News Leader News for November 04, 2008
FORUM FILLS LEGION HALL
Over 200 people filled Princeton Legion Hall to capacity for the first of two all-candidates forums hosted by Princeton & District Chamber of Commerce on October 28th.
The first half of the forum focused on the candidates seeking the seat of Regional District Area H (Princeton Rural) Director.
In their opening statements the two candidates briefly introduced themselves. Brad Hope, the challenger, explained he and his wife moved to Princeton 22 years ago and that he has experience in the operation of a variety of small businesses.
Gerri Logan, the incumbent, was first elected Area H Director in 1999 and in addition to her Regional District duties, sits on boards for 12 different community groups and organizations.
When asked what their vision for the future of Area H and expected challenges were Logan stated, "The future depends on the people themselves" and that the challenge would be to "make it all work." Hope responded by saying he saw a lot of challenges, along with opportunities.
"I see opportunity in every challenge" which included industrial development provided the environment is protected. When asked how the candidates would respond if they had to choose between a personal ideal and Area H Hope said, "Finding consensus and working towards consensus is what we have to do."
Logan agreed crediting her advisory board for providing assistance. "There's a lot of checks and balances along the way" and added she didn't get elected to further her personal goals, "I was elected by you to represent you."
On the subject of a District Municipality, Hope said it was a concept the "makes some sense" as he feels it is "awkward with only one person representing Area H" compared to a full council representing the Town of Princeton.
Logan responded by saying the current arrangement is working, with both Area H and the Town sharing a lot of services, and sees it continuing to work in the future.
When asked about choosing between economic growth and maintaining a small town atmosphere Logan stated change is inevitable and that economic growth is part of those changes.
Hope says both can happen, "It comes down to how creative we can be." Other questions covered a number of topics from whether or not the candidates had conflicts of interest and were able to identify them (neither had any as far as they could tell) to Highway 3 improvements to Hope (both supported the need).
In their closing statements, Logan said rural residents had "invested nine years into my political education" and that "we are not the same rural area we were nine years ago and no one knows that better than me." Hope said that since moving to the area he's seen many threats to the region in the form of industrial development that could potentially damage the landscape, "I'm tired of fighting these things, I want to start building."
The second part of the all-candidates forum concentrated on the Mayor's race which features four hopefuls: incumbent Randy McLean, Jim Manion, Maria Sadegur and Esther Donovan. When asked what their vision for the future of Princeton is McLean said the current Council had set a foundation "I believe will lead us" and referred to it as the Bridge to the Future that he said "will help us to feel better about our community."
Manion's future includes a "well-rounded economy in the town" where he would try to increase the tax base by attracting new business.
Sadegur thanked the town staff and consultants for helping develop the Official Community Plan, the document intended to direct the future development of the community. She also sees improvements to the Industrial Park as "in the long run it'll bring pride back to the town."
Donovan said she saw positive economic growth in the future. "We have to show that Princeton is open for business" and assist in developing the town into "a happy, family place to live."
When asked what issues the candidates want to address once elected the list was varied.
Manion wants to finish projects currently underway and develop an economic base as well as new housing and solidify the local healthcare system. Sadegur pointed to the OCP, housing, healthcare, the industrial park and completion of current projects. Donovan wants to pursue new business and industry, get all businesses together on a downtown western theme, improve health services, develop affordable housing and promote the town as a destination for all seasons. McLean chose healthcare, complete current projects and package them into a total tourist strategy, housing and improvements to Highway 3 as high priorities.
Other questions asked of the candidates covered topics such as whether or not they favoured going to a referendum on a proposed pool project (all said yes) to the deer problem and ways to reduce carbon footprints. The forum lasted a total of two hours.
SECOND FORUM MOVES TO PSS GYM
What do you do when you have the task of hosting an all-candidates forum with a record number of sixteen candidates?
The Princeton & District Chamber of Commerce did a pretty good job of planning the second of two forums at Princeton Secondary School Gym on October 29th.
The candidates were split up into groups of four per table with questions drawn at random and asked at one of four tables, also chosen at random.
