Merritt Herald, September 08, 2015

Nicola Valley’s News Voice Since 1905

MERRITT HERALDmerrittherald.com bcclassified.com

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS FREE

2151 COUTLEE AVENUE

C A L L 2 5 0 - 3 7 8 - 5 1 0 4

Furnace DuctCleaning and Furnace Service

BIOSOLIDS ALTERNATIVELarge turnout at NVIT for pyrolysis info session

SHARPENING THE SKATESMerrittonains of all ages prepping for skating season/ Page 3 / Page 9

NVIT wins bid for health-care assistant program

Having left home at the age of 13, Keely Weymouth didn’t think she’d be able to take her education to the next level, but thanks to some timely funding, she’ll get the opportunity to do just that.

The Ministry of Advanced Education has dolled out a one-time cash injection of $141,000 to the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) so it can offer its health-care assistant pro-gram this year to 15 students.

NVIT president Ken Tourand said this program would not have been offered without this govern-ment funding.

“We had 12 or 13 [students] that were on wait list hoping that we were going to be able to deliv-er [the program],” Tourand said. “Now that the funding has come through, that program is a go, so we’ve informed those students.”

Weymouth, 19, said she wasn’t aware there was a chance the program might not have got-ten off the ground, but is glad the funding came through.

“I know a lot of people who are wanting to take it,” she said.

So far, 13 students have signed up to take the 35-week program.

Weymouth knew she wanted to join the health-care assistant program and find work as a care aid — her goal to work toward becoming a registered nurse.

Minister of Advaced Education Andrew Wilkinson said the ministry wants to invest in people improving their skills “so they have the opportunities to build up their lives.”

“We want to encourage peo-ple to build on those dreams,” Wilkinson said.

The health care assistant pro-gram trains students to work in care facilities for the elderly, like Gillis House, with a practicum at such local facilities.

“They learn everything from blood pressure readings and how to lift elderly people out of their beds [to] wheel chair operation,” Tourand said.

The funding will enable the program to train health-care stu-dents locally and place them in the workforce locally as well.

“Those people will be employed starting next sum-mer in long-term care facili-ties, and hospitals and the like,” Wilkinsion told report-

ers at NVIT during a funding announcement Thursday (Sept. 3).

“It’s important for us to have people who are in demand locally to be trained locally and that’s exactly what we are doing here,” he said.

Wemouth has lived in Merritt for nearly 10 years, and said she’d like to continue living here. She hopes to find a job at Gillis House.

There is a demand for health-care assistants both in the Nicola Valley and the province as a whole, Wilkinson said.

“The demand for health-care assistants to provide the services to people in care facili-ties, and hospitals and elsewhere is growing at four per cent per

year in the province, and in the Thompson-Okanagan region it’s growing at five per cent per year,” he said.

The projected demand sug-gests the need to provide more health-care assistants in the prov-ince.

“What we did was we ran a competition in the ministry for grants, which would provide training programs for health-care assistants,” Wilkinson said, adding that the criteria was the level of demand in a community and whether or not the advanced education ministry wanted to sat-isfy the demand soon.

NVIT was one of the success-ful applicants that competed for funding after answering a call for proposals from the ministry.

Michael PotestioTHE MERRITT HERALD

Michael Potestio/Herald

SHAKE-UP ATCITY HALL

City council has severed ties with its financial services manager Ken Ostraat and will be making a multitude of other organizational moves.

“He’s no longer employed by the city,” chief administrative officer (CAO) Shawn Boven told the Herald.

Boven said the city is undertaking an organizational realignment.

A job posting is being issued for the newly created position of director of cor-porate services at the City of Merritt. This director’s responsibilities include shoulder-ing some of the duties of the CAO.

The city is also issuing a job posting for Boven’s former job as public works manager.

That position is being restructured as director of engineering and development.

Managing the public works depart-ment will remain part of this position, but the planning and development manager will now report to this director, Boven said.

He said currently the planning and development manager reports to the CAO.

“There’s lots of direct reports to the CAO and it hasn’t functioned well in the past,” Boven said noting the change up is designed to create a broader organiza-tional depth and a newer senior manage-ment team.

The city is also issuing a job posting to find a replacement for Ostraat, but hasn’t made a decision as to whether or not it will fill the vacant economic development manager position.

Ken Ostraat has been let go as city’s chief fi nancial offi cer — more shuffl ing is in the works

Keely Weymouth sits on one of the hospital beds in what will be her classroom for the next 35 weeks as she enters the health-care assistant program at NVIT. It was made possible this year through funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education.


See ‘Boven’ Page 2

www.merrittherald.com

NICOLA VALLEY NEWS

2 • TUESDAY, September 8, 2015

MERRITT SUBSTATIONOPEN HOUSECOME SEE WHAT WE’VE BEEN BUILDING!

WHAT: Take a guided tour inside the new Merritt Substation before it is energized! Join us for a free BBQ and family-friendly activities including crafts and bucket-truck rides.

WHERE: The new Merritt Substation

WHEN: Saturday, September 12, 2015 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

*NOTE: this is an industrial site with uneven dirt and gravel. Sturdy, closed-toe footwear is required.

www.bchydro.com/mat 1.866.647.3334 [email protected]

*No access from Voght

Parking

Dirt Road

Princeton-Kamloops Hwy / Voght St

Spring Bank Ave

River R

anch Rd

Su

bstation

Ashton is a proud partnerof CAHPI (BC)

Ready for a career change? If you are currently working in a

B.C. Licenced Home Inspector Program

ashtoncollege.ca/HICApply online today or contact a program adviser at 1.888.869.9206 for more information.

www.ashtoncollege.ca

Ashton College

That position’s name is changing from finan-cial services manager to director of finance and information technology.

City council initially sought the services of the Ravenhill Group to help them find a new CAO, but have since called off the search.

“It became clear quite quickly once Shawn was in the role that he was the best fit for the organization and the community,” Merritt Mayor Neil

Menard said via press release.

Menard refused to comment to the paper directly with regard to council parting ways with Ostraat, saying only that there were some difficulties.

A performance audit is currently being con-ducted on the Central Park improvement proj-ect, which had $300,000 in cost overruns.

