News Leader News for January 1, 2008
TOWN, AREA H, USIB HOST OPEN HOUSE
Barely a year has passed since the historic signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Town of Princeton, Regional District Area H and the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
The three partners hosted an open house December 18th at Princeton Skills Centre to celebrate the relationship and to review progress made in the past twelve months.
Mayor Randy McLean said the open house was meant to look at "all the things we are working on, looking towards and hope to achieve in the future."
USIB Chief Rick Holmes spoke about the relationship and how the USIB fits into the equation.
"Working together is very important. The Band has a lot of different things to offer and a desire to be able to work with the people in our area."
Area H Director Gerri Logan pointed out the uniqueness of the partnership.
"We have actually set a benchmark in the province with our MOU."
She described the working relationship as more than a casual group, but a group that is making progress.
Town of Princeton CAO Patrick Robins briefly outlined the history of the partnership, which resulted from a UBCM Community to Community Forum Program, which helped establish mutual interest initiatives. This led to the MOU.
There are currently five key initiatives the three parties are working on together. They include the Heritage Park, Preservation of Cultural Heritage Resources, Recreational Development, Forestry Activity and Land Use Opportunities.
Although all five of these have seen varying degrees of progress, there are two initiatives that seem to be making the most progress.
The China Ridge Recreation and Land Development Opportunity, as it is being called, looks very promising.
A Statement of Intent with the Ministry of Agriculture & Lands was signed with the MOU partners in October 2006. Since that time a commitment has been made by the Ministry of Tourism Sports and the Arts.
The goal is to enhance the recreational opportunities at China Ridge and the program is in the very early stages at this point.
The other initiative making progress falls under the category of Community Forestry.
The proposed Vermilion Forks Community Forest is a tenure-based forestry opportunity.
"With a tenure we get to say what we do on that land," Robins explained.
"This is an opportunity to go beyond logging operations."
Progress to date on the project shows a Partnership Statement of Intent is in place and an invitation by the Minister of Forest & Range on May 24, 2007 to submit an application. There have also been ongoing strategy sessions of the three MOU partners related to this opportunity.
"This is an incredible opportunity for the community to manage a portion of forest," Robins pointed out.
The project would be very different from the existing Princeton & District Community Forest Corporation. In simple terms, the current community forest is a volume-based forest license. More specifically, the P&DCFC holds a non-replaceable forest licence whereas the Vermilion Forks Community Forest is applying for a new licence for an area-based tenure that, after the initial five year term, has the potential of becoming a long term licence to provide sustained revenues for the partners. Usually the long-term tenure is for twenty-five years.
A Public Input Survey has been developed as part of the process in applying for the Probationary Community Forest Agreement (PCFA).
The survey asks only six questions including:
What do you believe are the most important benefits that might be derived from operating a Community Forest, in order of priority?
What types of values should be considered in developing the Management Plan for the Community Forest licence?
What are your primary concerns, if any, with the manner in which forest lands of the Princeton area are managed today?
Surveys are available at Princeton Town Hall, through Area H Director Gerri Logan and at any of the USIB Band Offices.
NEWS LEADER CELEBRATES TEN YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
As 2008 begins, the News Leader celebrates 10 years in business as one of the few independent newspapers left in Canada. We often say there are no chains on us, because we are not part of anybody's chain of newspapers.
The first edition of the Similkameen News Leader was published on January 6, 1998. We sold more than 1,000 papers that week, and have continued to do so through the past 10 years.
The first edition was just 20 pages, but we moved gradually up to 24 pages and now we maintain a steady 28 pages.
The original staff was the two partners, Dawn and Sharon Johnson, with Lori Thomas as advertising manager and Franco Moccia as technical support. Lori Thomas moved on after a year and a half, and Barb Fraser took over her position. Barb wanted to move on to something different, and George Elliott took over as ad manager in 2000 and stayed on.
We have had some good stringers, including Patty Harrower and Sue Alton, but our longest running stringers were Joe Schwarz, with his rare brand of humour, and John Sandness, who wrote for us for years about local fishing. We encouraged John to put his articles together in book form, which he did with success.
It is to the credit of the News Leader's way of doing things that there was very little staff turnover during the past 10 years. The biggest change came when Dawn Johnson decided it was time to retire and stay home more to look after her husband. The Johnsons sold to Bengel Publishing Inc., which is George Elliott and Brenda Engel. At that time, they were single, but have since married. Dawn Johnson stayed on as adviser and part time reporter/editor. George was an old hand at both reporting and advertising, but newspaper was all new to Brenda. Our readers may note that Brenda now does some reporting and photography, and does it well.
