big clumps were growing every 15-25 metres on the area between the tracks and the rip-rap boulders.  Around homes this weed can push through asphalt and building foundations, damaging retaining walls and choking drainage systems.  Along the BNSF tracks these thickets impact sightlines for the railway engineers, hiding people foolish enough to walk on these waterfront train tracks.  Even worse, the ISCBC warns They have also been known to reduce the stability and integrity of the rail bed and compromise train safety."

I am going to be notifying the cities of White Rock and Surrey, the BNSF Railway, the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change plus Fisheries and Oceans Canada because it is unclear who actually has jurisdiction over this area.  Removing this large amount of knotweed will not (knot?) be easy and using Roundup so close to the ocean might not be allowed due to environmental regulations.  It is extremely concerning that the BNSF has apparently done little to control the spread of this noxious weed in an area that might affect train safety.  I do know that the Railway already uses Roundup on the ballast rock in the rail corridor to control unwanted vegetation but the knotweed groves are just outside of this area growing in the boulders used to stabilize the tracks and protect them from erosion.  The other issue is that seeds and tissue from these plants can float away on the tides and infest other areas of Boundary Bay including those on the American side where it is already on the radar of the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.

For more information on knotweed please refer to the following invasive species websites.

https://bcinvasives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ISCBC-Factsheet-Knotweeds-180216-WEB.pdf

https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/japanese-knotweed

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lads of the Semiahmoo people.

Stop Stumping The Hump

The latest cutting of trees and clearing of vegetation on the Hump hillside is now complete but knowing the history of White Rock Mayor & Council it is likely to continue unless there is a ground swelling of public support to let this forested area that was clear cut in 2015 regrow.  It is worth noting that the current mayor, Megan Knight, was a Councillor at that time aligned with the White Rock Coalition that also included current councillor Bill Lawrence.  They seem to be comfortable with continuing on with the legacy of Hump hillside clear cutting that was partly responsible for the then Mayor Wayne Baldwin and Coalition members being all kicked to the curb in 2018.  I guess they have never heard that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

For some reason, it seems that the residents of the Semiahmoo Shores strata located at 15165 Marine Drive apparently have the ear the current council and or staff at city hall yet again.  It was this 21 unit building that apparently was the driving force behind the push for so-called "vegetation control" needed in 2015 to view the retaining walls along Marine Drive at the top of the hump.  Of course, in White Rock, vegetation control actually means "clear cut the trees for views of the pier" and the Hump hillside was turned into a barren scar that was never replanted as promised.  I have been informed that the same strata and possibly the same people were also responsible for getting the latest brush and tree clearing done directly across the street from this four story condo building. 

On Monday there is a Regular Council Meeting being held at White Rock City Hall.  You can view the agenda online at https://pub-whiterockcity.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=5c6efcd7-ff85-4d7b-8d7e-278b79e4470a&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English   I am planning to be there for the beginning question and answer period to ask rather pointed questions to the current Mayor and Council about why the Hump hillside that is owned by the BNSF Railway is once again being cleared for views from Marine Drive.  Shortly after that Q&A is over, a delegation of four people, David Sharpe, Kerry Wray, Shelley Mare and Jan Wild will attend to discuss vegetation on the Hump.  My guess is they will praise the current tree cutting and ask for even more to be done to help improve the view from Semiahmoo Shores.

There might be a fly in the ointment to any plans to clear cut more trees on the Hump hillside.  I reported the recent clearing to the Transport Canada Rail Safety supervisor for this region, giving him my many reasons why I believe this threatens slope stability and railway safety in the area.  This included a lengthy history lesson on the geology of the region, previous landslides onto the BNSF tracks and the destruction of the forest that used to grow on the Hump.  An email I received from Transport Canada stated the following:  "  BNSF will follow up with the City of White Rock.  Transport Canada will continue to monitor the slope at this particular location as well as other slopes along the BNSF right-of-way to verify that BNSF railway operations remain compliant and safe."

I made sure to send my contact at Transport Canada the link to a YouTube video provided by former White Rock Councillor Erika Johanson who was chair of the Environmental Committee.  It features Geotechnical Engineer Callum Buchan talking about his findings regarding soil movement and slope instability on the Hump starting in 2009.  A portion of his talk goes like this.  "Seismic stability, things were not very good, the hillside is marginally stable.  After (the 2015 tree removal) we started noticing the pavement starting to crack up again.  More shifting of the road surface and it seemed to coincide shortly after the tree removal."  He called on White Rock to vegetate the hillside with deeper rooting woody species that could help in terms of providing root reinforcement and transpiration that really helps hillsides.  Mrs. Johanson believes "The current council was not paying attention to the dire warning of an expert brought in by the committee to discuss safety and slope stability on the Hump.    With all of the information I have made public about the Hump hillside, I hope that concerned citizens of White Rock will take the time to attend Monday's Council meeting with placards in hand.  Residents need to make sure that Mayor Knight and the current Council realize that cutting trees for the views of a select few is vastly outweighed by the threat of slope movement on the Hump and the risk of landslides onto the BNSF tracks.  They need to not be so short sighted and change their point of view, realizing that having a lovely green forest on the hillside along the promenade is also a great backdrop for the White Rock boulder as viewed by millions of people every year from the pier.  If White Rock politicians continue with their assault on the Hump, maybe the only way to stop it might be for a green slate to run on the promise to rejoin Surrey where motto is "The future lives here" and not "The City - Buy The Sea."

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

More Stumps on the Hump!

I think I know how Bill Murray felt when waking up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania-every morning in the movie Groundhog Day.  White Rock is up to its old tricks with arborist contractors once again cutting down trees on the Hump hillside between East Beach and West Beach.  This is in the area where two black-tailed deer were recently photographed that was posted on local social media pages.  The wild cherry and maple saplings were finally regrowing to a height of 10 metres after the hillside above the tracks where it was clear-cut in 2015 under the guise of "vegetation control" to allow access to check out the retaining walls along Marine Drive.  I guess the some of the newly elected council wants to act like the old mayor Wayne Baldwin and mow down the Hump trees yet again.  The clearing is at the viewing platform directly across the street from the four storey tall Semiahmoo Shores building located at 15165 Marine Drive if you want to see this latest debacle for yourself.

I have more than a few issues with this latest Hump hatchet job done by the City of White Rock on BNSF land that they do not lease from the railway.  This hill has had landslides before, with a photo from the pier in 1920 showing four vertical and one lateral slope failures after it was first cleared in the late 1800s when it was cottage country.  The Marine Drive sidewalk and handrail were replaced approximately ten years ago because it was leaning at a 15-20 degree angle towards the beach due to soil creep on the hill.  In fact, the 2015 defacto clear-cutting was halted near East beach when several active slide sites were located in the blackberries and alders, both species that thrive on disturbed land and areas of soil movement.  Of course, the clear-cutting was somehow needed to see the retaining walls they feared would collapse after large cracks were noticed in the middle of Marine Drive.  If people are not aware, one lane of Marine Drive did already collapse onto the Hump in the 1960s.

In 2008 the federal Ministry of Transport sent both Surrey and White Rock a letter warning that the cutting of trees on the steep bluff slopes for views in the Semi-pen was one of the top three reasons for landslides hitting the BNSF Railway tracks.  While there is a landslide detector fence along the Ocean Park bluff from West Beach to Crescent Beach, this simple low voltage wire safety system does not exist along the base of the Hump hillside.  The last time this slope was razed, there was a city sign promising replanting of trees and shrubs, asking the public to be patient with the process.  Well, here we are eight years later and not a single tree has been planted on the Hump by White Rock.  In fact, just to the east of the pier at the last parking lot, all of the shrubs that were in an area between two retaining walls have also been sawed to the ground and removed.  Apparently this was so that people parking above could sit and admire the view without having to get out of their cars, or even turn them off for that matter. 

We often go down to Crescent Rock beach in south Surrey after dinner when it has cooled down to relax there until after sunset.  Thursday night was nothing out of the ordinary as my wife and I packed a light beach bag, leashed up the dogs and made our way to the shore looking westward across Mud Bay.  Finding an long empty stretch of beach, we settled down with our blankets and chairs getting ready for the upcoming days-end light show.  Little did we know there would be plenty of action to see long before the sun went down.

I heard a low droning noise from the south of an approaching plane, which is nothing out of the normal for Crescent Rock.  What really caught my attention was when I looked towards the sound and saw a plane literally skimming the water.  I quickly grabbed my phone out of my pocket and hit record on the video camera.  At first I thought the aircraft was going to ditch in the ocean when I realized it was an amphibious plane.  It hit the water, bouncing several times completely clear of the waves before finally settling into the water a hundred metres offshore.  The pilot shut off the power to the engine, opened the bubble window of the plane, stood up and turned around, opening up the rear engine cowling.  He proceeded to work on the engine area for approximately fifteen minutes while the wind and waves pushed the plane north towards Crescent Beach.  Just as I was considering putting a call into the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 5 in Crescent Beach, the pilot closed up the craft, got the engine running and took off heading south in the direction he had come from. 

We recognized a couple further down the beach and went to talk to them about this strange incident that we had a front row seat for.  While in discussions with them about why the pilot had chosen to land his plane, my wife Sheryl noticed something very odd about the far horizon.  In the distance you normally see the hill of Tssawwassen and Point Roberts that descends down to the farm flats of Ladner with barns and groves of trees across this area.  Instead of the usual view, the buildings and trees had been replaced with a bizarre collection of monoliths connected along the top by a thin horizontal line.  It looked somewhat like Stonehenge or a Roman aqueduct running throughout the Ladner farm region.  We sat there in amazement watching this spectacle as some of the pillars slowly changed in shape and size.  Having seen highway mirages where it looks like there is water on the road in the distance, I surmised that it must be some sort of mirage that was somehow reflecting the light and changing what we would normally see.  What was really odd was a boat far out on the bay appeared completely normal as it moved along just under the weird display.

OveR the course of about ten minutes the strange sight slowly started to morph and dissipate towards the north into the setting sun.  When the sun finally kissed the ocean, the effects of the mirage were gone and the horizon had returned to its normal view.  It was not until we got home that I decided to research what we had seen, typing in "mirage ocean light inversion."  In 0.42 seconds with 7,620,000 results, Google spat out the answer with something I had never heard of before, an optical illusion known as a "Fata Morgana (mirage)".  You can find a rather detailed explanation about this optical phenomenon on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage) .  I'm going to give you the Coles Notes version of this listing in layman's terms to help describe how it works.  A Fata Morgana is a superior mirage visible in a thin band just above the horizon that distorts distant objects including boats, islands and the coastline.  This form of mirage comprises several upside down and right side up images that are stacked upon one another, often in compressed or stretched zones.  It happens when rays of light bend through a thermal inversion with warm air over cold dense air, creating a thermal duct acting like a refracting lens that can stack both inverted and regular images on top of each other.  Best I could do, I'm not Bill Nye.

UBC has some interesting information about optical phenomena in their ATSC 113 course on Weather for Sailing, Flying and Snow Sports at https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/atsc113/sailing/met_concepts/10-met-local-conditions/10f-optical-phenomena/ .  In it they discuss how to recognize and explain optical phenomena over the sea including mirages, Fata Morgana and the green flash.  They explain how inferior and superior mirages occur and have photos showing their strange effects.  By far the most interesting thing shown there is a photo of the snow covered Mt. Cheam and Mt. Baker apparently floating like icebergs over Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island.  Normally these mountains would be far below the horizon but due to the bending of light they were suddenly visible appearing to float on the water of the Salish Sea.  They also explain the Fata Morgana in detail and a very weird phenomenon I have witnessed only once called the green flash that is sometimes visible as the sun sinks below the horizon and the atmosphere breaks the light like a prism, showing a few seconds of green at the top of the setting sun.

I always tell people to go to the beach for sunset as you won't know how beautiful it will be unless you are there.  It turns out that an amazing sunset might not be the only thing you get to see on the waterfront.  Around these parts it could be optical illusions suddenly appearing, planes landing on the water in front of you, powered hang-gliders whizzing by at low altitude, or the Coast Guard hovercraft showing up on a rescue mission.  On the wildlife side it could be grey whales spouting and tail lobbing, families of sea otters playing, bald eagles catching fish, black-tailed deer walking by, salmon jumping, seals and loons feeding, and at Crescent Rock people skinny-dipping.  Besides the exercise needed to reach the beach, the fresh air and connection with nature is both relaxing and rejuvenating.  I'd rather stare at a magnificent sunset reflecting off the water than watch a TV or computer screen.  It's good to unplug and get away from our technology dominated existence and get back to basics, enjoying what nature has to offer us on the shores of the Semiahmoo peninsula.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

The Naked Truth 

The $.316 Million Dollar Man

Last week the City of Surrey made public their 2022 Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) for the year ending Dec. 31st, 2022.  You can find it online on the City of Surrey website at https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/media/documents/2022-surrey-statement-financial-information.pdf   

Now to be honest, reading this report is about as dry as eating white toast with no butter, lightly seasoned with belly-button lint and served with a glass full of sand.  You have to be an accountant to fully digest the numbers, most representing $1,000 dollars, contained within this report.  That being said, there are plenty of diamonds in the rough if you don't mind spending some time to dig for them.  Sorry to say that I didn't mine the really juicy detail but someone spotted a line item on page 108 of this 119 page report dealing with schedule of payments for goods and/or services.  There it was in black and white, a payment to Peck & Company Barristers for $316,663.50.  The City confirmed that this money was paid for former Mayor Doug McCallum's legal defense after he was charged with Public Mischief last year.  The amount of this bill was not previously released due to privacy concerns before appearing in the 2022 SOFI.

Now in Doug McCallum's defense (pun intended, free of charge), I should point out here that he was found not guilty and acquitted of the criminal charges laid against him.  I found it rather nauseating that Surrey taxpayers were left holding the bag for his legal bills in the first place since Mr. McCallum admitted he was food shopping at Save-On-Foods when he was confronted by a Keep The RCMP In Surrey (KTRIS) supporter who allegedly ran his foot over.  Personally, I don't believe that McCallum's legal bills should have been paid for by the City of Surrey when he was not on official business and not acting on behalf of the City at that time.  Somehow it was decided that this situation met the criteria for his legal bills to be paid and McCallum hired Peck and Company to represent him in court.  For more background to this story, read my Nov. 28, 2022 TNT titled "You Be The Judge" at https://whiterocksun.com/index.php?mode=naked_truth

Peck and Company Barristers is owned by high-profile lawyer Richard Peck, widely believed to be the most expensive lawyer in B.C. if not all of Canada.  Mr. Peck was the lead counsel for alleged terrorist mastermind Ajaib Singh Bagri who was acquitted along with Ripudaman Singh Malik in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331 people (note: Malik was shot dead in Surrey on July 14, 2022 with two men now charged with his murder).  More recently Peck was also part of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou's defence team that fought her extradition to the US to face fraud and conspiracy charges.  Hiring a lawyer of the stature of Richard Peck does not come cheap and it was a surprise for many to learn that Surrey taxpayers would be on the hook for McCallum's defense.  I should reveal here that Surrey has several lawyers on their payroll and others on retainer for legal work.  Why none of these city employed staff were chosen to represent the then Mayor is a question that nobody wants to answer.

The 2022 SOFI also contains financial information on the schedule of remuneration and expenses of elected officials (see page 54).  Topping the list for elected officials was D. McCallum with a base salary of $139,798.  Throw in his separation allowance of $13,015 for losing the election, taxable benefits of $12,549 and expenses of $3,022 and he banked the tidy sum of $168,384.  If you compare Doug's base salary with his legal costs, Peck earned $176,865.50 more than what the former Mayor was paid in 2022, or a whopping 226 percent more money than what the mayor earned.  Even when you add on all of the benefits and expenses, Richard Peck still billed for $148,279.50 more than what the former Mayor was paid for the entire year.  If you add McCallum's 2022 total remuneration plus an additional year of his base salary, it still comes almost $8,500 short of the legal bills paid for him.

Naturally your,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live. work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People

Sure Sign It's June

No, the sure sign of June is not cold and wet weather commonly referred to in these parts as Juneuary.  I had to laugh when the word started being used after a week with some rain and cooler weather when we weren't setting new temperature records yet again.  For me, I know it's June when I start to see these rather bizarre and interesting bugs you see in the photo above flying around.  Commonly referred to as June bugs or watermelon beetles, the one we get here is the 10 Lined June beetle (Polyphylla decemlineata) that is a member of the wider scarab family of beetles that has been on the earth for 230 million years.  

These bugs with a shell that resembles the striped caramel candies our grandmothers liked to give out are quite common throughout western North America and the Pacific northwest, emerging from May to July depending on the daytime temperature.  They are a fairly large beetle measuring 2.5 - 3.5 cm. in size with five white stripes on either side of their elytra, the rear shell that covers their wings.  They are attracted to bright lights at night and can often be found under street lights or in parking lots during the day.  In fact last year I located six June bugs at the Husky station on KGB near 34 Ave. just in the area where I had parked my vehicle.  I went back there on the weekend to look for more but it was closed and under reconstruction.  

Built with the aerodynamics of a bus, June bugs are not the best at flying and have an annoying habit of bouncing off you or landing and holding on tight with their sticky claws.  They do not bite, sting or scratch and about the worse thing they do is to make a slight hissing or sneezing noise when disturbed.  That being said, when a June bug lands in your hair, gets entangled and starts hissing, people do tend to freak out.  The Brown June bug that can be found in the Okanagan is even larger than their ten lined cousin.  I was at a camp one night when one flew into a girl's hair and she thought it was a brown bat instead.  Needless to say, she gave us all quite the dancing exhibition while trying to get it out.

While the adults are harmless, it is the larvae that can do real damage.  Eggs are laid in the ground in the summer and become fat white grubs 2 cm. long that live in the ground for 2 -3 years feeding off the roots of lawns, vegetables, plants, shrubs and trees.  With constant eating and when they are numerous these pests can damage and even kill Christmas trees and orchard trees.  Because they have such a varied appetite and can affect a large number of crops, the June beetle is considered a pest.  I do occasionally find June bug larvae when planting shrubs and usually throw them onto the pavement where birds quickly locate and devour this tasty treat that is 50% protein and nearly 20% fat.  

June bugs were always a favourite of mine as a young boy.  Besides their large size and striped shell, they have light brown fuzz on their underside that is surprisingly soft to the touch.  Their double clawed feet and spiny legs make them the velcro of the insect world and you have to be careful not to rip their legs off if they are hooked into your clothing.  While both male and female look similar, the male June bug has large antennae with lamellate plates that they use to detect pheromones from the females.  You can carefully pet these and the beetle will quickly fold them up when they feel threatened.  June bugs are always interesting to find and are hard to miss when one comes flying by.  Keep an eye out for them here in the Semi-pen as July is almost here.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Our Home on Native Land

This weekend saw the official opening of the Totest Aleng Indigenous Learning House at the Elgin Heritage Park on Crescent Road in South Surrey.  This land along the Nicomekl river that includes the historic Stewart Farmhouse is situated on the unceded, traditional and ancestral lands of the Salish peoples, including the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo nations.  As explained on the City of Surrey website,  "The new facility provides local space to support Indigenous cultural practices, including carving and other creative disciplines. The unique venue includes enclosed studio space, as well as an open-air pavilion to support additional programming and gathering. The programming model for the facility will include artists-in-residence, workshops, events and school programs."  You can learn more about this new building, its purpose and intended uses at https://www.surrey.ca/arts-culture/totest-aleng-indigenous-learning-house 

The opening certainly attracted a large crowd of well-wishers including Chief Harley Chappell of the Semiahmoo Nation and Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke with most of the Surrey Council attending plus representatives from the other First Nations.  Mayor Locke gave the opening speech welcoming all to the gathering and explaining the collaborative work that happened between the City, First Nations, Federal government, Heritage BC, and Friends of the Surrey Museum and Archives Society who helped develop and fund this project.  Chief Chappell and other indigenous leaders gave speeches about the importance of the Totest Aleng and how it will help promote the spirit of reconciliation towards indigenous people.  Several songs were sung to the beating of drums in their native language with plenty of traditional regalia on display.  The youth of the Semiahmoo were then invited to perform several dances that ended with the boys and girls getting to introduce themselves in both their tribal and non-native names. Then it was time for the ceremonial ribbon cutting which took several attempts by Mayor Locke and Chief Chappell with an oversized pair of scissors before people were invited inside the building.

The opening of this Indigenous Learning House and carving centre is a good time to focus on some of the First Nation sculptures and totem poles that are currently on display in White Rock and south Surrey.  On 20 Ave. and 144 St., the Elder Moon and Under the Double Eagle by Semiahmoo artists Leonard Wells and Leslie Wells are mounted on display in the centre of the traffic roundabout leading to the South Surrey Athletic Park.  These two round carved discs were installed back in 2009 when the traffic circle was built and unfortunately they are starting to show their age.  On the Elder Moon the wood is starting to crack and the painted surfaces are weathering and fading with much of the black colour flaking off.  The Double Eagle is faring even worse with much of the white background now showing bare exposed wood and the bottom of this sculpture where the two eagles join having tattered teal blue paint that is hanging in shreds.  It is not only the wooden discs that needs repairing, the two light boxes that illuminate this sculpture at night for aesthetics and safety reasons are both not working, leaving this sculpture vulnerable to damage, vandalism and theft.

At White Rock Elementary the old totem pole (house pole) on the west side of the property still stands in a rather dilapidated state.  It is covered with moss and lichen with the paint fading and flaking off in many areas.  Several wooden pieces that extend out of the body of the pole including an arm have been broken off and never replaced.  The nearby deciduous trees have not been trimmed back in years, obscuring this piece of historic First Nation art and shading it heavily, greatly increasing the growth of moss and lichen.  When the school was recently rebuilt there were plans to relocate this pole to the north-east corner of the property where a concrete base now stands empty.  In the 2021-2022 White Rock Council Strategic Priority Report the restoration of the totem pole at the White Rock Elementary School grounds was listed as a community objective but given low priority.  It really looks as if nobody cares about the totem as it appears it has never seen any maintenance or repairs and with the school now built, this project has likely been forgotten.

