Rumour has it that if you like walking your dog , or watching the ships, on the island, in the near future you cant. Seems the port authority is lowering the gates and patroling with their own army on the look out for evil terrorists who might want to harm us. 
this is only the start of fun things to come! 
You are right about the rumour part, I work on Ridley Island and as long as the Marine security (MARSEC) level remains low we have been told the gates will remain open as they are now. Although the gate will have a posted security person from the Corps of Commissionaires in the very near future, who are the security contractors for the Port Authority. Remember the sad reality is that this is a industrial work site and not a recreational area, and there are numerous liability issues related to this. They are actively pursuing even more development on the Island. The really ironic thing about the whole security issue here is that the percieved ‘terrorists’, the people we are trying to keep out like Iragi’s, Irani’s and Saudi’s come here often in huge vessels to load grain, and are actually our customers, and clients.
What will this posted security person do?
Just make sure nothing bad goes down or what?
Besides drink coffee and eat dounuts, lol. Not certain but probably just keep track of number of people and vehicles coming and going. If any shit goes down I don’t think they are prepared to really get involved, but more like observe and report and ‘CALL 911’.
That sounds okay to me. As long as I can still go to the beach everything is peachy.
Misinformed, Yes the gates are coming down, If I am correct and you are talking about the beach area past the gate at the end which being a gate implies you should not go past there as it is right now.
And looking out for terrorists, or smugglers and other such things is a bad thing?
Not all customers are innocent do gooders deserving of our open welcome arms.
Why yes it is when it infringes on our rights.
Not all iraqis/iranians are bad people. In fact I’d do the same bloody thing they do if the US invaded us for having oil and not being a democratic nation.
The US deserved what they got and if you dont think so look at their history.
I’m just counting the days until some one gets tazered for walking their dog 
It’s just such a bummer that the one really nice beach near town has to get cut off by industry.
While I agree that it sucks to lose access to certain areas, I also wouldn’t want anyone that works out there to be blown up or something because we all screamed about wanting access to use the land. Yes, I know that is a very remote possibility, but it has to be done. Safety is important and since Prince Rupert is standing on the precipice of becoming a major player on the world stage, it would look pretty juvenile if we don’t take basic security measures seriously.
Are you kidding ? Standing on the precipice? Have you looked around out there? If we are standing anywhere, it’s on the edge of a cliff 
Or are you a proponent of the former Mayor and his great “boom” bullshit …?
So you think a commissionaire and a guard house are actually going to stop someone with that kind of intent? IMHO this kind of thinking is (all though small) part of the problem.
precipice: a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.
cliff: a high steep face of a rock.
and the difference would be …?
No difference Might he( kaleid ) possibly have been implying that we were on the BRINK of becoming a “major player on the world stage” which is how I interpreted his post and resulted in my banter but thank you for the definitions… 
Firstly: I am a ‘she’.
Secondly: There was a thick layer of sarcasm over much of my post - I apologize for not making it more obvious (yet another example of why I believe there needs to be a sarcasm font)
Thirdly: While my intended sarcasm was evident on most of the post, there was a little bit of truth to it as well. Do I actually believe that someone would want to blow up anyone/anything in Rupert? No - but stranger things have happened. I do believe that this town is quite capable of becoming a major player in the cargo/container ship industry.
Soooo - I will try and work out my own sarcasm font and unveil it right here on HTMF to lessen the general confusion of my posts.
Please accept my apology…We need an emoticon for gender also… 
Weighed out, dog walking/beach visits vs. security of our country. What ever your views, and no matter how much you gripe, you will still lose out on the dogwalking/beach visits. Deal with it.
I’m not sure that the biggest threat to Ridley island is the folks walking their dogs or watching the ships come in. Seems like a rather strong over reaction to the current state of the world’s anxiety.
There probably is more danger in something being in a container coming in, than with anyone looking to take their chances with the family pet with the wolves and occassional bear on Ridley Island
Hell, if this is where things are at one wonders how the folks in Vancouver can get to sleep at night what with ships sneaking into the heart of the city to deliver containers at VanTerm and Deltaport twenty four/seven.
I imagine that as development at Ridley continues the access to the available beach front will decline, such is the nature of industry. However, a good corporate citizen might make room for some kind of access for the public, perhaps creating a beach or at least a similar type of area on the waterfront for public use… Maybe on the other side of that electronic gate that has so many people seeing the beginings of a police state at the hands of a commissionaire.