6 Opinions © February 1, 2006 + Over the Edge Letters to the Editor Sunday Bus Service BELINDA Li UNBC students JackieThompson (left) and Katie Raz (right) save a hike up the hill with the Sunday Bus Service, A new year has come and with it the announcement that bus service will (finally) be offered in Prince George, at least for the moment. As a student at UNBC and a bus rider I find myself overjoyed with the concept. As a third year science student, last semester I walked up the hill almost every Sunday to work on homework, labs and to study for midterms. In fact the only Sundays I didn’t spend time at the UNBC li- brary I was out of town. So you can - imagine my joy that the hour-long walk would be over. There would be a trial service the last three Sundays in the semester. I was jubilant, maybe even giddy, as I walked to the table outside. the NUGSS office to pick up a copy of the schedule. I became slightly less ju- bilant when I saw there were no copies left for me to take but I was still smil- ing as I looked at the large copy of the schedule to find out when the bus came past my house, The smile faded, the bus didn't go up to the school from the bowl area until 12:30. Mor e fading, the bus route doesnt even go by my house (it literally stops in front of my house normally), there is a 5-10 minute walk and.a45 minute bus ride or a 20 minute walk and a 5 minute bus ride. And my mouth actually dropped, the last bus left UNBC at 4:30? I had been going up to the school around 11 and staying until 6 or 7 or later for midterms. But I decided that it was a trial run (it might change) and that I supposed anything was better than nothing. So on the first Sunday I walked to Foothills and 15 (the 20 minute walk) and waited for the bus. And waited and waited. 15 minutes late the bus came. I got on the bus and sat down. The bus sat at the bus stop for a full minute when it was already 15 minutes late. The next weekend I opted for the 5 minute walk, and the bus was still 10 minutes late by my schedule. I sat silently cursing people with cars for my 45 minute tour through the residential areas of Prince George, When I got up to the school I not iced a new sign that said there was a new schedule made after last week's late buses. The bus had in fact been on time by the new schedule but I take the bus almost everyday and hadn't seen the “new” sign at all. I don't know when it was posted but I suspect (perhaps un- justly, I don't notice everything) it was posted on friday afternoon. I threw my useless schedule away and picked up a new one. I used the bus on the third Sunday as well, Please note I had to bum a ride down from someone on all three days because I didn't leave until 7 or 8. Well a new semester started and with it came signs that the bus sched- ule would be permanent (at least for the semester). I rolled my eyes as I noticed the schedule was exactly the same as the trial run. Yes, I agree that it is extremely nice to-have some buses running on Sundays but wouldnt it be nicer to have useful buses on Sundays? If you wanted buses on Sunday to be This is An Apology This is an apology. The opinion piece that was written in last edition’s OTE contained a tone that was not intended to be present. The issues that were sup- posed to be the focus of the article were obscured by suggestions. The truth was, we had written a rough draft, and then realizing the tones conveyed, did an edit, which for reasons unknown didn’t take. We were looking at several by-laws on the NUGSS site regarding the election dates that seemed to indi- cate that the proper amount of time had not been allowed, We were con- cerned by this. They may have posted this within the times thought necessary, but given the relevancy of the issue, it possibly wasn't promoted as well as it should have. We were still in the process of gath- ering data, when we were informed that if we wanted to discuss this in the next issue of OTE that we had to make a submission right away. Hence the er- rors and issues with the edits. Most NUGSS members are hard-working individuals who honestly want to help the student population. We think this is clear in the work done over the last year: pursuing options for the student union, building, getting a Sunday bus service, and helping resident students with travel. Even their failed by-law regarding the Equality Representative, which we disagree with, was probably crafted with good intentions. We highly encourage all to partici- pate in the NUGSS AGM now, and in able to go to church, you were out of — luck because the buses don't run until after church starts. If you wanted buses so you could go to the library and do _ work all day you were half out of luck because the buses didn’t start particu- larly early and finished much too soon. If you wanted. buses because you live in residence and want to go and get gro- ceries, you couldn't buy anything frozen because you have a 45-60 minute bus ride. Only if you wanted to go some- where prominent in a 4 hour period on Sunday afternoon is the bus really useful. So while I do appreciate the for- ward progress in regards to bus rou tes, why do we have to move in such small incremental steps? I can't believe that so many more people like to go out or run errands on Saturdays than on Sundays that we cant have complete routes and a full day of buses on both days. What is the huge hold up? Is the bus company really losing money? I seriously doubt that. There have been more times this year that I have been on one of two buses running the same route or hav- ing buses become so full that people were turned