Trouble in the Honey Hive Gas Prices Over The
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$ 25 1(incl. GST) Wednesday, May 9, 2007 47TH YEAR ISSUE 19 Salt Spring Centre School kids get ready for their turn at the Maypole. Photo by Derrick Lundy YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1960 DriftwoodGULF ISLANDS Community Cookbook | inside Garage Sales | 41 [email protected] www.gulfislands.net Gas Index Arts ............................ 17 Classifieds ................. 38 prices Editorials .......................8 Ferry Schedules ........ 35 Health ......................... 34 Horoscope .................. 41 over Letters ......................... 9 Sports ......................... 35 TV Listings ................. 19 the top What’s On.................. 26 No rhyme or reason for exorbitant costs -/24'!'%15%34)/.3 ASK!RLENE By STACY d CARDIGAN SMITH Driftwood Staff ",/ At $1.36 a litre, Salt Spring is at the top of the charts for *"/ gas prices in Canada, if not North America. “It sucks. It really sucks,” Weather said Pierre St. Pierre as he fi lled up his Econoline 150 WHAT’S THE BUZZ?: Fulford valley beekeeper Dave Harris is not yet worried about stories of declin- Daily doses of sunshine van on Tuesday afternoon ing honeybee populations, while others in southern B.C. have sounded an alarm about serious colony with just a few clouds at Save-on-Gas. “I miss my decline. Photo by Derrick Lundy tomorrow (Wednesday). motorbike.” Highs to 18 (Friday); But before islanders place overnight lows to 7 the blame on local stations, (Thursday). Shell station owner Blaine Trouble in the honey hive Johnson said his cost is directly determined by his By SEAN MCINTYRE the Fulford Valley. His family’s mod- endless parade of viruses and mites. suppliers. Driftwood Staff est organic honey operation is more Once critters are dealt with, apiarists Inserts Both Shell and Payless are Salt Spring Island beekeepers may of a hobby than anything else, though can only hope the weather will coop- • Thrifty Foods supplied by Shell Canada but be among the fi nal holdouts as a mys- the family sells its surplus at a road- erate. • Ganges Village Market are independently owned and terious bee-killing illness continues side stall and the Saturday market. In recent months, however, yet • Home Hardware operated. Both had prices at to spread across the North American So far, Farias has yet to experi- another problem has beset the bee- • Rona West • Vitamin Shop or close to $1.36 per litre continent. ence anything resembling losses felt keepers, baffling amateurs, com- • Mark’s Work Wearhouse Tuesday afternoon. Save-on- “It’s kind of scary,” said Darren by beekeepers elsewhere in North mercial producers, hobbyists and • Ganges Pharmasave Gas has a different supplier, Farias. “Then again you don’t know if America, but the events have cer- researchers alike. but was also sitting at $1.36. it’s just talk or reality.” tainly piqued his interest. Scientists call the phenomenon Johnson said he pays more For three years, Farias has tended For decades, beekeepers across per litre and doesn’t make a small apiary of roughly 10 hives in North America have adapted to an BEE DEATHS 2 as much per litre as stations on Vancouver Island. As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, most Lady- smith locations were charg- ing $1.19.9 per litre. (For more gas prices, see accom- Design charette: visions of what could be panying table.) By SEAN MCINTYRE boats where islanders can ners, artists and designers ence at the Farmers Institute This difference can add up Driftwood Staff fi nally enjoy affordable sea- accomplished during the during a three-hour meeting for islanders. Imagine a community of side living. Institute for Sustainability Friday evening. “When I go off [island], 5,000 where the arts and cul- Even the once uninspir- Education & Action (I-SEA) “What you may see may I fi ll up,” St. Pierre said. “I ture are celebrated along- ing parking lots are cobbled, four-day charette project. seem like a Jules Verne take all my jerricans and I side a thriving local econ- beautifully landscaped and The inspiration for the novel,” Smith told the crowd. fi ll up [because B.C. Ferries omy. Small-town sprawl is pedestrian-friendly walking charette exercise, organizers “In some places we may have doesn’t charge by weight].” replaced by a well-planned areas. explained, is to “paint a pic- gone over the edge and in Jana Saunderson, spokes- village core, a place where “Cars are still around, but ture of the possible” based others we may not have gone person for Shell Canada, “downtown” residents can they’re not the focus. Atten- on the hundreds of pages of far enough.” would not say how much spark the barbecue on their tion is on the people in the Salt Spring Official Com- In Fulford, plans call for Shell Canada charges