The News Leader began as an upstart newspaper. The first year was really tough.
Dawn Johnson recalls, "We got two big breaks at the start. The first was the result of the hill above Ken Thomas' property on Tulameen Road. A 50 million year old fish fossil was discovered. It was a big fish and all of it was fossilized. It made news. The next big break came a couple of months later when a grapple loader stole the night deposit vault. Out of all of the time I owned the newspaper, the photo of the grapple loader on Bridge Street ranks up there as number one."
The next best photo, according to Dawn, was the photo of Glen Wilkinson's logging truck sitting over empty space on Whipsaw Road.
There were other photos that ranked up there, with special notice of some snowmobiling photos and the head on collision of two semis near Whipsaw Bridge.
"We went to almost every serious accident. Sharon would drive to the scene, I would leap out and take the photos while she proceeded with the flow of traffic. Then she would find a place to turn around and would pick me up on the way back," Dawn recalls.
"Photos, do I take a lot of photos," says Elliott. "In 2007 alone I took a total of just over 8,500 photos. Out of those I would say my favourites are sport related. Be it hockey, horse racing, lawnmower races, rodeos I find it interesting to try to stop the action and catch it all in a single frame. My all-time favourite photo so far is a shot I took this past May at the Princeton Rodeo where a contestant is being thrown in the bareback event."
For George, the Princeton Hotel fire had to rank up there as one of the top stories.
"Most definitely," Elliott says, "But one issue that probably impacted me more than anything I've encountered was the coal-fired power plant. I remember being hesitant to get involved by taking sides in the paper, but eventually decided that if we wanted to be believed as a local newspaper dealing with local issues we had to say something. As it turns out, the paper kept pounding at it week after week to a point where it became too easy a target. Then the provincial government killed the power from coal concept and it was over. It was that issue that defined for me what we should or should not do for our community in this paper."
The News Leader was established to cover stories in Keremeos, Hedley, Princeton and Tulameen or where stories happened at any point in between. Sometimes the stories took the News Leader to communities outside our regular coverage area.
In 2002, the News Leader travelled to Oroville for the July 4 celebration, which included Herman Edward paddling a dugout canoe into the state park. The News Leader had covered the story from the making of the canoe right through its journey down the lakes. One year, Patty Harrower went all the way to Nespelem to cover a story about a canoe trek on the rivers. Until the Pony Express rides ceased to be, we travelled to Tonasket.
The Similkameen Indian Bands' news have always been part of the News Leader's interest. The News Leader went to powwows and archaeological events, and the big opening ceremony for Mascot Mine Tours. Sometimes the news was sad, such as the deaths of Barnett Allison, who began the Chopaka Rodeo, and Edward "Slim" Allison, who did so much to promote Indian Band economic development.
One of the things the News Leader has been able to do is determine editorial content independent of anyone outside our area. Newspaper chains are often forced to run editorial content that may not mean much to local residents, or may even annoy local residents. The News Leader tries to reflect the perspective of the Similkameen Valley in all of its editorials. At times, our stance was contrary to the major trends, but was right for our valley. Similkameen Valley politics are not necessarily the politics of the world at large, and the News Leader has been quick to spot the differences.
"I think that's why it's so important to be a voice for the valley, when possible," Elliott adds, "Even when the Editorial isn't about any hard news, it's about something local or a local view on something."
The people who own the News Leader live here, and have invested here. Like so many other small business owners, the owners of the News Leader depend on the success of the entire community to protect their investment. If the community thrives, the business thrives. As a result, the News Leader staff have always been part of community organizations. Whether it is supporting The Posse, the Arts Council, Racing Days, rodeos or Fall Fair, or the Christmas parades, Music Under the K, Hedley Stamp Mill Days, or Tulameen Family Days, the News Leader has had at least one staff member involved, if not all. What is good for the community is good for the success of the News Leader. Anything making news anywhere in the valley was grist for our mill, including events at the Grist Mill. We went to powwows, reunions, and wedding anniversaries. In fact, our first front page was coverage of the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Doug and Edith Currie.
The News Leader has been there for rodeos in Chopaka, Keremeos and Princeton. We were at the dogsled races and snowmobile races, horse races and truck races, mud bogging and ATV events. The News Leader has been out in the community forest, into the sawmill and post mills and log sorting yard. We have been to trade shows, Lions Auctions, graduation exercises, and Youth Ambassador pageants. We went to countless traffic accidents, some of them horrendous.
