This is the time of year where we look back on the year gone by.
Every year around Jan. 1 (this year, due to the eccentricities of the calendar, actually on Jan. 1) we publish a year in review, so all of our readers can take a look back at some of the biggest news and other stories of that year.
This year has been no different. As I’m writing this, the reporters are hard a work on their individual pieces, each taking on a couple of specific topics, both serious and fun.
What I do is scan through all of our editions for the year and pull out all of the other stories, not being covered by the reporters, that stand out and turn them into briefs. While doing this, I also try to pull out some of our best work to enter for our industry awards. The entries for these also have to be in this time of year (because year-end isn’t busy enough!).
As you all know, the letters section is one of my favourite parts of the paper (although it probably gets me in more trouble than all the other parts combined. It’s amazing how many people don’t want to read something that they don’t agree with, and decide to shoot the messenger).
But traditionally, letters don’t fall under the material we put in the year in review.
So for this column I decided to take a look at what readers were writing to us about in January of 2019.
In our Jan. 2 edition there were letters about two popular topics of last year. One expressed the view that McAdam Park, which the City of Duncan was proposing to make significant changes to, should be left alone. This letter writer certainly wasn’t alone in this sentiment. There was also a letter addressing the emerging issue of North Cowichan’s municipal forest, and whether logging should continue in these areas (this letter writer felt “no”).
In our Jan. 9 edition we had someone lamenting the use of “holiday” instead of “Christmas”. There were also several letters lauding various officials for their hard work following December 2018’s devastating windstorm. These continued to come in throughout the month.
On Jan. 16 we ran a letter mourning the death of legendary sportswriter Jim Taylor. On Jan. 23 the federal Minister of Transport wrote to us promising that the federal government is committed to solving the problem of derelict boats. There was also a letter about how terrible the new bureaucracy was that was delaying the opening of any cannabis stores in Cowichan. Certainly not the last time we heard about that.
So that’s some of what the Cowichan Valley was talking about in January of 2019.
