25 Years Ago in Nexus

Views March 1, 2017

Now that’s a letter to the editor: We mentioned our columnist Alakson Snow recently here in 25 Years Ago in In Nexus; Snow is the pen name of someone who wrote opinion pieces for us a quarter-century back. These days, we don’t allow writers to hide behind fake names, but we did then, much to the chagrin of letter-writer Chris Conway, who wrote in to us in our March 2, 1992 issue. “One of the lowest forms of life on the planet must be that belly slithering slime that manifests itself as an opinion columnist without the courage or ethics to use its real name,” he wrote. “These creatures are costing us dearly for in truth there would be more trees on this planet if a requirement for saying something in print was that there was something worth saying,” he wrote before signing off with, “Back to your hole, creature!”

If by “resigned” you mean “fiercely opposed,” sure: This issue featured a story, “Mixed reaction to parking forums,” about parking forums that were being held at the college to address students’ concerns about rising parking fees. Camosun student Darren Sutton told us that he didn’t feel there was even any way for students to voice their concerns at the forums, saying “It looked more like a bunch of information set out to justify why the rates are going to double.” Meanwhile, Camosun transportation advisory committee member Gail Baxter told us that “students seemed pretty resigned to the idea of fees being increased.”

You know, that is stupid!: This issue’s Speak Up asked students what they thought of the problem of lead in the water at Camosun’s now-defunct Carey Road campus; the best answer came from Isabella Bengall, who said, “It seems sort of stupid that they have ‘no smoking’ signs and lead in the water.”