The seating arrangements placed incumbent Ray Jarvis at Table #1 along with Rick Hudson, Solana Allison and Frank Armitage. Table #2 had Doug Rebagliati, Jim Bernard, Kim Maynard and John Babiak. Jason Earle, Dina Slowikowski-Campbell, Tom Guerster and Darrell Dobie were at Table #3 with Jon Bartlett, Bob Hart, Marilyn Harkness and Randall Gibson at Table #4.
Each candidate had a maximum of 45-seconds for his or her answers to questions collected earlier through submission to the Chamber of Commerce. As was the case the previous evening, the questions covered a wide variety of subjects, issues and concerns.
On the matter of implementing a CBM no drill zone around Princeton the foursome at the table that got that question were all in agreement with the suggestion (Jarvis, Hudson, Allison and Armitage).
When asked about a safe, fun and relaxing place to be built for area youth Jon Bartlett stated, "Where are the parents in this question?" Bob Hart agreed with Bartlett but added, "Town Council is the leader" when it comes to such projects. Marilyn Harkness referred to it as "the 4,000 year old question" and suggested getting youth involved in creating the solution and Randall Gibson was blunt in his response, "We can't afford it."
When asked how many candidates had attended at least three complete Town Council meetings, with the exception of Ray Jarvis, and with the exception of attending as part of a regular meeting agenda item, only Rick Hudson, Solana Allison and Jon Bartlett were able to say they had.
On the subject of what could be done about local food sourcing and affordable housing Jim Bernard responded with, "I don't know" and Kim Maynard said he was "not terribly knowledgeable about that" but suggested a food bank as a possible solution. John Babiak offered "setting up areas for people to lease market gardens" and Doug Rebagliati suggested taking an inventory of local resources and work on developing solutions based on those findings.
When asked if voting against a personal project, if it was in the best interest of the community, would be possible Dina Slowikowski-Campbell stated she would be elected by the public to represent them. Tom Guerster responded with, "It's not my decision. Majority rules." Jason Earle summed it up with, "If the Town wanted my pet project voted down, so be it."
One question focused on the large number of inexperienced candidates seeking municipal office and questioned "How do you think you're qualified to make decisions on behalf of the Town of Princeton?"
Darrell Dobie said, "That's not my decision to make, that's your decision."
When asked about how many volunteer contributions had been made in the past 12 months, Ray Jarvis stated, "Well, volunteering is my middle name."
On defining the qualities of good leadership Bob Hart answered with, "You have to lead and be able to follow," where Marilyn Harkness explained, "Good leaders have a vision. Good leaders can tell others about that vision to get them excited and want to follow that leader."
On the subject of going to referendum for an indoor pool project, all candidates agreed that would be the way to decide on the facility.
A curious question asked candidates to stand if they were in favour of extending the water line from Firemasters up to the cemetery for proper sprinkling. Solana Allison, Doug Rebagliati, Tom Guerster, Darrell Dobie, Jon Bartlett, Marilyn Harkness and Randall Gibson did not leave their seats. When asked about availability for meetings Jason Earle was clear with,
"Absolutely I'll make the time. I love this town."
A question asking what candidates felt the responsibilities of Town Council to the Town of Princeton were saw Jim Bernard answering with,
"Listening to what the people want," and Kim Maynard agreed saying that would be "number one."
When asked why candidates wanted to be elected to Town Council Solana Allison stated, "I'm tired of lobbying for change from the outside."
As for the tolerance level of recreational drugs in Princeton, the table lucky enough to get that question all agreed (Bartlett, Hart, Harkness and Gibson) that they had no tolerance.
The issue of CBM being an incentive to seek election to Town Council was not why Doug Rebagliati, Jim Bernard, Kim Maynard or John Babiak filed papers.
Asked what candidates would actually do to improve Princeton using the Municipal Act as a guide Tom Guerster said, "I don't know probably listen to the Mayor" and Darrell Dobie admitted he needed to do a little extra reading.
When asked to stand if they opposed any polluting industry coming to Princeton, all candidates stood up and all candidates said they would be available to meet the public at the Council Chambers on a regular basis.
As for the deer problem, the most entertaining answers came from Jim Bernard who suggested taking a basket of carrots downtown and "lead them out of town," where Rick Hudson stated deer on the streets of downtown were perhaps not a Town Council issue, "It's a parent problem."
