Dear Editor:

The Radium Lodge, built in the sixties from concrete and steel. So its an eyesore is it? It was built by the McIntosh family and built well. It was then run by the same family for 40 years and run well. It used to be the place to go for dinners and occasions like weddings et cetera. Sure, when the 40-year lease ran out and it was replaced with a one-year one, who would be willing to spend money on it?

Mr. Ken Bell proposed to make it into a new diabetic clinic or diabetes spa. Many think it would be a good idea walking distance via the elevator to the pool, lots of room for exercise. It wouldnt have a negative impact on all the vacant room in the rest of Radium.

(Former Minister of Canadian Heritage) Sheila Copps was very much against building anything more in the park. I agree, but by removing the lodge, how much more sheep pasture would that give her?

Like Doug McIntosh said, the sheep are all by the golf course in the winter. We see very few goats by the pools, just the odd sheep walking by. What will the removal of the lodge cost? Then the landscaping?

The last I heard, the park is short of funds, so how about giving someone a 49-year lease and make some money rather than wasting half a million dollars or more on needless destruction? What do you think?

Gunnar Jorgenson

Invermere B.C.