Menard did not comment on whether or not these cost overruns factored in to council’s decision.

Boven named CAOFrom Page 1

The Criminal Justice Branch has filed an application under the Criminal Code to have Allan Schoenborn designated as a high-risk accused.

The application has been filed in British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster, and a first appear-ance has been scheduled for the after-noon of September 10.

Schoenborn murdered his three children in their Merritt home back in 2008 and has lived at the Colony Farm Forensic Psychiatric Hospital since being found not criminally responsible for the crimes due to men-tal disorder.

The mother and family of the vic-tims have been notified of the decision to seek this designation and legal coun-sel for Schoenborn has received notice of the application, a press release from the criminal justice branch stated.

Being labeled a high-risk accused would prohibit Schoenborn from going on escorted trips into the Tri-Cities area.

It also means the BC Review Board can hold Schoenborn without release at the hospital and conduct his review hearings up to once every three years instead of annually.

The BC Review Board recently granted him the permission to request escorted outings and the province’s Criminal Justice Branch announced it would not seek an appeal of the BC Review Board’s decision.

In July 2014, the Criminal Code

was amended through Bill C-14 to enable a finding of high-risk accused for adults who have been found not criminally responsible for a prescribed serious personal injury offence.

To succeed on an application, the Crown must establish that either there is a substantial likelihood an accused will use violence that could endanger the life or safety of another person, or the offences the accused commit-ted were of such a brutal nature, they indicate a risk of grave physical or psychological harm to others, the press release stated.

Factors that a court considers in deciding whether someone meets the test for high-risk include, but are not limited to, the mental condition of the not criminally responsible accused at the time of the application, the past and expected course of his treatment and the opinions of experts who have examined the accused, the release goes on to state.

It will be up to a Supreme Court judge to decide whether Schoenborn meets the requirements for a high-risk accused. The Criminal Justice Branch will endeavour to have the application determined prior to Schoenborn’s next annual hearing before the BC Review Board, which is expected in May 2016.

If the application is not completed before that time, the Criminal Justice Branch will consider requesting an adjournment of the annual hearing pending determination of the high-risk application.

If in place, a high-risk finding can only be revoked by a court.

Crown will seek high-risk designation for SchoenbornBeing labeled a high-risk accused would prohibit Schoenborn from going on escorted trips into the Tri-Cities area.


Wildsafe BC tagging garbage bins

With autumn approaching, Wildsafe BC has begun canvassing the Merritt area to see if resi-dents are adhering to the new bylaw that prohib-its residents from placing their garbage out too early for pickup.

The new bylaw states that garbage bins can-not be placed curbside before 5 a.m. on collec-tion day.

The penalty for breaking this bylaw is $100 fine.

City council unanimously approved the bylaw this spring.

Any bins found to be non-compliant are receiving a yellow warning sticker from Wildsafe that states garbage left for pickup overnight is a bear attractant.


www.merrittherald.com

NICOLA VALLEY NEWS

TUESDAY, September 8, 2015 • 3

Friends & Neighbours

The Merritt Herald is looking forCOMMUNITY-SUBMITTED STORIES

about your Friends & Neighbours.Ph: 250.378.4241 Fax: [email protected] www.merrittherald.com2090 Granite Avenue, P.O. Box 9, Merritt, B.C.

MERRITT HERALDPlease bring them in to:

@MerrittHerald

Find the Herald online

Opinion --------------------- 6-7Sports ------------------------- 9 Classifi ed ------------------- 10

INSIDE

From the Herald archives: September, 1999

MAYOR WON’T SEEK FOURTH

TERM

Merritt’s current mayor is hanging up her political hat.

Ater careful con-sideration, Clara Norgaard decided she was not going to run for mayor in the fall municipal elec-tion.

In a hand-written letter sent to the media Monday afternoon, she wrote, “This fax is to advise you that I will not be seeking re-election for mayor.”

Norgaard says she wants more time in the future to spend travelling with her husband.

“I won’t have to keep a calendar of appointments,” she says enthusiastically.

Norgaard moved to British Columbia from Alberta in 1956. Two years later she came to Merritt where she helped form the business Norgaard Ready-Mix. In 1961 she married her husband Henry who came to Canada from Denmark. Since 1990, she has served three terms as the city’s mayor for a total of nine years.

REMEMBER WHEN?

Merritt Herald

www.merrittherald.comTOP STUDENT

The Governor General’s bronze medal was pre-sented to former Merritt Secondary Student Stefan Chiu by new principle Bruce Bidney.

Chiu said he plans to attend UBCO for a sci-ence degree. His goal is to become a doctor.

The Governor General’s Academic Medals recognize outstanding scholastic achieve-ments of Canadian students.

The bronze medal is awarded to the student graduating with the highest average from a high school.

David Dyck/Herald

Close to 100 people filed into the audi-torium at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) amphitheatre last Thursday afternoon for a information ses-sion on a technology called pyrolysis.

It was pitched by Emergent Waste Soultions CEO Kevin Hull, who was invited up to speak by the Friends of the Nicola Valley Society (FNVS).

Hull’s company’s claim is that pyrolysis converts waste into products that reduce the need for fossil fuels and generate profits.

“Biosolids are placed in an oxygen deprived environment and heated to a point at which the composite chemical makeup of the feedstock separates and the molecules recombine into usable products like fuel oil, syngas and a charcoal like product called

bio-char,” says the company’s website.The company has one plant that will

be commissioned at the start of 2016, in Vegreville, Alberta. That plant will use rubber tires as the feedstock, but Hull says what’s put into the plant doesn’t matter — as long as it is carbon-based, the result will be the same.

“This process has been tested on biosol-ids at the university level, and in numerous places,” he said. “We’ve tested it on biosol-ids on a small plant we built for research and development purposes, and it works beautifully. It’s a carbon based matter, it really doesn’t matter what form that carbon base is in at the molecular structure, it’s all very similar. When you break that carbon based material down you’re going to get gas and oil and a solid carbon in a powder form.”

As of noon Wednesday, Sept. 2, temporary water use restrictions have been reinstated on the Coldwater River and its tributaries, though they won’t imme-diately affect any users, as water levels are currently high enough.

