Golden – Lets Look At It
From The Golden Star – February 9, 1956
Golden: Let’s Look At It
The following unsolicited article was submitted for publication by one of our local readers. It is the first of a series of editorials by the same writer. While worded rather strongly, we believe the writer has a few good points in the article and, after due consideration, we decided to publish it with the hope that it would lead to some action which would result in ultimate improvement to the town.
What would be an apt description of Golden? It is an unorganized area of homes and shacks crisscrossed by dirty, dusty or muddy unnamed streets inhabited by some of the smuggest, most listless, pharisaical hillbillys north of Kentucky. Unfair? Let’s look at the record.
Golden has been settled for well over 50 years. It has had its ups and downs like any community. Yet today in the year 1956 it is still a dirty unorganized blot on the map. What can we point with justifiable pride to around the townsite> A few homes and properties reflect the pride of the owners. The federal and provincial governments have two fine buildings and we have a modern school. That’s it. On the other hand mist properties are a mess. Look at the unsightly, unused outhouses and half-ruied barns in so many backyards; the fallen down fences and piles of junk all over the place. For all intents and purposes paint hasn’t been invented yet. Even our heavy winter snow fails to hide the ugliness that is Golden. Look at the Civic Centre, one of the few collective efforts at bettering the community and basically a fine building. It is falling apart at the seams and only three-quarters finished. Take the curling rink. We boast the oldest club in BC Its facilities for public comfort are as primitive as an (edited for appropriateness). If the Club had any self-righteous pride it wouldn’t have the nerve to invite outside rinks. For all too many members the bonspiel is just an excuse for a winding drunken spree.
Our streets have names but only one person in ten could tell you what street he lives on. Our merchants scalp the hides off the paying consumer. We have lost all initiative for advancement as a progressive community. Perhaps we can partially explain our lethargic state on the polluted water we drink.
To a large extent the dilapidated condition of the area reflects the moral bankruptcy of the majority of the people. For they are ultimately responsible for the above state of affairs. The beer parlors and liquor store do a land office business. At times drunks are as common on our streets as the horses and cows. Vital statistics show that Golden has the highest rate of illegitimacy per capita of any place in Canada. It probably has the highest rate of liquor consumption too. This writer does not have a liquor bias, being a moderate imbiber himself. But isn’t it self-evident that all too many Goldenites really go overboard? Our churches are more often empty than not, which only emphasises our degeneracy. Can we be proud of this record? It’s a good bet that hillbillies of Kentucky can boast more self respect. Do we dare expect any better of the young generation? Not from the example of their elders. Except for a few voices crying in the wilderness the population is sunken in apathy; it abhors change and progress like it does sobriety. The few community conscious persons (by far and large recent newcomers to Golden) who dare to suggest improvements are almost snowed under by the deadly listless, progress-hating attitude of the majority. Why should we pay a garbage collector a dollar a month when we can dump it in the nearest ditch for free? Or, we’ve got a hospital, what do we want with another one? Or, we have been wards of the government for over 50 years, why should we take on the responsibility of self-government?
We have no community conscience. We have smothered it through the years with self-gratification and laziness – both mental and physical. There seems to be no ambition for self improvement or community progress. “Drink and be merry for tomorrow we die” is our motto.
These are some of the may and serious deficiencies in the collective character of that blot on the map we call Golden and the people who dwell therein. Self-criticism or soul-searching can hurt. Let’s hope the above facts hurt but good. If they hurt, perhaps our consciences are not completely dead; perhaps there is a shred of personal integrity left. Maybe, then, we can begin the long journey towards a decent, self-respecting community.