gas second and third fl oor bal- cars instead,” said Graham munity Plan (OCP) recom- underground water cisterns station operators per litre conies as they watch visitors Smith, a participant in last mendations developed by for every new home and on Salt Spring or Vancouver and islanders mingle among week’s design charette work- focus group members cur- extensive grey and black Island. shops, restaurants and galler- shops. “We’re striving to cre- rently working alongside the water management to alle- As both the Shell Canada- ies on Lower Ganges Road. ate a more piazza-like atmo- Islands Trust. viate potential growth on a supplied stations on-island After dinner, residents can sphere, a place where people Results from groups limited sewer system. are independent, she said, walk through Grace Point, want to be.” examining the Ganges core, Back in Ganges, imple- Shell plays no role in deter- reclaimed as public space, And that is exactly what greater Ganges and Fulford menting renewable power or along a completed board- a group of 35 students and villages were presented to a A year of GAS COSTS 3 walk overlooking house professional architects, plan- lively and inquisitive audi- DESIGN CHARETTE 2 celebration GANGES 10% off Tuesdays Enter to WIN Happy 100 (some restrictions apply) ILLAGE ARKET One Of 7 New Beginnings Spa Package V M Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa Mother’s Closer to the Community Compliments of Dove Brands & Country Grocer Draw Date May 12, 2007 Day! Locally owned and operated OPEN DAILY 8am - 9pm 2 ▲ WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2007 NEWSBEAT GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD ICBC CLAIMS - Re-designed Driftwood debuts May 16 PERSONAL INJURY Driftwood readers should be pre- tion, quote of the week, historical photo Except for a front-page makeover • 25 years successfully representing injured persons pared for a new look to their commu- and a “you asked us” column, where instituted eight years ago and refi ne- • NO FEE until you collect nity newspaper when it hits the streets editorial staff dig up the answers to ments made since, the Driftwood has next Wednesday. readers’ burning questions. maintained the same editorial look •Free confi dential consultation While it will still be immediately rec- After receiving input from Driftwood since July of 1994. ognizable as the Gulf Islands Driftwood, staff, award-winning Gibsons-based Coinciding with that change, the PAUL B. JOYCE the paper joins the 21st century when it designer Shelley Ackerman brought Driftwood said it would receive letters Barrister & Solicitor comes to modern design standards. back proposals for consideration, with to the editor electronically on a trial (250) 537-4413 (24 hours) New content accompanies the visual the fi nal version the one set to run May basis via the community bulletin board changes, with a weekly web poll ques- 16. service called Raven Net. BEE DEATHS “THE LOCAL” From Page 1 Liquor Store responsible for the deaths of thousands have been forwarded as possible expla- of colonies in 22 states Colony Col- nations to the mystery. lapse Disorder (CCD). “It’s classic,” said Simpson. “Put 10 In Canada, researchers suspect CCD beekeepers in a room and you’ll end up for what the Ontario Beekeepers Asso- with 15 different opinions.” ciation estimates has been an 18 per In the 30 years he’s tended bees, Ful- cent annual decline in bee populations ford’s Dave Harris has lived through his over the past decade. share of ups and downs. CCD is the latest headache for North Beekeeping, he said, is not a venture American apiarists and, while it now without risk and Salt Spring proves a has a name, researchers are still at a challenging place to raise bees at the loss to explain its cause. best of times. Sometimes a long and John Simpson and his wife used to wet winter is enough to devastate an tend around 25 hives in Langley. Last entire colony. Organic operations, he year he lost 75 per cent of his operation added, barely stand a chance. to CCD and things don’t look any more At this point of the year, he said, it is promising this time around. diffi cult to say why the bees are slow to “Everyone is going through this with return, though he isn’t shy to call the their blinders on. For some reason, prospect of widespread bee deaths sen- these things always seem to start here,” sationalist. Of more immediate concern, he said. “You guys [on Salt Spring] are Harris said, are the vandals who knock lucky because you’re isolated on an down his hives for late-night kicks. island.” “All is not doom and gloom,” Harris Just last week, a Saanich beekeeper said. “So far everything seems fine. Locally owned and operated • 9 am-11 pm discovered he’d lost a colony of roughly There’s been some hives lost, but no In Gasoline Alley 537-WINE (9463) 20,000 bees.