READER SUPPORTS NATIONAL PARK IDEA

Editor:

In regards to the proposed National Park Reserve here in the greater Keremeos, Oliver and Osoyoos region, we feel it is very important that we all become involved to protect our rapidly disappearing natural treasures of which many species are highly endangered and are to be found nowhere else in Canada.
Surely we all can give up a few of our present activities to enrich the quality of our lives both for ourselves and future generations.
We understand Parks Canada now has a storefront information centre at Jackson's on Main in Osoyoos, another at the Oliver Visitor Centre and are planning another in Keremeos. In addition a meeting with the residents of Kilpoola in mid-May and Open House for the public in late-May. Come on out to learn more about the considerable economic and environmental benefits.

Harry NielsenrnOsoyoos


[b]SEAL HUNT IS NATURAL ACTIVITY[/b]

Editor:

Regarding the seal hunt:rnOpposition to the seal hunt is based on emotion. Unfortunately, the young seals are too cute. They are killed as mercifully as cows going into the slaughterhouse, which we eat. Beef cattle walk through the chute and are hammered on the head with a spiked mallet … instant death … Seals share the same fate.
What about veal and lamb, which we eat … killed in adolescence … but because seals are so cute and so visible in their slaughter, people become emotional and overreact.
LIfe is thus … We harvest animals … We use animals … It has always been thus … Mankind survives this way.

E.R. (Rod) KerrrnOsoyoos


[b]LENIENT JUDGES SHOULD BE OUT[/b]

Editor:

Two recent news articles caught my attention, not only because they were related, but because they were so opposite in perspective.
The first, a March 30, 2006 Province article titled No Jail For Sex-Assault Track Coach, described how British Columbia Provincial Court Judge Dennis Devitt sentenced convicted sex offender Glen Haugo to a conditional sentence of two years less a day for his sexual assaults on his teenaged female track students.
The second was Prime Minister Harper's speech to the Canadian Professional Police Association's board on April 3, 2006. Finally, we'll get tough on sex offenders and those that prey on our children.rnI applaud Prime Minister Harper for his stance on dealing with sexual predators. However, before he worries about DNA data banks and raising the age of consent he needs to make some serious changes to our judiciary.
Canada has a long line of judges who think of sex crimes as minor offenses. The most notorious statement by a judge was probably British Columbia Judge Peter Vanderhoof, who while giving the sex offender 18-months probation for the sexual assault of a three-year old child, blamed the crime on the child because she was sexually aggressive.
Manitoba Justice Kerr Twaddle and the Manitoba Court of Appeal feels 9 months is too harsh a sentence for Dean James Bauder. Bauder was convicted of sexually assaulting his children's babysitter. In changing the jail term to a conditional sentence the learned judges claimed the child was a willing participant, despite claiming at the same time that the sex was entirely inappropriate and criminal.
And let's not forget British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Sherman Hood, who in a 1991 rape case said at times 'no' may mean 'maybe' or 'wait a while'.
Not for the faint of heart is a trip through any province's judgments database. Here you can search for a particular crime and see judgments for that crime. Sentences for rapists and child molesters are, almost without exception, horrifyingly light.
Until we have a justice system that takes sexual predators seriously, police officers will continue to be frustrated with our judges and their insistence on releasing dangerous offenders with minimal jail terms.
That's where Prime Minister Harper comes in. He is our national leader. He must stand tall and show clear leadership.
He must make serious changes to our justice system, and he must make them now.
An excellent place to start is the removal of judges who show such blatant contempt for the victims of violent crime, for Canada can no longer tolerate judges who condone rape and child molestation.

Christopher di ArmanirnLytton, B.C.