It is no better across 16 Ave. in Surrey as the totem pole that adorns the front entrance of Ray Shepard elementary is also in poor shape.  It sits in full sun so it does not have the covering of moss and lichen but many of the problems at the White Rock elementary pole exist here too.  The paint is faded and peeling off with large cracks running through the wood.  There are eight areas where appendages used to stick out of the main pole but these have either rotted away or been broken off over the years.  As it currently stands, only the thunderbird wings are still in the place, with its tail feathers missing as is evident by the lack of paint in this area on the back of the pole where they were attached.  There are bent and rusted screws sticking out of the wood in multiple locations where pieces of the original artwork have been removed.  It may be that much of this damage was caused by people climbing the sculpture over the years as there is nothing in place to keep people off the totem pole.  It is surprising that this piece of indigenous history shows zero maintenance or repair being done to it, even though it occupies a place directly in front of the school front entrance.

This Wednesday is Surrey's National Indigenous Peoples Day with a celebration and wellness event being held in Cloverdale at the Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre from 3-8 p.m.  With the largest non-reserve indigenous population of any city in Canada, Surrey should be taking better care of the totem and house poles on their property.  The four indigenous carvings I have noted in this TNT all need work to bring them back to their former glory, replace broken parts and protect them from the elements.  In the spirit of reconciliation, this should be given high priority before they get weathered and damaged even further.  All of the First Nations totem poles at Stanley Park in Vancouver are cleaned, repaired and restored on a constant basis.  The collection of historic totem poles at Brockton Point are the most visited attraction in Vancouver BC and possibly all of Canada.   Left to rot, the poles and sculptures in south Surrey and White Rock will eventually be lost to the weather and ravages of time.  The other possibility is they might be cut down, a fate that occurred to the totem pole by the old visitors kiosk at the Douglas border crossing that was chainsawed into pieces by a Surrey crew in the 1990s without any notification to the Semiahmoo First Nation across the street on Beach Ave.  

For information on the conservation and restoration of totem poles, please refer to this wikipedia listing below.  I should note that any work planned on these carvings needs to include the original artist if possible, the ritual and ceremonial significance of the piece involved, the beliefs and wishes of the First Nations people of that territory, plus the safety of the children for the two elementary school totem poles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_and_restoration_of_totem_poles

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Time and Tides

Living in the Semi-Pen and being an outdoor enthusiast, you start keeping an eye on the weather to help plan your day and outside adventures.  Then if you love seeing a really epic sunrise or sunset, you start keeping track of the changes in daylight and the beginning and end times to the day.  Once the sun goes down it doesn't mean the fun is over as you can also keep track of the phases of the moon during the month.  There is even a time for moonrise and moonset, which can happen anytime day or night depending on the season.  Case in point, after dinner on Saturday night we jumped into the car and went searching for a place to watch the strawberry moon moonrise (the first full moon in June) that happened at 9:26 pm, only a short time after sunset at 9:12 pm.  We ended up at the far end of East beach enjoying this lunar spectacle on the eastern horizon while the sky was still coloured by the sunset in the west.  As the saying goes, "timing is everything."

While all of this is wonderful, around these parts it is the tide chart that gives you the most pertinent information as to what is happening at the beach and on the water.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the White Rock Sun's daily page you will find a listing for the tide forecast in this area.  For a dedicated beach bum like myself, it tells you what the height of the water will be, when the tide will turn and how much available beach you can expect.  For much of the Semiahmoo peninsula, when there are strong high tides, the usable beach area is greatly reduced, limiting any thoughts of marine recreation.  At Crescent Rock beach, people have built suntanning platforms above the high water mark to ensure a dry location but it still makes getting home difficult if waves are crashing against the rip-rap boulders that line the shore protecting the train tracks.  The lack of sand along White Rock is also an issue at high tide but at least there is still the strip of grass along the promenade to spread a blanket and enjoy the waterfront.

Of course, for anyone who wants to venture out on the water, knowing the information contained in the tide chart is not just useful, it can be life saving.  There are portions of the day when being on a kayak, canoe or paddle board can be very difficult due to some of the extreme currents that coincide with a 15 foot change in the tide height.  Experienced folks using non-powered watercraft keep one eye on the tide forecast and the other on the time knowing full well that their journey will become an epic battle against the forces of nature if they are struggling against the current and wind.  There is nothing worse than paddling your heart out only to realize that you are making no headway when looking at the shore.  The nice thing is that with a 30 day tide chart available, you can now make recreational plans up to a month ahead, cherry picking those days when the tides and times are working in your favour and not against you.  Of course the weather can always scuttle your plans but keep in mind, there is no bad weather, only poor clothing choices.

With the full moon this weekend we have experienced extreme tides with differences of nearly 15 feet or 4.5 metres.  It is really a different world when you go to any of the beaches here when the low tide is at zero feet and there are miles of shore and sand flats to explore.  The weekend had very low tides but this Monday and Tuesday will see lows of 0.1 feet or 0.02 metres.  The best part about this is these ultra lows will happen at 12:55 pm and 1:41 pm, meaning there is a two hour window on either side of these times to go exploring areas of the Semiahmoo peninsula that are usually deep under water.  If you have ever wanted to walk from White Rock to Crescent Beach, this is the time to do it so you don't have to climb over boulders or get run over by a train after climbing onto the tracks when walking becomes impossible.  At Semiahmoo beach, it is possible to walk almost to the Canadian USA border on the sand flats to where the 49th parallel marker poles are located.  I will warn you now, it is a rather long walk there and back so you will need to be in shape and bring both water and sun protection.

If you are busy working and can't make it out in the next few days, do not despair.  Just after Canada Day that falls on a Saturday this year, the next four days from July 2 to 5th have four extreme low tides including one on the Monday that will be slightly below zero in the middle of the day.  That is the date I have already circled on our calendar hoping that the weather will be sunny and warm with no smoke in the air.  If you ever need a mental health day, this statutory holiday Monday is the time to hit the beach.  Experiencing and exploring the shoreline and sand flats of the Semiahmoo peninsula at these special times is like watching an episode of "Drain The Oceans" but in real life.  If you have children they will love it but ensure you get back to the beach before the tide roars back in.  Years ago when I was a young teen, my neighbour and I were on a sandbar far out from Crescent Beach when the tide turned.  On the way back in the water got so deep we both had to swim.  The current took us from Beecher Street to around the corner near the swimming pool before we made it to shore.  Needless to say, our parents sitting on the beach were rather frantic when they realized the tide had come in and we were nowhere to be seen.  

Here is the listing for tide-forcast.com that you can find posted daily at the bottom of the White Rock Sun which has a 30 day forcast.

https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/White-Rock-British-Columbia/tides/latest?fbclid=IwAR0VcfmL44i_vjKTgx5YvdU87yFB7tQVuL8zYbqxroEr-f4OmpvRD9vMUDM&old-tide-table=1

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo Nation.

Land For The Band

The time has come to say fair is fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turnin'?
How do we sleep while our beds are burnin'?
How can we dance when our earth is turnin'?
How do we sleep while our beds are burnin'?

Lyrics to "Beds are Burning" song by Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust album, 1987

This weekend was the 47th annual Alex Fest held at Alexandra Neighbourhood House in Crescent Beach, now renamed simply Alex House in an attempt to decolonize its history dating back over 100 years to 1916 when it was first used as a camp for needy mothers and children from Vancouver.  On Saturday it was Family Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with various family and kid friendly entertainment on a main stage, a small stage and children's zone with admission by donation.  On Sunday it was time to put on the dancing shoes and enjoy the music of a wide variety of musical talent including Nuvo Zydeco, the Ocean Park Wailers, the Gale Force Blues Band and many more.  If you made it to the party, I hope you had a great time and for those just learning about it, mark it on your calendars for next year.  

There is a great write-up on the surreyhistory.ca website about the history ot Camp Alexander and Crescent Beach Community Services by Donni Klassen.  You can find it online at this direct link:  https://www.surreyhistory.ca/campalexandra.html   It gives a decade by decade account of the camp's use as a summer retreat for orphans and disadvantaged youth along with pictures of the people from these eras.  It also details the slow building up of the camp's various outbuildings and property assembly that ended up at its current 2.5 acres in size.  For anyone living in south Surrey and White Rock, it is worth a look to understand the roots of Alex house in our community.  You can also visit the Alex House website at https://www.alexhouse.net/ to learn about their activities and its mandate of "contributing to a vibrant, inclusive and caring community" in this neighbourhood house.

I was rather taken back to learn that the posters advertising for Alex Fest contained the disclaimer "Hosted on the stolen and occupied land of the Semiahmoo Nation, with respect and gratitude."  Looking into this I found that the About Us tab on the Alex House website begins with "Alex House has operated on the stolen land of the Semiahmoo Nation since 1916."  It would seem that someone has confused unceded defined as "land never legally ceded or given up to the Crown through a treaty or other agreement"  with stolen defined as "taking  another person's property without permission or legal right and without intending to return it."  This column has a land acknowledgment printed with it each week as a way of honouring the Semiahmoo First Nation and the indigenous history of this region.  I have asked Chief Harley Chappell if he considers all of the land here stolen from his people at the beginning of colonization and am awaiting his response.

Tarantula Terror!

WARNING!  If you are afraid of spiders, they give you nightmares, or really hate the movie Eight Legged Freaks you might want to skip this TNT.

Being an avid gardener, environmentalist, naturalist, naturist and also barely housebroken, I tend to spend a lot of time outdoors.  Besides getting to enjoy Mother Nature for much of the day and sometimes at night, I also manage to run into some of its more bizarre and obscure inhabitants.  When I was younger a friend of mine returned from Arizona with a tarantula embedded in plastic resin that he gave me for a birthday present.  Not only did I think it was the coolest thing ever, I had a great time scaring the heck out of my classmates at school with it (sorry about that girls).  Now try not to get too freaked out, but BC is home to its own tarantula related spider that you can find on the Pacific coast from Oregon all the way up to Haida Gwaii, including on Vancouver Island and in the little town of White Rock. 

I'm not going to reveal the exact location where the spider shown in this TNT was found but it was close to North Bluff Road and Bergstrom Road in the City By The Sea.  It is Antrodiaetus Pacificus, one of only two tarantuloid species in Canada, the other being Sphodros Niger found in Ontario.  Its common name is the Pacific foldingdoor spider and when you see one, especially the female, it is definitely hard to ignore.  This spider has eight eyes with two larger ones in the middle and three smaller ones on each side of its head.  It is large and robust with thick body parts and very little hair.  Like all spiders this one has eight legs, it ranges in colour from light brown to black, and has very large thick fangs.  Most of the Pacific folding door spiders you might come across will be an average of 2.5 cm. across but they can grow up to 5 cm in size and live for up to 20 years.

What is rather unique about this spider is that it is terrestrial and does not spin a traditional orb web.  Instead it burrows into the ground excavating a tube up to 30 cm. deep and 5 cm. wide that it lines with silk.  At the surface of the ground it spins a double sided door hinged on either side that it then camouflages with soil and vegetation to match its surroundings.  The spider places trip lines of silk radiating out from the door and at night this nocturnal spider hides just under the surface waiting for its next meal to walk by.  When an insect like a beetle, centipede or ant crosses the trip wires of silk, the spider feels the vibrations, throws open the door and leaps out to attack its prey.  Once it incapacitates its victim with venom, it then drags the body into the silky cavern where it liquifies and ingests its vital fluids and organs.

You can often find the Pacific foldingdoor spider when gardening or out for a walk in the woods.  Hoeing weeds, digging up shrubs, planting flowers or raking up leaves and debris will often disturb their nests and send them running.  If you do see one of them try to resist the temptation to squash them underfoot and instead take the time to examine this rather unique spider.  Even though it has extremely long and strong fangs, the Pacific foldingdoor spider is not aggressive and its venom is not particularly harmful to humans.  It is the most northern Mygalomorph in North America, a classification that includes the tarantulas and funnel web spiders with primitive features and fangs that stab downwards instead of pinching together.  Because of their rather brutish look with heavy set legs and body parts plus its longevity, this spider is often captured and kept as an exotic pet.

Besides gardening, the best time to see these amazing little tarantulas is in August to October when males venture around looking for a mate.  When he finds a willing partner, they both retreat into the female's burrow to mate.  The male will then leave the lair and continue his search with the female beginning to lay her eggs in her silky tube several months later.  After a further two months the eggs will finally hatch and shortly after that the spiderlings, as the babyspiders are known, will leave the safety of the burrow and venture out to make their own ambush nests.  The Pacific foldingdoor spider is actually more common than you think but with their nocturnal feeding habits and concealed nests, it is likely you could easily pass by one a hundred times and never notice anything out of place.  At least now if you do get to see one you will recognize it and realize how unique it really is.

Check out this YouTube video of a Pacific foldingdoor spider that is sitting on a man's arm and being held with his gloved hand.  If you are an arachnophobe or if this TNT has already given you the willies, you might want to give it a pass as it is kind of creepy.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUa-Fc088NU

Your friendly neighbourhood spider man,

Don Pitcairn  

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People.

Crescent Log Beach 

Welcome to the hottest day of the year with record heat that is double what we would normally expect in mid-May.  With a mini-heatwave falling on the weekend, the beaches were full of people and families trying to beat the scorching temperatures.  In White Rock the city has crews clean up winter storm debris from their public beaches, removing piles of logs that would occupy most of the usable shore area used for recreation while positioning long smooth logs for people to sit on and lean against.  The city of Vancouver does the same thing, clearing out rotten old logs and laying out the prime ones to create maximum usable space at English Bay, Kits and Stanley Park.  Metro Vancouver also does beach maintenance at Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen plus at the world famous Wreck Beach in Pacific Spirit Park so they remain usable.  At Crescent Rock beach, the naturists who frequent this rugged section of shoreline take the time to cut and move logs, rake up seaweed and driftwood, plus use rakes and shovels to create smooth beach areas for nude recreation.

Unfortunately the city of Surrey appears to be the only city with oceanfront beaches that does not perform regular beach maintenance to collect the logs that drift onto the shore during the winter.  The western facing shoreline of Crescent Beach is clogged with over 400 logs, many that are rotting away because they have been laying on the beach for so long.  In some areas logs are piled up over a dozen wide, taking up 20 to 30 feet of prime sandy beach area.  The shoreline in front of the lifeguard tower at the northwest corner of Crescent Beach looks more like a log boom than a marine park that is under the jurisdiction of the second largest city in the Lower Mainland.  Besides covering much of the beach, these logs represent a hazard to people who have to climb their way over them, plus are a major impediment to anyone who is mobility challenged or have kids in strollers.  If the little town of White Rock with only 22,000 residents can perform shoreline cleanups and log removal every spring, you have to wonder why the city of Surrey, with over 550,000 residents cannot clean up Crescent Beach.

It is not like cleaning up the western shore of Crescent Beach would be a monumental task.  The easiest way to do this would be to have an excavator drive along the top of the beach and use a bucket with a mechanical thumb to pick up the logs.  Anything old, rotten, too small or oddly shaped could be grabbed and put into a bin truck driving alongside on the walkway.  Any logs too long to fit in the disposal truck could be chainsawed by cleanup crews into smaller pieces for easy loading. Long smooth logs could then be placed in several broken lines along the beach, creating useful areas for recreation instead of prime sandy beach being used for driftwood log storage. Depending on their location, some of the old rotten logs could even be left in place higher up the shore to ensure wildlife habitat and to give the beach a more natural look while freeing up much needed space for people.  With an ever growing population in Surrey not to mention the rest of the Fraser Valley, the number of people using Crescent Beach will only continue to grow making log removal and shoreline cleanup an essential component of this marine park's annual maintenance program.

Crescent Beach is in a sad state right now because of the large amount of logs that floated into the Salish Sea during the atmospheric river flood event back in November 2021.  Currently I would estimate about 300 logs could be removed from the shore of Crescent Beach.  Once this is done, yearly maintenance in the spring would be much less considering that some of the logs have likely been in place for over twenty years.  When the tide is high, much of the usable beach area is currently covered by old logs so removing them would greatly increase the sandy beach for people to use.  In 2014 Surrey remove all of the sand catching wooden groynes that were rotting away, replacing them with composite pilings and beams to stop erosion and protect the beach.  Performing regular maintenance to remove debris and align remaining logs would greatly improve the beach while creating much more open and usable space for recreation.  It is up to Surrey's Council and their Parks Department to ensure that Crescent Beach is properly maintained to the standard that is common on all of the other public ocean beaches in the Lower Mainland.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn   

I respectfully note we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo First Nations.

Ramping Things Up

I'm two for two over the last month and thinking the third time is the charm.  Two out of the last three TNTs dealt with unsafe roadway topics, namely Highway 99 in south Surrey and 20 Ave. from King George to 152nd Street.  Well I'm happy to report that the cable median barriers were installed on Hwy. 99 over several nights last week on either side of the Nicomekl river ensuring that there will be no head-on crashes in this area.  On 20 Ave., work was closed for a day and the site prepped for painting with new up to code traffic lines put on the area in question and stretching out towards the Surrey Athletic Park.  Mission accomplished on both of these construction sites that unfortunately were left in very unsafe conditions by the Ministry of Transportation and the Surrey Engineering Dept.  I'd like to think that with the sudden focus on their construction site safety that they would ensure the other areas under their control were up to snuff.  Unfortunately that does not appear to be the case with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure so here I go lighting a Bunsen burner under their buttocks.

Not far from where the median cable barrier safety system was missing for over a month after construction was completed on Hwy. 99, the 32 Ave. on-ramp project is a dangerous mess.  Heading east on 32 Ave. from the KGB you turn left at the light under the overpass to go onto the onramp heading north onto HWY 99.  There are two lanes turning left in this location that used to form into one line further up the on-ramp with signage and lane markings letting you know it was time to merge.  Well, I don't know what the site managers were thinking but currently these two lanes merge into one in the intersection under the bridge  with no advance notice, no signage, no road lines, no nothing.  Only through the grace of God and some alert driving by the people dealing with this SNAFU has there not been a real life game of bumper cars.  I should note here that in the BC Motor Vehicle Act, it is illegal to change lanes in an intersection, something that might come as a surprise to many drivers these days.  To make this area safe, one of the left hand turn lanes should have been shut down since there is only one on-ramp lane on the other side of the intersection.  Thank you Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for again dropping the ball on safety and endangering the driving public.

As bad as this example of crap engineering threatening lives is, it pales by comparison to what is happening at the Ladner Trunk Highway 99 interchange in East Delta.  This involves the on-ramp to Hwy. 99 heading southbound from Ladner Trunk Road heading eastbound.  I know this roadway that dates back 60 years very well as it has the shortest run-up of any on-ramp in the Lower Mainland.  It was always challenging to get up to speed, pick your spot in traffic and safely merge before having to drive down the shoulder of the highway.  With work underway to add the third lane for the new tunnel, some genius thought it would be a good idea to grind out the shoulder and shorten it up even further.  It is hard to believe but there is only 16 metres of on-ramp for you to get over into traffic in only 0.75 second or slam on your brakes and stop before heading into orange safety barrels and over a 20 cm. drop-off in the pavement leading to the gravel.  The total length of the entire on-ramp including blocked areas and traffic signs is 26 metres in length or 85 feet.

I took defensive driving years ago and know all about reaction time and stopping distances.  This changes with road conditions, type and weight of vehicle, condition of tires and driving ability.  To look at the best case scenario, let's consider the average family car, on dry roads and a driving speed of 80 Kmh, far below the 100 Kmh speed limit on Hwy. 99.  With reaction time and stopping time, most of the road safety websites calculate it at 52 metres or twice the length of the on-ramp that currently exists.  When you look at the 16 metres of available on-ramp, the stopping distance is over three times what the BC Highways and Infrastructure engineers have left for drivers to navigate in an area marked yield, not merge.  In fact, if you look at the pictures posted in this TNT, you will see you only have the space of two dotted lines to make your move and join highway traffic. If you do not have a space or meet a semi-truck in the right lane, good luck getting stopped before you plow into the barricades and fly off the pavement.  If you do manage to get stopped, try to imagine joining rush-hour traffic from a standstill with zero room and no shoulder.  

I really have had enough of road contractors putting people's lives in danger.  I drove through both of these on-ramps last week with my truck and trailer measuring over 40 feet and barely managed to make it through without crashing.  On Monday morning this TNT gets posted on the White Rock Sun.  At 8 A.M., the RCMP Deas Island Freeway Patrol will be called about both of these road hazards.  After that, WorkSafe gets notified and hopefully shuts both of these on-ramps down until they can be made safe for the traveling public.  After that the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure gets notified along with the cities of Surrey and Delta.  Both Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford and Delta South MLA Ian Paton are already fully aware of these issues and will likely ask the NDP Transportation Minister Rob Fleming about these fiascos in the Legislature in Victoria.  With the shit-storm this will likely produce and other media outlets looking into the story, I would expect to see instant changes to both of these roadways and safety changes implemented immediately.  

Now here's the rub.  It is not my job to ensure that roadways under construction are safe for the traveling public.  I don't get paid to point out dangers on highways, on-ramps, intersections or arterial roads even though I see things that are a hazard on a constant basis.  I don't do this for publicity, notoriety or to make a name for myself.  I do this because it pisses me off that it never should have happened in the first place!  Having been at the scene of many serious and fatal vehicle crashes I take this stuff seriously after seeing the tragic consequences first hand.  How these two on-ramps were allowed to stay open when they were obviously dangerous to a layman seriously needs to be questioned.  The persons who were responsible for both of these situations should be reprimanded or fired for being totally incompetent.  The NDP government and WorkSafe need to ensure that the work being performed on our highways and byways is being done safely and does not pose a threat to the public.  Maybe then we can all come home safe after our daily commute, instead of our family members heading to the hospital Emergency ward or getting a knock on the door from a constable with bad news.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Head-On Crash Course

20 Ave. looking east from 154 St.

This TNT could easily be titled "The Middle Of The Road 2" coming after last week's piece about how the BC Highway Ministry apparently failed to hire a contractor in a timely manner to put the median cable barrier safety system back on Hwy. 99 after repairs were completed on the Nicomekl River bridge.  This time it's the Surrey Engineering Department's turn to stand up and take a bow..., bowing their head in shame that is, for the horrible and dangerous condition of 20 Ave. from 152 St. to 156 St. (plus other areas) that are leaving motorists at a very serious risk of being involved in a head-on crash.  This issue is so bad and so unwarranted that instead of reporting it Mayor Locke or the Surrey Engineering Department, I think I'm going to alert WorkSafe to this hazardous job site.

