Let's face it, Yellowknife's Frame Lake South is heading towards urban sprawl in a manner akin to many other larger centres in Canada. Starting in the mid 1980s, the area has been levelled and blasted into lot after lot of mixed higher end and cheaper housing with few green spaces in between.

While it's obviously too late for the city to take a more aesthetic approach to the lots already developed in the area, it's not for Block 551 on the corner of Finlayson Drive and Kam Lake Road.

The city is proposing to re-zone the area from its current parks and recreation designation -- passed into bylaw in 1995 -- to residential use.

Many residents along Finlayson Drive were aghast to hear this. Frame Lake is the largest neighbourhood in Yellowknife, and the one with the least amount of green space in it.

It's little wonder residents showed up en masse for last week's public hearing at City Hall to voice their concerns.

For some, the thought of even more uninterrupted development taking place in the area was too much.

Local developers and realtors also attended the meeting.

If more land isn't developed for lower cost residential use soon, they warned, the current housing crunch will only get substantially worse.

Mortgage broker Dave McPherson said Block 551 is "one of last places in town where I can see affordable housing."

If that's true, we are in trouble.

Land claims remain unresolved but why is that stopping the city from going after partnership agreements with the Yellowknives Dene to open up more land for development?

Why aren't they talking with the territorial and federal governments about accessing more Commissioner's land?

All we've been hearing about the last three years is Niven Lake, originally envisioned as yet another luxury subdivision.

Of course, the city had to re-modify that plan too.

Here's what we suggest to the city: Set aside parts of Block 551 for walking paths and green space -- as suggested by one resident -- develop the rest, and roll up your sleeves, make some noise, and find away to get additional lands opened up for development.

As one developer said at the hearing, "There's green space all around the city."

That can only mean there's plenty of land out there for developers too.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

It will be interesting to hear just how much "community radio" in Rankin Inlet changes now that hamlet council has taken a hands-on approach with the new station.

We're not talking about the actual music programming.

Nor are we talking about its financial management and accountability, which has been called into question in the past.

With all things money related going through the hamlet, that end of the operation should be airtight.

What we're interested in hearing is how the public "chatter" is handled.

Each and every Kivalliq hamlet has been plagued with this concern over community radio for decades.

People phone up, over open public airways, and proceed to put down any person or organization they may have a beef with, legitimate or otherwise.

To date, hamlets have been very lucky.

As every hamlet SAO and financial officer is aware, such personal attacks are open invitations to litigation.

And, such litigation would not be aimed solely at the person spewing their poison over the airwaves.

Lawyers are interested in representing clients who have a case against entities with deep pockets.

In short, whomever has control over a public broadcasting system, no matter how limited in range, also has a responsibility to monitor its content.

Every Kivalliq council, at one time or another, has discussed ways of cleaning up what's being heard on both community-radio airways and citizens-band (CB) radio.

Yet, little has been done to rectify the situation.

People in the Kivalliq are becoming increasingly aware of their rights as individuals.

As such, it's only a matter of time before a municipality finds itself in a courtroom defending against a libel suit that could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Having an open public forum such as community radio is not a licence to launch personal attacks or vendettas against other people or organizations.

The damage that can be caused to a person's reputation, family, employment or business interests can be substantial.

Hopefully, once council has settled into its role as station director, it will quickly adopt a policy of zero-tolerance towards those who abuse the privilege of speaking over public airways.

After all, it's not as if the vast majority of those listening don't know who's doing the talking.

Maybe hamlets should look into hiring and training radio monitors.

The move would help get hate mongering off our airwaves, and also create some much-needed employment in our communities.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

You have to sympathize with the plight of Laura Moses and her family as they are faced with re-living a violent and disturbing part of their past.

Dealing with the horrific loss of a loved one cannot be easy, but their plight is further compounded by living in a small town.

It's inevitable that the victim and offender will meet in a town this size and the justice system should have been more sympathetic to that.

With any violent crimes, the family should be notified of upcoming hearings and possible release dates of the offender. The request for notification should not have to fall on the victim or their survivors, it should be an automatic part of the parole process.

