News Leader News forJanuary 06, 2009
2008 - A YEAR OF HARD WORK STILL NOT DONE
Everything about 2008 was to become coloured by a major world economic crisis that began in the United States when thousands of people could not pay their mortgages. The crisis erupted full-scale in mid-September, affecting even Canada's political scene, when newly elected Prime Minister Harper failed, as he opened his new Parliament, to present any plan to bolster the economy. The three other parties threatened to form a coalition to oust the Harper government on a vote of confidence. Governor General Michel Jean gave Harper and the Conservatives a reprieve to January 27. If the Conservatives do not come up with an acceptable budget for an economy in crisis, we may go to the polls as we did in October, or have a coalition government.
Locally, economic issues revolved around the potential for a forest industry closure due to bug kill, and the promise of re-opening the copper mine in 2010.
Health care continued to be an issue in Princeton during 2008. The retirement of Dr. Douglas Reid and the move out of town by Dr. Whittle left Princeton with only Dr. John Adams on duty, and he did not want to do emergency call-outs. For awhile, it looked as if Princeton's Emergency Room would close. Princeton's needs have been met by a continuing rotation of temporary physicians who have offices in Princeton General Hospital. Dr. Adams continued to maintain his downtown practice and added a number of "orphaned" patients. Town Council did its best to help, providing some funding, along with private contributions, to upgrade local ambulance attendants.
The next social issue to hit Princeton was the possibility of homelessness. An apartment building was being converted to strata titles, leaving many tenants with no choice but to find a place to rent. Later in the year, a motel received permission to go to strata title, and then, even later in the year, residents of a downtown mobile home park became concerned that they would be asked to move their residences as the property was sold. It had never been zoned as a mobile home park. To make matters worse, most of the people who were, or would be, affected by these changes were low income seniors. This situation has not been resolved, but it is being worked on by a committee involving members of Town Council. The issue is not at the point of homelessness, but the issue of affordable housing is being addressed. Affordable housing became an issue in Keremeos a couple of months later.
For the first time in more than a century, Hedley was left without a school. The elementary school buildings were removed during the summer and now all students are bussed to Keremeos.
Princeton Rodeo Club announced in January it would go back to hosting a BC Rodeo Association rodeo after several years of hosting the more expensive Canadian Pro rodeo, which had resulted in major losses.
The annual rodeo in May, and the BC Bullriding Finals in September, were successes, and the club finished in the black in 2008.
Princeton established a BC 150 committee to organize events for BC's 150th anniversary of being founded as a Crown Colony. Princeton's Museum Society was celebrating a 50 year anniversary, and joined in displaying BC history. Museum Operations Manager Nick Mills entertained our readers with a series of articles about historic events and figures (much appreciated). The museum was undergoing some preparations for its expansion. The archives were moved over to the Skills Centre while repairs were made to the museum/library building foundations. A plan has been developed for the expanded museum, and members hope to have the new museum ready by the end of this year.
Treasures of the Tulameen was a major outdoor event to celebrate BC 150 with hikes over old trade routes near Tulameen.
The Traditional Music Festival in August was another major BC 150 event.
An ongoing rather bizarre saga continued throughout the year. A former funeral home owner, Fred Netherton, was charges with 38 crimes involving fraud and improper care of human remains. He appeared in Provincial Court in Princeton a few times, and entered a not guilty plea. The preliminary inquiry will be held this year in June. Four days have been allocated for the hearing.
Town Council learned a lot in 2008 about accessibility issues for people with mobility problems. Town Council and a number of businesses have been very cooperative and have made improvements, but there is still a lot to be done.
In 2008, the issue of a dam on the Similkameen River became the subject of a feasibility study. Although studies have been done at least twice during the Valley's history, another study was undertaken. There seems to be little opposition locally to the idea of having a dam on the Similkameen River to conserve water as well as to provide power, but the provincial government is in no hurry to launch the project, nor is the Washington Water Authority.
Rotarians did a lot in 2008, hosting a wine fest, and a beer fest, among other things. Princeton Lions held their annual auction, and worked hard on making the west entrance to Princeton more attractive.