I realize that 20th Avenue from King George Boulevard (KGB) to 152 St. is undergoing major roadwork to upgrade the pipes in this neighbourhood.  I have had plenty of time to watch the work that has been performed because I pick up and drop off an employee in the midst of the construction zone.  That was why I was on site last week reporting about a stolen Mercedes loaded with propane bottles that crashed through a hydro pole at the corner of 154 St. and 20 Ave.  Now in that case I'm sure that excessive speed and likely a mixture of drugs and/or alcohol were responsible for this early morning crash where the occupants miraculously escaped and even managed to run away.  A contributing factor might have also been the lack of painted centre lines, a condition that has existed there since late last year.

When construction first started in this area, for reasons unknown the yellow double solid lines painted on the roadway were physically removed by grinding them off the asphalt.  Maybe the idea was to repaint them somewhere else to allow for digging but along the way the reason was apparently lost and 20th Ave. ended up with no centre lines for almost three blocks from 153 to 156 St.  I realized the danger involved in this several weeks ago when I saw a car heading westbound in front of my buddy's house driving in the wrong lane using the far painted curb line as if it was the centre line.  How this person did not realize they were driving like it was Surrey, England and not Surrey, Canada is completely beyond me.  Fortunately nobody was coming the other way or it would have been a major head-on accident.

20 Ave. looking west to 156 St.

East of this location the road conditions are even worse if that is actually possible.  Most of 20th Ave. is so rough and rutted that I refuse to drive through it in my 4x4 truck.  It's not really the suspension I'm worried about, I'm more afraid the jarring impacts of this ripped up road might loosen some of the old mercury fillings in my teeth.  From 154 St. to 156 St., the road resembles the moon with it having been dug up east-west and north-south in multiple areas.  At the 20 Ave. and 156 St. intersection a fresh excavation has eliminated the dotted white line heading eastbound while an older excavation that now has faded asphalt obliterated the yellow solid centre line at the edge of the left hand turn lane long ago.  In fact, the only paint on the road from curb to curb are the large left hand turn arrows that give the only clue that this lane even exists.  When drivers turn west off 156 St. onto 20 Ave., they literally have to guess where the lanes are.

I have spent many winter vacations in Mexico and I kid you not when I say that the roads in that country are far better than what we see here in Canada.  I realize that Surrey is a big city but the roads here are just crap with sunken man hole covers, pot holes, crumbling road surfaces and dug up areas that never get properly repaved.  We have a convertible sports car and I find driving it is hard on my back because of its stiff suspension and all of the holes in the roads.  Probably the best street in Surrey is now Colebrook Road either side of the KGB that was completely repaved, taking it from worst to first.  It used to be so bad I would never dare to drive on it with my work truck and trailer.  I'd like to think that when 20 Ave. in completed it will receive a top coat of fresh asphalt and a new set of lines.  Until that time, the Surrey Engineering Dept. cannot leave this road in its current state that endangers drivers and anyone working there.

On a related topic I have one more thing to get off my chest about centre lines on roads in Surrey.  At the nearby 17 Ave. and 154 St. intersection the yellow lines in the middle of the road do not line up.  They are offset by about a metre so if you drive straight you will slam into an oncoming car doing the same thing.  Now, do they blame both the drivers for this crash or does the City of Surrey get sued for allowing this dangerous condition to exist?  What other cities do in this case is to put small dotted lines across the intersection showing the shift, or grind the lines off and repaint them properly.  If you think this is an isolated situation I know of at least a half dozen of these offset lines including the one not far from my house at 24 Ave. and 124 St.  The number of times I've had to honk at unaware drivers heading towards me at this spot is just ridiculous but in reality it is not their fault.  As I often say, "bad engineering kills people."  You can quote me on that.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

The Middle Of The Road

Lyrics to "Middle of the Road" by the Pretenders, Learning to Crawl album, 1983.

Years ago there was only a thin strip of grassy median separating vehicle traffic on Hwy. 99 through Delta and Surrey.  I had the experience of viewing the aftermath of several head-on crashes that happened there with mangled cars and air ambulance helicopters taking away the injured occupants.  When cable median barriers started to be installed in Chilliwack in 2007, I campaigned to have them put onto the Hwy. 99 median after counting the tire track marks in the grass from 36 cross-overs in only a few winter months.  It took a wrong-way driver initiating a five car crash including a cross-over collision that paralyzed a Richmond Fire Captain living in Cloverdale for the barriers to finally be approved.  Since they were installed, the cable barriers that I like to call "the shredder" have proven to be highly effective in eliminating head-on crashes on Hwy. 99.

Unfortunately there is a serious issue with this vaulted safety system that runs from near the Hwy. 17 interchange all the way to the Canada/USA border.  Over the past year, crews have been working on the Nicomekl River Bridge Rehabilitation Project on Hwy. 99 between the KGB and 32 Ave. (not the Nicomekyl Bridge Replacement on the KGB).   In this stretch of highway, the four strand cable median barriers were removed to allow for change in traffic flow as work proceeded.  Well, the work has now been completed, the construction crew trailers and their equipment have been removed and the ground there covered with hydro seed to grow new grass.  Unfortunately it seems that someone at the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has been asleep at the safety switch, because there is almost a kilometer of highway in this area with nothing in the median to stop head-on crashes from happening.

Heading southbound onto Hwy. 99 from the KGB, the cables terminate before the on-ramp to the highway ends, continuing 500 metres with an empty median to the retrofitted Nicomekyl River Bridge.  Crossing this long span, the median is clear for over 400 metres heading up the hill towards 32 Ave., with the next section of safety cables coming out of the ground just past the pedestrian overpass in that area.  In case you are thinking this has something to do with the continuing work on the 32 Ave./Hwy. 99 Interchange Improvement Project, that is not the case since the safety cables were never touched during the on-ramp and off-ramp work.  The median cable barrier system on either side of the Nicomekyl River bridge should have been reinstalled immediately after the concrete no-post barriers used to separate the flow of traffic on Hwy. 99 during construction were removed.  It is absolutely remarkable that this important highway safety system was seemingly forgotten about.

The paved parking lot median sections of Hwy. 99 on both sides of the 152 St. overpass.

It turns out that this glaring deficiency is not the only problem with the median cable barrier system in use across the Semiahmoo Peninsula.  In Dec. of 2017, a transport truck carrying a piece of over-height equipment slammed into the 152 St. overpass causing serious structural damage.  In order to facilitate the necessary repairs and keep traffic moving, two 100 metre long sections of the median were filled level and then paved with asphalt.  Three months later when the bridge was finally fixed, traffic on Hwy. 99 began to once again flow northbound in the regular right and left lanes.  Unfortunately instead of tearing up the temporary pavement and recreating a grassy median, the gravel and asphalt were left in place along with the cable barrier.  The problem is that the posts were never designed to be used in a solid roadway where they are likely to snap off with contact.  If this happens, the cables will likely stretch further than they were designed to, possibly allowing a vehicle still ensnared by the cables to extend far into the oncoming lane. 

Somebody at Mainroad or the Ministry of Transportation needs to wake up to the serious public safety issues at both of these locations and take immediate action to fix them.  The Nicomekyl Bridge on Highway 99 needs to have new cable median barriers installed immediately before Murphy's Law swings into effect and there is a serious head-on crash on this now open stretch of highway.  The paved median sections on Hwy. 99 at either side of 152 St. need to be removed and re-landscaped, or heavy concrete no-post dividers need to be installed on both of these areas that the cable barriers were never designed for.  I'm pretty sure this will happen since our MLA Trevor Halford is going to be questioning the Transportation Minister Rob Fleming in the Legislature on Monday about the problems on Hwy 99 and how nobody noticed these glaring safety issues before they were brought to his attention by a columnist writing for the White Rock Sun.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn    

Soldiering On

It's been a very interesting weekend with everything this Easter pointing me towards soldiers and military history.  This started last week when I learned from the Manager of the Surrey Museum in Cloverdale that the Cenotaph had been vandalized after learning the bronze statue of a soldier on top of it was missing.  This story was broke here first in the White Rock Sun, even before the local Cloverdale Reporter got wind of it.  Because of the violent desecration of this sacred military symbol of sacrifice and bravery, I made sure to share it with several other media groups and it did not take long for this story to blow up on TV, radio, print and social media.  My hope was that the Surrey RCMP would release some of the CCTV footage of the perpetrator that had booted the statue of the kneeling soldier until it broke away, plus kicked at the cross of the unknown soldier.  Well, low and behold, the RCMP issued a media release late Saturday with the alleged vandal's face clearly showing.  Here are both the photo and the release; look closely to see if you can identify the suspect.  

Surrey RCMP is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying a person of interest in relation to a mischief to the Cenotaph located outside the Surrey Museum at 17710 56A Avenue, Surrey. The incident occurred on March 29th, 2023, at approximately 01:30 hours. The suspect was observed dismantling the statue of the Kneeling Solder as well as damaging various items outside of the Museum.

The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, approximately 30-35 years old, medium build, approximately 170 lbs, with brown shoulder length hair, brown goatee beard and wearing prescription glasses (Please see attached photo). He was last seen wearing a black jacket with a blue shirt underneath, black pants, white runners with blue shoe laces.

Anyone with information about the identity and/or whereabouts of this person is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or Crime Stoppers, if they wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca, quoting file number 23-48046.

The Peace Arch News ran a great historical piece on the Cloverdale Cenotaph back on Nov 14, 2017 by reporter Sue Bryant that is still online.  It makes for fascinating reading at the following link: https://www.peacearchnews.com/home2/history-cloverdale-cenotaph-holds-nearly-a-century-of-memories/

Just when I thought I'd had my fill of wartime history, a friend told me the three flags at the huge "Welcome To Surrey" sign on Hwy. 99 and 8th Ave. were being flown at half mast.  I contacted a reliable and informed source at Surrey City Hall and found out that Sunday was Vimy Ridge day, a non-statutory holiday that happened to fall in the middle of this year's Easter long weekend.  Since 2003, Vimy Ridge Day has been observed on April 9th in Canada to honor and commemorate the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place during the First World War at Vimy Ridge, France, in 1917. The Canadian flag on Parliament Hill’s Peace Tower in Ottawa is required to be lowered to half-mast by law. Wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France, and other locations around the country.  I knew about the Canadian troops assault on Vimy Ridge and the rolling artillery barrage that proceeded before the advancing soldiers but had forgotten much of the history that I was taught in high school.  Both the British and the French had tried multiple times to take this high knoll, losing 150,000 men in the process.  The Canadian Corps were ordered to assault the ridge and used a precise scripted battlefield plan with 1,000 pieces of heavy artillery and hidden tunnels to help move troops to the front.  Starting on April 9, 2017 the Canadians advanced taking the last of the Ridge on April 12, with nearly 3,600 lives lost and over 7,000 wounded.  The Canadian War Museum has a great story on this battle that you can read at https://www.warmuseum.ca/the-battle-of-vimy-ridge/

I ask you to take the time to check out the websites for the stories embedded in this TNT to learn this important history lesson or simply refresh your memory.  I'm hoping that the RCMP release of the photo showing the person of interest in the Cenotaph vandalism results in someone being arrested and charged with this heinous crime.  The bronze statue of the kneeling soldier who is dressed in a 47th (Fraser Valley) Canadian infantry Batallion uniform is being repaired and will hopefully soon be back at his rightful place on top the cenotaph kneeling before the grave of the unknown soldier.  Of the many things I learned researching this TNT is that the original Cloverdale Cenotaph was first unveiled to the public on May 22, 1921 on the Victoria Day weekend.  It turns out that May 22, 2023 will be the holiday Monday of the Victoria Day long weekend.  I could not imagine a better time for the members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #6 to invite the public to the plaza between the Surrey Archives building (the original Surrey City Hall) and the Surrey Museum to celebrate the return of "Willy" and all that the 102 year-old Cloverdale Cenotaph stands for.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we work, live and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo people.

Weapons in White Rock

UPDATE APRIL 04, 2023

The B.C. man who allegedly slashed a man's throat on a transit bus in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday is facing terrorism charges.

According to court documents filed by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the man is alleged to have committed the assault for the Islamic State.

Abdul Aziz Kawam, born in 1995, faces four terrorism charges for attempted murder, aggravated assault and two counts of assault related to the attack.

He was arrested after a stabbing on a bus traveling near the Fraser Highway and 148 Street in Surrey, B.C., just after 9:30 a.m. PT Saturday.

Elenor Sturko, the MLA for south Surrey is certainly making a name for herself these days with her relentless attacks on the NDP as the Liberal shadow cabinet Minister for Mental Health, Addictions & Recovery.  It was divine timing when this former police officer was at Laura's Coffee Corner several weeks ago when a man outside apparently having a mental health crisis started yelling at customers.  Having dealt with these situations before, she approached the man who pulled a hunting knife from his clothes before fumbling it to the ground.  In one swift motion Elenor put her foot on the knife and kicked it back behind her where another patron grabbed it and ran inside the coffee shop.  White Rock Police, with offices around the corner, were quickly on scene and apprehended the man who now faces criminal charges.

It was extremely fortunate that nobody was hurt in this confrontation that unfortunately is becoming ever more common these days with increasing substance use, mental health issues and homelessness.  Having somebody on scene with police training and empathy towards people with mental health issues certainly was a bonus in defusing this situation.  It was reported that the agitated man's mother showed up soon after he was apprehended and that she told Mrs. Sturko she hoped he could now get the mental health support that he needed.  A new mental health and substance abuse facility has now been opened at Peace Arch Hospital but the Health Minister Adrian Dix recently announced more staff need to be hired for it to be fully open.

Knives have been in the news recently for a couple of high-profile crimes.  On the previous weekend, 37 year-old Paul Schmidt was stabbed to death at a Starbucks restaurant at the corner of Granville St. and Pender Ave. in Vancouver in front of his horrified fiancé and their 3 year-old daughter.  Apparently, this happened after the dad asked a man standing nearby not to vape near his young daughter.  A 32 year-old man, Inderdeep Singh Gosal, was quickly arrested after bystanders flagged down police and he has since been charged with second-degree murder.  Closer to home, a confrontation on a Translink bus in Surrey on Saturday quickly resulted in a knife attack.  In this case a man pulled a large kitchen knife and slashed another man across the throat.  He was quickly arrested by Transit Police and the victim taken to hospital in critical condition.  Neither the assailant or victim have been identified at this time and attempted murder charges have been filed.

If you think that living in White Rock means you are safer than in Surrey, think again.  The Crime Severity Index rating for both Surrey and White Rock is almost identical for both cities.  If you think that is surprising, you will be shocked to know how many knives I have discovered stashed in bushes here.  Over the past four years myself and the crew of my commercial gardening company have found five edged weapons in the City By The Sea.  These include two large kitchen knives, a double-edged army bayonet including scabbard, a machete with a 15" blade and a folding hunting knife.  As to how or why these weapons were hidden or disposed of on the sides of White Rock streets, we have no idea.  What I do know is that we never used to find discarded syringes either but unfortunately they are becoming a much more regular site when we are cleaning up in uptown White Rock.

With the number of people who are carrying knives for protection or as a weapon certainly on the rise, it is getting dangerous to confront people who are acting out or doing crimes on the streets or the beach.  If you complain to someone about their behaviour you might get stabbed for your troubles.  The police wear bullet proof vests as part of their protective gear but it is knives that pose the most threat as they are easy to acquire and conceal.  Something as simple as a click-it boxcutter can be a deadly weapon in the hands of a wrong person as was shown by the 9-11 hijackers who used these razor-sharp knives to kill the pilots.  Remember that it was a knife which was used to kill 15 year-old Dario Bartolli in Bakerview park back in 2014 that was never solved and White Rock mechanic Paul Paul Prestbakmo's two teenage attackers stabbed him to death at the McDonalds restaurant in Semiahmoo Mall in 2019.

On a personal note, the man who has worked for me for a dozen years and lives in south Surrey was stabbed in the back as a teenager during a robbery attempt in Newton in a crime that was never solved.  The son of a family member was one of two teenagers robbed by a group of youths with a machete on Crescent Road over a dozen years ago, with this swarming attack also never solved.  The same young man was stabbed multiple times and left for dead in a ditch near a Newton house party several years later, again with this crime never being solved.  Knives do not attract attention like guns as they are silent and don't leave evidence such as bullets and casings.  It is my advice to stay away from parks and the beach after dark and to be careful where you walk at night.  A customer of mine recently confessed that she and her girlfriends now always carry dog-repellent pepper spray when walking in uptown White Rock.  She bought it at the local Canadian Tire store in a cute little pink container for only $20, not far from the six types of machetes they currently have in stock.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live, work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People.

To report cougars in conflict, sightings in urban areas, or a cougar showing unusual or aggressive behaviour, call the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.  If you spot a cougar or have CCTV video footage showing them in the south Surrey and White Rock region, please contact the White Rock Sun editor at editor@whiterocksun.com as we would love to see and post it.  The TV news media are aware of the reports of cougar sightings in the Semiahmoo peninsula but are waiting for photos or video proof before running a story about big cats apparently roaming in the Semi-pen.  Please do not report "cougar" sightings from any of the local bars or pubs even if you have pictures or video footage.  This joke has already been used too many times on Facebook and nobody wants to hear how you barely survived the encocunter.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live work and play on the traditonal lands of the Semiahmoo People.

The Case For Cold Water

In case you missed it, there was a rather unique winter swim that took place at Blackie Spit in Crescent Beach on Saturday morning. Members of the Surrey RCMP and their supporters took to the icy waters of Mud Bay, participating in the Surrey Polar Plunge as a fundraiser for Special Olympics BC. The Mayor of Surrey, Brenda Locke was in attendance but did not go into the icy waters, showing she is obviously a bright and intelligent woman. I started doing the Jan. 1st Polar Bare Plunge at Crescent Rock Beach 15 years ago and have also twice completed the Mat Hatters Swim Club trifecta of the White Rock, Crescent Rock and English Bay Polar Bear Swims in only 2.5 hours. More fool hardy than actual hardy, I've gotten rather used to my annual baptism in our local waters with temperatures varying from -2 to a balmy 10 C.

What I've learned is that there is a small but growing group of people who regularly go for swims in the ocean waters around the Lower Mainland. You can see several of these people taking dips at White Rock including a gentleman that I swam with on New Year's Day this year who is his in 80's. Through social media and Polar Bear swims, I've met a couple of ladies who take the plunge almost every day, either in the waters of White Rock or Kitsilano. A friend of mine says there is a younger man who sits immersed in the water off West Beach for 45 minutes before getting up and walking away apparently without any ill effects. I have no idea how he does it since the record for the Polar Bare Plunge was nearly 9 minutes and the "Ice Man" Mike Hustad came out of the bay with pink skin and his teeth chattering.

Now you may think that you need to be mad as a hatter to consider going cold water swimming and quite possibly you're right, but apparently there are significant health benefits attached to this pastime. Here is a list of some of them from the IPRS Health Group that I have added my personal insight to:

1. It boosts your immune system:

The effects of cold water on the immune system have been studied around the world. Cold water helps to boost the white blood cell count because the body is forced to react to changing conditions. Over time, your body becomes better at activating its defences and adjusting to the natural environment.

2. It gives you a natural high

Cold water swimming activates endorphins. This chemical is what the brain produces to make us feel good during activities. Cold water swimming is also a form of exercise, and exercise has been proven to treat depression. Cold water swimming brings us close to the pain barrier, releasing endorphins to help us cope with it.

3. It improves your circulation

Cold water swimming flushes your veins, arteries, and capillaries, forcing blood to the skin surface and helps to warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the cold, boosts cardiovascular circulation leading to a healthy heart, a stronger immune system, well-balanced mental health and a high level of energy.

4. It increases your libido A dip in some cold water boosts estrogen and testosterone production, adding an edge to fertility and libido, along with increased confidence, self-esteem and enhanced mood, Going for a cold swim may help to heat you up for other exercises later.

5. It burns calories

The heart has to pump faster in cold water and the body must work harder to keep everything warm while swimming. Overall, far more calories are burned during cold water swimming than swimming in warmer conditions. This increase in metabolic rate over time helps to control weight.

6. It reduces stress

Cold water swimming places stress on the body physically and mentally. Many studies have identified the link between cold water and stress reduction. Cold water swimmers become calmer and more relaxed. Some cold water swimmers call this effect the "afterglow."

7. It is a great way of socializing and making new friends

There is a great sense of community and camaraderie amongst cold water swimmers. There is nothing that brings people together like facing a challenge and sharing the experience as a group.

Of course, there are safety considerations for immersing yourself in freezing cold water without a wet suit. There are rules posted on the Outdoor Swimming Society website that are as follows:

1. Acclimatise

As the temperature drops, just keep swimming and your body will get used to the cold. The end of summer is the perfect time to start cold water swimming. It will not be such a shock to the system as the sea temperature begins to lower heading into winter.

2. Be safe

Open water can be dangerous. Only ever swim where it is safe and make sure you can enter and exit the water quickly and easily. Consult your local tide chart before swimming and know the strength, speed and direction of ocean currents. Never swim on your own!

3. Wear the right kit

Wear a swimming hat, or two, to help preserve body heat. You can also wear neoprene gloves, booties, balaclava or a wet suit, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you cannot see the bottom, aquatic shoes or closed toe sandals should be considered essential gear for rocks, hazards, barnacles and crabs.

4. No diving

Do not dive or jump in unless you are used to the cold water. Cold water can cause gasping of breath and cold-water shock, which can be extremely dangerous.  This physiological effect has been known to drown people at alpine lakes with strong thermoclines, even during the summer.

5. Know your limits

As the temperature drops, decrease the amount of time you spend in the water. In winter, swimmers often only enter the water for one or two minutes at a time. The general rule is that you can spend one minute of time swimming per degree of water temperature.  Obviously, you need to listen to your body also.