The order came from Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, issued under the Fish Protection Act. Fifty licenses are affect-ed.

The restriction order will expire at the end of the month.

According to a press release from the ministry, the order is designed to be flex-ible. “Full-time irrigation will be permitted in accordance with individual water licences as long as flows exceed 1,160 litres per second,” reads the

release. “If flows fall below 1,160 litres per second, irri-gation will be curtailed. If flows fall below the minimum flows required of 960 litres per second, all irrigation will be suspended.”

The ministry will measure and communicate flows every Monday and Friday over the rest of September.

The reason the ministry gives for the order is to pro-tect salmon in the river. “In addition to protecting juve-nile fish, larger adult coho and chinook salmon will be arriving soon to spawn,” said the government. “To improve spawning conditions and limit predation on these spawning fish during this critical period, flows on the river need to be at least 960 litres per second.”

All angling on the Nicola, Coldwater and Spius rivers have been suspended since July 22.

Coldwater River watering restrictions reinstatedDavid DyckTHE MERRITT HERALD

Pyrolysis pitched at NVIT

David DyckTHE MERRITT HERALD

Emergent Waste Solutions CEO Kevin Hull, speaking at NVIT last Thursday afternoon. David Dyck/Herald

www.merrittherald.com 4 • TUESDAY, September 8, 2015

Next council meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015Council agendas and minutes at www.merritt.ca

City of Merritt ★ 2185 Voght Street, Box 189Merritt, BC V1K 1B8 ★ Phone: 250-378-4224

Bear-human conflict occurs in Merritt every year and results in the destruction of many bears.

This is the time of year that bear sightings increase as they prepare to feast before dormancy. Garbage is the #1 attractant for bears and can attract bears away from their normal habitat. Bears are most active at night so garbage cannot be placed curbside the night before the scheduled pick-up day. The City adopted a bylaw March 10th 2015 that requires garbage cans must be placed curbside after 5am the morning of collection. It is also a provincial offence under the Wildlife Act to attract or leave an attractant for dangerous wildlife, such as bears. Do your part and manage your bear attractants, or it’s possible to receive a $100 fine. Let’s reduce bear-human conflict and avoid unnecessary destruction of bears.unnecessaryy destruction of bears.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:

BUILDING/PLUMBING INSPECTOR

Applications are invited for the position of Part Time Building/Plumbing Inspector Level II for the Planning & Development Services Department in the City of Merritt.

For complete details, visit City of Merritt website at www.merritt.ca

Detailed resumes attached with a cover letter will be accepted until 4:30 p.m., Friday, September 11, 2015 and should be addressed to:

Carole FraserHuman Resources ManagerP.O. Box 189, 2185 Voght St.

Merritt, BC V1K 1B8Or by e-mail: [email protected]

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

We all want Merritt and the neighborhoods we call home to

look the best as possible. A frequent question to the City’s Bylaw Department is “Who is responsible for maintenance of boulevards and lanes?” The short answer is the adjacent property owner. Just as with winter snow, the adjacent property owner is responsible for shoveling the sidewalk in front of their home, so during the rest of the year the adjacent property owner is responsible for keeping the boulevard and lane abutting their property neat and tidy. We may even want to consider helping some of our neighbours who may be less capable.

With this in mind Merritt’s Nuisance Abatement Bylaw provides for minimum property standards within City limits. This Bylaw requires property owners to also maintain lanes and boulevards.

We all need to do our part to maintain our neighbourhoods. One of the pleasures of living in a smaller community like ours is that the little extra that we contribute makes a huge difference that will positively reflect on the City of Merritt as somewhere great to live.

HELP KEEP MERRITT’S BOULEVARDS AND LANES CLEAN

Free for everyone to attend!

The Scattered AtomsThursday, September 10

Rotary Park from 6:30 – 8:30 pm

MUSIC IN THE PARKFREE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR LAWN CHAIRS OR BLANKETS!

CONCESSION OPENPop, Popcorn, Chips, Chocolate Bars - $1.00/ea

For more info call the Merritt Civic Centre: 250-315-1050

Please be advised starting September 2015,

INSPECTION DAYS WILL CHANGE TO:

TUESDAY and THURSDAYOffice hours: 8:30 am to 11:00am

Inspection hours: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

To call for inspections call 250-378-8622 Or email at: [email protected]

NEW BUILDING INSPECTOR HOURS

Merritt achieves Level 2 recognition by UBCM’s Green Communities CommitteeThe following is an excerpt from the City of Merritt regular council meet-ing agenda for August 25, 2015

Letter to Merritt mayor and coun-cil from UBCM’s Green Communities Committee

On behalf of the joint Provincial-Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) Green Communities Committee (GCC), we would like to extend our congratulations for your successful efforts to mea-sure and reduce your corporate greenhouse gas emissions for the

2014 reporting year.As a signatory to the

Climate Action Charter, you have demonstrated your commitment to work with the prov-ince and UBCM to take action on climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions in your community and corporate opera-tions.

The work that your local government has undertaken to measure and reduce its corporate emissions demonstrates strong climate leader-ship and sets the stage for broader climate action in your com-munity.

In acknowledge-ment of the efforts of local leaders, the

GCC is again recogniz-ing the progress and achievements of local governments such as yours through the multi-level Climate Action Recognition Program.

As a Charter signa-tory who has completed a corporate carbon inventory for the 2014 reporting year and has demonstrated familiar-ity with the Community Energy and Emissions Inventory, you have been awarded Level

2 recognition — ‘Measurement.’

In recognition of your achievements, the GCC is very pleased to provide you with cli-mate action community branding for use on offi-cial websites and letter heads. Also enclosed is a 2014 Climate Action Community window decal, for use on public buildings.

(See the full report at www.merritt.ca)

www.merrittherald.com TUESDAY, September 8, 2015 • 5

PROVINCIAL NEWS

PREVENT THEFTS FROM YOUR MOTOR VEHICLE

This message brought to you by

2151 Coutlee Ave., Merritt 250-378-5104

COPPER VALLEYMECHANICAL CONTRACTORS LTD.