We covered forest fires, the Princeton Hotel fire, fires at SBC Firemaster, an apartment building fire and the Belaire fire, bear invasions, troublesome cougars and nuisance deer and marmots. We joined the protest against a coal-fired power plant and supported the concept of a dam on the Similkameen River to control and conserve water. Our environment has been important to us.
The societies that contribute so much to our valley have also been newsmakers, whether it was Lions, Rotary, Golf Club, Curling Club, rodeo associations here and in Keremeos, Legion activities, Fall Fair, and the Sizzle. The Similkameen Sizzle has a special place in News Leader history: George and Brenda were married there.
"Actually, this came from years of me stringing for the News Leader in Keremeos," Elliott explains, "I ended up doing it when the paper couldn't find anyone else. I was already working for the News Leader by this time and it allowed me to establish contacts that are still in place. I happened to mention the wedding at a Sizzle meeting I was at (I'm on the planning committee) and it was suggested that it would be pretty neat if we got married at Sizzle. That was about all it took and before I knew it plans were in place and Brenda and I basically had to be there for it to happen. We've made some great friends in Keremeos and visit them as often as we can."
The News Leader covered only one murder, that of Josephen Drushka, still unsolved, but we went to Provincial Court every month and recorded the ups and downs of justice in our valley.
The News Leader followed the construction of new buildings, such as the new Valley First Credit Union building and the Ridgewood Lodge expansion. We followed the decline of structures, too, most notably the decline in the number of hospital beds and the loss of doctors and nurses to staff the hospital. This was a major loss to Princeton. We saw Princeton Light and Power become Fortis BC. and the rise and fall of Princeton Area Business and Economic Association. We saw The Bridge move to Riverside School and we saw that same school become a community centre. We saw the Arts Council move to this new site, and a family centre take its place in the old fire hall on Veterans Avenue.
For a couple of years, we saw the end of horse racing, but we saw it come back again. We saw the rise and fall of snowmobiling and motor sports in Princeton. We saw the rise of Kars Under the K, Music Under the K and the birth and rise of Similkameen Sizzle.
We saw the loss of many residents who had outstanding careers: Kenny McLean, Barnett Allison, Edward "Slim" Allison, and two well-known Curries Laurie and Doug. Two athletes whose names will be remembered in Princeton died within weeks of each other: Aaron Heuser and Kurt Krenn. There were many others who passed on after leaving their mark on the community, and we shared feelings of loss with the community. We saw others step into the space left and follow in their footsteps.
We reported the growth of Keremeos, where new property was cleared for residential development.
In 2000, we covered all kinds of celebrations, most notably the TransCanada Trail and the expansion of our museum to accommodate the Joe Pollard collection of minerals and fossils.
We witnessed the birth of The Posse hockey team, and we followed them through their years of development. At the same time, we tried to keep up with Minor Hockey and all of the great kid's teams. We followed minor ball and swim club meets, basketball and volleyball games, soccer games and anything else kids were doing in our community.
The News Leader has been there for many community events, from snowmobiling to dogsled races, pancake breakfasts and duck races, Otter Valley Fish and Game banquets, Rotary and Lions Club dinners and events, bonspiels, golf tournaments, ball games, swim meets, bowling events and fishing derbies.
We went to Kars Under the K, the Hedley Centennial, Remembrance Day, events at Osprey Lake, and protests against reduction in hospital beds. In short, whatever people in the Similkameen Valley communities thought was important, the News Leader was there.
Ten years is not a long time in the life of a newspaper, but it is amazing how many stories we have covered. There is never any real shortage of news. Something is always going on, whether it is Town Council meetings, school board meetings, bazaars, art shows, or fashion shows.
When the News Leader first began, Dawn Johnson was told this newspaper was slated for failure. One of the reasons was that internet would take over. That is highly unlikely. A newspaper is a hard copy that can be preserved for a long time.
There are newspapers stored in archives for more than 100 years, even in Princeton. People clip stories from newspapers for their scrapbooks. They send clippings to friends and family members. You can carry a newspaper around in your pocket to read at your own convenience. After the newspaper is read, they can use it to wrap the garbage, pack the dishes, light the fire, line the bird cage, or put it on the floor for the puppy to pee on. If no other use can be found for it, the newspaper can be recycled to be printed on again someday. You can't do this with internet.
As George Elliott and Brenda Engel took over, the News Leader began to change a bit, but not enough to make us forget who we serve. The valley is still important and what the people do, or experience, is still the main focus of our news.
Life should be celebrated. The News Leader celebrates the life of people in the Similkameen Valley. Whether it is our free birth announcement or an obituary, a prize winner or an accident victim, a spokesperson or a hockey player: sometime the News Leader will mention a person's name, and that person's life is celebrated.