6. Warm up slowly

Don’t have a hot shower right after swimming. Cold water swimming can cool your core and this can be dangerous. Instead, make sure you have plenty of warm clothes, wrap up well and have a hot drink at the ready.

I would not say that cold water swimming is for the weak of heart. Most of the people doing it have adjusted their bodies to the cold conditions and find it very therapeutic. It does help you connect with your body, your mind and the natural environment. It takes more than a New Year's splash and dash to experience these effects. Both of the times that I have completed the three Mad Hatters Swim Club polar bear swims. I have felt amazing afterwards. Your skin gets flush and warm, you become acutely aware of your body and how it is functioning and there is a heightened sense of wellness and awareness. I understand how people can shrug off the cold and become addicted to this hobby considering its long-lasting positive effects. That is of course, once you can feel your fingers and toes again.

Here are some Facebook groups dedicated to cold water swimming where you can find more information.

Vancouver Cold Water Swimmers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3229879827097843/

Cold Water Swimmers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nvcows/

Cold Water Club - Wild About Swimming: https://www.facebook.com/groups/309056485944248/

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live and work on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo First Nation.

Surrey - The Future Pays Here

When a government sends out a media release on a Friday afternoon, you can expect it to be bad news that they want to reduce exposure to with journalists being off work and the public busy with weekend plans.  It happens so often this practice is now referred to as a "Friday news dump" or "Take out the trash day."   When these releases are done on the Friday before a long weekend, it is usually even worse news that they are hoping to shield from media scrutiny.  Now imagine how terrible the subject matter must be for the City of Surrey to issue a media release at 2 p.m. on the Saturday of a long weekend.  It is bad enough that inflation is running at nearly 7% over last year and the prime mortgage rate sits at 6.85% putting the squeeze on consumers who are also holding record personal debt.  On top of all of this, the City of Surrey dropped a bomb on the heads of homeowners this weekend, revealing they can expect a whopping 17.5% increase to their property tax bill, that will likely rise even higher than that.

The details of this shocking increase were contained in the City of Surrey Draft 2023-2027 General Operating and Capital Budgets.  It should come as no surprise to Surrey residents that more than half of this property tax increase, a total of 9.5%, is to pay for the costs associated with the contentious police transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service and back again.  Add to this a 7% General Property Tax increase and a further 1% raise in the Roads & Traffic Levy, and you reach the magical 17.5% property tax increase.  Here are the numbers and cost explanations taken directly from the City of Surrey website that equal $403 for the average single-family home.  

• 9.5% General Property Tax increase to fund Policing Shortfall (approximately $219 for the average single-family home).

• 7.0% General Property Tax increase (approximately $161 for the average single-family home) to fund:

  • General inflationary pressures

  • Hiring of additional 25 police officers, 20 firefighters and 10 bylaw officers for 2023

  • City Wide Operations (non-public safety)

• 1.0% Roads and Traffic Levy. (approximately $23 for the average surrey single-family home)

Keep in mind this is only a start since it is unknown what increases the Surrey School Board and Metro-Vancouver will be tacking onto the tax bill for Surrey residents.  There is also a 3% increase to user fees that will add to the overall tax burden paid for by Surreyites.  The 9.5% increase is not just a one-time tax bill either, Surrey residents will be saddled with it for three years ending after 2025.  It could have been worse with Mayor Locke warning in early January that the SPS transition would cost Surrey $235 million, resulting in a 55% property tax increase, adding $1,200 to the average home bill and $7.700 onto business tax bills.  Meanwhile, across Scott Road, the Corporation of Delta who have had their own municipal police force since 1888 plan on a 4.9% increase in property taxes for 2023.  Adding a little salt to the wound, their Crime Severity Index of 57.6 is almost a third lower than either Surrey or White Rock that average 83.7 with the RCMP as their Police of Jurisdiction. 

There is one major assumption in Surrey's financial plan, which is the Surrey Police Service will be disbanded and the RCMP will once again control policing in what is soon be the largest city in BC by population.  According to figures from City Hall, keeping the RCMP will cost $235 million less than the Surrey Police Service over five years but the transition process would result in a shortfall of $116 million that would be paid for by the 9.5% increase in property taxes.  Mike Farnworth, the B.C. Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety has yet to make a decision on the fate of the policing model in Surrey.   In a media release three weeks ago, the Minister requested additional information and more time to consider this complex policing issue and to complete a full in-depth analysis.  If Mr. Farnworth decides that the transition to the Surrey Police Service will continue, then Surrey's 5-year draft budget will have to be redone with these costs instead of the RCMP.  There has been no time frame given as to when this important decision on future policing in Surrey will be made.

You can read the complete details in the F004 Corporate Report on Surrey's 2023 Five Year (2023-2027) Financial Plan for general operating expenses at this link:  https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/corporate-reports/F004%20CR%202023%20Five%20Year%20Financial%20Plan%20-%20General%20Operating.pdf .  A public meeting and live streaming of the Finance Committee will be held on Monday, March 6 at 2 p.m. in Surrey City Hall chambers to consider the 2023 draft budget.  The public can provide comment in person at the Finance Committee meeting or through written submissions.  The deadline for written comments is 12 noon on Friday, March 3rd, 2023 by email to clerks@surrey.ca or by fax to 604-501-7578.  If you wish to appear as a speaker, registration opens on March 3 with the details at this link:  https://www.surrey.ca/news-events/events/finance-committee-meeting

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live and work on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo First Nation.

The Naked Truth

Don Pitcairn

Follow The Money

The results of the 2022 Civic Elections across BC are now in.  No, I don't mean the votes, those were counted and the victors taking the Mayor's chair and Councillors seats were declared back on October 15th.  You can now read the financial disclosures of candidates for your region on the Elections BC website (https://elections.bc.ca/).  Simply go there, click on the "2022 General Local Elections Disclosure Statements Available" tab under the "Whats New" section.  

That will take you to the page with the following links for available disclosure statements.

Scanned disclosure statements

• Candidates: https://bit.ly/40n7xMP

• Elector organizations: https://bit.ly/3YlOFfa

• Third party advertising sponsors: https://bit.ly/3JCPNXU

Campaign contribution data:

• Candidates: https://bit.ly/3YmfpMS

• Elector organizations: https://bit.ly/3RuHkI7

Hitting on the Candidates link that will take you to Local Search Options.  Select "Scanned Reports" and in the Election Area select either Surrey or White Rock.  That will take you to the list of candidates for the past two elections and by clicking on the 2022  results you can see how much money each candidate spent and who helped to pay for their candidacy.  To make this journey simple, here is the direct link, starting with the White Rock candidates:  https://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/LESearchResults.aspx?PFN=&E=(ALL)&FTK=0&FT=(ALL)&FN=(ALL)&EAK=236&EA=White+Rock&OK=0&O=(ALL)&JTK=0&JT=(ALL)&JK=0&J=(ALL)&STK=0&ST=(ALL)&EV=(ALL)

Megan Knight who unseated Darryl Walker for the Mayor's Chair received $25,289 from a variety of sources with 15 people contributing $1,000 to $1,250 (the maximum individual contribution), many with real estate and develoment backgrounds.  By comparison, Darryl Walker raised $10,671 with only four people contributing $1,000 or more, one of who was Darryl Walker himself.  Keep in mind the Mayor's salary is $107,760 while Council receives a base salary of $43,100.  By comparison, here is the reported contributions for the Councillors who won a seat:  Chesney, $1,850, Cheung, $5,834, Klassen $20,780, Lawrence $10,215, Partridge $5,289, Trevelyan $4,925.  This does not include the dozen other candidates who ran and did not get elected whose campaign donations are also posted for public viewing.

The big city of Surrey was a different election story considering the size of B.C's largest municipality by land area.  There were five parties running candidates including three, United Surrey, Surrey First and Safe surrey with full slates.  Eight candidates ran for Mayor, over 50 for the the eight Council seats and 20 for the six School Trustee seats.  Needless to say reviewing all of the data would be a monumental task so I will only focus on the five people who received the most votes for Mayor of Surrey.  You can find all of the financial disclosure results for the 2022 Surrey civic election at this direct link: https://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/LESearchResults.aspx?PFN=&E=(ALL)&FTK=0&FT=(ALL)&FN=(ALL)&EAK=200&EA=Surrey&OK=0&O=(ALL)&JTK=0&JT=(ALL)&JK=0&J=(ALL)&STK=0&ST=(ALL)&EV=(ALL)

Under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, endorsed candidates can share their expense limit with their elector organization by entering into a campaign financing agreement before the campaign period begins.  A candidate's expense limit in based on the election area and the office they run for.  With this in mind, Brenda Locke of Surrey Connect who won the Mayor's chair reported an expense limit of $219,193.36.  Doug McCallum of Safe Surrey, Gordie Hogg of Surrey First,  Sukh Dhaliwal of United Surrey and Jinny Simms of Surrey Forward all reported the exact same number for their expense limit to the exact penny.  This is the maximum amount allowable, just as $1,250 was the most an individual person could contribute to a political campaign.  If you want to be Mayor of Surrey, which comes with a $156,697 salary, you'd better have $220,000 in your bank account if you are serious about actually winning.

The new mayor Brenda Locke's grass roots Surrey Connect party spent $278,076 after raising a total of $289,449.  Former mayor Doug McCallum's Safe Surrey party spent a whopping $691,956 while raising $566,729 for a deficit of over $125,000.  Mr. White Rock Gordie Hogg ran under the Surrey First banner with $322,972 in spending versus $377,453 in donations.  Surrey-Newton MP Sukh Dhawliwal's United Surrey spent $635,548 while raising $637,643.  Lastly, Surrey-Panorama MLA Jinny Simms and her Surrey Forward party spent $322,972 on their campaign, raising $377,453 in income.  In total these five campaigns, listed in voting order from 1st to 5th,  reported $2.375 million in income and $2.47 million in expenses.  You can review all of this information in detail at the BC Elections electoral organizations disclosure statements at https://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/LEElectionSummarySearchResults.aspx?PFN=&E=(ALL)&FTK=2&FT=Elector+Organization&FN=(ALL)&EAK=0&EA=(ALL)&OK=0&O=(ALL)&JK=0&J=(ALL)&EV=2022+General+Local+Elections

To see the millions of dollars flowing into these civic political campaigns is rather eye-opening and shows why some people are so intent on trying to control the agenda at City Hall.  Of course, decisions by mayor and council directly affect billions of dollars in real estate deals including rezoning of properties resulting in landfall profits for developers and landowners.  For myself, I want nothing more from my local mayor and council than open and honest governance, a respectful workplace and decision making transparency.  Having a sister who worked in the Planning Department in Surrey for over 30 years, Mayor and Council there would be better off following the direction of their Planners on how to build a city than the demands of their develop friends and campaign financiers.  Now if you excuse me, I have to go clean off my rose-coloured glasses knowing this is not reality with so much money involved.  

Naturally yours,

Don PItcairn

TNT EXTRA:  Across British Columbia, individual candidates and political parties seeking local office spent a combined $22.1 million during the 2022 election campaign, an increase from the $16.2 million in 2018 that equates to a 36 percent rise in spending.  This record amount was largely due to a large increase in money spent by local political parties, up from $5.8 million in 2018 to $11.4 million in 2022, with this figure nearly doubling in only four years,

The Dirt on Mud Bay

Boundary Bay and Mud Bay are becoming a busy place these days with anticipated sea level rise expected to be one metre high by 2100.  There are many dikes that line both communities and farmland throughout the south Surrey region, including the promenade built beside the railway corridor, the public walkway surrounding Crescent Beach (which has already been raised) and the Delta Dyke Trail connecting Surrey to Delta.  With king tides, rising sea levels and stronger storms, these coastal defense strategies will need to be strengthened to avoid them from being over-topped and major flooding to happen on the leeward side of the dykes.  In case you are not aware, there has already been coastal flooding in the Mud Bay region twice in my lifetime including at Nico Wynd Golf Course and the Art Knapps Mud Bay Village.  Part of the overall flood mitigation strategy is also to extend the tidal marsh zone, modifying the ecosystem to prevent coastal erosion while helping to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Work on many of these projects is already well underway with the City of Surrey starting the Colebrook Dyke Upgrades last year, raising and expanding the dykes along the Serpentine River east of the Mud Bay Park that were originally installed in 1968.  These dyke upgrades are the first phase of Surrey's Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy (CFAS) to control coastal flooding and protect against sea level rise in the not so distant future.  The Colebrook 100 dyke project at Mud Bay Park and the Colebrook 200 dyke projects stretching to Highway 99 are nearing completion and are visible from Hwy. 99.  From there the Colebrook 300 dyke upgrade will continue east on the north side of the Serpentine River all the way to King George Blvd. next to the Serpentine Fen.  There are calls for this dyke to become a public walkway that will link the Fen to Mud Bay Park leading all the way to Tsawwassen, an idea that I fully support as a long term plan for this region. 

Last week saw the start of a tidal project being performed by Ducks Unlimited along the shores of Mud Bay towards Delta.  Dense rafts of human-modified logs (read cut down trees, delimbed and lost during transport) have washed ashore in the Delta marshes where storm waves move them like large rolling pins that crush the shoreline vegetation.  Over the next few weeks excavators will be working to remove much of this shoreline debris from an internationally significant habitat for migrating birds and ducks plus over-wintering waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway.  While this project is being overseen by Ducks Unlimited senior biologists, the bulk of the funding for this work is from the Canadian government's Smart Climate Solutions Fund and the US North American Wetland's Conservation Act.  I should note here that the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee has expressed concern about this log removal and has called for a comprehensive wildlife plan for the entire bay with potential effects arising from the nearby Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion project. 

By far the most ambitious flood mitigation strategy planned for the shore along the north shore of Boundary Bay is the Mud Bay Nature-Based Foreshore Enhancement project.  This is part of Canada's Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) Program that includes 13 green and grey infrastructure improvements around the Boundary Bay watershed alone.  The City of Surrey wants to build a "living dyke" by bringing in large amounts of infill to help increase the elevation of the salt marsh that will allow it to adapt to future sea level increase.  Once the base soil is leveled, native salt marsh plant species will be installed which will help to hold the ground in place.  They are hoping this will reduce wave energy, enhance biodiversity, decrease shoreline erosion while helping to protect Highway 99 and the farms around it from the dyke being over-topped.  The concept is to build a pilot salt marsh  on a smaller section of Mud Bay of 210 metres in length by 1.38 ha in size followed by a second study area of 320 metres in length and 1.44 ha of shore area.  Learning from these two pilot areas, the plan is to then build a further 790 metres of living dyke that will connect the pilot areas consisting of a an 8.19 ha of marshy shoreline with construction completed by 2028.

The City of Surrey has requested that the Mud Bay Nature-Based Foreshore Enhancement project be exempted from an environmental assessment since it is intended to benefit the environment and the community with the City not expecting it to cause negative environmental effects.  The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office is seeking input and comments from the public on Surrey's project description and whether it should be except from an environmental assessment review.  Considering the amount of fill and erosion structures that are planned to be deposited over existing marshland that is ecologically significant as a major stopover and over-wintering ground for millions of shorebirds, many believe that an EAO review is essential.  This project is massive in scale and the details are extensive and time consuming to read, understand and absorb.  Besides including website links to the other projects I have touched on in this TNT (listed in order below) the last two include the details on the Mud Bay living dyke and the EAO Public Comment section.  The public comment period closes on February 27, 2023 at midnight PST if you want your say on this plan that will redesign and forever alter 1.32 kilometres of shoreline and 11 hectares of wetlands along Mud Bay.  Enjoy your further reading.

https://www.surrey.ca/services-payments/water-drainage-sewer/flood-control-and-prevention/coastal-flood-adaptation-projects

https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/media/documents/colebrook-dyke-mud-bay-upgrades-2.pdf

https://www.ducks.ca/places/british-columbia/boundary-bay-tidal-marsh-restoration/

https://www.projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/api/document/63b48090f512e70022abfb87/fetch/Mud%20Bay%20-%20Approved%20Initial%20Project%20Description.pdf

https://projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/639baa7b66b14b0022357c82/project-details

Naturally yours,

Don PItcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

Plane Truth 2, Train Truth 1, Automobile Truth 0

Plane Truth 2

I have to give credit where credit is due.  Nav Canada has certainly turned the jumbo jet around when it comes to planning flight paths for YVR.  With a landing area constrained by mountains to the north, 240,000 flights a year, cargo planes running non-stop, float planes from the south terminal, plenty of executive jets, a swarm of small plane traffic from Boundary Bay Airport (BZZ) and flights from Abbotsford Airport (YXX), this is not an easy area to alter flight paths.  The last time this was attempted in 2007 and 2008, Nav Canada seemed to think they could make all the changes they wanted without any consideration to the environmental effects and the communities they were flying over.  It would appear that has changed with the recent Vancouver Airspace Modernization Project (VAMP) looking at the broad scope of the effects of these flight path changes.

Because of the complexity of this issue involving areas throughout the Lower Mainland, I will focus my attention on the Semiahmoo peninsula.  Unfortunately some of the information contained on the Nav Canada website pertaining to the flight path changes is outdated or incomplete.  If you didn't attend the meeting at the White Rock Community Centre on Thursday night, you missed out on learning about the details to this plan from actual air traffic controllers.  Unlike the last change of flight paths, this alteration will mean little or no overflights above the peninsula and no noise pollution for White Rock.  The GRIZZ STAR flight path that ran north on the western side of the Mud Bay will  be eliminated.  The new replacement, the Y-shaped double flight path heading north originating from a way-point over the waters west of Bellingham will replace it with jets flying closer to Ocean Park and especially Crescent Beach.  Newer satellite controlled jets on a 3-D path will fly on the left-hand approach to the south runway at YVR while older planes and more noisy flights will follow the right-hand more eastern route to the north runway.  Instead of much of these flights turning over North Delta and Newton, most will now fly over the eastern Burns Bog near Highway 91 away from residential areas.

Eventually all planes will abandon the eastern track, move away from Crescent Beach on the western track and fly a more direct and shorter approach heading north targeting both the north and south runways.  This will move the noise footprint well away from Crescent Beach, keep incoming flights away from the bald eagle nests on the Ocean Park bluffs while keeping commercial jets from flying above North Delta and Panorama Ridge.  In a year's time when the RNP-AR system is initiated, we will get an idea of how well this satellite guided navigation system actually works.  Please note that there will still be vectored flights, visual flight rules (VFR) diversions and departing planes, private jets, smaller planes plus military, police, and special operation flights overhead.  To say that the airspace above the Lower Mainland is complicated would be an understatement.  We were woken up at 8:07 a.m. on Sunday morning by a very loud jet that flew over our home in Crescent Heights.  Checking the YVR WebTrak website, I learned this flight was not recorded (meaning it was police, military or special ops) but it registered 66 dB over Ocean Park and likely 70-75 dB over our house, equivalent to having a vacuum cleaner outside the bedroom window.   In case you don't believe me, you can check it our for yourself at https://webtrak.emsbk.com/yvr5 .

After reviewing all of the flight path changes with the knowledge of what transpired in 2007 and 2008, I plan on asking Nav Canada and the VAA to consider making the following changes to their VAMP affecting this region.  While the new approach paths are actually in the middle of Boundary Bay, if feasible a pathway moved westward over the middle of Mud Bay would reduce the exposure to bald eagles and migratory birds to jet engine noise.  This would move the noise footprint away from Crescent Beach that is the main marine recreational site (read beach) to almost a million residents of Surrey and the Fraser Valley.  The noise monitoring terminal (NMT) currently housed at Ocean Cliff Elementary in Ocean Park should be relocated to Crescent Beach, possible at the Beecher Community Centre.  After six months of operations, Nav Canada and the Vancouver Airport Authority should re-engage the communities affected by this change to see if any modifications can be done that would benefit the environment, the communities under the flight paths, and the airlines who fly them.  If you want to submit a Nav Canada feedback survey with these suggestions, please visit the following website before Feb 3, 2023:  https://www.navcanada.ca/en/air-traffic/airspace-reviews/vancouver-airspace-modernization.aspx

Train Truth 1

I really needed this" twofer" TNT like a double-barreled shotgun to the head this weekend.  Already facing dealing with the rather complex Nav Canada VAMP issue, a BNSF coal train ground to a halt on Saturday morning near the trestle approaching the swing bridge by the Crescent Beach Marina.  With a length of a mile and a half (2.4 km long) this train blocked both road entrances to Crescent Beach.  This is now happening about once a year, seriously inconveniencing anyone wanting to leave or enter this seaside hamlet, but most importantly stopping emergency services from attending if needed.  If your house is one fire, you need an ambulance, or require police for any reason, you were out of luck.  The Railway Safety Act regulates rail carriers to clear the tracks at roadways in five minutes for a broken down train but this has not been the case at Crescent Beach, where Surrey now has a camera in place to monitor the lengthy delays due to previous blockages.

The cause of these breakdowns is related to the increasing length of the trains and the 115 year old swing bridge over the Nicomekyl River next to the Crescent Beach marina.  With a 10 mile-per hour speed limit, approaching trains have to slow down, putting pressure on the car couplers and the steel knuckles that hold them together.  With the many curves that wind along this waterfront route, it puts serious pressure on the knuckles, sometimes causing one of them to shatter in two.  This dislocates the trains, pulls the air hoses off and causes the brakes to be applied.  When this happens, BNSF contacts Surrey emergency services and the police, fire service and ambulance are all dispatched to the scene.  I should note here that the antiquated swing bridge is the only component of the rail corridor that has yet to be replaced by the BNSF who have already installed new bridges and continuous rail throughout this region in the past 15 years.

It took approximately three hours for this BNSF train to be repaired and clear both of the road crossings allowing traffic to once again leave and enter Crescent Beach.  During this blockage, near the marina I saw a dozen people walking on the pathway that leads under the BNSF Railway trestle bridge in and out of Crescent Beach.  This is the area that was previously recommended by City of Surrey staff for building a one lane emergency access road, an idea that was shelved due to cost and lack of two-way traffic.  Next up was the concept of putting a tunnel under the BNSF tracks at Beecher St., a plan that was also kiboshed by City Hall.  The latest plan put forth by Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition was for a two lane bridge over the tracks, eliminating issues with breakdowns along with 9 minute waits for 1.5 mile long coal trains slowly approaching the swing bridge.  I expect that due to increasing construction costs and only 400 homes in Crescent Beach, this current plan will also hit the dumpster.

