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PARTNERSHIP BRINGS WELLNESS CENTRE
The Board of School Trustees and the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen are working together to turn the former Riverside Intermediate School into a new Family Wellness Centre.
The School Board and Regional District are applying for $170,000 from the School Community Connections Program (SCCP). SCCP is a BC Ministry of Education Program, jointly managed by the BC School Trustees Association and the Union of BC Municipalities. The program is designed to encourage partnerships between schools and local governments to greater utilize school facilities for broader community purposes.
The idea of turning Riverside School, closed in 2004, into a Family Wellness Centre has been a vision of the Regional District's since early 2005. The Wellness Centre plans to offer a variety of services to the community including fine arts, health, recreation and meeting areas.
"The School Community Connections Program is an opportunity to use this public facility for the benefit of all Princeton area citizens," School Board Chairman Gordon Comeau said.
Regional District Director Gerri Logan added, "By working together on this project, the Regional District and School Board are able to fill a need that has been a priority in Princeton for some time."
The $170,000 SCCP grant will be used as start-up funding to establish the new centre. A portion of the grant will be used to offset legal costs incurred by the parties, minor renovations required to make the school more functionable for individual users, as well as significant renovations to the interior of the facility to meet the demands of the users.
The term of the lease is from December 1, 2005 to August 31, 2006. The Regional District will focus the next nine months on turning this Family Wellness Centre into a self-sustaining community centre. During this time, the School Board has committed to contribute the difference between the revenue received and the actual cost of the utilities for the school to allow the Regional District this transition time to ensure this project is a success.
A response to the grant submission is expected from the SCCP by the end of December 2005. The new Family Wellness Centre opened on December 1, with a number of community programs ready to offer services.
The Regional District and the School Board thanks the community for support during the time that it has taken for the parties to finalize what is anticipated to be a very successful partnership.
RCMP EXPOSE DRUG PROBLEM
Princeton RCMP hosted a Drug Information Session last Thursday night at PSS. Close to 150 people jammed into the school cafeteria for the PowerPoint presentation."Crystal Meth is impacting all of us," says Sgt. Kurt Lozinski, "We could sit here and talk about all the drugs but the need to identify this drug is paramount. We (the local police) are seeing a lot of this drug lately and it's scaring the pants off me."
Lozinski and Cst. Ryan McLeod have taken a number of courses covering drug production and use and they shared their knowledge willingly with all present for the presentation.
Crystal meth is one form of methamphetamine which is a stimulant for the central nervous system. An entire culture revolves around this severely addictive drug.
"There's nothing that compares to it," says Lozinski. "It simply puts you over the edge."
Meth is known by many street names, including crank and meth and three stages of use have been identified: recreational, which leads to intermediate, which leads to addiction.
Samples of crystal meth, cocaine and ecstasy were shown throughout the crowd so everyone present could identify the drugs.
The samples came from local seizures, "We're seizing meth three to four times a week now."
The presentation outlined several ways a user can take the drug and the chain of use. Basically a user starts by swallowing the drug advancing to snorting. The next step is smoking which leads to injection.
With so many methods of using the drug, it only makes sense that meth is available in many different forms. Meth is most commonly found in Princeton in a crystal which looks much like glass shards.
The presentation also outlined what street level packaging looked like, pipes used for larger quantities and the pricing and dosages commonly used.
Lozinski hammered home many points including this one: "A lot of these people (users) aren't working so how do you think they are getting the money? They're getting it from stealing from you and me."
The number one effect of meth is what it does to a user.
"Use of meth causes permanent damage of brain cells."
Other problems with the drug include one-time use addiction, it's easy, cheap and fast to produce, cheap to buy and synthetic - meth is produced with all ingredients found locally.
Some characteristics of a meth user include extreme paranoia, high pain threshold, irrational thoughts, open sores, weight loss and dark circles under the eyes.
"There are guys who can lift cars when on this stuff."
The presentation also explained meth abuser characteristics, symptoms of withdrawal and items used to make meth.
"Marijuana is the gateway to these other drugs," Lozinski said and although local police have yet to have located a local meth lab, they believe there could be as many as three active labs in the area.
Meth stats in Princeton show no occurances or charges laid in 2000 and 2001 with 2 occurances and one charge laid in 2002. That number increased to 4 occurances and 2 charges in 2003, 14 occurances and 7 charges in 2004 and 35 occurances with 20 charges in 2005.
Cst. McLeod discussed hallucinogens with emphasis on ecstasy and 'date rape' drugs.
Methylenedioxymethampetamine was originally developed in 1914 as an appetite suppressant but was never marketed. It is now popular as a 'rave' or 'feel good' drug. Best known as ecstasy, there are many street names. It is often pressed into a tablet form with logos and characters that are geared to a youth market.
"People think its a clean drug but its got methamphetamine in its name," McLeod pointed out.
Desired effects of the drug include heightened senses which will last four to five hours. Undiseriable effects include sleeplessness, nervousness and tension in the muscles.
"Most of the seizures weve made, in my experience, are mostly on the highway," says McLeod. "We do have it being trafficked in the community. We do know it's here, that's for sure."
PCP, Ketamine, GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate) and Rohypnol were also discussed. The last three are best known as 'date rape' drugs.
Lozinski wrapped up the two hour presentation with a reminder to parents. "The main thing is to get involved in your kids lives and know what to look for."