away, than ever before, There are a ton of people using buses, Sunday should be no different. I per- sonally feel this NTIC committee and PG Transit need to take their heads out of their asses and really look at the bus use, especially by students. The fact that we have a pathetic excuse for ser- vice on Sundays should not be enough. We should not have to be satisfied with a half-assed attempt at making these public services available. Now that Ive started writing all this down, I'm really pissed off that PG Transit and NTIC. are expecting students to be happy with the crap they are giving us. And while I’m on the subject why the hell can't they set up the regular bus routes to arrive at UNBC on “quarter-hours” instead of being 25 minutes early or five minutes late for classes that start on the hour or half-hour. And for that matter what is wrong with the damn bookstore that they can't get our fuck- ing books in BEFORE classes start? Well this really has digressed but the point is, we are university students, we are stereotyped as the most radical and free-thinking, “give-uis-what-we-want/ deserve” people on the planet. We should be able to put up some small protests when were handed shit on a stick and told to enjoy it. - Elizabeth Fyles the future. However, we wish to extend our sincerest apologies to the NUGSS board for any inaccurate character- izations that were made in the article. We hope that we can continue to do constructive things for the school, and we would hope others would not be deterred from running for NUGSS positions in the future for fear of being underappreciated. They are appreci- ated and needed. Having said all that, if we feel that an issue exists and needs to be talked about, or addressed, we will be very vocal. We would rather be vocal and wrong than silent and right. May you all have a good semester, and be suc- cessful in your studies, - Shawn Rennebohm and Dave Vogt On the Digital Front Positive Post-Election Digital Points JEREMY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER The election is over. and there is some interesting occurrences in it. Many polls indicated that the Liber- als would be worried that the Bloc would take over for the official oppos- ition and th Conservatives could win a majority government. The fact that the polls ended up being so far off when the Liberals won over 100 seats (even though they didn't win) Then again, there is always the undecided vote that even polls cant test. So what happened in the election that digital-conscious voters might want to know? Well, a multitude of things. Sam Bulte, who has been re- ported calling the EFF and Internet users ‘pro-user zealots; failed to get her seat by 2000 votes. If the Liber- als won, she would have been the next Minister of Heritage. She has also been reported to receiving thousands and thousands of dollars in campaign contributions by copyright stakehold- ers. She lost to the NDP candidate, Peggy Nash, in that riding (who, in turn, saw Sam Bulte go on a tangent on how she didn't take the copyright pledge, among other things). Another thing is actually the big- gest highlight of the Conservative agenda, This is the Federal Account- ability Act, which criminalizes lobby- ists if they contribute more then 1000 dollars. This would make Sam Bulte’s fundraiser (or‘Copyright Celebration’ as she calls it) illegal. This is a good thing, because it should slow the pro- cess of draconian US-style copyright laws being imported into Canadian law. Given that we don't have the “Fair Use” provision along with other pro-user laws enjoyed by Americans, we would be far worse off then our American counterparts. Another thing is the fact that Con- servatives merely won a minority, UBC Diplom Accounting so even if they turn out to be pro- copyright and anti-consumer, like what the Liberals have proven to be through Bill C-60 and Bill C-74 and their response to CIPPIC questions (not just the Sam Bulte incident), then they stand a chance at falling just like the Liberals in the last ses- sion. The government fell in the last session and scrapped Bill C-60 and Bill C-74. ~ A name to watch for now is Bev Oda. As of the writing of this article, she is predicted to be the next Min- ister of Heritage. Looking at her background, she has a long history of being a management figure in high-end TV broadcasting, as well as been a member of the CRTC board. Personally, this makes me worried, because she may have impartial views of this whole thing and may lean to- wards copyright stakeholders. The problem with the Conserva- tive party is the fact that they didnt really be clear on their position of copyright or Sony BMG Rootkits or Sony BMG SunnComm spyware technology encoded on albums (and yes, these CD's have been imported into Canada,. infecting Canadian computers). One last thing is that the Con- servatives plan to reform the justice system. I personally liked the judge who ruled that p2p can be likened to a photocopier in a library. I hope whatever changes occur will be done without disrupting rulings like this, since I heard about an American judge didnt do much after it was found out that the RIAA induced a witness to lie on the stand. ‘All in all, it is unclear where the results of the election will go, but I hope it puts Canada on a much more positive position instead of a draco- ‘jnian copyright position. ain Program if you are a university graduate seeking a professional accounting designation, you can.fast-track your education through the UBC Diploma in Accounting Progam (DAP). 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