Council condones alcohol smuggling...

In an odd display of musical Black Hats/White Hats, Coldstream Council last night voted against the LP licence application by Highlands Golf to allow liquor sales onto the golf course, versus the present Clubhouse and Patio licence. Councillors previously FOR the licence are now AGAINST and, conversely, one or two AGAINST seemed to have swung. They could have amended the staff recommendation for full support, they could have decided to send the application off to Victoria without making a comment, they could have accepted the staff recommendation...lots of choices. Councillor Cochrane's comment, "We're not representing our constituents (on the petition) if we allow this," was a 180-degree turn. He appeared not to care that the petition was a travesty. Sigh. So let's review the petition: the ANTI group attended 57 homes in the surrounding area and said at each door that "Highlands Golf will become a year-round pub." Council's memory appears short, as they've forgotten last month's meeting where Jeff Mellows--presumably one of two who started the petition--squirmed and back-pedalled while he was at the microphone. "You mean it won't be open year-round?" Staff reply: "no, the facility is governed by zoning to be open only during the Okanagan golf season." "You mean it will close two hours after sunset?" Staff reply: "yes, the facility's hours aren't superseded by liquor licence hours." All of which was followed by considerable "umm...er....a....oh...." from Mr. Mellows. More squirming...and throat-clearing, concluding with "oh, thank you," as he backed away from the podium. The next day I wrote an email to the neighbour Schwartz--presumably the other petition originator--asking them to revisit those 57 homes and ask the correct question. No reply. No "corrected" petition. Now to a particularly distasteful part of recent history...the comments of Schwartz the neighbour. Or, more correctly, the comments made by James Cotter, the Schwartz solicitor, during the February 23rd public hearing, where he stood at the microphone and said "people exposing themselves to the children, urinating at the fenceline." Repeated in Mr. Cotter's written submission in the agenda. Yet--on March 15th--Sheila Schwartz wrote in an email to me: "I do not see anywhere in the correspondence to Coldstream council where we have stated that men are purposefully exposing themselves to our chiildren(sic) in a criminal manner." And Todd Schwartz' comment to me during a brief telephone conversation, "It's just a couple of goons, a couple of young guys." I logged the conversation on my computer, and sent it as a "clarification" to council. Shortly after, his wife denied he had said that. And on it went: "We have never burned illegally," begins an email from Schwartzes on May 2, 2009, "yet you keep saying that we do." a communique from the Schwartz household stated. (The smoke-on-the-patio photo, taken April 27/08 around dusk, was sent to the Bylaw Officer for his records). A stroke of luck -- a firefighter was here that night, appalled at what was occurring. He took a photo of the smoke too. "Wait longer yet," suggests Kia, "and the story will change again." How many versions are there? So the Liquor Inspector's recommendation for the LP licence was ignored by Council. Now what? I don't know of any pub that has a golf course. Do you? Unauthorized liquor is everywhere...even at Coldstream Park, behind Coldstream Elementary School. Right in Council's own back yard. Council condones liquor smuggling into Coldstream Park. Council had a chance to virtually end liquor smuggling at Highlands Golf. They ignored that opportunity. Is Council concerned about the sheer volume of liquor consumed at Coldstream Park? Are they keen to check people's picnic baskets and remove illicit alcohol from the myriad family reunions for which the park's BBQ area is rented each year? Nah... It's not an airport. Search and seizure is frowned upon at a park. And at a golf course," affirms Kia.