Years ago the BNSF forced the City of Surrey to build a pedestrian overpass at the bottom of Christopherson Park (the former 101 Steps) because of people trespassing across the train tracks.  Since the BNSF are blocking the two roadways into Crescent Beach, I say turnabout is fair play and that this US Railway company should pay for a separated crossing into Crescent Beach, whether it be a tunnel or bridge.  Since the federal government is responsible for rail traffic in this country and have done nothing about enforcing the five minute road clearance rule for trains, I think it is also their responsibility to fix this ongoing problem.  The City of Surrey should not be on the hook for paying to remedy this issue that is being caused by the BNSF Railway and the lack of accountability by the Liberal Government.  Make sure you email the Honourable Omar Alghabra to insist that he fix this transportation issue that the City of Surrey has nothing to do with, at his Parliament Hill address of  

 .   While you are at it, dump this hot potato on the lap of our MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay at:

 .  Mayor Locke and Surrey Council would be wise in doing the same thing to finally put an end this growing problem at Crescent Beach, similar to how overpasses were built in Langley City to deal with the issue of CN and CP trains blocking traffic there.

Automobile Truth 0

Sorry, but you'll just have to wait for it.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

TNT Extra:  On Saturday afternoon a fully loaded coal train traveling north to the Jimmy Pattison owned Westshore Terminals at Roberts Bank derailed in Tsawwassen.  This crash took down hydro poles and causing a local power outage that did not affect operations at the nearby Deltaport Terminal.  At this time, it is unclear whether this was the same BNSF coal train that had broken down at Crescent Beach or a different train belonging to CN or CP Railways.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

The Plane Truth

Back in 2007, Nav Canada (the Crown created monopoly corporation in charge of air traffic control) decided to change the flights paths for commercial jet airliners heading to Vancouver International Airport (YVR).  People noticed the difference one day when they woke up to the Semiahmoo Peninsula being strafed by passenger planes flying over once quiet neighbourhoods that made it sound like Richmond.  Amazingly, even though the local Nav Canada offices are located in nearby Newton, nobody bothered to contact Surrey City Hall, which at the time was a five-minute drive away.  Instead, these faceless bureaucrats made these draconian changes for the airline's benefit with zero thought and consideration to the people this change might affect.  I should note here that my dad was an air force and commercial jet pilot, I grew up on RCAF bases, plus have lived in both Richmond and North Delta under YVR flight paths so I'm very familiar with the effects of airplane noise pollution.

As you can imagine, the proverbial crap hit the propeller blade on this issue with communities around the Lower Mainland complaining not only about noise from these flight path changes but the complete lack of consultation.  Various community groups were formed to combat Nav Canada, politicians at all three levels of government got involved with the fight, and the City of Surrey formed the Nav Canada Working Group, of which I was a member.  Without getting into the serious technical issues on this topic that went far beyond this region, the end result was the GRIZZ STAR approach flight path was moved into the middle of Boundary Bay with planes piloted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) being directed to avoid overflying the Semiahmoo peninsula.   YVR also installed WebTrak where flights could be followed and checked with new noise monitoring stations on the ground, including one located in Ocean Park (https://webtrak.emsbk.com/yvr5).  If a noisy plane flies over your house, you can wait five minutes and then watch it on Webtrak that will give you detailed information about the flight.

By far the biggest change from the year-long battle to quiet the skies over residential neighbourhoods across the Lower Mainland was that Nav Canada was forced to ensure that in the future, changes to flight paths could not be done without proper public consultation.  Well, here we are 15 years later and Nav Canada is once again making changes to approach flight paths for YVR that will help facilitate the satellite guided Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required (RNP AR) that allows aircraft to fly a 3D defined flight path with precise lateral and vertical navigation.  On the Nav Canada website they explain these changes known as "Vancouver Airspace Modernization" at the following link:  https://www.navcanada.ca/en/air-traffic/airspace-reviews/vancouver-airspace-modernization.aspx .  For residents of the Semi-Pen, the most important section is the "Changes in communities to the east, southeast and south of the airport" that includes a map of the proposed approach flights for this region:  https://www.navcanada.ca/en/vamp-east-southeast-and-south-communities.pdf .

The community specific map on page 4 with the south-east communities (read Surrey and White Rock) shows a week of historical flight approaches to YVR as thin blue lines with many above Boundary Bay.  The thick line of flights heading north and then turning east is the current GRIZZ STAR flight path that follows a set of navigational beacons.  The rest of the flights are VFR where in good weather pilots fly their own less structured route to the glideslopes for the north or south runways at YVR.  You should note that while Nav Canada originally promised these VFR flights would be instructed to "stay in the middle of Boundary Bay", this is not the case with many flying near the western shore of the peninsula and some crossing over Ocean Park and Crescent Beach.  I happen to live in this area and have heard commercial jets flying overhead after 11:30 p.m., waking up this usually quiet neighbourhood.  The map at the bottom of page 5 shows the noise footprint from the proposed RNP AR flight path covering most of Crescent Beach.

The same map shows the new RNP AP flight paths in two thick white lines coming up from the south near Blaine in an elongated V shape.  Both of these new satellite guided flight paths are much closer to the Semi-Pen coast than the previous GRIZZ STAR approach.  In fact, the one to the east will take a large number of jets up the coast just offshore from Crescent Beach.  At only 3,000 ft., these planes will create a constant wash of noise pollution across the public marine recreational areas of Crescent Beach and Crescent Rock where people go to relax in peace and quiet.  The Ocean Park bluff is also a favoured nesting area for Bald eagles plus is their spring hunting ground where they feed on Plainfin Midshipman fish breeding in the shallow waters of Mud Bay.  I highly doubt that Nav Canada gave any of this a thought as they laid out the approach paths that benefited the new navigational system and their airline customers.  What is missing from their report is where all of the older planes that do not yet have satellite navigation will now be flying.  As history has shown with the GRIZZ STAR, VFR flights basically travel where the pilots want to fly.

It will take a concerted community effort to move these proposed flight paths away from Ocean Park and Crescent Beach towards the middle of Boundary Bay where it was previously.  The YVR Airspace Consultation South Surrey/White Rock meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 19th from 5-8 P.M. at the White Rock Community Centre, 15154 Russel Ave. in White Rock.  This is a "drop-in" open house style event with no pre-registration required to attend but you can expect a crowd.  There will not be a large group presentation at a set time, instead representatives from NAV CANADA and YVR will be available throughout the entire event period to provide information and answer questions.  This public consultation concludes on February 3rd and you can let your feelings be known by attending this and other scheduled meetings, by sending in your comments by email to consultation@navcanada.ca. or by completing their feedback survey at the following link:  \https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=52XfbTKSGUq7aKLb9epadAJdYvlbfZNLrrCEXXnYLJhURURFRllGSDBURUpPVTVaTjVVMDhKUkRUWS4u

Take the time to learn the details and implications of this change to the long-term peace and quiet of Crescent Beach and the rugged shores of Ocean Park.  Make sure you let your feelings be known on this subject and make recommendations to the YVR Airport Authority and Nav Canada on how these changes can be made with less noise and environmental impact to this area.  Above all, contact Surrey's Mayor and Councillors, our MLA Trevor Halford and the MP for the south Surrey-White Rock riding Kerry-Lynne Findlay since control of air transportation in Canada is a federal responsibility.   I hope to see you all at this very important meeting on Thursday night where I have some questions and recommendations on how to once again move these jets away from the beach and stop them from flying over formerly quiet residential neighbourhoods in south Surrey.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Skybridge Skyfall

When I headed down to Crescent Rock beach on New Year's Day for the second leg of the Mad Hatters Swim Club trifecta of polar bear swims, I did not expect to come across a TNT story.  A few days later I returned to the Christopherson Steps at the west end of 24 Ave. in south Surrey to do a more detailed examination of what I had discovered there.  What I found and what I learned makes me realize that there are plenty of natural hazards around us that you might not notice, or if you do, you'd think it would take years, decades or even centuries for them to possibly cause harm.

On Dec. 20th, the Semiahmoo peninsula received up to 35 cm of snow and with my trusty Fat Max tape measure in hand, I measured 14 inches of the white stuff on our deck.  Later that week the arctic outflow weakened and an approaching Pacific frontal system glazed much of the Lower Mainland with freezing rain that coated everything with ice as it fell just before Christmas.  The weight of the snow and subsequent ice proved too much for many trees that suffered broken branches and, in some cases, even caused trees to bend over and fall.  If you went to the White Rock polar bear swim, you likely noticed the many broken locust tree branches along the promenade, many still with lights strung on them.   

I don't know the exact date or if it was the weight of the snow or ice (my guess the later) but during this time a 100 ft. tall Douglas fir tree pulled out of the Ocean Park bluff next to the Christopherson Steps staircase and crashed onto the BNSF tracks below.  The bluff is composed of glacial moraine with stratified layers of sand, gravel, mud and silt making this steep slope prone to slope movement and landslides.  I had noticed this fir tree leaning towards the tracks and shoreline and had thought many times that eventually it would lose the battle with gravity and eventually fall onto the tracks.  I really didn't understand the risks involved and not being Chicken Little, I never reported it to Surrey or the BNSF.

This 100-foot-tall tree, likely loaded with a thick layer of ice, pulled out of the ground halfway up the slope and fell on an angle towards the tracks, smashing into a post carrying the landslide detector fence (LDF) that stopped all train traffic.  The top part of the tree impacted the western end of the metal skybridge that allows pedestrians to cross above the tracks from the wooden staircase on the hillside to the metal steps leading to the beach.  Fortunately, the trunk of this tree fell only on the rail corridor but it left a thick layer of branches on the skybridge's roof and all around its base with one branch measuring over 6 inches or 15 cm. in diameter.  BNSF track maintenance crews attended the site and removed the heavy chunks of tree trunk and cleared the broken branches off the train tracks.

I reported this incident to the City of Surrey who will be examining the metal skybridge for damage and to check the hillside above for more natural hazards.  The scary thing about this incident is that this tree could have easily fallen a little further south with the heavy trunk smashing into the middle of the skybridge.  While it is a strongly built steel cage, it is unknown if it would have survived such an impact.  Whether the skybridge would have bent of collapsed is conjecture but being a pedestrian bridge suspended high above the train tracks, it is cause for concern.  Had this tree not smashed into the LDF system, it is possible a BNSF freight train could have also run into the trunk of this tree.  A train derailing next to the vertical supports that holds the skybridge aloft could be disastrous.

As if this wasn't bad enough, here is the scary part.  Just up the hillside on either side of the Christopherson Steps, there are two other large fir trees, both over 30 metres tall and close to a metre wide at the base, that are already leaning towards the tracks and directly at the Skybridge.  When these trees eventually succumb to gravity like the other one did, their thick heavy trunks will not miss the span.  This could take years, decades, or even centuries, but eventually this will likely happen.  The trees of course play an important role in slope stabilization, reducing the slide risk from the bluff above so cutting them down creates other hazards that threaten passing trains.  One thing is for sure, the City of Surrey Parks Department needs to document this hazard and regularly inspect these leaning fir trees before they reach the point of collapse.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Jan. 17, Hummer Bummer:  Extreme cold with artic outflow winds decimates winter hardy Anna's hummingbirds across the region despite various attempts to keep them warm with heaters and to stop syrup feeders from freezing.

Grin and Bear It or Bare It or Dare It

The long wait is over, it's time to once again take the plunge.  For the last two years organized polar bear swims have been cancelled across the Lower Mainland due to BC Health Guidelines focused on eliminating public events to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  With those restrictions now eased, there is no longer the need to take the plunge at home (with bonus points for creativity) as was the case for the White Rock Rotary Club's polar bear swim the past two years.  My wife Sheryl and I actually sent in our prisoner plunge entry, jumping into our cabana covered hot tub with icy cold beers in hand and snow all around the yard.  The fact we were skinny-dipping didn't win us any bonus points with the folks in charge of this promotion when we submitted our video.  Too bad, so sad, just another day trying to brighten those rather gloomy times and maybe grab some bragging rights along with a small prize.

The annual White Rock Polar Bear Swim was cancelled for 2019 after the pier damaging wind storm left mountains of debris and holed boats across White Rock's beaches.  It was last held in 2020 before COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings came into place.  With the "take the plunge at home" virtual campaign the last two years, there has been a recent name change with the White Rock Polar Bear Swim now being called the White Rock Polar Bear Plunge.  i guess that no one at the WR Rotary or WR BIA realized that is the same sounding name used for the Polar Bare Plunge skinny-dip that has been held since 2007 at the nearby Crescent Rock beach in south Surrey.  Hopefully this homophone (different words that sound the same) miscue is changed since the words bear and bare even have the same letters.  Either way, registration for the White Rock event begins at 10:30 a.m. in front of the White Rock boulder east of the pier, with the swim starting at 12 o'clock noon on Jan. 1st, New Year's Day.

For a slightly different swim, Surrey's United Naturists ask you to "Brrr...ring in the Nude Year" as they hold their 15th annual Polar Bare Plunge skinny-dip on New Year's Day, Sunday, January 1st, 2023 at the nude friendly Crescent Rock beach in Surrey, B.C.  This clothing optional swim will be held at 1 p.m. in the icy waters of Mud Bay in front of the 120 tonne Crescent Rock boulder.  Simply walk south from the public Crescent Beach marine park 100 metres past the Christopherson Steps elevated metal walkway, or take these stairs located at the very west end of 24th Ave. in south Surrey.  Free registration for the 2023 Polar Bare Plunge begins at 12:30 p.m.   Your birthday suit is the natural attire for this annual skinny-dip but Santa hats, reindeer antlers, body paint and limited festive garments are appreciated.  Foot protection including secured sandals or aquatic shoes is highly recommended to help with footing on the small rocks before the sand flats.   FOR YOUR SAFETY, PLEASE DO NOT TRESPASS ON THE BNSF RAILWAY CORRIDOR.

Ice man Jamie Lee Kwen (5X) and Don Pitcairn (1X), two members of the elite Mad Hatters triple polar bear swim club.

If you think tat running into chilled ocean water during the winter is crazy, then there is another level of madness waiting for those who can't get enough of polar bear swims.  The timing of the White Rock Polar Bear Swim (12 noon), the Polar Bare Plunge at Crescent Rock in south Surrey (1 p.m.) and Vancouver's Polar Bear Swim at English Bay (2:30 p.m.) allow for the triple crown of polar bear swims to be completed in only 2.5 hours on New Year's Day.  This feat was first accomplished by two brave and adventurous ladies back in 2008 and in their honor, S.U.N.created the elite "Mad Hatters Swim Club" that can be joined by completing these three New Year's Day swims and sending in photographic proof to have their name added to the club's honour roll.  While the Polar Bare Plunge is clothing optional, to join the Mad Hatters Swim Club the Crescent Rock beach swim must be done in the nude.  Iron man Jamie Lee Kwen of Burnaby holds the record of completing the Mad Hatters' three New Year's swims an amazing five years in a row before COVID-19 restrictions ended this streak.

There you have it folks, three New Year's swims with increasing levels of difficulty.  I should note here that Delta also holds a polar bear swim at Centennial beach in Tsawwassen at 1 p.m., directly across Mud Bay and at the same time that the Crescent Rock skinny-dip is taking place.  Make a New Year's resolution to actually partake in one, two or three of these annual ocean baptisms.  At least it looks like the weather will be back to normal with temperatures well above zero and no snow in the forcast.  When I was last at Crescent Rock beach just after the big snow storm, the temperature was -10 C and -15 C with the wind chill.  Several metres out from shore, the seawater looked like a Slurpee with a thick layer of ice crystals floating in it.  Sorry to say but the thought of running into salt water that is cold enough to actually freeze does not sound like a good way to start the year, although I'm sure it would cure a hang-over instantly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

HAPPY NUDE YEAR EVERY-BODY! 

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Merry Christmas everyone an have a happy New Year!

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

Crescent Road & Track

The subject of continuing high-speed car accidents on the many twisting corners of Crescent Road has been covered in this column before, but recent crashes make it time to look at this problem again.  Crescent Road is a bit of an anomaly for roadways in Surrey as it does not follow the regular assortment of north-South and East-West mile apart grid lines.  Instead, this historic road follows the lay of the land along the Nicomekyl river in south Surrey going from sea level to bluff top and back down again.  Along the way there are eighteen curves you have to navigate along with several changes in elevation for a length of approximately 5 miles.   With no traffic lights and only one stop sign (at 128 Street) to slow you down from the King George Blvd to Crescent Beach, it is a magnet for high-speed driving and serious crashes that include injuries and deaths.

Unfortunately, the engineering and construction of this road is rather dated as it goes back over 100 years.  A quick visit to the Surrey.ca website historical section has the following description for this heritage roadway.

"Crescent Road was constructed beginning in 1883 and later between 1910 and 1923, following the natural contours of the landscape, on the south side of the Nicomekl River, connecting the Elgin area to Crescent Beach. The name, Crescent Road, was in use by 1909, possibly earlier."

The picture posted with this online listing shows a dangerous corner at the north entrance to Crescent Beach where an out-of-control driver crossed fully into my lane while I was driving home in my Jeep YJ.  I took evasive action, swerving off the roadway onto the grass and sliding to a stop where the engine stalled since I had no time to hit the clutch.  That's just my own personal experience with speeding drivers on Crescent Road but I have plenty of other stories about crashes that I've witnessed, driven by or seen the results of.

In the past two months there have been three serious crashes on Crescent Road.  Two of these occurred on the south side of the road a couple of blocks on either side of 140 St where out of control vehicles smashed into the front gates of several homes, demolishing the heavy brick and concrete posts that once stood there.  The last wipe-out was where a vehicle failed to negotiate the corner at 144 St., slid across into the oncoming lane and took out about 40 feet of split-rail cedar fencing meant to protect pedestrians on the sidewalk.  This happened in an area that is posted at 30 kmh because of the pedestrian crossing and location of the Elgin Road Esso gas station.  I should note that this is now the second time that this fence has been driven into since it was erected a few years ago.  I'm thinking that some large concrete curbing might be more appropriate since drivers routinely ignore the low speed signage for this dangerous stretch of road.

Since I got on my little TNT soapbox about this issue, the Surrey Engineering Department has made some changes along Crescent Road.  They put up several of the yellow "Curve Ahead, 40 kmh" warning signs at many of the corners where crashes were routinely happening.  Up the hill west of Elgin Park, they posted three large yellow and black chevron signs indicating a sharp corner that has had the desired effect to slow traffic in an area where four people have previously died in car crashes.  The cats-eyes reflectors that used to line the middle of the road and the shoulders were taken off by snowplows a few years ago and unfortunately were never replaced.  This long stretch of road is rather poorly lit, especially in the curves where crashes happen repeatedly.  Except for the pedestrian crossing near Elgin Road that is part of the Semiahmoo Trail and the removal of all passing areas, Crescent Road remains basically unchanged since I started driving on it over 40 years ago.

The City of Surrey needs to look at the ongoing high-speed crashes on Crescent Road and take some concrete action to reduce speed for the Autobahn of south Surrey.  In the 30 kmh zone near the Elgin Esso station, speed humps should be installed, just as they are at all 30 kmh elementary school zones.  As I proposed to them before, some concrete curbing along the Semiahmoo Trail sidewalk and to protect the Esso gas pumps should be installed.  Centre islands with concrete curbing need to be placed at many of the sharp curves to help separate traffic and slow people down.  Traffic circles at 140 St., 136 St., 132 St. and 128 St. would help to reduce traffic speed plus help move people in and out of Crescent Beach in the summer.  Some "SLOW DOWN" and "SPEED KILLS" signs might give drivers something to think about, plus having brightly lit radar signs showing vehicle speed would be an asset.  Whether its RCMP or SPS, some actual speed enforcement on this long windy stretch of road both during the day and at night will show how pervasive dangerous speeding is on Crescent Road.

To get an idea of how serious a problem bad driving is in Surrey and the deaths and injuries that result, take the time to visit the Vision Zero Surrey on the City of Surrey website (https://www.surrey.ca/services-payments/parking-streets-transportation/vision-zero-surrey).  The focus of this program is to lower both deaths and injuries for drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians in Surrey.  They are attempting to get to zero by "focusing efforts on Surrey's Victims of Harm, Location of Harm, and Perpetrators of Harm as identified through data analysis and community partnership."  The data this site contains is rather sobering with the numbers for the various KSI collisions (killed, serious injured) that happen every year in this city.  You might be surprised to learn that:

• Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists account for half of Surrey’s KSI collisions

• 65% of Surrey’s serious crashes occur on just 5% of our streets

• 80% of Surrey’s KSI collisions occur at intersections

• High risk driving behaviours are a contributing factor in two-thirds of Surrey’s KSI crashes

I was almost in a head-on crash on Crescent Road that I narrowly avoided.  My wife was passed by a speeding car that failed to negotiate the next curve on Crescent Road and crashed into the trees.  I was on scene for a collision where a new driver speeding in Daddy's Jaguar sedan crossed the centre line and plowed into a Mazda 3, shattering the young lady's legs and trapping her in the car.  I visited the fatal crash site where a young man named Tony Blackburn died on Valentine's Day after his friend lost control on Crescent Road and spun sideways into a telephone pole.  When you experience these things and many more, it makes you want to help improve this historic roadway and that starts by getting upgrades to ensure it less of a race track and more of a safe arterial road.  With assistance from the new mayor and council, hopefully the Engineering Department can make this happen instead of leaving Crescent Road in its current state for another century.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Hatching a Plan

Last Saturday was the Annual General Meeting of the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club located in the historic Hazelmere Valley of south Surrey where it has resided the past 65 years, while operating a salmon and trout hatchery for the last 45 years.  Besides the regular run-of-the-mill organizational information relayed to the membership and reports from the various directors, there was a very important topic on the agenda.  It is my pleasure to report to you that a vote to allow the SFGC executive to continue with plans for Phase 1 for the construction of a new fish hatchery to replace the rather antiquated and flood prone Little Campbell Hatchery (LCH) passed with a unanimous vote by all of those in attendance.

