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West Creston fire protection petition deadline should not have been extended

And here I am asking Area C director Larry Binks and the Regional District of Central Kootenay: Who empowered you to continue?

To the Editor:

Time for joy! Time for the thesaurus. Let’s see now: affront, insult, betrayal. One could get a feeling as if spit landed on his face or a well-aimed kick at the shins with a frozen boot was delivered. Of course, it depends whose side you are on.

After a protracted period of multicoloured fliers appearing on the mailboxes of West Creston roads proclaiming in underlined letters a deadline of Dec. 31, a miracle has happened. Yes, the unthinkable. Unexpected, out of the blue: a Jan. 15 extension.

At this moment, dear reader, friend or neighbour, we can, I hope, sigh in a fresh breath. At least if we can believe the latest promise that this time for sure there will be no more extensions, and never mind the 50-50 count.

Oh yes, the blabbering! I am talking about the very long, hard-to-bear fight for getting enough hoses, water, manpower and favourable winds to West Creston if the Lord decides to strike us with a fire.

By now the votes have been counted, and if the lucky West Creston Fire Protection Society got its votes, corks are flying and the drawings are dusted off. Either way, I hope there will be no more insults or offending counterpointing fliers, and may the Lord have mercy, peaceful coexistence.

And here I am (a lonely Neanderthal) asking Area C director Larry Binks and the Regional District of Central Kootenay: Who empowered you to continue? The clocks in every corner of the world struck midnight just as in Creston. What gall!

Could you not stand like a gentleman and say, “Count”? Dang, how many times do have we an extra 10 minutes of hockey when Canada after three periods is losing by two goals to the dynamo, Moscow?

And so, Mr. Binks and the RDCK, it is over and you have to bear the wrath of those whom you betrayed. Now that we are finished with the thesaurus, it is time for Fiddler on the Roof: We had an agreement!

Frank Belavy

West Creston