News Leader News for February 5, 2008
FAIR BOARD PREPARES FOR NEW YEAR
Plans for the 2008 Fall Fair were discussed January 28 as the Fair Board and members met at Town Hall.
President Linda Allison asked if everyone agreed with the theme of this year's fair being a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of British Columbia. Everyone agreed. There was discussion of applying for a provincial government grant and members are thinking of a project that would meet the guidelines of the grant opportunity.
John Bey, President of Princeton Exhibition Association, urged members to make the application as soon as possible.
Councillor Jim Manion, who is Town Council's representative on the Fair Board, presented a proposal for a mobile stage to be used by the community. He asked whether the Fall Fair members would be interested in the 20 X 24 foot trailer stage.
Members were interested, as a proper stage is needed at the fairgrounds. Councillor Manion said he had talked with Chamber of Commerce President Keith Olsen, who agreed to call a meeting of community groups interested in having a mobile stage available for community use. Fair members said they would support the proposal and attend the meeting.
Lawnmower races had been popular at the 2007 fair. The entertainment committee will contact the group who came to Princeton to see if they will come again. Councillor Manion said he hopes to see some Princeton men and women come forward to challenge the out of town racers.
John Bey reported on work done at the fairgrounds, and outlined work to be done this spring.
President Allison is reviewing the evaluation report from BC Fairs to identify areas of the fair that need improvement. These issues will be brought to future meetings.
Copies of a revised constitution will be distributed at the February 27 meeting to be held at Town Hall.
Lyn Melnechenko agreed to be Head Convenor this year. A wide variety of convenor opportunities exist at the fair, and President Allison reviewed the divisions and confirmed who would be convening these divisions. There appears to be no problem in finding volunteers for most of the committees, but convenors are still needed for the concession, refreshment area, and the gate.
MAYOR McLEAN ISSUES STATEMENT
I feel a need to comment on the situation surrounding the ensuing doctor shortage Princeton is about to encounter.
There seems to be a tendency in our community to enlarge our perceived problems whenever we are in moments of crisis. Make no mistake, our community is facing a period which may require a temporary adjustment to our medical system we have enjoyed in the past.
This crisis has been created by the announcement of the intention of no less than five doctors intending to leave. To me this has nothing to do with our worth as a community or anything else, what small town our size in Canada could withstand the departure of five doctors in less than six months?
As we look around for someone to blame no one seems to see beyond our scope, is it Interior Health, or Town Council, or the Provincial Government who have caused our doctors to leave? Perhaps when we look a little deeper we find out that we have had doctors come and go before but never so many all at once.
And perhaps we are all a little to blame, certainly our council has never put a lot of effort into the retention of doctors, there did not seem to be a need, but I can assure you that will change forever. We love to blame Interior Health, after all they closed our operating room, we seem to forget that they had nothing to do with the doctors exodus yet they have been stepping up to the plate in a big way to solve our problem, they have been funding locums to assist with the workload, paying for advertising which comes out in medical journals across the country and abroad, sponsoring paramedic training in order to upgrade our ambulance service, and having three or four staff in Penticton and Kelowna devoting almost all of their time to solving our problem.
They are, as we speak, converting hospital space into doctors offices in order to make practice in Princeton as lucrative as possible. If I was to put emphasis on any of the accused it would be on the provincial government, I believe that rural doctors remuneration has got to be revisited, young medical graduates are coming out of eight years training with a couple hundred thousand in student loans and wanting to buy a house and start a family, they have a financial need to fulfill and the province is the body responsible for their pay.
In a small town you do not have the backup of 20 or 30 doctors when you are unable to fulfill your patients needs and I believe that creates the stress that needs to be rewarded.
We are without a doubt in an unfortunate situation, yet we will persevere, we will find a solution and we will find the doctors we need, this is no time for pointing fingers or firing off accusations, we need to work together in order to arrive at a speedy and effective solution.
You have people who represent you who realize the seriousness of the situation and are doing everything they can and to me that should be appreciated.
- Mayor Randy McLean, Town of Princeton
MAYORS LIKE BOUNDARY CHANGE
Mayor Randy McLean reported on January 21 that he and Mayor Walter Despot of Keremeos attended the Electoral Boundaries Commission hearing held in the Okanagan. Mayor McLean said he and Mayor Despot expressed a preference for being part of a South Okanagan and Similkameen Valley constituency as these areas have common interests and common organizations such as Similkameen Valley Planning Society and Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen.