Last year was an extremely trying time for the SFGC volunteers who help run its Little Campbell Hatchery.  The atmospheric river that targeted the south portion of B.C. in November caused extensive flooding in and around the hatchery building.  The fish fence that is used to count spawning salmon was inundated with gravel and logs, sustaining serious damage.  The hatchery itself had two feet of water flowing through it, making for the second time in one year that the building had been flooded.  A power outage associated with the flooding knocked out pumps and aerators resulting in 30,000 coho eggs in the nursery being destroyed.  On top of that, floodwaters inundated the coho rearing ponds with adult spawning salmon replacing many of the young fish being raised there.  In short, it was an unmitigated disaster for the club and its hatchery.

With a new President and Board in position, the executive opened talks with Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) advisers and started touring other fish hatchery facilities in January.  They were looking at the possibility of rebuilding the antiquated hatchery with a more modern design in an area out of the Little Campbell river flood plain.  Using construction templates for modern fish hatcheries and with guidance from the Pacific Salmon Foundation, several local construction companies were approached for preliminary quotes for a complete rebuild.  It has been estimated that a Phase 1 design stage will cost $70,000-$75,000 and that an entirely new building and its salmon support systems will likely cost in the neighbourhood of $1,800,000.

The B.C. Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF) has announced federal and provincial co-funding of $200 million for supporting protection and restoration activities for Pacific Salmon and other wild fish stocks.  Their focus is on innovation, infrastructure and science partnerships, their priorities are for salmon ecosystems, habitats and sustainable fisheries and their fundamental projects include improving salmon stocks, mitigating climate change impacts, plus incorporating Indigenous participation and knowledge.  Fortunately, the SFGC and its LCH tick many of these boxes with letters of support from Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, South Surrey MLA Elenore Sturko, South Surrey-White Rock MP Kerri-Lynne Findlay, The Semiahmoo First Nation plus LaFarge Canada Inc.  Having an existing fish hatchery, available land and a knowledgeable volunteer base is definitely a bonus.

The DFO gave the SFGC $35,000 from its Salmon Initiative Strategy on top of the $8,000 it pays annually to the hatchery to help support its normal operations.  A further $35,000-$45,000 will be needed from various funding sources and approved grant applications to complete the Phase 1 plan by the end of January 2023 time frame for this project.  It is hoped by that time that working drawings of the proposed facility will be submitted to the City of Surrey with the likelihood of receiving a building permit within one calendar year.  Current projections for this massive undertaking are for $300,000 to be needed by March of 2023, $1,000,000 by March of 2024 and a further $500,000 for completion of the buildings and infrastructure by the spring of 2026 when the new hatchery should be up and running.

Just like when the original fish hatchery was built on the banks of the Little Campbell river 45 years ago, services in kind, volunteering and donations to the building fund will be gracious accepted once government grants are received, building permits issued and the construction contracted.  At the end of this ambitious and much needed upgrade of the hatchery complex, the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club will have a brand-new state of the art salmon hatchery.  Getting volunteers to help capture, count and raise salmon in the hatchery should not be a problem as membership in the SFGC has blossomed this year with over 750 members now in attendance.  With COVID rates declining, everyone is looking forward to classrooms of children returning to the SFGC property to view the hatchery operations and explore the riverside nature trails. 

If you would like to help fund the club activities and contribute to the funding for Phase 1 of the new hatchery plan, the SFGC is once again holding its Christmas tree chipping event on January 7 & 8 at 1284- 184 St. by donation.  Please mark this date and address on your 2023 calendar if you are planning on having a real tree this holiday season.  The club will also be taking applications for new memberships, hoping to eclipse 1,000 members in 2023 as excitement for a new modern salmon hatchery on the Little Campbell river builds.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

You Be The Judge

Former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum's trial on Public Mischief ended last week and he was found not guilty in the Surrey Provincial Courthouse.  As I noted in my TNT Extra, you can read the Reasons for Judgment by Judge Reginald Harris on the Provincial Court of BC website at the following link:  https://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/judgments.php?link=https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcpc/  Before delving into the following TNT, it is advisable that you read the evidence and judgment in detail in order to better understand what I am going to reveal to you today on this historic Surrey criminal case.

I was in courtroom 101 for the start of McCallum's trial and also attended on the final day when the judge explained his reasoning and gave his verdict.  I was rather surprised that the judge ignored McCallum's statements about being pinned to his car, having his leg run over or that the Mustang in question tore away at a high rate of speed, all which were proven false.  In video footage outside of Save-On-Foods and the Peace Arch Hospital, Mr. McCallum appears to be walking fine without any presence of a limp, this after allegedly having his foot run over by a tire carrying over 900 lbs of weight.  On the question of whether Mrs. Debi Johnstone ran over Doug McCallum's foot, the Judge believed this to be true and gave his many thought-felt reasons to find Mr. McCallum not guilty of Public Mischief.

Leaving the Surrey Courthouse, I decided to visit the Southpoint Save-On-Foods (SOF) to see the area for myself where this alleged hit and run had happened.  Of interest was the landscaped traffic island bed and its relation to the CCTV footage that was taken from a camera mounted at the top of the right front door as you enter this grocery store.  I had viewed the CCTV footage once it had been released in court but bushes blocked the view of Mr. McCallum's feet in relation to Debi Johnstone's Mustang car.  This traffic island also contains several boulders that make standing in it basically impossible, meaning her belief that Doug McCallum had stood there during their heated discussions was erroneous.  I took detailed measurements of all of the obstacles and roadway widths from the area plus plenty of photographs concerning lines of sight from the position of the nearby CCTV.

There are four disabled parking stalls adjacent to this area, with the ones closest to the store being 12 feet wide and the next two being 9 feet wide.  They are all 19.5" long, or 39 feet in total, with the 12-foot-wide ones having a disabled parking sign located in the middle 6' from the curb.   The north/south driving lane where Debi Johnstone stopped her car to harass Doug McCallum is 12' wide, while the east-west driveway in front of SOF lanes are 14' and 13.5' or 27.5' in total.  The landscaped bed in question is just over 12' wide with curbing that is 4.5 inches tall.   There are several rocks at the end of the traffic island with one 21" tall leaving only 11" of space between the rock and the edge of the curb.   The painted yellow stop line is 5' from the corner of the traffic island next to the disabled parking and the pinch point of the large boulder is 3' from this same curb corner. 

By plain crazy luck, my wife drives a silver Ford Mustang convertible, similar to the one owned by Debi Johnstone.  This car is 188.5" long, 74" wide and 56" tall with a 107" wheelbase, a turning circle of 33.4' and weighs 3,500 lbs.  I'm not going to bother you with horsepower, torque, 0-60 speed or any other performance details but it is fun to drive, especially with the top down where you have increased visibility and can easily yell obscenities at local political figures, which comes in handy.  By far the most important measurements with relation to this case are the distance from the front bumper to the middle of the front seat which measures 5' when my wife is driving.  The distance from the driver's seat to the middle of the rear wheel is only 3' and the closest you would ever stand next to the side of this vehicle when it is running would be 2" away, and likely further if you were concerned for your safety after being publicly ridiculed.  

Now it is time to dissect the CCTV video of the alleged hit and run incident with a 2:08 minute clip posted on CBC at https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2096677443609 .   It starts with Debi Johnston's silver Mustang driving left to right through the two disabled parking spots that are 12' away from the traffic island (0:07-0:19 sec.).  At centre screen Doug McCallum can be seen walking away from his car putting on a surgical mask (0:18-0:22 sec.).   As the Mustang turns right and pulls up at the yellow stop line, he turns and walks back alongside the car stepping up into the traffic island and then down into the vacant disabled parking spot (0:23-0:32 sec).  Mrs. Johnstone's car is slightly angled away from the traffic island and there is a yellow sign and tree just above Mr. Mccallum's head and a reflector at his left shoulder.  Just over a minute into this video, Mr. McCallum steps back and to the left away from the Mustang with the reflector disappearing from sight (1:05-1:08 sec.).  They continue to converse until at 1:28 seconds the Mustang begins to pull away driving straight ahead then turning wide halfway into the oncoming lane at regular parking lot speed.  As the car pulls away Mr. McCallum begins to turn his body and as the car passes he proceeds to walk back towards the grocery store, this time not stepping up onto the traffic island.

X marks the spot!

Now, here is where all of the measurements and the picture of the area where this interaction happened all come together.  When Debi Johnstone turned and parked her car in the laneway the Mustang was slightly angled away from the traffic island with her car stopped near the front of the yellow stop line a couple feet from the curb.  Mr. McCallum walks over to her car, stepping up onto the corner of the traffic island as visible from his head motion and down into the disabled parking spot before turning to face the car.  The distance from the stop line to the corner of the curb is 5' and the Mustang is 8" from bumper to driver, meaning he would be standing 2.5'-3' feet from the north side of the traffic island.  Stepping up, onto and then off this island reveals that his forward progress would place him at least 1' behind the corner of the curbing that the car was stopped well away from.  Comparing lines of sight from the position of the CCTV and vegetation in front of Mr. McCallum plus the trees and yellow sign behind him reveals exactly where he is standing, which is where I placed a yellow X in the photo you see.  Unlike the judge in this case, I don't believe Mr. McCallum had his foot run over in this incident unless he is Surreyman.., I mean Superman.  When the Mustang drives away, Mr. McCallum walks out into the laneway area and turns right to return to the front of the SOF store without stopping, looking down at his feet, or limping.

Had the RCMP and prosecutor taken all of these measurements, shown the details of the traffic island and explained Mr. McCallum's motions in relation to the CCTV and his positioning besides the Mustang, this trial could have had a different verdict.  There were also two CCTV cameras on the nearby Rogers store that may have offered a different view and vantage point but it is not known if this footage was ever secured or revealed the interaction in question.  With the judge finding Mr. McCallum not guilty and believing that his foot was run over by Mrs. Johnstone, does that not mean that the shoe is now on the other foot?  Could charges of vehicular assault, dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident now be filed against Debi Johnstone for using her car as a weapon?  The photos, measurements and explanation in this TNT might then be used to clear her name, proving that not only did she never pin the former Mayor against his car, she didn't ran over his foot either.  Somehow, I don't think the RCMP will be pursuing this as aggressively as they did charges against the man trying to replace them with the Surrey Police Service.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

BETTER SURREY

There are approximately 550,000 residents now living in the City of Surrey.  That is a lot of eyes and ears, many boots on the ground and plenty of people from various backgrounds, with different ideas and individual personalities.  I am but one small cog in the big machine that is Surrey, but we are all responsible for how our city grows and develops into the future.  Now imagine if every person living in this town were given the opportunity to help make Surrey a better place to live, to recommend improvements and help promote livability in this region.  That is the basis for an idea I call "BETTER SURREY" that could be used as a sounding board for residents to make individual recommendations that would make Surrey a better place to live.  

The concept is to have an email address available on the Surrey.ca website or possibly even a BETTER SURREY Facebook page where folks can pass along their suggestions to City Hall.  With over half a million people and a very large municipality, I believe it makes sense to reach out and allow residents of Surrey their say on civic improvements based on their experiences and concepts they may have.  These recommendations do not have to be on the monumental scale such as a 60,000 seat stadium, building a system of canals, or even a Ferris wheel in Bridgeview.  They could be just small-scale suggestions based on each person's individual experiences and their knowledge of their neighbourhood.  There are places in Surrey I know little about but I am very familiar with my little corner of the world that those in City Hall should be aware of.  Using people's personal knowledge and insight, together we can make Surrey a better place to live.

I'm kind of cheating here since I already have this long-standing soapbox to rant from but here is a list of community improvements that I could submit to BETTER SURREY if this concept is put into motion.   Some of these have been covered as previous TNT topics but I think that collectively they show the level of insight that residents have of their communities.  In no certain order, here are ten of my suggestions that I believe would make for a BETTER SURREY.  Trust me when I say I probably could have written fifty of these ideas but I didn't want to be up all night or possibly bore my readers to death.  Not to mention, I don't think my editor Dave Chesney would be very happy having to proof-read a TNT of biblical proportions.

1. Sandy Trail connects the neighbourhood of Crescent Heights to Crescent Beach and yet there are no signs at either of its three entrance points giving its historical name.  It also does not appear on the City website, meaning that many people do not even know of its existence.  This dark gravelled trail could use some pathway lighting as it is extremely dark in the woods at night

There you have it and I didn't even mention building Skytrain to Newton, keeping the RCMP in Surrey or Elon Musk launching Space-X rockets here here to help celebrate Diwali.  I certainly don't have all of the answers as to how to make this a BETTER SURREY but if we all put our heads together and help direct those at City Hall whose job it is to make civic improvements, just imagine how collectively we could change this city over time.  If every person in Surrey had ten suggestions as to have to create a BETTER SURREY, we would have 5.5 million ideas worth considering.  I do realize that the City has a budget and not all improvements could be made but at least we would have a community forum where these ideas and concepts could be discussed, considered and possibly implemented.  

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

"So-Called" Journalism

I watch, listen to and read a large variety of media news and am constantly surprised by the misinformation, bias, and outright fabrication that I have seen when it comes to fair reporting these days.  I believe that much of this is likely due to media of all forms becoming more centrally controlled and corporation dominated.  Throw in the political and religious leanings of those involved not to mention big money advertisers plus government funding and the news of the day can often become slanted or even tainted.   When you get your news from a variety of sources it is amazing how the story can change depending on what channel you are watching, what station you are listening to or what newspaper you are reading.  Simply check out Fox News and CNN in the United States to see the difference in reporting.

That being said, there is a dedicated media smear campaign in Canada that has been on-going for most of 2022 that is unfortunately continuing to this very day.  It is the use of the "so-called" tag that is used when journalists and editors are reporting on the "Freedom Convoy" protest.  Ask yourself how often you have read or heard the term "so-called Freedom Convoy" in the last year?  What is interesting is the people in the trucking industry who originally decided to bring a rolling protest to Ottawa gave their movement a name and it was the "Freedom Convoy."  Whether you agree with their motives, their protest, their actions in Ottawa or the use of the Emergencies Act against them, the Freedom Convoy (note the lack of quotation marks) is the name of this movement.

A simple Google search of "so-called meaning" quickly shows how this is an insulting and degrading term.  The Oxford dictionary defines so-called as "used to express one's view that a name or term is inappropriate."  The Cambridge dictionary lists so-called as "used to show that you think a word that is used to describe someone or something is not suitable or not correct."  If you search "Is so-called a negative word?" you will find that "'so-called' has negative connotations, with the implication that the item you are referring to is not actually the thing that it is called."  Search "Is so-called an insult?" and you will find the following from Wordpress:  "In many cases, so-called is intended, in no uncertain terms, as an insult.   If that's your intent - to deride or insult - feel free to use this phrase.  But if your goal is to remain neutral or objective, or simply to present information, then you should avoid this phrase."

Another internet search of the term "so-called Freedom Convoy" will show you countless media stories from around the globe using the "so-called" insult to describe the Freedom Convoy protest.  These include the CBC, CTV, Global, City News, Toronto Star, BBC, Reuters, Forbes and even Al Jazeera that usually has high levels of journalistic reporting.  It was interesting to note that the Washington Post and Euronews, instead of utilizing the negative so-called term, listed them as the "self-styled Freedom Convoy", the only time I have seen this factual term used.  It is noteworthy to realize that the Wikipedia post for this protest is not listed under "Freedom Convoy", but instead is named as the "Canada Convoy Protest" a name I'd never heard it called before.  While they do note it was called the Freedom Convoy, they don't stoop to invoking the so-called smear before the actual name.

Having media slander groups by describing them in insulting terms only opens them to further abuse, including by those in power.  One only needs to look at how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the Freedom Convoy members to realize not only did he not accept their demands to repeal vaccine mandates, but would not bother to meet with them to discuss their concerns.   Instead, they were called "a fringe minority with unacceptable views, racists, misogynists, and accused of being violent.  All of this rhetoric of course ended up with the Canadian government invoking the Emergencies Act, using police force to violently quash the protest while ignoring Canadian Charter Rights and Freedoms.  The ongoing Emergencies Act Inquiry that is currently ongoing will hopefully show if the declaration was needed and if the measures taken under it including freezing Canadian's bank accounts were legal.

I often listen to City News (AM 1130) for their traffic reports and got rather tired of hearing supposedly professional journalists keep on using the slanderous so-called term in their broadcasts.  I found their team online ahttps://vancouver.citynews.ca/our-team that listed email addresses and telephone numbers for their employees and called their manager editor Peter Wagner to let him know my views on the so-called smear.  Even though I explained in detail why this was not respectful or proper journalism, CityNews kept on broadcasting the same worn-out tag to slander the Freedom Convoy.  If you now realize this is a media driven smear campaign, feel free to contact their managers either by email or by phone.  I will be sending them a link to this story so they realize how inept they now look, plus I will be filing a formal notice with the CRTC about their broadcasting practices (see https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/g8.htm).  In the end, journalists need to report the news, not slander those that the federal government has an obvious agenda against.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

It's Salmon Spawning Season - Finally!

The last year has seen remarkable weather that has seriously affected the Little Campbell River that runs through the Hazelmere valley in south Surrey, which includes the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club (SFGC) and the Little Campbell Hatchery (LCH) that operates on the same property at 1284 184 St.  First was last year's punishing atmospheric river that unleashed records amounts of water onto the southern part of BC resulting in washouts, landslides and devastating floods.  Then came the extreme winter cold with temperatures hitting -20 C in the Lower Mainland that is not equipped for regular Canadian winter weather.  After that we had one of the coldest and wettest springs we've had in years followed by a hot and dry summer that stretched well into the fall with almost no precipitation from August into October.  While the weather was great for going to the beach, we had high forest fire danger coupled with level 5 drought until last week.

Last November's extreme precipitation event sent a surge of water down the Little Campbell River that submerged the Little Campbell Hatchery in two feet of water, inundating the building where salmon eggs are hatched and smolts raised into juvenile salmon.  The power going out in the flooded building contributed to a loss of many salmon eggs that had already been harvested for the next year's brood stock.  Spawning salmon were swimming throughout the flooded property including across the submerged driveway making for some rather interesting photos at that time.  Unfortunately, the flood waters affected the coho retention pond where much of the young salmon were washed out of this enclosure into the river making for an early uncontrolled release.  When the floodwaters subsided, SFGS and LCH members worked diligently to recover salmon left high and dry in nearby fields or trapped in ponds on the property.

The wet and cold spring we endured was more of a problem for farmers than fish but the high heat and extreme drought we experienced throughout the summer and into the fall seriously strained the river systems throughout much of the province.  Most residents of BC saw the video of tens of thousands of dead salmon trapped in a dry river bed in Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii in early October.  While the larger tributaries here did not completely dry out, they were running at very low water levels stopping salmon from returning to their spawning grounds.  As of two weeks ago, not a single salmon had appeared at the fish fence crossing the Little Campbell River at the hatchery, something that had never happened before.  Concerns were growing that without rain the fish might not be able to spawn in time, or else all frantically swim upstream at once and compete for limited spawning sites.

Last week's rainfall appears to have come just in time and it is my pleasure to report that the Little Campbell Hatchery is once again receiving a variety of salmon breeds at the fish fence.  As of last Friday, volunteers had counted a total of 561 Chinook (419 wild, 142 hatchery fish), 194 Coho (159 wild, 35 hatchery fish) and 11 Chum.  Fifteen pairs of Chinook were retained for breeding purposes and members of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans removed and fertilized 60,000 eggs that will be raised in large tanks inside the hatchery.   While not yet posted on the yearly count board that is next to the fish fence, staff were excited last Friday that the first cutthroat trout of the year had been counted along with one lonely Sockeye salmon that had made a surprise appearance in a river that does not support a run of Sockeye.  In fact, the last Sockeye seen in the Little Campbell River was 15 years ago way back in 2007.

The latest atmospheric river to lash the coast will ensure plenty of water for the salmon to swim upstream and fill all of the smaller tributaries off the Little Campbell that are rich spawning and rearing grounds.  You can expect large numbers of salmon to pass through the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club property this week and it is a perfect time to go do some salmon spotting.  The SFGC property where the Little Campbell Hatchery is located also includes 30 acres of property located on both sides of the river with walking trails following the river.  The grounds are open to the public from dawn to dusk and now is the best time of the year to see volunteers in action counting the passing fish and to marvel at this yearly natural spectacle.  While there, you might consider taking out a membership in the SFGC and joining the band of volunteers that run the club and hatchery.  With large bills for running the fish hatchery, tax deductible donations are always greatly appreciated.

For more information on the SFGC and LCH or to help with the volunteer not-for-profit club, please visit the following:

Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club:  https://www.sfgc.info

Little Campbell Hatchery:  https://www.sfgc.info/hatchery

Hatchery donations:  Please call 604-535-8366 or send an email or E-transfer to SFGC@shaw.ca

Have a safe and happy Halloween,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

Did You Miss Time Change?

I would have thought by now that time change away from Daylight Savings Time would have been a thing of the past.  Yet thanks to a Chinese manufactured laboratory virus and NDP Premier John Horgan not having the testicular fortitude to do so,  we are still stuck with twice a year time change similar to the western states of the USA.  It is interesting to note that during the same world-wide scamdemic, our neighbours to the north in the Yukon somehow eliminated the twice-yearly time change in March of 2020, sticking to DST after a public survey showed overwhelming support for eliminating this relic that dates back to WW1 over 100 years ago.  In case you were wondering, time change in BC this year is on Sunday Nov. 6 where we get to "fall back" at 2 a.m. and get an extra hour of partying in, with the "spring forward" date of March 12, 2023 where we lose an hour of sleep contributing to societal fatigue and car crashes.