Hockey continued to be Princeton's foremost sport for the young, and some of the not so young, although many people enjoyed a great season of curling, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, quad riding, swimming, hiking, hunting and angling. The Valley First Posse team won the championship in the Eddie Mountain West division of Junior B hockey. Their coach, Dale Hladun won the Coach of the Year award. Princeton's Bantam Flyers won the banner for the South Central Super League. Princeton joined a youth football league, and fastball went on all summer. Golfers went out on the links in April and kept at it until October.
Vermilion Forks Field Naturalists continued their excellent work on the Swan Lake preserve, but truly missed Don Burbidge.
In February, Town Council announced the intent to expand Town boundaries to include East Princeton and Airport Road properties. Both areas had appealed to Council to do this in order to solve water problems. During the year, plans were drawn and budget estimates made for the expansion of water services. This is a major infrastructure program, and the money must be in place before it goes ahead. Council hopes to have the project completed this year.
Another project launched in 2007 ran into financial problems in 2008. The project was to improve the Town square, to be known as Veterans Square. Original estimates fell far short of actual bids on the project. Council consulted with its crew, and decided the crew could go ahead with the project, doing half in 2008 and the remainder this year. Dave Woodruff supervised the work, and the crew has done a very good job of the first half. Two other projects, the "Bridge of Dreams" and moving the library to the former Goldion Restaurant, are in the works and should be completed this year. The idea of building an aquatic center is still in the dream stage, and who knows whether it can be more than a dream in the present economic climate. Sometimes it takes a long time for a dream to be realized, but the dream of having a proper theatre facility came true last year as the new stage, with up to date sound and lighting, was completed at Riverside Centre.
Another dream came true for Princeton in 2008 as the airport brought in a fuelling system for aircraft. Princeton hosted a very successful Airport Appreciation Day with some exciting fly-past activities. This event will be repeated this year.
A project in Keremeos was finally completed in autumn, after numerous delays. The new Tourist Information Centre and home of Similkameen Country organization was erected in Memorial Park. It was planned as part of the park usage in a number of community events held there.
Barb Gagnon and Tammy Holland encouraged the women of Princeton to decorate their bras for the Bra Auction. The proceeds from the bra auction go to breast cancer research. The auction proved to be a very successful event. The tiny village of Tulameen raised $25,000 for breast cancer research by holding a Snow Golf event.
The Board of School Trustees for District #58 decided to put laptop computers into the hands of students up to Grade 7 to ensure every student becomes literate. A Literacy Group in Princeton developed a number of projects to improve literacy.
The Healthy Harvest box program began again in 2008.
Crime in Princeton took an unusual turn with a number of break-ins. This had not occurred to any extent since Citizens on Patrol was formed. RCMP still rated Princeton as a low crime area. Most of the cases in Provincial Court in Princeton involved illegal drug possession, common assault and impaired driving. The Similkameen Valley continues to be a relatively safe place to live. Even highway fatalities dropped in 2008. The worst crime of the year occurred in December when a man was discovered murdered in his home in Princeton. During the past 27 years, there have been three murders and one murder-suicide in Princeton, a relatively low rate.
Upper Similkameen Indian Band decided to build a traditional canoe from a cottonwood poplar. The project was initiated to keep canoe construction knowledge and skills alive within the Band. One cottonwood tree provided enough material for three canoes.
Arts groups in the valley continued to produce events, including drama productions in both Princeton and Cawston. Art shows, musical events, and line dancing continued throughout the year. Both Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands held powwows last year.
The group called Save Our Similkameen (SOS), which had successfully opposed development of a coal and wood fired power plant in 2007, launched a campaign against coalbed methane exploration and development in 2008. As a result, the government called a moratorium on Coalbed methane development, and Petrobank called a halt to further exploration in the upper Similkameen area for the present.
In the south Similkameen, residents vehemently opposed a proposal for a national park which would have prevented access to valuable grazing land located between Cawston and Oliver.
