The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
WHAT A WILD YEAR IT'S BEEN!
EDITORIAL - January 2, 2007
Someone the other day asked us what we thought the top news story was for the Princeton area for 2006.
Without hesitation we said the fire in April that destroyed the Princeton Hotel. We think it gets top honours for a number of reasons, including the loss of a significant piece of local history and the amount of controversy that surrounded the clean up and speculation on what the now empty lot will eventually become.
We never really thought about the impact that fire had until we no longer had the hotel to look at or walk by or enter.
It made us think about what other top stories occurred in the Princeton area in the past year.
The Tatoosh and Tripod forest fires had an amazing impact on the Similkameen Valley - particularly the smoke patterns and related data that has resurfaced as information used in the ongoing debate on coal-fired energy.
Compliance Energy has received a lot of ink in recent months on what may or may not be a good thing for our valley - depending on what side of the fence you're on.
Other big news items included the Federal Election that saw the huge BC Southern Interior riding swing back to the NDP with the selection of an MP most everyone in the area likes.
A number of smaller stories became big news over the past year in the form of money. The Golf Club received a big chunk from the Community Forest Corporation, the Town received money from a number of sources and corporate citizens - Weyerhaeuser, FortisBC, Valley First Credit Union to name just a few - gave and gave until it hurt then gave a little more in support of community groups, local sports and cultural organizations.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg!
When we look back, we realize it's been an extremely good year in the Similkameen.
Add to it the hot real estate market and the continuing saga of the Town Square Project and it soon becomes clear - there's a lot going on in Princeton and in the Similkameen Valley.
No wonder everybody else wants to live here.