STOP BY AND SEE OUR NEW SELECTION OF

beachcomberHOT TUBS

1 Don’t leave purses or valuables inside vehicles overnight.

2 Lock vehicles when exiting, make it a habit.

3 If leaving valuables in a vehicle; hide from sight.

4 Park in a well lit area.5 Report any thefts, damage or

suspicious persons to police

Here a few helpful hints to help prevent motor vehilcle break-ins:

Custom welding and bending.On radiators and muffl ers.

894 Coldwater Road, Merritt, B.C.

378-0999

PO Box 98Merritt, BC

V1K 1B8

With communicable diseases such as whoop-ing cough, mumps and measles making a comeback, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall is reminding parents to make sure their children’s vaccines are up to date as they return to school.

And Kendall has added his voice to that of the Canadian Medical Association, calling for mandatory declaration of vaccination when chil-dren enrol at school, as is done in Ontario and New Brunswick.

The CMA voted at its annual meeting in late August for other provinces to follow suit, requir-ing immunization records but allowing exemp-tions for medical or religious reasons. Doctors also called for development of a national data-base to pull together records scattered between doctors’ offices and schools.

“By the time a child reaches five or six years old, he or she should have received booster shots that protect against measles, polio, chicken pox, whooping cough and more, and kids in Grade 6 and 9 should receive follow-up vaccinations,” Kendall said. “This is all part of B.C.’s free, rou-tine immunization program.”

Kendall emphasized that vaccinations them-selves would not be mandatory, but the infor-

mation would give schools the ability to protect students when an outbreak happens. That means excluding unvaccinated children from school dur-ing an outbreak, and offering parents the chance to fill gaps in their protection.

“Unvaccinated children are at risk themselves, but they also pose a risk to others because they create a gateway into the community,” Kendall told CKNW radio this week. “So we need the concept of herd immunity, where we get 95 per cent of the population of a cohort of children vaccinated, so it’s much harder for disease to spread in the community.”

Vaccine records also give public health authorities a chance to counter misinformation that has proliferated in recent years, he said.

“If we know who the parents of those chil-dren are, we can talk with them and tell them the facts and what is real and what is not real, and hopefully convince a good proportion of them that what they’re actually fearing is either unreal or not scientifically valid, or is in fact a misplaced fear,” Kendall said. “And we would hope that we would get some of those parents at least to get their children vaccinated.”

Parents in B.C. can now sign up for free text message reminders at immunizebc.ca/reminders, and the website also offers a smartphone app to manage immunization records.

Mandatory vaccination records urged for schools

Tom FletcherBLACK PRESS

The Canadian Medical Association is calling for mandatory declaration of vaccination when children enrol at school. Black Press

Single parents on income and disability assis-tance are now eligible for new training, child care and transportation funds to attend training for in-demand jobs.

Effective Sept. 1, the program also increases the monthly earning exemption for parents who receive assistance, from $200 to $400 for income assistance recipients and from $300 to $500. For eligible training, payments for child care, public transit and exemptions for bursaries and scholar-ships are available for up to a year.

Applications for the program are handled by WorkBC Employment Services Centres, which also provide workshops on resume writing and interview preparation. Locations of centres are available at www.workbc.ca.

Single parent job program starts Credit unions offer training grantsThe B.C. government’s $1,200 education and

training grants are now available from credit unions around the province.

The grants are offered to parents who use it to establish a Registered Education Savings Plan. To be eligible, children must have been born in 2007 or later, and they must apply within three years or until the day before the child’s ninth birthday.

No additional deposits are required to be eli-gible for the grants, which are deposited to an RESP account upon approval of the application.

Education Minister Mike Bernier said the gov-ernment is working with other financial institu-tions to host the RESP program. For now they are eligible at 350 credit union branches around the province.

B.C. BRIEFS By Tom Fletcher, Black Press


Refugees from the wars of the Middle East are pouring into the European Union at an unprecedent-ed rate.

So are economic migrants from Africa and

non-EU countries in the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, etc.), and some of them claim to be refu-gees too.

They are coming at the rate of about 3,000 a day, mostly through Turkey into Greece or across the Mediterranean to Italy, and the EU doesn’t know what to do about it.

It’s not really that big a refugee crisis: one million people at most this year, or one-fifth of one percent of the European Union’s 500 million people.

Little Lebanon (popu-lation 4.5 million) has

already taken in a million refugees, as has Jordan (pop. 6.5 million).

But while a few of the EU’s 28 countries are behaving well, many more have descended into a gib-bering panic about being “overrun.”

It really is a case of the good, the bad and the ugly, and the best of the good is Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel put it bluntly: “If Europe fails on the ques-tion of refugees . . . it will not be the Europe we imagined.”

She has put her money

where her mouth is: two weeks ago she predicted that Germany would accept asylum claims from 800,000 refugees this year.

She also said that Germany is suspending the “Dublin regulation,” an internal EU rule that says refugees must seek asylum in the first EU country they reach.

This is manifestly unfair to Greece and Italy, so Berlin will now allow all Syrian refugees to apply for asylum in Germany regardless of where they entered the EU.

Moreover, it will regard

Syrian citizenship as ade-quate evidence that people are genuine refugees.

France, Italy and the Netherlands have also been fairly generous about granting refugees asylum, and quiet, gal-lant Sweden is accepting more refugees per capita than anybody else in the EU.

But the good news stops here.

Most other EU coun-tries are refusing to take a fair share of the refugees, or even any at all.

HERALD OPINION

Urban society slides into helplessness

Of all the immature, ignorant whining that came out of the recent power failure in the Lower Mainland, one example summed up the decline of our urban culture for me.

It wasn’t the people who flooded 911 with calls demanding to know when their power would be restored, or complaining about their freezers. It wasn’t those on Twitter insisting BC Hydro pay for food that went bad. It was another social media moment.

With part of his community without electricity for a third day, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart went to his Facebook page, which has a wide following. There he pleaded with residents to stop phoning city hall to demand that a local big-box supermarket provide milk and eggs.

Power had been restored at the store only a few hours before, in the dead of night, and it’s safe to assume that all stores were working flat out to restock perishables.

