Do you have someone to thank, or a peeve to get off your chest? Send it to BandB@comoxvalleyrecord.com
Record staff reserve the right to edit all submissions, and discard Beefs deemed to be libelous or mean-spirited. Please keep submissions within 150 words. Although the post will be anonymous, include a contact name and phone number, because there鈥檚 a draw every week for a meal for two from Dairy Queen. This week鈥檚 winner is Jean Williams.
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WHY IS IT that the town thinks it鈥檚 okay to keep raising our property taxes by 1.7 per cent or whatever number they come up with, but in reality our taxes go up by far more than that due to the fact that property values are going up faster than anybody鈥檚 income can keep up with. Stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes council. Let鈥檚 put an end to this madness and try and keep some of our hard earned dollars in our pockets. Maybe there are some parents out there that would like to send their kids to college or university without burying them in student debt so that one day they might become a contributing member of society. Enough I say!
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A BIG BOUQUET to Mulligans Golf Course in Courtenay. They walk the talk regarding calling themselves the 鈥淔riendliest Little Course in the Valley.鈥� I am a long-standing beginner golfer and have enjoyed many golf games with friends and family on this beautiful and well-designed par-3, 9-hole golf course. The setting is tranquil and scenic with strategically placed trees, and mountains in the background. The staff go above and beyond to make you feel welcomed and provide your service needs; they could all teach a course on providing exceptional customer service. The cafeteria and patio areas are comfortable places to enjoy a coffee and baked treat or alcoholic beverage afterwards. Thank you to the owner for keeping the course in wonderful condition, hiring competent and personable staff and keeping fees affordable for individuals like myself that do not belong - for everyone鈥檚 sake - on a high-priced golf course. Mulligans has turned me into a wannabe golfer.
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A BOUQUET TO everyone who works at Eyes on The Harbour in Comox. From staff to professionals thank you.
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MARINE DRIVE IS a delightful walk marred by the stench of urine and feces from leech fields overwhelmed by human waste from neglected septic tanks. The whole stretch of coastline up to Courtenay is affected. The worst offenders are rentals where absentee owners don鈥檛 care. Saw tourists from Alberta yesterday holding their noses. Is this what we want to advertise? What is the policy re. clearing septic tanks and assessing leech fields? Get this done before we lose more tourism dollars from our beautiful little town.
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BEEF TO THE senior at the Comox Valley Aquatic Centre who attended the mid-day fitness class June 27th and thought he was entitled to swear at my son and numerous other children for being near his space. Your behavior equates to going to a playground and swearing at the children who come near you. We have a beautiful wellness center solely dedicated to people needing a child-free environment such as yourself. May I suggest you and your foul mouth stay there. Additional beef to the CVAC for giving miserable seniors half the pool during an open swim for them to victimize children. You serve the public, that includes those of us younger than 65.
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BUCKETS OF SAND in your gas tanks to all our local gas stations! How is it that we could fill our tank in Vancouver last week for $1.26/litre, while the price here was $1.45/litre? Vancouver has at least 10 cents more taxes per litre that we do here, so the only conclusion we can make is that we are being royally gouged. The oil companies have a whole book of excuses why the price of gas is so high, but there is really only one reason, and that is that they can charge what they want. The government certainly is not going to step in, because they too are busy lining their own pockets. The only recourse we have as consumers is to boycott certain companies-particularly the one that is always the first to jack up their price.
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IN THE JUNE 27 edition of the Record there were two letters to the editor concerning traffic and crosswalks in Comox and Courtenay. I understand their position as I have been trying to eliminate a very serious concern on Pritchard. The crosswalk which is positioned as you come around the curve on Comox Avenue to Pritchard is blind and most vehicles do not slow down. Pritchard is a residential street and there are children and many seniors, myself included, who use this extremely unsafe crossing. The traffic - especially motorcycles and trucks - drive at great speed well over the 50 limit. I called the Town, where a woman said there were several areas in the town that were of concern and they would be doing a study of these at the end of the year. Hopefully no one is injured or killed before then.
