News Leader News for July 17, 2007
FREAK STORMS BATTER PRINCETON AND AREA
Well, what do you expect on Friday the 13th?
A large electrical storm passed by Princeton early on the afternoon of July 13th dumping probably the heaviest rainfall recorded so far this year.
Wind accompanying the storm knocked trees down throughout the area, some of them on power lines in the Chain Lake area while others blocked many roads including a massive tree that forced a closure on Old Hedley Road.
What may be remembered most of the 'freak' storm on Friday the 13th will be the loss of power.
Princeton, Hedley and surrounding areas went dark shortly after 1:00 PM and remained without power until close to an hour later (for portions of Princeton) while power did not return to Hedley and Apex Mountain until later than evening.
"High winds, lightning and trees on power lines caused the outage," explains Natika Sunstrum from FortisBC.
"Grand Forks customers were also affected by the storm. Customers in Grand Forks were without power from approximately 2:30 Friday afternoon with many customers restored by 9:00 PM Friday night."
Some customers in that area were without power until Saturday afternoon.
"Crews worked through most of the night to restore power to the community," Sunstrum says.
"Trees on power lines were a major factor in the delay of restoration."
Then another 'freak' storm passed through the Princeton area Saturday afternoon with winds far greater than the previous day sending debris down many streets, flipping lawn furniture, garden sheds, garbage cans and toppling more trees.
Many Princeton residents say the rain during that storm was more severe than the downpour the previous afternoon with storm drains backing up unable to keep up with the volume. At least one local business closed for part of the afternoon to clean up after clogged drains forced the rainwater into the building.
The storm also started a number of new forest fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre. The service reports at least 27 new wildfires resulted from the storm but none of them appear to be in the Princeton area.
WILLFUL DAMAGE OR JUST A LITTLE FUN?
What is it about a giant smiling face that upsets some people to a point where they will shoot holes through, knock down, remove, spray paint and otherwise deface the sign that displays it?
It's been a question we've pondered for quite some time and Heather Johnson of Century 21 Princeton Realty may have unlocked part of the mystery.
First off we'd like to point out that there hasn't been a local real estate office in the Similkameen that hasn't had either a sign defaced or go missing.
"Yes, we've also had realtor signs damaged and defaced," Johnson told the News Leader.
"There's been a big problem but I've noticed it being focussed on large signs located on the highway."
Johnson's office, Century 21, typically do not use realtor photos on their 'for sale' signs, which she thinks may actually be an invitation to some to pull out their spray paint can.
"Some of the smaller signs - yard signs - go missing," Johnson says, but she thinks those disappear as a result of activity from younger residents.
With the average yard sign costing in the neighbourhood of $100.00 each, replacing missing signs can be costly and is often a cost bared by the individual realtor and not the company they work for.
Johnson also points out knocked down signs along the highway are not always the work of pranksters.
"In the winter it's often snow plowing that knocks down a big sign on the highway so at that time of year a realtor has to be concerned with placement of the sign."
COMMITTEE FORMS KIDS FUND
The Princeton & District Child & Youth Committee announced last week the development of the CYC Kids Fund in memory of longtime Princeton resident Frank Chase.
During Chase's long life (over 100 years!) he showed his love for his family and the children of Princeton in so many ways. His family wanted to honour his memory by asking for donations to the CYC Kids Fund, which is in support of children and youth in Princeton, and area that need help financially to participate in community recreation programs.
The Chase Family and friends of the family have raised over $300.00 in donations to date. The Princeton & District CYC thanks Jaymie and David Atkinson, Lois Bell, R. Dell, Joan Cole, William and Gladys Heyworth and Shirley Meister for their generous donations.
To find out more about the CYC Kids Fund contact Nadine at (250) 295-6067.