BC isn't the only jurisdiction that sticks to arbitrary and outdated time changes, which make no sense in the modern world or in the realm of common sense.  Case in point is the closing times for the three staircases in south Surrey that lead to the shoreline of Crescent Rock Beach, namely the Christopherson Steps at the west end of 24 Ave., the 1,001 Steps at the west end of !5 A Ave., and the Olympic Trail (aka "Stoners Point" on 13 Ave. at the south end of 131 St.  In case you missed it or never bothered to read the signs heading down to the beach, here is the information that the City of Surrey has posted.

DON'T GET LOCKED IN

Feb 12 - Apr 15  8:00 pm

Apr 16 - Aug 26 10:00 pm

Aug 27 - Oct 15  8:00 pm

Oct 16 - Feb 11  6:00 pm

If locked in, contact security contractor

TNT The Naked Truth

Don Pitcairn

Done With Doug

Once again Doug McCallum is a one term wonder with him losing the Mayor's chair to former Surrey Councillor Brenda Locke.  This election was anything but a cakewalk for Locke's Surrey Connect team that came together to defeat McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition.  In total 118,908 residents of Surrey cast a ballot in the 2022 civic election, a little over a third of the eligible population that equates to 34.54% of the voters.  Locke won with 33,311 votes (28.14%) to McCallum's 32,338 (27.31%), with only 973 votes separating the front runners.  White Rock's Gordie Hogg came in a relatively close third with Surrey First garnering 24,916 votes (21.05%).  Former MLA Jinny Sims and former MP Suhk Dhaliwal collectively received 25,524 (20.71%) for their respective Surrey Forward and United Surrey slates.

Considering the anti-democratic behaviour shown by Mr McCallum, his treatment of anyone involved in the Keep The RCMP In Surrey (KTRIS) group, his silencing of the Surrey Ethics Commissioner, his adulterous affair with another Safe Surrey Councillor or his pending criminal trial on Public Mischief, many thought that his being voted out of power would be a forgone conclusion.  That was far from the case on election night where for reasons unknown Global News declared that Brenda Locke was the new Surrey Mayor with only 59% of the polls reporting and the total votes relatively close.  As time went on, McCallum chipped away at Brenda's lead to the point that with one poll left to report, there was only 500 votes difference between the two bitter rivals.  It took the last poll results to give the win to Mrs. Locke in what became a nail-biting finish.

When Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition were elected in 2018, it was the infighting between members of Surrey First that led to the splintering of their slate and the splitting of the votes between mayoral hopefuls.   In that election McCallum won 45,323 votes (41.08%) defeating Surrey First’s Tom Gill who received 28,304 votes (25.74%) and Integrity Now’s Bruce Hayne (formerly with Surrey First), who received 27,798 votes (25.31%).  Some quick addition shows that if all of these 56,102 votes for second and third place had gone to one of these candidates and not two, Doug McCallum would have never been voted into power.  As it was, he won in a landslide with 7 of the 8 councillors being Safe Surrey Coalition members. 

In the 2022 election there were eight mayoral candidates in Surrey featuring five with political pedigrees and name recognition.  With a hard-core group of supporters including several of Surrey's well-known developers, the Safe Surrey Coalition played it safe knowing the numbers game with vote splitting between multiple rivals might return McCallum to power.  If you add Hogg's, Sims' and Dhaliwal's votes together, they tally 41.76% of the ballots cast, just slightly higher than what Doug McCallum received in the 2018 election.  There were even unsubstantiated rumors in the Surrey Connect Camp that developers financing the Safe Surrey Coalition campaign were also donating to one of the other mayoral candidates in an effort to siphon off votes away from Brenda Locke.  When the financial records are released by the candidates involved in this year's election, we will find out if this is actually true or not.

So we now have a new mayor in Brenda Locke and a controlling vote in Council with the four Surrey Connect Councillors (Harry Bains, Gordon Hepner, Rob Stutt and Pardeep Kooner), who were all elected.  With power comes great responsibility and this grass roots funded campaign needs to realize a very important numerical fact.  Of the 344,262 Surrey residents who were able to cast a ballot in the 2022 election, Mrs. Locke received 33,311 votes that equates to 9.67% of the total eligible voters.  It is results like this that make it extremely important to engage the citizens of Surrey and involve them in the municipal political process that has such a profound effect on their day-to-day lives here in Surrey.  For those people who decided to sit on their hands and not participate in our local democracy, you cannot blame the politicians for their decisions if you could not be bothered to make your mark and cast your ballot.

Surrey was not the only local city with the incumbent mayor being shot down in flames.  In the City By The Sea, Megan Knight knocked off Darryl Walker to take the White Rock Mayor's chair.  Knight received 2,001 votes (37.67%), ahead of Walker’s 1,811 votes (34.09%) with a total of 5,339 votes being cast for a voter turnout of just under 31%.  This result came as a bit of a shock to many as it was perceived that Walker's job was safe but in-fighting among Council members was obviously perceived as a problem by residents.  In the end it likely was Mrs. Knight's well-run campaign that saw her knock on many doors throughout the beach-side hamlet allowing her to engage with residents and win their vote.  I would be remiss to not note here that Dave Chesney, the Editor of the White Rock Sun was voted in again as Councillor for the third time since he first won in White Rock back in 2014.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Fall at Hall 12

Fire Hall 12 that is home to the Surrey Fire Service members in Crescent Beach/Ocean Park is a rather unique building constructed in 1958.  This fire hall was the last operational volunteer fire department in the City of Surrey.  It still has its original air siren horn mounted on the roof along with the break glass and push button activation box next to the front door.  The siren was used to summon fire department volunteers way before the age of beepers and cell phones.  If you had a fire and needed help, you could activate the siren yourself by breaking the glass and pushing the big red button inside the box.  The button is no longer operational but the siren is still functional and plays an integral part in retirement ceremonies before the party for the person leaving work moves across the street to the Crescent Beach Legion #240.

Sitting tucked into the west side of Crescent Park on 128 St., the Hall 12 building blends into the forest with its cedar siding and dark brown paint.  It exudes rustic charm with an antique hose reel apparatus sitting on the lawn and a carved Surrey Fire Hall 12 bench placed near the front door.  In the early 1980's the top of a western red cedar tree at the front corner of the property snapped off in a wind storm.  At that time, it was decided that instead of cutting the rest of the tree down that the trunk would become a signpost for the fire hall.  It was sawn flat on the top and the side facing the street and the words "Hall !2" carved into the wood vertically.  A couple of coats of bright red paint onto the letters finished the job and this sign instantly became part of the Crescent Beach and Ocean Park charm.

I'm sorry to report that this iconic and now old sign has finally succumbed to the ravages of time, not to mention fungus and wood bugs.  It had been leaning for a few years with woodpeckers carving deep holes at the bottom searching for grubs and insects.  Several weekends ago gravity finally won the battle and it crashed to the ground adjacent to the Fire Hall driveway.  The base of the log had completely rotted out on the ground and when it fell portions of the log splintered from its sides.  Likely because of the red paint on the lettering, they remained intact when the signpost fell to the ground.  I was driving by on the way home when I saw the sign laying on the front lawn and went to the hall to give my condolences to the crew of firefighters.

It seems that the firefighters at Hall 12 are as attached to the old log sig n as the rest of the community.  Rather than simply cut the rest of the log up and dispose of it, they have an emergency rescue plan in place.  The idea is to pick up the remains of the sign and transport it to a friend who has an Alaskan mill.  Once there, the log will be run through the mill, trying to carve off a slab of the log that has the iconic HALL 12 carving.  If it does not work as planed or if the slab breaks, a secondary option is to cut off the pieces of the log that have the letters on them.   If either of these two options works the plan is to treat the wood and repaint the sign, then attach it to the outside of the hall between the truck bay roll up doors and the front door entranceway.  If the sign never reappears, you know that it si n the history of the Crescent Beach/Ocean Park Volunteer Fire Department.  Volunteer bucket brigades by residents to fight structure fires like the W ood's Dance Hall fire in 1931 lead to the formation of the area's first volunteer fire department in 1947.  Soon after that the first Crescent Beach Fire Hall was built on what is now Heron Park on Beecher Street not far from the railway tracks.  The webpage has the history of the various chiefs, equipment upgrades, training improvements and the formation of the women's auxiliary.  The most entertaining section is the "summation of typical fire calls" which are anything but typical.  These include a fire from a mooonshine still, a home on fire filled with loose poisonous snakes, a hang glider rescue 40 feet up in a tree and a fire fighter's home being hit by lightning. 

You can read all about at this link: https://www.surreyhistory.ca/cbopvfd.html

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

Surrey Stealing Signs

Over the past few years Surrey Council has made changes to the sign bylaw in the city that are an affront to the democratic process and are blatantly meant to stifle opposition to the slate currently in power at City Hall.  I have run for public office twice in the Semiahmoo peninsula under the Green Party of BC banner and was also the sign manager for Gordie Hogg when he won a by-election to become the Liberal MP for South Surrey - White Rock.  The use of signs to help inform people that there is an election, what candidates are running and who supports them in our community is an essential component in civic elections that already suffer from lower voter turnout and apathy towards the electoral process.

Last Week Surrey bylaw officers were busy roaming the streets of south Surrey pulling out election signs, most that supported Brenda Locke for Mayor, her Surrey Connect Team and even the Keep The RCMP in Surrey Signs.  Surrey has changed the political sign bylaw to only allow election signs on private property and not on public boulevards (where real estate signs are apparently okay). So even if you mow your front lawn and the city boulevard, the signs must be back 28.5 feet from the middle of the roadway.  In conversations with Surrey bylaw officers it was revealed that they had been "ordered" to pick up these signs and that it was a "priority" for the department.  

This is not a new low for City of Surrey employees tasked with enforcing their master's bylaws.  In 2018 the bylaw goons grabbed over 500 election signs at the beginning of the campaign, some within 25 metres of an intersection, others encroaching on public property.   These signs are stored at the works yard for 72 hours and then destroyed, or they can be picked up by the rightful owners for a charge of $25 per sign.  What this means is that the small election signs are never picked up as they cost a fraction of that amount to produce.  Unfortunately, it appears the bylaw teams are conducting selective enforcement that really is an abuse of power and nothing short of bullying the residents of Surrey.  

The former Chairperson of the BC Green Party, Murray Weisenberger, taught me plenty about election signs and how to make them cheaply and post them where they would be most effective.  On his former property near Crescent Road and 128 St. I recently took it upon myself to post election signs with the blessing of the current owners.   These were put in line with their cedar hedge along the front of their acreage, more than 25 metres away from the nearby intersection and just inside the property line as outlined by the Surrey COSMOS mapping system.   This did nothing to stop the bylaw officer from stealing these legally posted signs that should not have been touched.  They even had the gall to take an election sign from the front of former Mayor Bob Bose's yard in Ocean Park that was far from the roadway and front graveled parking space.  

Fortunately for them they did not take election signs from the front of my property as I have zap-straps at the ready for making a citizen's arrest if they try to take them from my private property.  Not only is this an invasion of my privacy it is hampering my democratic right for political self-expression which in itself is a human rights abuse.  Surrey's signage bylaw needs to be rewritten to reflect how election signs are an important part of our democratic process and they should not be getting removed while real estate signs all across the city are blatantly ignored.  Simply drive across the borders into Langley or Delta and you will see the difference in how these municipalities tolerate political signage for their civic elections.

To avoid being the victim of arbitrary Surrey bylaw officer political sign confiscation, I suggest you do the following.  First is to visit the Surrey COSMOS mapping system, finding your property and putting on the aerial photo tab so you know exactly where the property line is.  It's posted on the Surrey.ca website at https://cosmos.surrey.ca/external/ .  One you have done this, place your sign at least a metre back onto your property so there can be no question of whether the sign placement is legal or not.  Call me distrustful but I would also take the steps to rope or chain it to the nearest tree or fence post so that It cannot be easily removed.  Lastly, if you have security cameras, make sure that one is pointed at the sign so you have a record of who has taken it as bylaw officers do not leave a letter or calling card notifying you of your loss.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Tarantulas and Alligators of BC

As someone who has spent a large portion of their life outside for both work and recreation, I often come across creatures that most people in BC know little about.  Last week was no exception with yours truly coming face to face with a tarantula and then an alligator, both of which are native to BC.  Don't be worried, neither of them are as scary as you might imagine.

Tarantula moth, Antheraea polyphemus 

We were working in Richmond last week when my lead hand noticed something odd on the ground.  Blending in with thousands of green oak acorns that had fallen down was this massive green caterpillar.  He picked it up and brought it over to me for identification, not being surprised at all that I knew what it was.   The brown head and small red spots meant it was none other than the tarantula moth, Antheraea polyphemus, one of the largest moths in BC.  These caterpillars can grow to 3-4 inches in length, usually feeding on oak tree leaves.  They are a member of the family Saturniidae or giant silk moths with an average wingspan of 6 inches or 15 cm.  They get their name from the Greek myth of the cyclops as they have two large purple eyespots on its two lower hindwings.  

I found a tarantula moth caterpillar years ago and brought it home in an ice cream pail for my kids to see.  They were quite impressed with the size of it and wanted to show their friends.  In a matter of days though, the caterpillar spun a thick cocoon and started its metamorphosis into a moth.  When it finally hatched, they got to see this huge moth emerge and fan out its wings before we released it back into nature.  I had my own encounter with a tarantula moth as a young kid in Victoria when I went into a darkened bathroom cubicle late one night.  I was standing in front of the toilet when I looked up and saw something weird on the wall.  When I leaned forward to see what it was, the moth that had been clinging to the walls with its wings closed suddenly opened them up flashing its big eye spots.  Not only did I pee all over when I jumped back, I also hit the back of my head on a coat hook attached to the back wall for good measure.

Northwestern alligator lizard, Elgaria coerulea principis.

My wife and I were walking our dogs down at Crescent Rock beach one evening when one of the regular beach goers came up to me and told me about a bunch of lizards he had seen warming themselves on a rock in the sun.  Lizards down at sea level was a new one for me and I followed him to the spot where I took the attached picture of a northwestern alligator lizard, one of only five lizard species that live in Canada.  There had been several adults plus a bunch of small young that are born live, but only one was visible when I was there.  This medium sized slender lizard grows to 27 cm or 10 inches in length, half of which is tail.  They eat a diet of slugs, beetles, spiders and even baby mice but these ones are likely feeding on the variety of beach bugs that live in the washed-up eel grass present on the shoreline.

If you ever see a northwestern alligator lizard, please do not try to catch it.  They are not dangerous and don't bite but if you try and grab their tail you are in for a nasty surprise.  This lizard has the ability to self-amputate its tail as a self-defence mechanism known as autotomy.  When grabbed by a predator the tail severs and wriggles wildly, distracting the predator and alowing the lizard to hopefully escape.  The break happens at a fracture plane in the tail that separates from a reflex muscle spasm with no blood loss.  Over the next six months to a year, the lizard grows a new tail from a row of cartilage that emerges from the tail bone with new muscles that grow along with it.  I am all too familiar with this escape mechanism as several times when I was a child, I tried to capture one of these lizards and both times ended up with a wriggling tail in my hands while the lizard made good its escape. 

So when you are out in the wilds of BC, keep an eye out for these and other interesting organisms that call our province home.  Make sure you tell people that BC has tarantulas and alligators living here and check out their reaction.  Fortunately, our tarantulas and alligators and harmless and while neither are endangered, they are not regularly seen by most people because of their camouflage colouring, nocturnal lifestyle and the habitat they occupy.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

Locked Out Again

Sunday morning started with blue skies and not a cloud to be seen, beckoning sun worshippers to make their way down to the beach to enjoy the final days of what seems to be a never-ending summer.  Unfortunately for myself, heading to the shoreline to soak up some rays was a non-started with having to deal with estate issues concerning the death of my father.  Instead of relaxing in the sun or taking a canoe ride down the Nicomekyl river as we had originally planned, I was stuck in the basement packing up goods being shipped as far away as PEI and England.

At 1:30 in the afternoon a friend of mine called me to report that the Christopherson Steps at the west end of 24 Ave. were locked.  This staircase plus the 1001 Steps at the west end of 15A Ave. and the Olympic Trail on 13 Ave. and 131 St. in Ocean Park are supposed to be opened by the City of Surrey's security contractor at 6 a.m.  Halfway through the day and the gates were still locked and my buddy was left standing there with ten other people wondering what the heck was going on.  In talking to the assembled throng, he learned that the 1001 Steps were also locked and I have no doubt the Olympic Trail was chained shut too.  So, who do you phone?  Who is the security contractor?  You won't read it on the signs but it is Securiguard.  Their phone number is 1-888-801-0222, something you should add to your phone contact listings.

This is not the first time that the gates to the beach have been left locked closed.  Along with reporting this problem several times I have also had to phone Securiguard and email the city of Surrey Parks Department about Blackie Spit, Dogwood Park and Elgin Park gates being locked in the middle of the day.  Securiguard is under contract to have these gates opened and then locked at set times of the day and night.  If they are not doing their job and ignoring the terms of their contract, there should be financial penalties or the risk of not having their security contract renewed with the city.  Even though I reported the gates being locked, it took until after 4 o'clock for someone to finally unlock the gates, effectively closing off access to 6.5 km. of shoreline on a beautiful Sunday.

Now you may think this is not a big deal and that people could always walk south from Crescent Beach along the shoreline.  Well, when we went down to the beach at 5:30 p.m. to relax and watch the sunset, we met a couple from White Rock with their special needs teenage son.  They told us that due to his hip issues, he can easily walk up and down the staircase but trudging along the uneven and rocky ground for long distances is very difficult for him.  He asked that I inform the Surrey Parks Department that not opening the gates put a special needs youth in an uncomfortable situation.  For the able-bodied people who turned away after finding the gates locked, they missed out on the last Sunday of the summer, with Crescent Rock beach being almost deserted today.

This unfortunate situation does not have to happen when we look at how Surrey used to deal with this situation.  Previously Surrey entrusted neighbours living near these gates to open and close them at the set times, giving people keys for the locks.  As the city grew it probably became somewhat of a nuisance for staff and it was decided to pay a security company instead.  Sorry to say but what is the point paying someone who is not doing their job when we could have volunteers doing the work for free?  I'd love to know how often parks and staircases across Surrey are not being opened or closed as per contract specifications.  I have personally witnessed this many times in the past few years at parks across the city.  One time we even had to climb over the Christopherson park gates and pass our dogs over the top when they were locked an hour early.

I will be checking to see if the staircase gates are opened Monday morning when they are supposed to be.  The Manager of the Parks Department, Laurie Cavan will also be hearing from me again on this subject.  If it continues to be a problem, people might want to considering helping the city by bringing their own locks and chaining these gates open.  Does it really have to get to this point or will Securiguard actually start doing their job and ensuring that their employees actually perform their duties as specified?  The tax-paying public needs access to the parks and recreational property that we all need for exercise, relaxation, fresh air and mental health.  If the City of Surrey can't figure out how to deal with this constant problem I have the answer for them.  Give me a damn key!

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

Sept. 6, 2022

Crescent Log Beach

Instead of joining the highway horde taking off for the long weekend we did a vacay staycay and hung out at home for the long weekend.  This allowed us to see three very different sunsets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights plus we had time to spend on the shores of both Crescent Beach and Crescent Rock beach.  It was an eye opener to see what a huge mess Crescent Beach was, which came as a rather big surprise.  I'm not talking about litter, bags of dog poo or any man-made debris that might be left by the crowds that frequent Crescent.  I'm wondering why nobody is cleaning up after Mother Nature, with the shoreline of Crescent Beach looking more like a log sort yard than a public marine park.

Crescent Rock beach

At nearby Crescent Rock beach the shoreline is rough and rocky withthe features of this secluded beach changing every winter with storms depositing new logs and moving out old ones.  In the spring the naturists and nudists who frequent this area start to pick up the pieces and make improvements.  Rocks are cleared from the path, logs are moved around for backrests and privacy plus "beach beds" are raked out for less rock and more sand to lay on.  In the thirty feet of cobbled beach between the shoreline and sand flats, people take the time to clear paths through the rocks in multiple locations, allowing easy access to the water instead of tripping over rounded algae covered rocks.  Halfway to Kwomais Point, some very industrious folks have created raised sandy beds placed high in the rip-rap boulders where the winter waves are not able to reach them.  This is all like-minded individuals working to transform the shoreline into a usable recreational beach. 

Crescent Beach is a marine park that Surrey controls and maintains.  The walking trail along the shoreline is a dyke that helps protect the homes of Crescent Beach from being inundated with flood waters.  In 2014 Surrey replaced the wooden groynes in the waterfront from Beecher Street to Blackie Spit with composite materials that would not rot or be damaged by floating logs.  The purpose of these structures is to help retain beach materials and prevent erosion of the dyke by dispersing wave energy.  They do work well but also act as log traps, helping to keep and hold floating debris that the wind and current move along the shoreline.  These logs need to be removed as they take up the limited beach space that is available to folks and families looking to unwind at the waterfront.  It is not very comfortable trying to lay down on a raft of big logs, especially when they are rough and rotting.

In White Rock logs are removed from the waterfront in the spring to clear the beach and remove the threat of them acting like battering rams on the rip-rap boulders and the pier piling supports.  The area in front of the White Rock boulder is a notorious log gathering point with the limited beach there being buried by large amounts of washed-up tree trunks.  This was particularly bad after the storm that destroyed part of the pier in 2018 and again this winter after the atmospheric river that flooded much of southern BC washed vast quantities of wood and debris into the ocean.  Just as at Crescent Beach, both East and West Beach are part of a marine park operated by the city, but the difference between them and Surrey is that White Rock works to clean it up and keep Mother Nature at bay.  Whether its Semiahmoo Bay or Mud Bay, floating logs piling up on the shoreline is a constant problem that needs to be addressed.

In nearby Delta, Metro Vancouver maintains Centennial Beach and they remove and control the number of logs that are left on the beach.  The same goes for Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver, home to the world-famous Wreck Beach where log placement and removal is a bone of contention between park managers and nudists.  In Vancouver the public beaches at Kitsilano, Jerico plus 2nd and 3rd beaches in Stanley Park are cleaned of some logs and the rest organized.  Several years ago, the Port of Vancouver removed thousands of trapped logs from Mud Bay along the Delta Dyke Trail as an environmental improvement project.  The problem of logs and wooden debris on Lower Mainland shores would be far greater if not for the Fraser River Debris Trap located between Agassiz and Hope that removes between 600 and 2400 logging trucks full of woody debris during the spring freshet.

