By George, it's Paradise Lost

There was a tinge of anger in the preacher man's voice.
It was controlled, but Brian Elam's frustration with Shuswap MLA George Abbott's lethargy and "do nothingness" in regards to the Whispering Pines (misnamed Cedar Hill) Fire of August 2003 was just seething beneath the surface of his gigantic frame.
After all, the fire had caused at least six figures in timber losses to his land, and all he received was a $10,000 hardship grant, and even Elam wasn't sure if Abbott had any input in the pittance.
However, the most aggravating aspect was Elam and his wife, Linda, compiled 100 pages of documented evidence concerning the fire, and to date, Abbott has chosen to ignore it and if it ever reached the B.C. attorney-general's office there's not been one peep out of Victoria.
Adding a major-league insult to the frustration of at least a dozen or so farmers and ranchers in the Whispering Pines-Salmon River Road area was the well-publicized fact that Kelowna was handed over hundreds of thousands of dollars for railway trestles and other non-necessities.
"Did you hear about the man over there, who lost his travel trailer while he was out fighting the fires and now he has a brand new motorhome?" asked Elam. That's some payback, I thought to myself.
Elam, a mechanic who still helps out in ministry with a Kamloops church, also didn't understand why a dance troupe was given $7,500 from the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
However, the preacher man wasn't the only affected by Abbott's non-caring attitude.
Lori Dery, a divorced mother of two youngsters owns a small grocery store on Salmon River Road, between Vernon and Falkland. Her business lives or dies on transient traffic.
Her world was devastated by The Fire.
On Friday, August 1, 2003, Lori was spending the night at her sister's home in Vernon and was called by one of her Salmon River Road neighbors at 5 a.m. "My neighbor told me to get our stuff and get out ... my parents (the Camerons live on Yankee Flats) were out of town, so it became a case of a whole bunch of volunteers -- anybody with a truck and a horse trailer -- helping all the neighbors." There were 12 horses on the Camerons' lands.
Lori's boyfriend, Trent, hooked up the Camerons' truck and attempted to get as many animals out of the danger zone, including those of Charlene Robinson, who also had serious financial hardships because of The Fire.
"I didn't open the store, but took all the water out and gave it to the firemen ... I was closed for seven days," said Lori. All her perishable groceries were lost.
When Lori tried to recoup her losses, which she estimated to be at least $14,000, she struck out. Her ING insurance agent told her that her policy didn't include a loss of earnings clause. She would only have been eligible for monies if her grocery outlet had been burned to a crisp. As in toast.
Lori Dery became desperate.
She began phoning for fire relief. The answers were always a resounding, "No."
"Everyone I called said they didn't deal with that. That included the Red Cross and Community Futures."
Lori freely admitted she cried every day.
"When you're a small business you can't afford a week off. Not right in the middle of summer. No one ever gave me any encouragement, just sent me to another phone number. 'Try these people.' No answers. I was told businesses in Kelowna that weren't even shut down were given compensation because they didn't have the customers they normally did."
Then she had words for MLA Abbott's indifference. "I tried repeatedly to find out if George Abbott could help or why I wasn't getting any answers. I have never been able to talk to him."
***
Fast forward to Saturday, April 30, 2005: "Have you seen George Abbott in this area?" I asked Lori Dery. "No," she said, "but I did see in the paper that he cut the ribbon for that stop light in Falkland."
Fast forward to Sunday, May 1, 2005: The Missus was visibly upset as we drove along Highway 97 Whispering Pines. "Would you look at this mess!"
The ugliness of burned stumps and fallen trees, mixed with weeds, was evident on both sides of the highway.
"Yeah," I sighed. "Just to think this once was paradise."