Bowen Bulletin

I’ve received a fair amount of abuse for my last column. While I stand behind my statements about conflict of interest I’ve begun to wonder if I’m being a bit too negative about the proposed Community Centre. So I looked back at what I’ve said about it over the last 4 ½ years.

Here is an excerpt from the Nov. 22 2007 column.

“The Civic Facilities people seem to have agreed with the planning consultants on the best plan for a new performing arts and recreation centre…. at the top of the hill just before you reach the school grounds. You will enter through the community living room. It will be large and airy with a fireplace. To the left Continue reading ›

Mick died a couple of weeks ago. He was 68. He had a heart attack while he slept, just the way he wanted to go. He was a friend of mine. We played poker almost every month for over thirty years. The game will never be the same again.

For those of you who didn’t know Mick, he was one of the old crew. His son and ours played together as babies. He didn’t just live on Bowen, he was part of the fabric of our community. Continue reading ›

As soon we arrived home from the south I picked up the back issues of the Undercurrent to see what you’ve all been up to and a couple of things jumped out.

BC Ferries is finally making news for doing good things. First the Ferry Commissioner acknowledged that fares had reached the tipping point and increasing fares would only lead to lower ridership so Continue reading ›

It’s hard to know where to start. The election was a total shock to some and a foregone conclusion to others. We have gone from a council that was so myopic that it was painful to one that has the potential to reverse the direction that the last four municipal councils championed. I’m torn between eulogizing the recently deceased municipal council and just moving on to our new council; a “The King is dead, long live the King” approach. But the demise of outgoing council is a worthwhile cautionary tale. Continue reading ›

Many years ago my wife and I were part of a group of friends who loved to play board games. We got a new game called Diplomacy and scheduled a game for the following Saturday night at Hilary and Doug’s place. Hilary wanted to photocopy the rules and distribute them before the game so I gave her the whole box. That Friday night, unbeknownst to us the rest of the group ended up at Hilary’s and decided to try out the game. Before long they were so angry at each other that they swore never to play the game again. We were informed of this on Saturday. To this day I regret that I have never had the chance to play Diplomacy. Now I’m afraid I’m going to relive that feeling after this election.

For years on Bowen we’ve had different groups wanting various things and a general populous that wasn’t all that interested. Now we have finally reached a pretty fair consensus Continue reading ›