Where do people get the notion that city hall, or whatever all-powerful nanny state they imagine, controls grocery stores? How do they conclude that in the midst of the worst electri-cal grid failure on record, BC Hydro is going to address their personal situ-ation above all others?

Vancouver broadcast media weren’t much better. Their big focus was that BC Hydro’s website crashed, so people couldn’t call it up on their smartphones and find out instantly when their power would be back on.

Some even questioned why wire-less power meters didn’t help.

Europe’s refugee crisis — the good, the bad and the ugly

2090 GRANITE AVE., PO BOX 9, MERRITT, B.C. PHONE (250) 378-4241 FAX (250) 378-6818MERRITT HERALDCopyright subsists in all display advertising in this edition of the Merritt Herald. Permission to reproduce in any form, must be obtained in writing from the publisher. We acknowledge the fi nancial support of the Government of Canada, through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

This Merritt Herald is a member of the British Columbia Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the B.C. Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent to B.C. Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2R2. For information, phone 888-687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org

EditorDavid Dyck

[email protected]

PublisherTheresa Arnold

[email protected]

Sports writerIan Webster

[email protected]

Office managerKen Coutureclassifieds@

merrittherald.com

ReporterMichael Potestio

[email protected]

ProductionDan Swedbergproduction2@

merrittherald.com

Sales AssociateHolly Roshinsky

[email protected]

TOM FLETCHERB.C.VIEWS

See ‘Power’ Page 7

GWYNNE DYERThe internationalSTAGE

See ‘Mixed’ Page 7


The Merritt Herald welcomes your letters, on any subject, addressed to the editor.

Letters must be signed and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes.

Letters may be edited for length, taste and clar-ity. Please keep letters to 300 words or less. Email letters to: [email protected].

MERRITT HERALD

Advertising: [email protected]: [email protected]

With the Classifieds, you can clear the clutter, earn extra cash and find great deals on the things you really want!

Call or e-mail to place your ad today!Make Room

for Change!

?HERALD QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Should Canada be

doing more to assist Syrian

refugees?

To vote, go online to

merrittherald.com

PREVIOUSQUESTION

Will the economy influence your vote

in the upcoming federal election?

YES:75%NO:25%

LETTERS POLICY

YOUR OPINION Speak up

You can comment on any story you read @

merrittherald.com

Perhaps these were the same journalists who fed the tinfoil-hat superstition about their signals.

The facts should be known by now. After an extremely dry spring and summer, a high wind shattered trees and took down more wires and poles than BC Hydro had ever coped with before. Further damage was done within areas that were already blacked out, leaving overtaxed technicians unable to accurately assess the full extent of it.

In Coquitlam and elsewhere, poles were down in areas too rain-saturated for heavy repair trucks to reach. Yes, there were some too-optimistic repair estimates given out, in response to the constant screeching for instant answers.

About 15 years ago, I experienced my worst power outage in the Fraser Valley. In a semi-rural area with little backup grid capacity (since greatly improved), my family went three days without power. This was in winter, due to wind and freezing rain followed by snow and cold.

Trickles of water kept pipes from freezing, and the gas stove provided a bit of heat. I heard no complaints about the crews struggling around the clock with the dangerous job of repair. Media cov-erage was mostly adult supervised.

Megastorm madness isn’t an isolated case. A couple of weeks before that, a temporary construc-tion bump on the Lion’s Gate Bridge deck caused panic and rage.

Aggravated by a couple of accidents on the alternate route, and fed by hysterical media, driv-ers of West Van luxury cars were white-knuckled. Traffic choked the region that recently declined to pay a bit more for road improvements.

In both cases, people outside Lotus Land were muttering: Welcome to our world.

This is pertinent to the federal election. Are you competent to save for your retirement with RRSPs and a tax-free savings account, or do you need the government to do it for you, by force?

Are you capable of managing your own child care, or should the nanny state create a hugely sub-sidized system, which has already failed in Quebec, from coast to coast?

Are you ready for the day when the machine stops?

Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter: @tomfletcherbc Email: [email protected]

Power failure resulted in pitiful displayFrom Page 6

Let us define the bad as those governments that really know they should be doing more, but are shirking their responsibility for domestic political reasons.

The most prominent are the United Kingdom and Spain, which played a key role in sabotaging an EU meeting last June that was trying to agree on a formula for sharing the refugee burden fairly among EU members.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s problem is that overall immigration into Britain is high (330,000 last year), which has infuriated the right-wing media.

In fact, more than half the newcomers were citizens of other EU countries (who have the right to cross borders in search of jobs), and only 25,000 were refugees — but such fine distinctions have little place in the public debate.

And in Spain, there’s an election coming up.

Then there are the ugly: the countries that simply don’t want to take in refugees because they are different from the local people.

Like Slovakia, which said that it might take a few

hundred refugees, but only Christians, or Hungary and the Czech Republic, which are both talking about deploying armed forces on their borders to keep refugees out.

All these countries lived under Soviet rule for two gen-erations, which was almost like living in a cave. They have almost no experience of immi-gration, and it’s commonplace to hear people make racist or anti-Semitic remarks without the slightest sense of shame.

In a way, they are still liv-ing in the 1950s. It’s not an excuse, but it is an explana-tion.

So how, in these circum-stances, is the European Union to agree on a common policy for sharing the burden of car-ing for the refugees?

“We must push through uniform European asylum policies,” Angela Merkel says, but the EU operates on a consensus basis, and there is little chance that that will be accepted.

In practice, therefore, the burden will continue to be borne by the willing.

In an attempt to lessen the burden, the German chancellor has proposed a list of “safe” countries (like the Balkan ones, which account for

40 percent of asylum claims in Germany), where it may be presumed that most claimants are really economic migrants.

Arrivals from “unsafe” countries like Syria, Libya and Afganistan, where real wars are underway, would be treat-ed as genuine refugees.

But even then, each case must be investigated individu-ally.

“Germany is a strong country and the motto must be: ‘we’ve managed so much, we can manage this,’” Merkel said, and no doubt she can get through this year without changing course.

But there is every reason to believe that there will be another million people risking everything to make it across the EU’s borders next year, and probably for many years there-after. It may even get worse.

