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Friday, August 18, 2006
Sleepless in the city

The constant rumble of airplanes overhead is an unavoidable factor for everyone living Yellowknife.

In 2004, 50,802 passenger and cargo flights were reported landing in Yellowknife. That number grew by 30,000 last year alone, and with the early closure of the winter roads to the Territories' three diamonds last spring, the number has climbed even higher.

The large number of flights is part and parcel to Yellowknife's booming economy.

Approximately 1,200 people work in the city's airport district, according to the territorial government. It's one of the busiest airports in Canada.

There have been complaints about planes flying low over downtown on their way to the airport, but considering prevailing winds - which often require planes to approach from the east over downtown - and the airport's close proximity to the city core, there is no alternative.

Also, considering the great number of planes flowing through the airport, nighttime flights are unavoidable.

Airport manager Steve Loutit says the number of cargo shuttles to the diamond mines appear to be slowing down for the season, surely much to the relief of Yellowknife residents.

These flights could've taken off from Hay River or Fort McMurray, but considering the enormous benefits the mines bring to the Yellowknife economy, it's in our best interest to encourage them to use our airport.

The simple fact is this is a boom town. That means it's busy and noisy. There are lots of comparatively sized communities elsewhere that can boast quiet but precious little else.


Small victories, big impact

To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on the moon: That's one small victory for Basketball NWT, a giant leap for sport in the territories.

The recent 71-68 victory over the squad representing Newfoundland and Labrador by Team Territories at the national basketball championships might not seem like a big deal. But it is. It was the first time a hoops squad from the North had won a game at the nationals. Three city players were on the team that represented the NWT, Nunavut and Yukon: Emmanuel Ramos, Tyler Wells and Quincy Thomas.

They deserve congratulations and praise for their hard work.

This win shows that despite the challenges NWT athletes have to overcome, travel, cost, lack of top quality competition among them, that where there's a will and plenty of hard work, there's a way.

Athletes in all sports can take pride in the win and set their sights on success at the national level, too.


Hamlet control better for community

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News


An enthusiastic thumbs-up, way up, to Arviat hamlet council for taking control of bingo games in the community this past week.

Arviat is the latest in a growing number of hamlets, from Gjoa Haven to Rankin Inlet, to take a positive step towards ensuring proper accountability with publicly-generated funds.

These types of moves are especially important in the Kivalliq, which has struggled more than a little with the problem of missing funds during the past five years.

We fully appreciate that taking over bingo puts an even greater strain on hamlet staff in many communities, but the gains are worth the effort.

Bingo revenues represent huge dollars in our communities these days.

In fact, even the smallest of our hamlets now rake in $200,000 per year.

That means the process has to be effectively monitored from start to finish - and that means hamlet involvement.

The biggest gain with a municipality running bingo is that the money raised should go where it was intended.

We've said it here many times before - when you take that much money from the people in your town, it had better be going to a worthy cause.

Hamlets that control bingo can ensure the municipality has the opportunity to raise the funds needed to enhance recreational programs.

They can also ensure important organizations, such as community radio and search and rescue and committees that provide travel money to families in times of sickness and loss of life, are properly provided for.

A hamlet in control of the process can also ensure the bingo slots are divided fairly, with extra attention paid to organizations with precious few ways to raise revenue.

At the top of that list are youth travelling to sporting and scholastic events, as well as non-profit day cares and organizations that do so much to enrich our communities.

Those who have gone to great lengths over the years to ensure bingo money raised by their organizations has been properly accounted for should be insulted by these moves.

Simply put, you're not the problem.

When the applications are screened, the slots allotted and the games actually played, that's when the true test begins.

When large sums of money leave a community hall in a plastic bag or leather sack, temptation comes calling.

And, unfortunately, not everyone passes the test.

Hopefully, with more hamlets taking charge of bingo revenues, the days of hearing about organizations with less money in their bank account than they should have (and no idea where it went) will become a thing of the past.

Bingo isn't going anywhere, and there aren't many who want it to.

There are simply too many valuable organizations and services that depend on it for their life's blood.

More involvement by our hamlets is good for the region. In fact, it's good for Nunavut.

When the day comes when every penny raised is spent on a program that makes our communities healthier and stronger - then we can all jump up and shout bingo!