That is the business we are in, but it is really our advertisers who pay the bills. They advertise in the News Leader because they know people in the Similkameen Valley are going to be reading this newspaper, and whatever service they provide or whatever product they are selling or whatever event they are sponsoring, News Leader readers are going to see it.
The biggest reason the News Leader is still in business is because our advertisers keep coming back and advertising. We are part of their investment in our community, just as they are part of our investment.
2007 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW
If we look back at 2007, we see a year of promise for the future. Town Council did some serious planning for the years to come, and so did some other groups. While these things did not come to fruition in 2007, we expect they will happen in 2008 or 2009.
The people of Princeton met and agreed on how to develop a new Town Square, to be called Veterans Square. The Legion is preparing to restore the cenotaph monument, which needs a new foundation.
The Legion had a great year with the passing of the gavel, the 80th anniversary celebration with the placing of a plaque to honour those who fought with NATO forces and merchant marines, and the touching candlelight ceremony at the cemetery. This was on top of everything else the Legion does every year. One Legion member, Maria Sadegur, received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for her years of work on behalf of veterans.
The museum won approval for their expansion plans, as the library planned to move to a new location in the former Goldion Restaurant, purchased by the Town. The museum ran into problems when the structure of the building had to be repaired and brought up to current standards. The expansion has been delayed in favour of a better building, but the expansion is still part of the plans for the future.
Town Council went after money to study the potential for supplying water to the airport and East Princeton, and an Airport Committee has worked on plans to expand services at the airport for future development.
Riverside Wellness Centre let the public know what could be done there with big events. The Arts Council member groups showed the need in the community for these kinds of events: a play by Princeton Performing Arts Society, a ballet brought to Princeton by Princeton Concert Society, and a major conference hosted by Vermilion Forks Field Naturalists. The much-needed stage is under construction at this time. Thanks to Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat, a new singing group has been formed to perform traditional and folk music in Princeton. They are planning a big event in August 2008. The Community Band expanded and entertained at concerts and in parades. This versatile group continues to delight audiences. The arts are growing in Princeton.
Ed Muckle doubled his efforts in 2007 to keep people entertained during the Canada Day weekend with Sounds of Our Heritage. Vermilion Avenue was filled with music from the museum to the cenotaph. Vermilion Artists held an art show at the same time.
Rodeos in the Similkameen Valley were a success. Chopaka's Easter Sunday Rodeo had great weather, Keremeos Rodeo was well attended, and Princeton's Bullarama and Pro Rodeo was a great event. Other valley events met with success, from Hedley's annual Stamp Mill Days to Keremeos' Sizzle, Music Under the K, and Kars Under the K.
Tulameen Family Days, Racing Days, and the Fall Fair were very successful last year. The Golf Club and the Curling Club had good years, but the Curling Club went into a renovation and future upgrading to attract more people to this winter sport. China Ridge Cross Country Ski Club has big plans for construction of a chalet facility for the future. ATV and snowmobiling clubs did well. There was enough snow to guarantee a great season last winter. Young people's sports throughout the valley were very active, and some teams did extremely well. Cook's Raiders went to the provincial finals for Bantam C Fastball. Princeton's Peewee Boys went to the provincials, too. Members of Kokanee Summer Swim Club competed in the provincial swim meet and did very well.
Keremeos came through on a longstanding project. Last year, the community built a Youth Park. Princeton had its first summer of a splash park.
Vermilion Trails Society began building a roundhouse for tourist information, but this is still to be completed.
Last summer, Hedley became really "deadly" as it was turned into a set for a television special remake of The Andromeda Strain. Hedley residents were to have died of a deadly virus brought from space, or somewhere. Hedley enjoyed the brief bit of summer excitement. In other Hedley good fortune, they beat out Princeton for a Katimavik team for the year. Princeton was hoping to have Katimavik back again for a sixth time.
The valley had a freak storm on Friday the 13th of July. Thunder, lightning and strong wind battered the valley, causing power outages from Princeton to Apex Mountain. The Friday storm was marked with some of the heaviest rainfall of the year. The next day was round two of the storm without the heavy rain. Winds sent lawn furniture flying, along with toppling more trees and whipping debris everywhere. Fortunately the storm did not spark fires in the Princeton area, but 27 new forest fires were started in Kamloops Forest region.
Goldcliff Resources and Petrobank continued their exploration for gold and methane gas respectively, but no major development occurred.
Keremeos received a big grant to build a Community Resource Centre, and in Princeton, a grant was received to form a family drop in centre that opened in July.
