It was interesting that there were two stories in last week’s paper on vandalism.
The one was about the two incidents where flowers were pulled up in downtown Parksville. A fitting penalty would be that they have to do a month of community service such as gardening in local parks as a major part of their sentence.
What concerned me more is the proposed vandalism by city council at the Parksville Community Park beach. It is being suggested that there could be removal of rocks, stumps, logs and the addition of beach sand.
Why would they want to do that?
The provincial government just spent a fortune making Rathtrevor Beach look like the one in Parksville and both of them are great to walk along and enjoy the wonderful view of a natural beach. Being the cynic that I am, I don’t think there was pressure from all those local seniors in downtown Parksville who regularly stroll the boardwalk that are behind the move. Rather it likely came from one or two businesses that don’t like what they see.
They possibly got out their dog whistles and council immediately heeled, ready to do their bidding. But I could be wrong. Council may have just thought up this boneheaded idea on its own.
Except at high tide, there already is good sand to lay a blanket on. So, at a proposed cost of around $300,000 council wants to ruin the beach because there is a slight inconvenience for swimmers for a couple of hours a day from June through to mid-September.
And this is why we now pay them big bucks to do their job? Pity!
John Pritchard
Parksville