The Baldy Hughes Therapeutic Community got some great news earlier this month when two fundraisers netted the men's addictions recovery centre more than $100,000.
Canadian singing superstar Chantal Kreviazuk sweetened the pot, offering a taste of her talent for a few dozen donors who paid $2,000 a plate for a dinner show at two private homes in Vancouver and Prince George.
Kreviazuk's generosity and message of compassion towards those struggling with addiction was moving, to say the least - especially in light of the fact her brother is benefiting from the centre's landmark program.
It's unfortunate the appointed representative of Baldy Hughes, board chair Kevin England, couldn't get a better grasp on what the centre is accomplishing.
In a story that he fed to the Vancouver media (but actively blocked from being reported in Prince George), he's quoted as saying: "Your cars are safer tonight because of Baldy Hughes. The guys there could hit 32 a night."
The comment is a staggering example of England's shallowness and lack of awareness of what Baldy Hughes is all about.
He couldn't have said anything more clueless or crass in a room such as this. People do not pay $2,000 for a plate of food and a song (no matter how nicely delivered) to keep their loose change and car stereos safe. They do it to save lives.
And we have to wonder what Kreviazuk - or anyone who's had a loved one in recovery - thought about that flippant remark.
The comment also shoots serious holes in this mythmaking that England has a deep desire to save men from the suffering that is addiction.
And it brings up another question - if he's so worried about the people of Prince George (or rather their cars), why did he block the heartwarming fundraiser story from being told here?
Is it possible he doesn't really care what the folks of this city thinks? That Vancouver is the only pedestal from which he wishes to crow?
Bringing things back into perspective, one man alone can't undo the great achievements of so many caring men and women. It also takes a political blind eye.
And although we thank Housing Minister Rich Coleman for willingly speaking to Prince George's residents (once its media got through to him), his message of hope for Baldy Hughes's future doesn't ring true.
Promises have long been made that the board, or at the very least its chair, would return to local oversight, but there's been no movement in that direction.
With the board's site visits counted on one hand, with meetings held somewhere in a Vancouver glass tower, with governance removed from the complex program that it's governing, how long will it take until it unravels altogether?
-- Prince George Citizen