In the long run it is almost certain to get worse, even if the current wars in the Middle East all miraculously end.

Coming up behind the cur-rent crisis is the inexorable advance of climate change, which will hit the Middle East and Africa very hard indeed.

Nobody has the slightest idea how many refugees that will generate, but it is likely to be many times the current flow.

From

Mixed reactions from EU countries to refugees seeking aid

FictionNEW AT THE LIBRARY

XBy Sue Grafton

Fool’s QuestBy Robin Hobb

The Night SisterBy Jennifer McMahon

Three Moments of an ExplosionBy China Mieville

Non fi ctionThe Couple’s Road trip guide By Josh and Aminda Parafinik

Dessert and Booze Hacks By Peggy Wang

Great Western Canada Bucket List By Robin Esrock

City of Lies — Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in TehranBy Ramita Naval


• Fully Licensed • Air Conditioned • Automatic Scoring

250-378-5252250-936-8384 2076 Coutlee Avenue

TOP TEN Reasons To

PUBLIC BOWLING Starts Sept. 11 - Every weekendLEAGUE BOWLING Starts Sept. 10 - Ladies, Mixed & SeniorsYOUTH BOWLING Starts Sept. 21 - Mondays after schoolp

8 lanes of 5 pin FUN! Merritt


HERALD SPORTSmerrittherald.com bcclassified.com

Have a sports story tip? Tell us about it by calling 250-378-4241 or emailing [email protected]

After a terrific first year, the newly-reformed Nicola Valley Skating Club is looking forward to even bigger and better things this coming season.

The club held its first registration session on September 2 at the Shulus arena. A sec-ond one is planned for the same location on September 12 from 10 a.m. till noon.

The NVSC will be offering four Skate Canada programs this coming season, all taught by NCCP trained professional coaches.

Pre-Canskate is designed for children three years and older who are just beginning to learn to skate. The program is geared to those who have no skat-ing experience or are just learning to move on the ice. Each group lesson lasts 30 minutes.

Canskate is a dynamic learn-to-skate program that focuses on fun, participation and basic skill develop-ment. It is for begin-ning skaters of all ages, from children to adults, as well as for those wishing to improve their skills — whether it be for figure skating, hockey, speed skating or just skating for fun. Group lessons are 45 minutes in length.

The Junior Aca-demy program is for those skaters wishing to fast-track their way to a figure skating program. Two 20-minute group lessons are enhanced by a weekly stroking session.

Finally, there is STARskate, a pro-gram that offers oppor-tunities for skaters of all ages to develop fun-damental figure skating skills in the areas of ice dance, free skate and interpretative skating. Participants receive semi-private lessons with a coach and also do the stroking session.

Fall classes are slated

to begin on October 6 and run for 10 con-secutive weeks between 3:15 and 5:15 p.m. Registrants will have the option of either skating on Tuesdays or Fridays. Their exact lesson time will depend upon which program they register in.

Returning as head coach again this season is Jennifer Yates from Kamloops. Yates is a certified NCCP Level 3 technical coach and qualified Canskate instructor with over 24 years of experience in the sport.

“Skating has been with me since I was two years old,” Yates said. “I have been a skater, a coach, and a parent to skaters — I have been on a few sides of the fence.

“I feel that skating is an incredible skill to learn and grow from. The confidence and improvement in just a short time with my skaters is something that is really satisfying to watch. I am looking forward to a great sea-son ahead.”

Yates will be assisted by newly-certified Canskate instructor Diana Parsons from Merritt, as well as local program assistants Jill Starrs, Lisa Connelly and Amy Stamp. All four coaching assistants grew up in the Nicola Valley and figureskated competitively in their youth.

For more informa-tion about the Nicola Valley Skating Club and its fall programs, contact Starrs at 250-378-0114 or Parsons at 250-378-7571. You can also visit the club’s Facebook page: Skating in the Nicola Valley.

Figure skating season fast approaching

LET’S GO SKATING!The Nicola Valley Skating Club is set to begin its second season of classes this October since reforming in the fall of 2014. (Above) Head coach Jennifer Yates gives a free ride to one of her young pupils, six-year-old Dreah Portelance. (Left) Cali Schwarz, 7, performs at the skating club’s grand finale last March. (Below) NVSC coaches team up to help the Learn to Skate group. They will be known as Canskaters this year. Ian Webster/Herald

Ian WebsterTHE MERRITT HERALD

National Coaches Week, Sept. 19-27September 19 to

27 marks the first ever National Coaches Week in Canada.

Organizers of the event are asking Canadians everywhere — whether they’re an athlete, a parent or a spectator — to help celebrate the occasion by saying ‘Thanks!’ to coaches from coast to coast to coast.

The thank-you can be in the form of a simple card or letter sent to an individual coach, or as elaborate as an all-out celebration by a com-munity in honour of all those selfless volunteers who dedicate countless hours to enhancing the sporting and recreational lives of others.

During National Coaches Week, sev-eral communities in and around the southern

Interior of B.C. are host-ing National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) clinics to help existing coaches further upgrade their skills, and to encourage new indi-viduals and groups to take up the challenge of coaching.

On September 19, Merritt will be holding a one-day clinic at the civic centre on Planning a Practice.

Other topics being

covered by clinics around the Interior are Nutrition, Basic Mental Skills, Making Ethical Decisions, Designing a Basic Sports Program, Fundamental Movement Skills and the Psychology of Performance.

For more information on National Coaches Week, and NCCP course offerings, contact Josée Warren at the Merritt branch of PacificSport Interior (250-315-1075).

Ian WebsterTHE MERRITT HERALD


Dentistry @ Merritt POSITION: FULL TIME

CERTIFIED DENTAL ASSISTANTS (CDA)

JOB POSTING

Dentistry@Merritt is looking to hire 2 Full time Certified Dental Assistants in a busy dental office in Merritt, BC.

Applicants must be available to work Tuesday-Saturday. Above average hourly pay. Health benefits available.

New grads welcome. Start date is immediately.

Please email your resume at [email protected]

Announcements

InformationAdvertise in the

2016 - 2018BC Hunting

Regulations Synopsis✱Largest Sportsman’s

publication in BC.

