Barry's Bay (J. Peplinski,Ontario), 2 months ago
To the EditorBudget Celebrations Short-sightedOur council members and some people may be celebrating a drop in our property taxes. But this festivity may be short-lived and is certainly short-sighted.At a time when our roads continue to deteriorate faster than they can be repaired or replaced, when we see critical business closures and the youth and families in our community lacking a full service community centre, I believe that our elected officials have overlooked their responsibilities in favour of a momentary good news story that compromises our future.Our young families and graduates are leaving this area for lack of employment opportunities. Youth have limited recreational choices with only an ice arena available to them.Tourism is seriously compromised Critical core businesses have closed and are no longer available to serve the local people or visitors. Numerous businesses are for sale and prospective buyers find locating difficult with a municipal process that is long & arduous. In a small town, every business in vital. Investing in business growth and expansion is an essential component of local government.In my view, it would have been wiser to maintain a realistic budget that invests in the infrastructure and economic needs of the Valley. Generating jobs, providing for the needs of youth, supporting existing business and growing the tourism economy that is at our doorstep are critical areas that municipal dollars sustain. A decrease in municipal taxes does not do this.
Nepean (Russell Barth,ON), 3 months ago
To The Editor, RE: Hemp education 101If farmers worldwide grew hemp instead of corn, we wouldn't be in this environmental and economic mess. And if the public ever found out that the looming food/fuel shortage was unnecessary and planned, they might revolt.You see, hemp produces more ethanol per acre than corn, and does so at a lower cost and with less damage to the soil. Also, one acre of hemp can produce up to 1,000 gallons of methanol in just four months. In warmer climates, than could mean 3,000 gallons per acre, per year. If the U.S. were to sow just 10 per cent of its current farmland as hemp, for example, it wouldn't need to buy any foreign oil.The hemp tops go to food, and the stalks go for fuel, fibre and building materials, so it is like growing two crops in one field! Hemp will even grow on damaged, exhausted or marginal soil, so, unlike corn, we don't need to use our prime farmland to grow car fuel. We could even reclaim thousands of acres of unused and abandoned land, and create jobs.Small methanol and ethanol production plants could be built in every small community, reducing the need to ship fuel across oceans or truck it across continents. We also wouldn't need to drill into any more delicate ecosystems.Hemp doesn't need the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that other crops need, which saves more fuel and lowers soil runoff pollution. Hemp fuel burns clean, which would lower air pollution and reduce associated health and environmental issues. Hemp also refreshes the soil, so putting it into rotation with other crops will actually heal - not deplete - the soil.So why do we keep using corn and crude for fuel when hemp is cheaper, better, healthier and cleaner? Because governments don't want to "send the wrong message to youth" about marijuana, and because Big Oil sees the real very real danger that Hemp offers them. Right now, Big Oil controls the fuel, and whoever controls the fuel controls the food, and whoever controls the food controls everyone. Big Oil will not let that power slip from their hands easily, and if they have to starve half the world's population to death in order to hold onto that power, they will.Russell BarthFederal Medical Marijuana License HolderPatients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis(PAIDOC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdNX_k71iwwww.rata.ca/paidoc.htmlPS: THC should not be regarded as something to avoid. Recent science out of Germany shows how cannabinoids stimulate the body's production of TIMP-1, which helps healthy cells resist cancer invasion.www.salem-news.com/articles/january112008/cancer_treatment_11008.phpThis might explain why pot chronic pot smokers have lower – not higher – rates of cancer than tobacco smokers (as a recent California study showed).