Letters to The Sun, May 3, 2022: John Mackie’s Muhammad Ali column ‘hits home’ for reader

Article content

Re: Muhammad Ali puts on a show at an old school boxing gym in North Vancouver

Article content

John Mackie’s Saturday column is always a highlight of my week. But the Muhammad Ali visited Vancouver really hit home.

I was an intern working for CKNW/Webster when I was sent to the North Shore boxing club to record some promos for the fight. I watched some of the workout, which was jaw-dropping in Ali’s magnificence. The skipping and the speed bag were amazing, but then he had huge men throwing a medicine ball at him to imitate Chuvalo’s punches. Near the end I was sent to the dressing room to wait, and in came The Greatest with a coterie of several large black men escorting him. They glared at the little white kid in the corner, but Ali did n’t see me until he was stripped of all but his calf-length boots from him. When he did see me, he wasn’t happy and inquired with a snarl as to what the #$@% I thought I was doing there. Before I could faint, Angelo Dundee came in, explained the situation, and gave Ali a robe. I never did ask for an autograph.

Article content

By the way, I am pretty sure the “Bob” Mills that Mr. Mackie refers to in the article must be “John” Mills, my classmate at Vancouver College.

G. Garry MacDonald, Ladner

Take care of yourself by getting annual physicals

Much has been made of the 900,000 British Columbians looking for a doctor, and it’s a desperate situation, to say the least. However, what I find equally appalling is the number of seniors of my acquaintance (who have doctors) who say they don’t go for annual checkups — only when they have some obvious ache or pain. This presupposes they don’t get the attendant blood work either.

Recently, my oldest friend died of preventable prostate cancer, having been diagnosed three years ago. I have admitted to me I hadn’t had a regular physical for a “few” years. Studies show that 95 per cent of men diagnosed early can expect to live at least another 15 years. At my age, I’ll take 15 over three anytime. If we learned nothing else from the current pandemic, we now know that we can get COVID and still be asymptomatic. The same holds true for any number of serious illnesses we may contract without knowing. At least an annual physical checkup gives us a fighting chance.

Article content

Be your own advocate for good health. It just might save your life.

Kent Chauvin, Vancouver

Old-growth harvest and clearcutting should be banned

Re: Forestry minister vows focus on innovation

Managing forests is about more than deciding where to clearcut old-growth. It is about making second-growth forests grow faster and make better lumber by such techniques as thinning and developing markets for the poles and posts, other than as fiber for pulp mills. Thinning can also increase resistance to forest fires. I’ve seen second-growth and plantation forest management in Norway, Germany, France, Japan and China. I’ve watched them carefully cut and pile poles, posts and small logs for processing.

I once asked a tree farmer in Japan when he would sell his timber and he said, “Maybe never. Why sell my trees when we can buy them for almost nothing from Canada?” Old-growth forest is almost gone, as we all knew it would be. Why fight over the last few hectares like wolves fighting over a carcass?

Article content

Old-growth harvest is, by definition, unsustainable, because once it is gone, it is gone forever. Clearcutting is forest destruction, not a forest management technique. These two practices should be banned forever.

Lee Harding, Coquitlam

Vancouver can learn from Vienna about lowering housing costs

The City of Vienna owns about a third of the rental units which effectively sets rental rates. If Vancouver is serious about lowering housing costs, it should develop the south shore of False Creek into housing. By eliminating the land cost, the developed cost per square foot would be much lower, permitting lower rents.

This sort of radical move would require City Hall to become efficient, which is a big ask.

David Williams, Vancouver

Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. E-mail [email protected]