Please call Annemarie 1.800.661.6335 or email:

fi [email protected]

CANADA BENEFIT Group - Do you or someone you know suffer from a disability? Get up to $40,000 from the Canadian Government. Toll-free 1-888-511-2250, www.canadabenefi t .ca/free-assessment

Travel

TimeshareCANCEL YOUR Timeshare. No risk program stop mort-gage & maintenance pay-ments today. 100% money back guarantee. Free consul-tation. Call us now. We can help! 1-888-356-5248.

TravelFOUNTAIN OF Youth Spa RV Resort is your winter destina-tion for healing mineral waters, fi ve-star facilities, activities, entertainment, fi tness, friends, and youthful fun! $9.95/day for new customers. Reservations: 1-888-800-0772, foyspa.com

Employment

Business Opportunities

HIP OR knee replacement? Arthritic Conditions/COPD? Restrictions in Walking/Dress-ing? Disability Tax Credit $2,000 Tax Credit $20,000 Refund. Apply Today For As-sistance: 1-844-453-5372.

Career Opportunities

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION!In-demand career! Employers have work-at-home positions available. Get online training you need from an employer-trusted program. Visit: Care-erStep.ca/MT or 1-855-768-3362 to start training for your work-at-home career today!

Employment

Career Opportunities

PROFESSIONAL OPPORTU-NITIES: Troyer Ventures Ltd. is a privately owned energy services company servicing Western Canada. All job op-portunities include competitive wages, comprehensive bene-fi ts package and room for ad-vancement. We are accepting applications at multiple branches for: Professional Drivers (Class 1, 3), and Me-chanics. Successful candi-dates will be self-motivated and eager to learn. Experi-ence is preferred, but training is available. Valid safety tick-ets, clean drug test, and a drivers abstract are required. For more information and to apply, please visit our website at: Troyer.ca.

Education/Trade Schools

START A new career in Graphic Arts, Healthcare, Business, Education or Infor-mation Tech. If you have a GED, call: 855-670-9765

Medical/DentalMEDICAL Transcriptionists are in huge demand! Train with Canada’s top Medical Transcription school. Learn from home and work from home. Call today! 1-800-466-1535 www.canscribe.com or [email protected].

Services

Financial ServicesAUTO FINANCING-Same Day Approval. Dream Catcher Auto Financing 1-800-910-6402 or www.PreApproval.ccGET BACK ON TRACK! Bad credit? Bills? Unemployed? Need Money? We Lend! If you own your own home - you qualify. Pioneer Acceptance Corp. Member BBB.

1-877-987-1420 www.pioneerwest.com

NEED A loan? Own property? Have bad credit? We can help! Call toll free 1-866-405-1228 fi rstandsecondmortgages.ca

TAX FREE MONEYis available, if you are a homeowner, today! We can easily approve you by phone. 1st, 2nd or 3rd mort-gage money is available right now. Rates start at Prime. Equity counts. We don’t rely on credit, age or income.

Call Anytime1-800-639-2274 or

604-430-1498. Apply online www.capitaldirect.ca

Home ImprovementsFULL SERVICE Plumbing from Parker Dean. Fast, re-liable, 24/7 service. Take $50 off your next job if you present this ad. Vancouver area. 1-800-573-2928.

Help Wanted Help Wanted

Your community. Your classifieds.

250.378.4241

fax 250.378.6818 email classi [email protected]

WORD CLASSIFIEDS

Tuesday issuenoon the preceding Friday

Thursday issuenoon the preceding Tuesday

DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Tuesday issuenoon the preceding Friday

Thursday issuenoon the preceding Tuesday

INDEX IN BRIEFFamily Announcements

Community AnnouncementsEmployment

Business ServicesPets & Livestock

Merchandise For SaleReal Estate

RentalsAutomotive

Legals

AGREEMENTIt is agreed by any display or

classi ed advertiser requesting space that the liability of the

paper in the event to failure to publish an advertisement shall be limited to the amount paid by the

advertiser for the portion of the advertising space occupied by the incorrect item only, and that there shall be no liability in any

event beyond the amount paid for such advertisement.

The publisher shall not beliable for slight changes or

typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an

advertisement. bcclassi eds.com

cannot be responsible for errorsafter the rst day of publication of

any advertisement. Notice of errors after the rst day of

publication of any advertisement. Notice or errors on the rst day should immediately be called

to the attention of the classi ed department to be corrected for

the following edition.

bcclassi eds.comreserves the right to revise, edit, classify or reject any

advertisement and to retain any answers directed to the

bcclassi ed.com Box ReplayService and to repay the

customer the sum paid for the advertisement and box rental.

DISCRIMINATORYLEGISLATION

Advertisers are reminded thatProvincial legislation forbids the

publication of any advertisementwhich discriminates against any

person because of race, religion,sex, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin, or age, unless

the condition is justi ed by a bona de requirement for the

work involved.

COPYRIGHTCopyright and/or properties

subsist in all advertisements andin all other material appearing inthis edition of bcclassi ed.com.

Permission to reproduce wholly orin part and in any form

whatsoever, particularly by a photographic or offset process in a publication must be obtained in writing from the publisher. Any

unauthorized reproduction will be subject to recourse in law.

MERRITTHERALD

Ph: 378-4241Fax: 378-6818

Advertising: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

Production: [email protected] Granite Avenue,P.O. Box 9, Merritt, B.C.

ADVERTISING DEADLINES

WHERE DOYOU TURN

when yourpet is lost?

Community NewspapersWe’re at the heart of things™


Guaranteed Approvals

IF YOU WORK,YOU DRIVECall Steve Today

1.855.740.4112 murraygmmerritt.com

Need a Vehicle? Call the

Available 24/7 • mycreditmedic.ca

Dream Catcher AUTO Financing

1-800-910-6402www.PreApproval.cc

#7557

Quick. Easy.