In violent crimes, the Crown often requests a victim impact statement to present to the court before sentencing.

Perhaps the Crown could also ask the judge to recommend corrections notify victims of crime when the offender is up for release.

That way victims and their families might avoid the situation that's now before this Inuvik family.

Surely the offender has rights and it's true the man has served his time, but that's little comfort to the family whose forced into standing on line with him at the bank or grocery store.

Fuelling new centre

The plans for the new leisure centre look pretty good and if you're at all curious, you should get down to town hall for a peek.

Looking at the plans and watching the price of fuel skyrocket, I can't help but wonder how much it's going to cost to keep that hot tub hot all winter long.

Although we're sitting on huge lakes of natural gas here, the cost of our gas is tied to the equivalent cost of diesel fuel.

As George Bush threatens war to drive up the cost of oil to make he and his cronies rich, here we are a world away bearing the brunt of his policies.

I think it's time to re-evaluate the cost of our energy here and get off the oil standard.

Floyd Roland was quite right to bring this up in the legislature Monday, because I don't know of one person who has realized any savings since the natural gas conversion happened here.

As the world price of oil edges higher and higher, so will our natural gas costs. If the utility providers can't see their way clear to charge us the real cost of our energy here, perhaps under the new regional government we can set up our own utility that will.

Cause and effect

Kudos to the IRC for taking the lead on the up-coming conference on fetal alcohol syndrome.

The information on diagnosing and treating FAS and FAE is a black hole in the medical world and there is no reason why we can't take the lead research right here.

Far too long this was an issue that wasn't talked about, so it's no surprise that we still know very little about it.

Conferences like this on a small scale will make life easier for caregivers in our communities, but in the big picture, they help fill the world-wide void that exists in FAS/E research.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

It's time to take stock of some rather remarkable happenings in Fort Simpson.

First off, kudos to Thomas Simpson school's student council (and to the equally thoughtful staff members) who have given their time to raise money for the unfortunate souls in Badger, Nfld. Fort Simpson, a community of similar size, is equally susceptible to flooding. It had to be evacuated in the 1960s and experienced another close call in the late 1980s.

It must be heart-wrenching to find one's home practically destroyed by water-cum-ice. Hopefully the outpouring of support from across the country, including a contribution from Fort Simpson, will provide the boost Badger's residents need to get through this distressing time.

The Fort Simpson Darts Society also deserves a round of applause for successfully hosting the territorial championships this past weekend. Walking into the gymnasium (which was a fairly harsh environment for a non-smoker), the set of 2.5-metre, double-sided darts cabinets immediately caught one's eye. Many of the players commented on how impressive the cabinets were, including Danny Clouston, president of the Territorial Darts Association. The interlocking cabinets were sturdy, well-constructed and allowed the players to throw darts without distraction, according to Clouston. Not bad for a design that Fort Simpson's John Moreau jotted on a restaurant napkin. Moreau, Larry Campbell, Steve Gooderham, Wally Watson and Clayton Moreau combined efforts on construction.

Despite the fundraising efforts, the territorial darts tournament was unfortunately a financial drain. The Fort Simpson Darts Society must now try to recoup close to $5,000 in losses and help raise enough money to send up to four players to the national tournament in New Brunswick in June.

Congratulations to Chris Stipdonk, the only Deh Cho athlete to compete at the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton, N.B. People who know Stipdonk are getting accustomed to him bringing back a fistful of medals from competitions. It wasn't meant to be this time, as he was pitted against some of the best badminton players in the country. However, it was a good learning experience and a significant achievement for someone who only took up the sport two years ago.

Parks Canada employee Sophie Borcoman did return to Fort Simpson with some hardware, an award known as The Flame. It came quite unexpectedly, but was much-deserved. She has been instrumental in incorporating a Dene perspective and she has done a great deal to promote Nahanni National Park Reserve's image.

Finally, Fort Simpson should be proud of having the Beavertail Jamboree to indulge in this week. The hard work of the organizing committee and the volunteers shouldn't be taken for granted. Yellowknife's Caribou Carnival has been faltering and was almost cancelled this year.