GROW-OPS, BIKES, WATER

Following are items that may soon grow up to become full-fledged
editorials on their own:

Kamloops city council plans to take a closer look at the controversial
seizure of grow-op.

While in theory it sounds like scooping a drug house is a no-brainer,
we wonder if it's fair to seize the property of an honest landlord who
unknowingly rents his home to law-busting tenants.

Should a gun shop owner be charged with murder if he sells a firearm
to a person who eventually goes postal? Should car dealers be held
accountable for selling vehicles to drivers who later drink, maim or
kill once behind the wheel?

It seems unfair to landlords, who pay their fair share of policing
taxes, to be somehow responsible for all of society's unscrupulous
characters.

* Coun. Pat Wallace is right on in her concerns about the absence of
police bike patrols in this community.

Perhaps when the city and police meet behind closed doors they can
find the funds or means to get the pedal pushers back in the saddle.
Bike patrols are making a positive impact in communities across the
country. Why not Kamloops?

* Coun. Terry Lake, who believes taxpayers' money to improve water,
sewage and recreation in this growing community are funds well spent,
joked Saturday that street tolls won't be implemented to help pay the
big bills! Sounds like he'd make a popular MLA with that promise!

* Speaking of recreation and water, wouldn't it be great if teams
competing in the Tournament Capital of Canada didn't have to worry
about drinking the water during time outs?

* Saturday's Run Against Racism at Riverside Park and the Wheels In
Motion fundraiser at McArthur Island are excellent events. Hopefully
next year they're not on the same weekend as a lot of folks wanted to
take part in both events -- impossible when they're at the same time
on the same day.

* Nice to see ex-premier Mike Harcourt up and around after a scary
accident that left the former NDP leader partially paralysed. His
visit to Kamloops on Saturday to kick-start the Wheels In Motion event
at McArthur Island was inspirational.

* Summer weather has arrived in Kamloops, but nobody is feeling the
heat more than MLA Claude Richmond.

The Liberal politician was booed and heckled at the Home Depot opening
on Thursday due to his party's position on the Coquihalla Highway.

The home improvement crowd is rarely that nasty!