JAILS SHOULD JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS

The other night, I went for a drive -- mainly so I wouldn't have to
convince myself a gold medal in ice dancing makes up for Canada
getting smoked by the U.S. in hockey.

It was a short drive. After all, gas is $1.12 per litre. But it went
long enough to coast across the new 240 Street bridge over Kanaka Creek.

The Kanaka has a special place in my heart. It runs behind my home and
I've spent many hours walking along it with my daughter discussing
world affairs, Canadian politics and which one of the Jonas Brothers
is the cutest. (Emily says Joe, I say Nick and we both think Kevin is
funny, but kind of a dork.)

The new bridge is located next to an important spot for Kanaka Creek.
It's the fish fence and in October and November there is great viewing
of spawning salmon.

The bridge was needed. The old bridge was so narrow people avoided
crossing it if a truck was coming in the opposite direction. You
slowed down until it was empty and then crossed.

Now you don't have that problem. The bridge is so wide it could be
four lanes.

The project cost $4.7 million. The District of Maple Ridge was hoping
to get a federal stimulus grant but, well, we're not in Central Canada
so that didn't happen. What really bugged me about not getting federal
funds was we missed out on one of MP Randy Kamp's patented giant cheques.

I love those gigantic cheques. You know, the ones with Kamp's or the
Conservative's names on them, like they came out of their own bank
account.

My big question is what happens to those giant cheques after they get
handed out? Did Pitt Meadows get to keep it when Kamp gave money for
its ice arena? Does it go back to Kamp and get erased for the next big
donation? Is it hanging over somebody's fireplace?

I'm full of questions this week.

A different question is to the people who run our prison system: Why
are inmates dying of drug overdoses in locked facilities? Don't you
feel embarrassed?

The Tuesday edition of The TIMES told the story of Kyle Wigham, a
young man who died of a heroin overdose less than a month after
arriving at Maple Ridge's Fraser Regional Correctional Centre. A
coroner's report said there was evidence of other drugs in the cell,
including oxycodone.

Kyle's mom Patricia -- who turned her son in after he robbed a
7-Eleven store because she wanted him to get drug treatment -- thinks
guards might be bringing in drugs. She wants better measures to keep
drugs out of prison.

She also said Kyle had not tried heroin before he went to jail. What
does this say about our prison system?

You might have read Kyle's story and wondered why we should care.
After all, he was just a criminal. Aside from the fact that he's
somebody's son, my question to you is if you want to see crime go
down, wouldn't you want the drug addicts committing the crimes to get
treatment so when they get out of jail they don't have to steal to
feed their habit? And wouldn't you want them to not develop even worse
drug habits while in prison?

The last question for this column is to taxpayers. Do you care that
fares are not being collected on the West Coast Express during the
Olympics?

Several friends have taken advantage of the special trains going to
and from Vancouver during the Games. The trains have been full of
people, a situation that has led to people lining up to get tickets at
the machines. My friends tell me that when the trains arrive at the
stations, many of the people still waiting in line for tickets simply
leave the line and go onto the trains. The trains are so crowded,
people are not always being checked for tickets.

I can only imagine how much WCE paid CP Rail for this extra track
time. I can also only imagine how many people (tens...hundreds...thousands?)
haven't paid to go on the trains.