The City of Surrey needs to give the shoreline of Crescent Beach the care and attention that it deserves.  Besides being the main marine recreational beach for over half a million Surrey residents, it also is the favourite beach for many others from across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.  The large collection of old and rotten logs on Crescent Beach needs to be thinned and organized, leaving more space for people to sit or lay out a blanket for family gatherings.  Several of the beach entranceways are currently blocked by a number of logs, making it impossible to access for those with mobility issues.  While photographing the log jam, I talked to a couple who were having difficulty finding a way off the beach with their child in a stroller.  They were not impressed with the situation and hoped I would make it an election issue, which is exactly what I'm doing here.

With this TNT focusing on moving logs in water, I leave you with a link to this rather unique animated Canada vignette released by the National Film Board back in 1979, The Log Driver's Waltz).

https://youtu.be/upsZZ2s3xv8 

Hopefully Surrey Park Board crews will be humming along to this rather catchy tune while they work on clearing the log jam on the shores of Crescent Beach.  The jewel of Surrey's shorelines needs to be a place where people have space to relax instead of it looking like where a log boom has washed ashore.  It is hard to fathom that not far away, Crescent Rock Beach is maintained by a small band of volunteers and beach regulars, while the waterfront across Crescent Beach is strewn with a large collection of logs that have been forgotten and left to rot.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn  

 I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

On Saturday night the sun was dropping in the sky and the cloud cover looked like it might afford a wicked Crescent Beach sunset.  Since you don't know unless you go, I jumped in the car at the last minute and headed down to the southern end of the beach.  Unfortunately, a thick band of clouds at the horizon turned off the light show I was expecting but up on the train corridor I noticed a hi-railer truck parked on the tracks.  These are special railway wheel equipped trucks that BNSF employees use for track work, doing safety inspections and looking for trespassers.  I made my way back to my vehicle and proceeded to drive home, meeting the hi-railer truck at the end of Bayview Ave. as it pulled off the tracks and proceeded to turn around.

I decided to stop and chat with the people on board knowing full well from past experience that the truck likely contained both a RCMP officer and BNSF special agent.  Sure enough, the two policemen were there and I took a few minutes of their time to find out how their track patrols had been going.  With kids out of school and plenty of warm dry weather the number of people using that beach had skyrocketed since the beginning of July.  They told me that the area east of East Beach by the Semiahmoo First Nation parking lot was always a problem with people walking down the tracks.  Ditto for the area west of west beach and south of Crescent Beach in the area frequented by naturists.  On these railway patrols the officers give out warnings and trespassing tickets costing violators $115. 

Although tempting, the train tracks in the Semiahmoo peninsula should not be used like a shoreline nature path.  In North America more people are struck and killed by trains while trespassing on rail corridors than in motor vehicle collisions with trains at highway rail crossings.  There have been over 30 fatalities on the local BNSF tracks over the years, many that involve the Amtrak passenger train.  Anita Lewis, the jogger hit crossing the tracks in White Rock in 2013 did not notice the blue and silver locomotive whose colours blended into the blue and grey colours of the ocean, beach and sky.   It was her death that led to the installation of all the new pedestrian crossings along the White Rock waterfront, which seem to be working.  The officers told me they have even caught people walking naked on the tracks along Crescent Rock Beach.  I didn't bother asking what these folks used for identification.

Trespassing on the tracks was not the only problem that the officers were looking out for this weekend.  Since August 4, there has been a campfire ban in effect across the southern portion of the province including the Coastal fire region.  Amazingly, people are still lighting beach fires, especially near the Semiahmoo FN lands and around Crescent Beach.  In the past these fires have spread across the tracks onto the Ocean Park bluff where fighting them is extremely difficult and hazardous due to the steepness of the terrain.  Anyone found on the beach with an open fire can be issued a ticket for $1,150, pay an administrative penalty up to $10,000, be fined up to $100,000 and receive one year in jail.  If a campfire starts a wildfire, the person responsible can be ordered to pay all firefighting and other costs.  There is a saying that "you can't fix stupid" but you certainly can fine them and hopefully smarten them up.

The newest problem that the railway cops are having to deal with is mob parties advertised on social media.  These events bring large number of young people to the beach with open drinking, fighting and loud disorderly conduct being commonplace.  To date this summer there have been large organized gatherings at Blackie Spit and to the White Rock waterfront and pier.  These parties are proving problematic for the small contingent of police in our area to deal with due to the number of people involved.  The last thing we need are large numbers of drunken youth gathering around the train tracks, which is a recipe for disaster.  The 2018 death of 15-year-old Jack Stroud near Crescent Beach involved intoxicated youths playing an apparent game of chicken on the tracks that ended with this teen's death after he was struck by the Amtrak train. 

So enjoy the summer, enjoy the beach, and for railway enthusiasts enjoy the passing BNSF and Amtrak trains.   For everyone's safety, please stay of the train tracks and the railway corridor.  If you see people walking on the BNSF tracks, ask them if they saw the "No Trespassing" signs and let them know the police are actively patrolling the area and passing out tickets.  With beach fires during this hot dry spell, if you see fires or smell smoke, you can report this to the Surrey Fire Service non-emergency number at 604-543-6700 or the White Rock Fire Department at 604-541-2121.  Please do not call E-Com 911 as this is not an emergency and they are already understaffed and overwhelmed with calls.  

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

A Crappy Time for E.coli in White Rock

Fraser health performs weekly water tests at beaches across the Fraser Valley while Vancouver Coast Health does the same thing for beaches around Vancouver and surrounding municipalities during the spring and summer months.  This is done to monitor the water quality with respect to bacteriological counts to confirm whether a beach is in compliance with the Guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality.  Beaches that are considered unsatisfactory for physical, chemical or biological reasons will be closed with warning signs posted that the water is possibly hazardous.  

Escherichia coli, better known as E.coli is tested for at both marine and fresh water beaches throughout the Lower Mainland region.  They test in areas where people will have their "whole body or the face and trunk frequently immersed or the face is frequently wetted by spry and where it is likely that some water will be swallowed."  This includes swimming, surfing, waterskiing white water canoeing/rafting/kayaking, windsurfing or subsurface diving.  A satisfactory rating means an average of less than 200 E.coli bacteria per 100 ml. of water sample.  A reading of more than the average of 200 E.coli or a single sample result that exceeds a maximum of 400 E.coli bacteria/100 ml sample will result in swimming and recreational water sports not being recommended.

The results for water quality readings at Fraser Health beaches was posted online on August 5th.  In Abbotsford Mission, Chilliwack and Hope areas the geometric mean or average was around 15 with the highest being 52 at Harrison Lake Rendall Park.  For single samples, Roley Lake was the highest at 105 with many beaches only registering 5 E.coli/100 ml.  In Burnaby, Port Moody and Maple Ridge areas, the geometric mean was also an average of about 15 while the highest single sample at Belcarra Park registering at 152 E.coli/100 ml.  For Centennial beach in South Delta and Crescent Beach in South Surrey, both average and single sample rates hovered around 10 but White Rock was a completely different story.  For the geometric mean, East beach was 41, while West beach was 36.   What really stood out were the single sample ratings from East Beach at 1,043 and West Beach at a whopping 6,131 E.coli/100 ml.

In layman's terms, the fecal coliform found in a sample of water on East beach was 2.5 times the limit for recreational use standard while the one from West Beach was 15 times above the allowable limit.  These beaches were not automatically closed but have been marked with a yellow question mark warning on the beach map showing that resampling is in progress at one or more sites.  These extremely high results when compared to the rest of the region should be of serious concern to the City of White Rock that prides itself on its public beach that draws crowds of visitors to its shores.  You can check out all of the recent water quality results online at this direct link:  https://www.fraserhealth.ca/-/media/Project/FraserHealth/FraserHealth/Health-Topics/Recreational-Water/2022_BeachSamples.pdf?rev=6e365458295543a0938730a54f9f7a99&hash=5C04EA9D4E82D074BD62276F76643119CA8AE938

I am left wondering if the samples with high readings were taken from the two outflow pipes that carry storm drain water from the White Rock hillside.  I know that in the past these pipes were given a failing grade with dog excrement and bird poo washing into the drains being named as a possible culprit.  In other jurisdictions, cross contamination from leaking sanitary sewers or pipes from dwellings being incorrectly joined to collection systems have led to E.coli issues.  One thing is for sure, the source of this contamination needs to be ascertained and the problem corrected.  We do not need toilet water draining into Semiahmoo Bay that has been closed since 1977 to bivalve shellfish harvesting due to high levels of E.coli contamination.   

We will now have to wait for the results of the further testing being done at East and West beach to be posted by Fraser Health.  White Rock City Hall should find out exactly where the high levels of contamination are coming from and if anything can be done to address this crappy problem.  The last thing White Rock needs is to have its public beaches closed during the summer due to water contamination in the ocean.  For those who caught it, the sign in the photo above was posted by the Amity Police Department in the movie Jaws.  While not as scary as a giant great white shark feeding on swimmers, E.coli needs to be taken seriously because of the health threat it poses and the damage it can do to a city's image.

Vancouver Coastal Health beach conditions

http://www.vch.ca/public-health/environmental-health-inspections/pools-beaches/beach-water-quality-reports

E.coli symptoms and causes

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/e-coli/symptoms-causes/syc-20372058

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

Crescent Rock Rescue

CCGS Hovercraft in the water off Ocean Park

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I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People.

Keep Crescent Beach Open!  

Parking on the beach in Crescent Beach in the 60's

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish People

Imagine my surprise when early on Friday morning a City of White Rock truck pulled into a townhouse complex I was at, filled with stacks of new recycling bins.  The two workers started dropping off these blue and red bins plus plastic yellow bags at the front of every unit and then taping letters to everyone's door.  I thought this was a little strange since the strata already had large blue roll-out bins from the City of White Rock for their recycling.  Collection services in White Rock were first privatized for multi-family and commercial properties back in Jan. 2015 and are now transitioning back to city services after the current Council voted to reinstate City collection of solid waste in Oct. of 2021.  

What I learned from the staff members was that White Rock had recently purchased two new recycling trucks that would not be able to collect the large blue totes.  Instead, they were transitioning back to the old system of a blue box for plastic and metal container recycling, red box for non-deposit glass container recycling and a yellow bag for paper, cardboard and newspaper recycling.  Meanwhile in Surrey, they have been using large totes for garbage, recycling and compostables since way back in Oct. of 2012.  With green waste picked up weekly and recyclables and garbage on an alternating two-week schedule it dramatically reduces collection time, especially with robotic armed trucks emptying the bins.

It would appear that the transition in the City By The Sea is not going as smoothly as one would hope.  I went into the garbage room at this complex and there were fluorescent yellow stickers from White Rock with the following note scrawled on them, "Sorry have house blue boxes and reusable yellow bags."  Well, I guess this had gone over like a lead balloon since the strata had responded with large notes of their own reading "Complex NOT formally advised by the city to change bins.  PLEASE COLLECT.  We are waiting to hear back about any changes.  Thank you!"   This made me wonder how many of the 252 multi-family and 96 institutional, commercial and industrial accounts across White Rock had not been properly notified of this upcoming change.

It turned out that the letters they were handing out were personally addressed to each and every resident of the strata complex.  I politely asked one of these people if I could have a look at the contents and she gladly let me sneak a peek (and take a photo).  The letter confirmed the purchase of the two new recycling trucks that would not be using the big blue roll-out totes and instead go back to the red/blue/yellow collection system.  It was interesting to learn that the city was instructing residents to hold onto their blue roll-out bins as "The City is currently in the process of converting the solid waste collection service to a City managed program and these totes may be used in the future."  There was no time date given as to when this possible change might occur.

If you live in a strata or have a business and were not properly notified of this change, you can do as the letter instructed and "Contact the White Rock Engineering and Municipal Operations Department at 604-541-2181 If you require further information or clarification."  You can also visit the whiterockcity.ca website at https://www.whiterockcity.ca/283/Garbage-Recycling for details on the upcoming changes.  There is also a very detailed material and description list of what materials go into each new bin or bag plus what not to do.  I would suggest printing off a copy and keeping it handy since it is two pages long and contains plenty of details on how to put your waste on a diethttps://www.whiterockcity.ca/DocumentCenter/View/4172/Recycling-Materials-Collected-Curbside-PDF?bidId=

One last thing, you will likely need reading glasses and a magnifying glass if you hope to actually read it.  The PDF copy I printed from the City website has titles in a readable sized font but the rest is so microscopic that it is likely illegible for anyone over 50 years old.  Since this covers a large number of the population of White Rock, it basically makes the PDF useless from an information standpoint.  This entire document needs to be changed so that when it is downloaded and printed, the average resident of White Rock can actually read it.  While you can zoom in on a computer, it only prints in two pages when it really should be four pages long to make it legible.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

In 2010 the Green over Grey designers installed the vertical garden on the south side of the library that has a 3,000 square foot wall.  This green wall featured more than 10,000 plants from 120 different varieties of ground covers, perennials grasses and shrubs.   This project cost $272,000 and at the time was considered to be the largest and most biologically diverse outdoor green wall anywhere in North America.  The multitude of plants with their varying flowering times creates a balanced ecosystem that attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds while providing nesting opportunities for a wide variety of songbirds.  The initial inspiration for this vertical garden is said to be based on art of the Coast Salish First Nations that includes the Semiahmoo people.

• Even-numbered addresses: Saturdays — automatic watering between 5:00 am and 7:00 am, and manual watering between 6:00 am and 9:00 am

• Odd-numbered addresses: Sundays — automatic watering between 5:00 am and 7:00 am, and manual watering between 6:00 am and 9:00 am

• Trees, shrubs, and flowers can be watered with a sprinkler any day between 5:00 am and 9:00 am, or any time by hand or using drip irrigation.

• Even-numbered addresses: Mondays — automatic watering between 4:00 am and 6:00 am, and manual watering between 6:00 am and 9:00 am

• Odd-numbered addresses: Tuesdays — automatic watering between 4:00 am and 6:00 am, and manual watering between 6:00 am and 9:00 am

• Trees, shrubs and flowers can be watered with a sprinkler any day between 4:00 am and 9:00 am, or any time by hand or using drip irrigation.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

It is not just Cresent Park where the issue of dog poisonings is a problem.  In July of 2021 pieces of meat were found along the trails of Surrey's Tynehead Park over several weeks, leaving pet owners there fearful what the motive might be.  In June of 2018 a five-year-old golden retriever died soon after eating an unknown toxic substance in Alderwood Park in south Surrey.  In Oct. of 2015 a dog got ill after eating food laced with the depressant valium in the Clayton Off-leash Dog Park with several other incidents reported there at that time.  That's just the reported pet poisonings in Surrey over the past few years and there are plenty more when you look into this problem across the Lower Mainland.

With multiple poisonings at Crescent Park and tainted food left there, it is time that the City of Surrey puts up proper signage at the many park entrances warning of this serious safety issue.  People that frequent the park need to be vigilant about their pets and children and ensure they do not eat any food they happen to find.  Most importantly, the sick and twisted person responsible for this bizarre behaviour needs to be located and arrested.  If you see anyone you think is placing tainted food, take a photo or video of them and call 911 immediately.  If you have information about the dog poisonings at Crescent Park, please report your suspicions to the Surrey RCMP non-emergency line at 604-599-0502, the SPCA at 1-855-822-7722, and the Surrey Bylaws at 604-591-4370.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

No Morals, No Ethics, No Shame

Members of Safe Surrey digging their own political graves without steel-toed boots.

They are at it again.  Mayor Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey minions on city council just don't seem to understand that "No Means No!"  We have already seen this recently when the plan put forth to Metro-Vancouver to change the land classification to the South Campbell Heights area was defeated and quickly repackaged for yet another Met-Van vote less than a month later that went their way.  You can scroll down to read about that fiasco that was passed without proper consultation with the Semiahmoo First Nation in my February 28, 2022 two-part TNT titled "Busy Days in the Haze" with the first section titled "South Campbell Heights Rezoning Passed" dealing with this divisive issue.

It is hard to imagine but Surrey Council will be discussing yet another attempt to muzzle their very own Ethics Commissioner.  My rather blunt January 31, 2022 TNT titled "Silencing the Surrey Ethics Commissioner" covered Council's first attempt to shut down the office that investigates ethics violations at the City of Surrey.  In this first swing at the bat, they were calling for the SOEC to not investigate any new ethics violations for nine months before the next civic election on Oct. 15, 2022.  After an avalanche of emails, nasty telephone messages, media scrutiny and my rather pointed TNT the Safe Surrey Coalition blinked and withdrew this contentious item from the agenda.  Now they are back at it proposing a six-month muzzling of the Ethics Commissioner before the election, a full half a year without any ethics oversight in a town that needs it badly.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

Machete Kills

The naked truth is that I own a machete.  It is a beauty I purchased from the Otter Coop in Langley over 30 years ago for under $20, made by Barteaux & Sons in Portland Oregon.  It has an 18-inch blade that widens toward the angled end and a D-shaped handle to help protect your knuckles and hand.  I splurged when I bought it and even purchased the heavy-duty leather scabbard allowing it to be safely stored or worn from a belt.  The once shiny blade is now a dark brown patina from use and the years but the edge is still razor sharp.  I originally bought what is basically a cross between a sword and a knife for chopping down blackberries and cutting trails when on woodland hikes, where I put the whack in bushwhacking.  It is now my tool of choice for cutting off basjoo banana leaves and chopping down their thick trunks.

What I never use my machete for is as a weapon or self-protection.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for most machete owners living in urban centers across Canada.  The machete has now become the modern broadsword, allowing users to attack others at arms-length while inflicting terrible or fatal injuries.  Unlike a long-rifle, most machetes are easily concealed under a jacket or in a backpack.  The massive Bowie knife used by Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee ("That's not a knife,  that's a knife") had a blade measuring 12 inches long.  In the movie First Blood, Sylvester Stallone's character Rambo carried a military survival knife that only had a blade of 9 inches.  They say that size matters and that bigger is better and it seems that machetes in all sizes and shapes are becoming more prevalent on our streets.

You don't have to go very far to get your hands on one of these tools that can become a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.  You can buy an 18" Shrade full tang machete at Canadian Tire for only $19.99.  Want to start the kids off young?  They sell the Gerber Gator machete Jr. with safety sheath for only $39.99.  I'm hoping this isn't the same Gerber that makes strained infant foods.  For something a little more edgy, try the Camillus Carnivore machete for only $44.99 or its slightly more lethal partner, the Camillus Carnivore Inject for $54.99.  Heading into East Van or simply purchasing online, Gorilla Surplus carries 53 different varieties of machetes with names like Annihilator, Raptor, Xtreme, and Combat ranging from $19.99 to $154.99 with blades up to 22 inches long for the double handed model.  Yup, there must be lots of brush to clear down in East Van.

You don't have to look very far to see the results of thugs carrying heavy long bladed weapons around in urban settings.  Simply Google search "Surrey machete" and check out the headlines that pop up.  "Machete attack sends two people to hospital", "Victim of machete attack in Surrey knew assailants", "Man waving machete shot by police in Surrey", and more with the same violent storyline.  Checking "Vancouver machete" leads to other stories about two people being attacked on New Year's Eve on Granville Street, a man having his fingers partially severed, and a machete attack at a Vancouver bar.   The latest local machete story involved two teenagers chasing a man in to the Burquitlam Skytrain station last month, swinging at him with a machete while he tried to protect himself with a traffic pylon.  He received a large laceration on his head that required staples to close and Transit police arrested the two suspects from Port Moody.

I'm starting to wonder why machete sales are allowed to young people or in urban centres.  I have my now vintage machete and I use it for its intended purpose, both gardening and in the wilderness.  Because of their inherent danger, I have to question why these tools that double as weapons are allowed on our streets?  Maybe their sale should not be allowed to youths without their parent's signing authority.  Possibly their sale could be blocked in cities where they have been used as improvised swords to terrorize and injure people.  I guess that the sales of machetes would be greatly lowered if people had to show ID and sign for them and the police were given these purchase records.  One thing is for sure, criminals looking to harm people and others trying to protect themselves will continue to buy machetes as fierce arms-length weapons.  Whether for gardening or gang warfare, the ownership of machetes truly is a double-edged sword.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish peoples.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish peoples.

I wish to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work and enjoy is the traditional territory of the Semiahmoo First Nation and other Coast Salish Peoples.

We are incredibly saddened to share the passing of Canadian shooting icon and DCRA Life Governor Robert “Bob” A. Pitcairn.

Bob’s illustrious shooting career spanned over 6 decades and saw him compete and win against the best on the provincial, national, and international stages.  Bob qualified for the Canadian Bisley Team over 40 times and won the Grand Aggregate at the NRA UK Imperial Meeting in 1965. A multiple time Canadian Target Rifle Champion, Bob also captained both the Canadian Palma and Canadian Bisley teams and was a past President of the BC Rifle Assoc. 

Bob is an inductee of the DCRA, PEI, and Canadian Armed Forces Sports Hall of Fame and has been listed in the BCRA Scroll of Marksmen on multiple occasions. In recent years, Bob became well known internationally as the oldest athlete to ever compete in the Commonwealth Games when at the age of 79 he represented Canada in Fullbore Target Rifle shooting at the Gold Coast Games in Australia in 2018.

Bob was not only a tremendously talented and dedicated shooter, but he also gave generously of his time to support marksmanship, ranging from commanding his local cadet corps to mentoring his fellow Target Rifle competitors.  He was a tremendous supporter of the BCRA Under25 program and worked tirelessly to help grow and develop new shooters through the BCRA and Mission Rod & Gun Club.

We’ll miss all of his amazing stories and that smile that would light up the room.  Bob was a fierce competitor, a loyal friend, and a true gentleman.  Our thoughts are with his family and friends from around the world.  We are greatly diminished.

• (a) freedom of conscience and religion;

• (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

• (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

• (d) freedom of association.