River access important for community

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum


Development is something that we cannot avoid. In the coming years, we will see the land around us change. It's easy to see that trees will be cut down and tonnes of gravel dumped to create new places to build.

With the possibility of the Mackenzie Gas Project, there will be companies from the south that will want to acquire land around town and use it for their own purposes. A great example of this is the recent blocking of the Navy Road river accessway.

Long used by people who walk their dogs and others who want to get to the river, the road is actually on private land. The company that owns it decided to secure its investment and put up a barricade to keep the public off the land.

While the land isn't developed, who knows what's planned for the future. The company may just be preparing the community for the inevitable: a fenced lot with no access to the waterfront whatsoever.

This may be the time for the town office to wake up and develop the road that has been in the works for so long.

Dog walkers, mushers, fishermen, elders and anyone else who uses that access in the summer time will know that this comes as an inconvenience. One guy I talked to used to take his two dogs out to the open area for some exercise.

He said he preferred the secluded area because his dogs have a tendency to be hyper. It makes perfect sense and nobody was getting hurt.

Some other people said they want to park their boats out on the old federal dock at the end of the road on the beach so no one steals their gas. I guess there have been complaints about the main boat launch.

Maybe the people who are leaving their boats out on the Navy access road should lobby the town for a secure marina space, instead of hiding them in the brush.

People in town need to realize that private land is private for a reason. The owner has every right to seal off their property.

The town also needs to recognize the need for an access road in that area, which serves travellers from outlying communities as well as truckers who transport goods through the passage.


Demon in a bottle

Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum


Take a festival with events, entertainment and fair weather, add a few people and presto, there will undoubtably be a number of individuals who are showing the effects of drinking alcoholic beverages of one kind or another.

The likelihood of people noticeably drinking increases exponentially if the event is held on a long weekend For many, long weekends are tailor-made for enjoying a few, and sometimes a few too many drinks. All of this is to be expected in adults and, unfortunately, the same can often be said for people under the age of 19 who are not supposed to have access to alcohol.

A resident of Fort Providence is raising her voice about what she judged as out-of-control drinking by youth during the Mackenzie Days festival over the civic holiday long weekend.

The truth, however, is that this is not an issue limited to Fort Providence and Mackenzie Days. It's not an issue limited to the Northwest Territories or even to Canada.

It's also definitely not a new issue.

Underage drinking happens in many places, probably everywhere that youth have access to alcohol.

For many societies and cultures, it's a rite of passage.

Few people make it through their teenage years without gathering a number of stories involving that time they had a bit too much of something to drink, did a number of crazy things and then felt horribly sick the next morning, afternoon or even evening.

If you are through your teen years or even early 20s and don't have at least one of these stories, you may be found lacking by your peers.

But with that said, it doesn't make underage drinking right.

Legally, no one under the age of 19 is allowed to purchase alcohol but that doesn't mean that in practice they don't get a hold of it and, of course, drink it.

Should teens be teetotallers? My best wishes go out to anyone who believes they could enforce that.

Instead, it comes down to a question of what level of drinking is acceptable.

The Northwest Territories Addiction Survey released this year and conducted in 2004 found that 83.7 per cent of drinkers in the Territories are between the ages of 15-39.

The age group most likely to drink heavily, five or more drinks at a time in a month are those between 15-24. On the front line are parents who have a responsibility to watch out for the welfare of their children.

In some cases, however, parents are not able to do this for a variety of reasons or simply turn a blind eye to excessive underage drinking and the behaviours that can come with it.

At that point, it can be members of the community who watch out for youth and help to ensure they don't irrevocably harm themselves.

In the end, someone has to speak up if things are indeed getting out of hand.

Airing concerns allows the rest of the community to help judge the situation and decide if action is needed.


Correction

In the August 10 issue of the Deh Cho Drum, the picture "A fish in the sea" on page 4 was mislabelled. The picture showed Roland Nadli in his parade entry. The Drum apologizes for any confusion or embarrassment this might have caused.

An error appeared in a recent edition of Yellowknifer. Bren Kolson's name was spelled incorrectly ("The Hottest Ticket in Town," Aug. 9). Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion caused by the error.