Jason Earle stated, "Where you have deer, you have the animals who eat deer. That's the problem" and Jon Bartlett got everyone laughing with his statement that the deer issue "is an Area H problem."
Only four of these candidates will become Councillors representing the Town of Princeton and you get to pick
'em on November 15th.
30 YEARS AND STILL TALKING TO HIMSELF
Similkameen News Leader owner/publisher George Elliott recently passed a significant milestone in his career - the 30 year mark.
Did he celebrate?
"Actually, I hadn't even thought about it until that morning and I mentioned it to my wife Brenda over breakfast. That was about all we said about it."
Elliott started his media career in Radio Broadcasting, just months after graduation in his home town in Kelowna.
"My first job was a part-time tape operator position at CHIM-FM in Kelowna. It was on weekends for two or three hours each morning and basically all I did was cue up reel-to-reel tapes with pre-recorded interviews on them."
That was in October 1978.
About a year later he started working at CKOV-AM, which was in the same building.
"The control rooms were across the hall from each other and all the staff knew each other. I got a chance to work the graveyard shift (midnight to 6:00 AM) at the number one radio station at the time and jumped at it."
Various shifts and promotions followed and in July 1981 Elliott made the move to a different market.
"Penticton was still a growing radio market at the time and an old friend of mine I had worked with in Kelowna was there and I basically called him to see how he was doing. Before I knew it I was working both part-time at CKOR-FM and CKOK-AM."
What was originally going to be just a summer job turned into a 5 1/2 year stint.
"I did work a few weeks at CIGV-FM in early 1983, but spent most of my time in that market at CKOK."
Elliott was probably best known there as the evening rock On' roll DJ working weeknights from 7:00 PM to 12 Midnight.
A desire to be more than 'just a voice in a box' pushed Elliott to seek a greater challenge and in October 1986 he assumed the Assistant Manager position at Princeton radio station CKRP.
"My boss was the late Laurie Currie and we just had a great time working together. It was also a position where I learned a lot more about the business than I knew before which included news reporting and advertising sales."
Elliott was the 'morning man' on CKRP, which eventually became CIOR, until the local studio was closed in April 1999.
"Looking back on it I was not as sad about it as I thought I would have been. I think maybe it was because I knew I had given Radio a lot of years and it was time to take those skills and put them somewhere else."
Then one day in July 2000 Elliott was approached by one of the partners in the Similkameen News Leader about a possible employment opportunity.
"I guess it was the 'offer I couldn't refuse' that you always hear about when people talk about their lives. It was a new and exciting challenge as I had virtually zero experience or knowledge about computers, but I knew how to sell advertising and I had already had twelve years experience doing that in this market so I thought it could be a good move."
Well, as they say, the rest is history. Elliott bought the News Leader in February 2004 and operates it with his wife, Brenda. His former newspaper boss, Dawn Johnson works part-time for the paper.
"It's been an amazing time and I can hardly believe thirty years have passed and I'm still finding challenges."
Elliott expanded into the internet with online business a year ago and discovered blogging shortly after that.
"I currently have about a dozen blogs that I update weekly, a few more frequently than that. About half of those contain original material I write myself."
Similkameen Valley radio listeners can still catch Elliott on Giant-FM every now and then, as he continues to provide the Penticton radio station with news and information from Princeton and Keremeos.
"It's just something I do on a volunteer basis to keep my finger in the industry I started my career in."
The most recent challenge added to Elliott's list came his way last September by way of the Princeton Posse hockey club.
"They approached me to see if I was interested in providing the play-by-play for all home games played at Princeton Arena. It was not a hard decision for me to make as play-by-play was the only thing I had not done in my radio career. I have done everything else from on-air shifts, live and pre-recorded interviews, MC'd numerous events at a variety of venues in all the places I've worked and so on. Play-by-play was something I never considered as ever coming my way and suddenly there it was."
What does the future hold for Elliott?
"I'm open to pretty much anything, I guess. I've been very, very lucky. I realize that. I've also had a lot of fun along the way. As long as it keeps being fun, I'll keep doing what I'm doing."
Are there any challenges left on his list?
"There probably is, I just don't know what they are today."