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SENDING OUT A big bouquet of roses from St. George鈥檚 United Church to Sherwin Williams for donating paint and painting supplies toward our kitchen and washroom renovation. The updated itchen will ensure that the Sonshine Lunch Club and other communiity organizations will continue to serve the community when we reopen in the fall.
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BOUQUETS TO SUNTANS and swimming. Now that the Ministry of Environment has issued an environmental release letter to the CVRD allowing them to move forward with a development permit for lands surrounding one of the most contaminated sites in B.C. We should see flocks of tourists surging to Union Bay to frolic in the crystal clear water and play on the white sandy beach adjacent to the boat launch. Unfortunately for 20 years or more unidentifiable odours objects have been seen clinging to the shore line and the locals don鈥檛 devour the shellfish oozing from the sand. My immediate thinking is that VIHA should sample the water and post some signage declaring that it is now safe to swim in these local waters.
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ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12 at 7:30 p.m. I left my purse in the shopping cart in Thrifty鈥檚 store at Crown Isle Plaza. Thankfully, a very kind, honest person turned it in to Customer Service and I will be forever grateful. I鈥檓 sending you the largest, sweetest bouquet you could ever imagine. I will always remember your honest deed and wish you every good thing life can offer.
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MAY THE FISH forever bite for Brian Balfe and Don Somers for their over and above kindness in boating over the 17 people left behind at the Powell River Terminal thinking they might miss the PRISMA concert cruise. Brian volunteered to take 11 of us and another boater and his wife stepped up to take the other four. We made the ever-fabulous concert and were even treated to a boat ride back to Comox Harbour where are cars were, with an added bonus of a little side trip to see two humpback wales playing near Hornby Island. Brian and Don made what was going to be a wash out of a day an adventure to remember. Thank you Guys.
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SLOW DOWN - On Sunday evening you were racing your car up the road. This is a neighbourhood; not a race track There are humans, pets and small baby animals in the area.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DEVELOPER and home owners for the beautiful landscaping done on the property on the west side of Anderton Road, just before Comox Avenue. Hope all developers take a note from this and incorporate great landscaping in their projects.
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BOUQUETS TO THE lovely town of Comox. I鈥檓 quite old and I went for a walk about 7 p.m. Traffic was minimal. The ice-cream parlour was beckoning. About 15-18 young people came walking down the street too and said a friendly hello to me. When I got to the round- about with flowers and a piano, plus a family of four girls aged l year to 10 or 11. The two oldest girls were playing piano together. It was a pleasure for me to sit and hear the music. My walk-about was a real pleasure. The young family would soon pull down the protector for the piano and go home, as I did too.
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BOUQUETS OF BEAUTIFUL sunflowers to Thrifty鈥檚 and Matt Howie of Quality Foods for your very generous donation to Cumberland lodge Summer Solstice celebration. Thanks to your support it was a hit. Nice to see the community support still out there. From all the staff , thank you.
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I FIND IT INTERESTING that Leaf was denied a business license because local stores objected to the possible odour from customers smoking. I find the smell from the manure that is spread on the Bay farm(Farquarsons) highly objectionable. It permeates my air, my clothing and the inside of my home. Would City Council please consider shutting down the farm? No, I didn鈥檛 think so! So its selective at best and a silly argument to deny. Permits were issued for beside Ricky鈥檚 in the Superstore mall so now we can have farm odour and cannabis odour mixed鈥�.with no objections. Just sayin鈥�.
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THE BIGGEST SOCIAL disobedience in this country has to be bike helmets. Everyone in this country knows you have to have a bike helmet while riding as mandated by law, but not enforced. Today I saw 12 people on bikes in a short period and only two had helmets. How do we enforce this law? And for those who drive cars and are disabled, did you know it is illegal to drive with your disabled parking pass hanging from your rear-view mirror. When you receive this pass you get a letter that tells you it is against the law as noted. The law says that it obstructs your view through the windshield and is therefor illegal. Also not enforced but it should be if its a law.