Three Princeton men were declared heroes: Ernie Lawrence, George Haws and Roy Rippon. Their combined efforts saved the life of Bill Whiting, an Irly Bird employee who had fallen unconscious in the store.
Princeton Exhibition Association (PXA) continued improvements to the fairgrounds in 2008. New water lines and electrical cables, along with a new admission booth and numerous repairs and minor improvements kept volunteers busy all year. The PXA saw five major events take place on the grounds last year: two rodeo events, horse racing, an ATV jamboree and the Fall Fair.
Autumn saw local residents go to the polls twice. The first time was a federal election which saw NDP candidate Alex Atamanenko re-elected as Member of Parliament for BC Southern Interior riding. The second round of voting was in the civic election, which saw Randy McLean returned as mayor of Princeton, and Walter Despot as mayor of Keremeos. Brad Hope is the new Area H Director. New faces appear on Town Council, School Board and Regional District for the Similkameen Valley. This year, we will go to the polls to elect our provincial government.
LOCAL INDEPENDENT PAPER TURNS 11
If you had told me five years ago that I'd be the owner of an independent newspaper I would have laughed. To say I would end up owning and operating an independent weekly community newspaper in BC, one of only a handful left in the province, would have been insane, but here we are five years later and the Similkameen News Leader is celebrating eleven years as an independent.
We did a two-page spread last year to mark our first decade so I don't plan on repeating that but do think it's important to point out that the past year has been pretty exciting for us at the News Leader.
I formed the company that bought this paper from the Johnson's in December 2003 and named it Bengel Publishing Inc. The name comes from combining the first initial and last name of my wife, Brenda Engel, to form a word.
I officially took over the operation of the business on February 1, 2004.
The road taken to get to where we are today has had it's share of ups and downs, but it has been anything but boring.
2008 has been a huge year for us in the expansion of the business to incorporate more products and marketing tools.
The two biggest steps taken in the past year include a stable of internet projects including various websites, blogs and online business programs which are starting to take hold and realize some of the potential we see for them.
Another big step was a new publishing product. Over the years the News Leader published not one, but two different tourist information guides. A couple years after I bought the business I phased out the Winter issue. In 2007 I seriously considered dropping the Summer issue, but decided at the last minute (thanks to the encouragement of some of the advertisers) that I should print one more.
We have always encountered difficulties in getting our guide distributed and opted for placing it ourselves in key high traffic business locations throughout the Similkameen Valley.
That move worked better than we had expected, so when 2008 rolled around I was quite certain I wasn't going to attempt to publish another information guide until an idea came to me from a conversation with Princeton Museum's Nick Mills.
"Princeton BC News' was born - an information guide with a twist, historic information and photos telling part of the story of Princeton.
Advertisers jumped on board almost instantly and we knew we had a hit on our hands. We printed two different issues last year and plan to publish three or four more in 2009. The product will also soon be launched as a stand-alone website on the history of Princeton.
Another huge step for us in the past year was the hiring of a salesman. John Gillis has been taking on part-time advertising projects and has been quite successful at it. Even more so interesting in that newspaper advertising is something he's never done before. We see great things in the future for John, and the News Leader.
In 2009 expect to see more Oextra' products and specialty items coming out. We are trying to be very careful in what all we produce as part of Bengel Publishing Inc. but some interesting propositions have come our way, so we see some interesting publishing products on the horizon.
I know it's pretty easy for me to just sit and say these things, but none of what we do would be possible if it wasn't for your support.
Whether you buy the News Leader every so often, or have a subscription, we thank you so very much in supporting our business.
To our many advertisers throughout the Similkameen Valley and beyond, we thank you so very much for your continued support.
Without it we wouldn't be here and we certainly would not be an independent newspaper.
We try very hard weekly to keep the main focus of our paper 100 percent local. There's always a local angle we try to find and we try hard to celebrate local people and local accomplishments.
Contributions from readers, local clubs and groups make it possible for us to keep doing this.
Thanks for all the help and here's to another eleven years or so!
