Quick news roundup: It's reported that Len Barrie has sold Bear Mountain Resort to a Dubai real estate group. Also, the interchange site is flooding badly, and we're celebrating "The Joy of Dissent" in Victoria on Friday, Feb. 13. Here's the details.
Rumours have been flying for months, and there's no official confirmation, but The Sports Network reports: "Sources tell TSN Len Barrie has sold Bear Mountain, a golf and real estate development in British Columbia, for $500 million to a group from Dubai. The enormous sale is expected to close in mid-February." The Times Colonist adds: "Barrie was unavailable for comment."
In 2006, Barrie outraged people across BC when he approved the destruction of a sacred First Nations cave to build a golf course at his resort in Langford, on Vancouver Island. A second sacred cave was filled with concrete in 2008 when the city began building an overpass to connect Highway 1 with Bear Mountain Parkway. Thousands of people petitioned, rallied, and occupied trees near the second cave, but a massive police raid on February 13, 2008, cleared the protestors out and cordoned off the area while all the trees were cut down.
Today, massive flooding downstream from the overpass construction zone seems to indicate that engineers shouldn't try to outsmart Mother Nature. Water pouring down from Skirt mountain overflowed drainage pits in the wetlands between the highway and Spencer's Pond, drowning many of the remaining large hemlocks and the baby firs planted to partially replace the former forest. The water is cloudy from construction zone runoff, especially from the on and off ramps made of fill dirt half a kilometer long and up to 50 feet high - and the silt is likely to choke the red-legged frogs and tree frogs that live and breed in Spencer's Pond. The rest of Langford has mostly dried out from this week's floods, but the lake along the highway has nowhere to go. The entire basin - about half a kilometer square - is under many meters of muddy water.
The prevailing opinion is that Langford and Bear Mountain "won" the battle for the interchange. If true, it's a bitter victory, given that both have dug themselves a massive financial hole in the midst of an economic meltdown. For one thing, all construction has stopped on the
mountain "indefinitely" and many hundreds of people have been laid off. In any case, I don't agree that they "won." The tree sit crew and our thousands of supporters never conceded defeat, and there are still more sacred sites to protect on that mountain.
For the anniversary of the police raid at Langford Lake Cave, we're celebrating the unbeatable spirit of the tree sit and the incredible energy and unity of this movement. Please join us February 13 as we kick off "The Joy of Dissent," a series of events, music, discussions and stimulating multimedia, looking back at the past year and ahead to 2010.
The Joy of Dissent
Friday, February 13, Camas Books (2590 Quadra St, Victoria)
5 pm - potluck with Food Not Bombs
Celebration of the Bear Mountain Tree Sit and The Joy of Dissent
6 pm - The Stimulator, Live!
Frank "The Stimulator" Lopez of subMedia.tv discusses "Media Activism in a Police State" and fills us in on how he got the story, and got away with it too. Find out why we're recruiting "video ninjas" to report on the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
7 pm - "Ground Noise & Static," subMedia and PepperSpray Productions' video about the crackdown on dissent at the Republican and Democratic National Convention (30 minutes) followed by more discussion. http://submedia.tv
8 pm - Live Beats and Jams with the Outspoken Wordsmiths, dancing and socializing 'til 11 pm. (More details to be announced.)
Plus - retro bike auction, 50/50 draw, fine art raffle and lots more!
All ages - accessible - admission by donation. Proceeds benefit subMedia and Forest Action Network.
Thanks to everyone for your unbeatable help!
For the frogs,
Zoe
More info:
http://treesit.blogspot.com
http://www.spencerspond.ca
http://forestaction.ca
editor's note: as far as i know, ingmar lee and the bare mountain bonanza mining corporation still own the mineral rights .... see video ....