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SHARP SHEARS TO the most amazing fur stylist Jasmine at Hair Of The Dog! Murphy always looks amazing after he visits with you! You are always so pleasant and kind, AND he looks so amazingly cute after you鈥檝e worked your magic!
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A BOUQUET OF summer flowers to the July 1st Canada Day Celebrations Committee. Your volunteer hours are much appreciated. The events were all great and fun for the whole family. I would like to see three adjustments to the Canada Day Parade. One, please require that businesses do more than stick a red balloon on their car, truck, or van as decoration. I think that the non-profit organizations did a great job in decorating their vehicles. Two, ask each non-profit organization or business, if possible, to share music in some way with their presentation. The music makes it as far as I am concerned. Always include the pipe band -just love it! Three - DO NOT ever again allow a political party to enter the parade. The sitting, elected officials are most welcome but we do not need politics displayed at a fun, family Canadian event.
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A HUGE BOUQUET heavenly summer flowers to the woman in a black car who observed my friend slip near the Rexall Drug store about a week ago. Although driving away, this kind and responsible person returned to the accident site, called the ambulance, and stayed with my friend until she was safe. My friend has some health problems that affect her balance and, although she can remember this wonderful CV resident鈥檚 face and kindness, didn鈥檛 get a name. There are 鈥渁ngels鈥� residing in our Valley. Thank you.
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I WAS SADDENED to see vandals at work in our community. Passing the Lewis Centre, I noticed Rainbow Youth Theatre鈥檚 sign promoting their summer show was vandalized only days after it was out up by hard working volunteers. RYT is a long-standing, not for profit organization providing opportunities for kids to develop character on and off the stage. With limited resources community groups have, this kind of damage hurts the kids who have been working very hard and want everyone to know about and attend their show!
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KOODOS TO THE wonderful Search and Rescue volunteers & all other organizations involved in rescuing yet another lost hiker in the Strathcona Provincial Park. I feel we should pass a law stating that all hikers should assume the responsibility of paying the financial cost & not having the tax payers foot the bill. I can only imagine the final bill for that rescue alone. I know there were alot of volunteer hours, but those helicopters are not free. That money could of been used for many other purposes.
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UPON ENTERING A Courtenay retailer and making my selection I was asked for my phone number. I indicated several times that I did not choose to give it. The clerk insisted. At this point, exasperated, I grabbed my cash from the counter and removed myself permanently from the premises and made my purchase at a different shop. Businesses fail for many reasons. This scenerio would be among those reasons.
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HAS ANYBODY THOUGHT to ask why we are going to stage 2 water restrictions . Yes, the lake is low but why is it low. Could it be that BC Hydro thought that it could outfox mother nature and actually lowered the water levels on purpose in anticipation of the spring rains which never happened. I suspect that is what happened based on an article in this paper in November or December. Does anybody think that it might have been prudent to wait and see if the rains were actually going to happen before wasting huge amounts of water. Weather forecasters cannot seem to predict the weather for more than a few hours at best. What makes BC Hydro think that they can predict the weather?
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KUDOS TO THE majority of staff at the Comox Valley Hospital. Why then, is patient privacy so lacking in the Wellness Centre? I have personally witnessed a doctor discussing a patient鈥檚 issues with the patient, in the waiting room with other people present. Blood is drawn (a medical procedure) in the waiting room in front of other people. Talk about being 鈥渃entre stage.鈥� I have witnessed a nurse, giving patient directions re; their medications, right smack in front of, you guessed it, other people and yup, in the waiting room.The waiting room at the wllness Centre appears to be the consulting,lab and patient education room of choice. Patients are entitled to their privacy.
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MANY BOUQUETS TO all the cars and trucks who stopped to offer assistance to my huband to get our huge riding lawn mower back onto the roadside of Back Road at McDonald. A young man in a pickup came into our driveway, picked him up and whipped it out. Renewed faith in people in the Valley.