SAME DAY AUTO FINANCING

Merchandise for Sale

Heavy Duty Machinery

A-CHEAP, LOWEST PRICES STEEL SHIPPING Dry Storage Containers Used 20’40’45’53’ and insulated con-tainers all sizes in stock. 40’ containers as low as $2,200DMG. Huge freezers. Experienced wood carvers needed, full time. Ph Toll free 24 hours 1-866-528-7108 or 1-778-298-3192 8am-5pm. De-livery BC and AB www.rtccon-tainer.com

Wanted:Will pay cash for construction equipment, back-hoes, excavators, dozers, farm tractors w/loaders, skid steers, wheel loaders, screeners, low beds, any condition running or not. 250-260-0217.

Real Estate

Houses For SaleDON’T OVERPAY! rtmi-homes.com “Your smart hous-ing solution” Canada’s largest provider of manufactured housing. Text or call (844-334-2960). In stock 16’/20’/22’ Homes on sale now!

Rentals

Duplex / 4 Plex3 Bedroom townhouse, 2 bath,

small fenced yard, pets negotiable, laundry hook ups, $1,000/month includes gas,

close to downtown. (250) 682-0844

Homes for Rent2000’sqft rancher, 2 bdrm +

den, 1 1/2 bath, w/d incl., private courtyard, pool, n/s,

no pets, $1200/mon. Avail Oct. 1st. 250-378-5519

Suites, Lower2 bdrm above grd suite on

Bann St. Reno’d with small pri-vate outdoor area, util & cable incl. No smoking, pets, parties

or drugs. $800 month (250) 315 - 9027

Suites, UpperPrivate 2 bdrm lake front suite on Nicola Lake. $950/mon or $1100 furnished, includes util. satellite TV & internet. No-pets, no smoking Avail right away. 250-378-5519

Auto Financing Auto Financing

1-250-762-9447


SOMETHING SOMETHING

IS HAPPENING IS HAPPENING

AT KAMLOOPS AT KAMLOOPS

DODGE. DODGE. COME FEEL THE

DIFFERENCE FOR YOUR-

SELF!

KamloopsKamloops

STK#151265A

SALE PRICE$40,900

STK#U7478A

SALE PRICE$15,900

2008 DAKOTA CREW CAB SXT

Contact dealership for any further information and some restrictions apply. Vehicles may not be exactly as shown.

THE STORE THE STORE YOU KNOW.YOU KNOW. THE PRICES YOU DESERVE. THE SERVICE YOU EXPECT.

ST#15402A

SALE PRICE$24,900

2011 DODGE RAM 1500 QUAD SXT

ST#U7488

SALE PRICE$49,900

2013 DODGE RAM 2500 MEGA

2013 GMC SIERRA SLE 4X4

STK#151223A

SALE PRICE$33,900

YOUR BEST DEALS

2525 E. TRANS CANADA HWY, KAMLOOPS, BC

DEREK DENEEFSALES MANAGER

BRANT ROSHINSKY

GENERAL MANAGER

GRANT DOLSON

SALES

NIGEL BAILLARGEON

SALES

JAMES NORRIS

SALES

BRETT BUGA

SALES

DEVON BEYER

SALES1-866-374-4477WWW.KAMLOOPSDODGE.COM YESCREDIT NOW AT

KAMLOOPS DODGEThe easy way to your new vehicle!

NO CREDIT BANKRUPT

DIVORCE SLOW CREDIT PAYER

as shown.

Since 1968DL#C3287

STK#A5702

SALE PRICE$37,900

LOW KMS.

2013 JEEP WRANGLER 2013 JEEP WRANGLER UNLIMITEDUNLIMITEDMOAB EDITIONMOAB EDITION

d t i ti l V hi l t band some restrictions apply. Vehicles may not be

STK#US 7478A

SAASALEELE PPRICE$11155555,,9900$$$1111555

LOOK FOR US UNDER THE CANADIAN CANADIAN FLAGFLAG ON THE KAMLOOPS AUTOMALL

ON THE KAMLOOPS AUTOMALL

WHY BUY WHY BUY FROM US?FROM US?

Dealing with the Johnston Auto Dealing with the Johnston Auto Group has it’s benefi ts. We are the Group has it’s benefi ts. We are the largest Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram largest Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

Dealer in the B.C. Interior. Dealer in the B.C. Interior. We beat the competition with We beat the competition with the lowest overhead and the the lowest overhead and the

strongest buying power.strongest buying power.

KAMLOOPSKAMLOOPS DODGEDODGE

YOUR BEST PRICE AND YOUR BEST PRICE AND OUR BEST SERVICE ON A TOP OUR BEST SERVICE ON A TOP

DODGE PRODUCT!DODGE PRODUCT!

PRICE PRICE

REDUCED!REDUCED!

PRICE PRICE

REDUCED!REDUCED!

2013 DODGE RAM 1500 CREW SPORT

ST#U7486

SALE PRICE$39,900

STK#15533A

SALE PRICE$42,900

2015 DODGE RAM 1500 QUAD OUTDOORSMAN

SALES EVENT ALL THIS MONTH

$$5555/WK/WK$$19,99819,998PLUS TAXES & $495 ADMIN FEE.

3.49% FOR 96 MONTHS WITH 0 DOWN.OR

Starting From

$5555/WK/WK$$19,99819,998PLUS TAXES & $495 ADMIN FEE.


Starting From

$$5555/WK/WK$$19,99819,998

PLUS TAXES & $495 ADMIN FEE.


$$9999/WK/WK$$34,99934,999

PLUS TAXES & $495 ADMIN FEE.


Starting FromStarting From

$$

OR

S2015 DODGE JOURNEY CVP 2015 DODGE JOURNEY CVP

2015 CHRYSLER 2002015 CHRYSLER 2002015 RAM 1500 SXT CREW CAB 4X42015 RAM 1500 SXT CREW CAB 4X4

2015 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN CVP2015 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN CVP

DIESEL

2013 FORD F150 FX4 CREW

K#15533A

SSSOUTDOO SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUTDOO MMTDOOROUTDOORSMAPRICE PRICE

REDUCED!REDUCED!

ESELLLLLLLLPRICE PRICE

REDUCED!REDUCED!

#15402A

SXTPRICE PRICE

REDUCED!REDUCED!

000000000

ULTRA ULTRA RARE!RARE!

Merritt Herald, September 08, 2015

Documents

Transcript of Merritt Herald, September 08, 2015