Opinion

It's said of municipal politics that elected officials spend the first year of their three-year terms learning how to do their job, the second year doing it, and the third year campaigning for the next election.

Social responsibility is something I've been giving a lot of thought recently - I think because I keep hearing about it in the schools I've been visiting. The Howe Sound School District has set social responsibility as a school improvement goal.

Hogwash. That, in a non-copyrighted word, is what we think of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (VANOC)'s ham-handed censorship of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce's "Heart of 2010" banner campaign. Oops, sorry.

I was hesitant to rent Walking Tall. Up to now the movies that are made in Squamish, well...they're usually horribly unwatchable. Say It Isn't So, Freddy Got Fingered Insomnia was OK but none have really had the feeling that it was Squamish.

Hooray! We're in the money. The federal government's surplus for the past fiscal year is $9.1 billion rather than the $1.9 billion then-Finance Minister John Manley gloomily predicted last year.

Some great work has been done on researching how effective helmets are at protecting bike riders, motorbike riders and workers from head injuries.

EDITOR, Re. "Weston vote disappointing," Letters, Chief, Oct. 4. On Sept. 26, I voted "yes" in the House of Commons to the motion, proposed by Stephen Woodworth, the Kitchener Centre Member of Parliament.

"Council should pass a motion for these people to please come back when they've stopped lying." -Back row banter at the gondola meeting Sept. 28 Did anyone see this one coming? The gondola up the Chief.

It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission - but that doesn't mean our elected officials shouldn't live by that motto. The District of Squamish is finding itself nearly swept away by a massive building boom.

Squamish council must have some magical powers.