July was a time of tragedy for Princeton. An apartment building fire killed two people, a mother and daughter. The community was shocked, horrified because the victims had no means of escape.
The Mountain Pine Beetle continued to ravage forests in the area, and harvest levels were extended once again. Mayor Randy McLean attended regional meetings dealing with the predicted effect of the beetle infestation and learned Princeton would be one of the communities most affected. The Town is applying for compensation funding to develop the industrial park.
Princeton Exhibition Association planned an ambitious upgrade of the fairgrounds facility. The PXA asked the Community Forest Corporation for a lot of money to complete the project, but received only enough to start the project. To date, there is a new fence around the track and a new sound system. The plans have not been dropped.
In August, Keremeos broke ground for an expansion of seniors housing. Other communities wondered just how Keremeos does it, as it was just a few years ago they received funding to construct an integrated health services facility. Wow!
The Provincial Electoral Boundary Commission met trouble in the BC Interior by decisions that would have cut the number of MLAs representing BC Interior rural areas. Due to the severe criticism received, the Commission pulled in its horns and came up with a new plan.
Cawston made news in early September. After a long hot summer, a fire broke out and swept up the hillside near the village.
Princeton's annual Fall Fair marks the end of summer for the area, and this past year proved prophetic. The valley experienced one of the coolest, wettest autumns in a very long time.
Cool temperatures did not deter a new outdoors group from taking their first trip. On September 23, the first of the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail Rides took place, going from Lodestone Lake to Jacobsen Lake on the old trail established in 1846.
We often forget how long our area has been settled, but the hardy group who made the trip had a first-hand experience of the difficulties encountered by the pack horse brigades of the past.
Princeton's oldest business held a celebration on October 6. Stan and Mildred Thompson, owners of Model Transfer, invited all their friends to a party at the fairgrounds to celebrate the fact that their business has been serving Princeton area for 100 years.
Princeton's biggest single concern of the autumn came as a result of two South African doctors returning to their homeland. This created a crisis in health care in Princeton, as the overworked medical professionals tried to accommodate patients "orphaned" by the loss of their doctors.
Town Council formed a committee to recruit doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. The doctors who remained had to do more "on call" duty, which can be very exhausting in flu season and in tourist season. Locums were secured for the Christmas season, giving doctors a break, but Princeton still needs permanent doctors, as there are doctors looking forward to retirement. The crisis will not end soon.
Snow came in early December, but November was marked by what seemed like endless days of overcast skies. The early snow was followed immediately by a "pineapple express" which turned the Christmas card snow into dripping slush. Fortunately, the melt did not come in time to spoil Princeton's little Santa Claus parade and was gone by the time Keremeos had its pre-Christmas festivities.
The school district had a big surprise when enrollment went up last fall after years of decline. It was good news.
The Posse started a new season, and there were some surprised fans as this year's team started winning, and kept on winning games as the season progressed. This year's team, if it can keep up its starting pace, may go into the finals. This would cheer the fans to no end.
The Christmas Community Songfest, led by the irrepressible elf named Ernie, brought out some new talent and added to its popularity. This event always sets the Christmas feeling in our hearts.
As 2008 begins, we enter the year of the 150th anniversary of the founding of British Columbia. In two years, we will enter the Olympic year festivities as B.C. hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. For Princeton, 2010 will be the 150th anniversary of the founding of Princeton. We have a lot to celebrate, and it seems 2007 was just laying the foundation for bigger and better things to come.
CHIP IN FOR BETTER HEALTH CARE
Town Council is spearheading a fund raising effort to upgrade the skills of the local BC Ambulance crew. Council will put $3,000 into the fund to kick it off, but is looking to the community to raise the remainder required.
The reason for the fund is the need to have more skilled people to respond to medical emergencies. Trauma patients, particularly from highway accidents, must be transported because Princeton no longer has an operating room.
Mayor Randy McLean explained that local doctors or nurses are now required to accompany the ambulance when there are serious medical emergencies. This means another doctor or nurse must be called in to provide care while the serious patient is transported to Penticton or Kelowna.
If local ambulance personnel skills are upgraded to Primary Care Paramedics, the local crew would have the qualifications required to assist a patient being transported, taking pressure off local doctors and nurses.
"This is the intelligent way to deal with the situation we have," Mayor McLean stated.
Council hopes the three-month training program can begin in January.
To donate, go to Town Hall. You will receive an income tax deductible receipt.
Town Council continues to pursue construction of a helipad next to the hospital, but there has been some difference of opinion at higher levels of health care as to the cost of a helipad. Council estimated $45,000. Other estimates climbed to $300,000. Council is trying to find out why.
