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Complete version of the Dec. 29, 2011 edition of the Rossland News as it appeared in print.
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Breaking news at rosslandnews.com
The Rossland News takes a look back at what made headlines in the last year
2011 in Review
Community LotTell your community what’s happening! Send photos, stories, event listings, upcoming activities and regular group meetings to [email protected]
or submit your listing on our website at rosslandnews.com
Will be open Friday Dec. 30 from 2 p.m to 5 p.m. www.ross-landmuseum.ca.
Free snowshoe tours with the Rossland Snowshoe Hosts. Dog-friendly. Please call in advance if you would like to come as they go somewhere dif-ferent all of the time. Need Snowshoes. Karen Thatcher 362-7207
Runs every Thursday from 9 p.m. - 1 a.m. at the Flying Steam-shovel. All proceeds go to the Rossland Family Relief Fund, aiding local families in need. 250-362-7323
Open meetings will now take place every third Monday of the month. More info: [email protected]
At Red Mountain Resort Dec. 28-31. from 3p.m. to 6 p.m. G-rated movies. Facility will be unsupervised.
At Black Jack Ski Club from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, January 1. For more info go to www.skiblackjack.ca
Next regular meeting is Monday, Jan. 9. starting at 7 p.m. Wednesdays at RSS gym. starts at 7 p.m. $2 drop-in or $5 for the
season. Wear indoor shoes. Kootenay Nordic Sports will be hosting FREE (by donation)ski
waxing clinics. Proceeds go to skier development at BlackJack Ski Club. Located at 2020 Washington Street Kootenay Nordic Sports. Times are always at 7pm on Wednesdays. Jan 4 and Jan 25. [email protected] 250-362-7071
Membership forms now available at Kootenay Nordic Sports, Better Life Fitness, Rossland Chamber of Commerce, Rossland City Hall. Also via www.skiblackjack.ca.
Monday evening practices 7 - 9 p.m. in the McIntyre Room at the Cominco Memorial Centre. Brass and woodwind players welcomed. For more info, contact Andrea McKay, 362-7604.
School is back in again Tuesday Jan. 3 at RSS and MacLeans.
is January 27 to 29. The event is celebrating its 115th year and will include a parade, bobsled race and kids’ carnival. Join in on celebrating a Ross-land tradition and paying homage to winter mountain culture.
started it’s season Thursday, Nov. 3rd at 9:30 am and every Monday and Thursday thereafter. Join us for some socializing, healthy exercise, and fun on the ice. Beginners welcome! Call Jim at 364-1051 or Bill at 362-9462
Approximately 80 racers will be coming out for the K Level Race at Red Mountain Jan. 7 and 8. Contact: Christine Andison [email protected]. Website: www.redmountainracers.com
January 18 - 21. New and experienced free-stylers will come out at Red Mountain Resort’s to claim the Canadian Freestyling Cham-pionship titles. More info at: www.canadianopenfreeskiing.com
Each month on the third Sunday from 7-9:30 pm., the Ross-land Miner’s Hall hosts performers - music, dance, spoken word, theatre. Interestedvolunteers and performers may contact Michael Gifford at 250-362-7170 or [email protected]. Adults $3, students free. Treats available. Doors open at 6. Next showis Jan. 15.
8-9:30am, Saturdays. Meet at Kootenay Nor-dic Sports (2020 Washington). Free drop-in, all levels, year-round. Contact TammieGibson, 362-7071, [email protected].
Sit n’ Knit, Thursdays 1:30 - 3:30 pm! Bring your projects and questions and get help from an expert knitter, all for a $2 donation(all proceeds to local charity) Call 362-5383.
Rhymes, songs, finger plays and stories, 10:30-11:30 am, Thursdays atMacLean StrongStart Center. Free, drop-in, for caregivers and young children.
Fridays at the Rossland Library: Tots (ages 3-5) 10:15-10:45 am and Books for Babies (under 3) 11:00-11:30 am. Drop-in. A parent orguardian must remain in the program room for the duration.
Rossland Radio Co-op, 101.1 FM. Come to a Wednes-day meeting, 7-9pm, 1807 Columbia. Or email [email protected].
6-8 pm, first Tuesday each month at the RosslandLibrary. Come be part of the process.
Columbia District Girl Guides has units from Ross-land to Salmo for girls aged 5 to 17. Call 250-367-7115. Leaders also wanted.
For boys and girls, now at the Rossland Scout Hall. Beavers (ages 5,6,7) Wed. 6-7pm. Cubs (ages 8,9,10) Thu. 4-5:30pm. Contact Shanna Tanabe: 362-0063.
Free drop-in, 1504 Cedar Ave, Trail. Call 364-3322 or contact [email protected]. Art Night: Tue. 7pm; Movie Night: Wed. 6-8pm.
General Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. onthe third Wed. of every month. All members of Branch #14 are asked to attend.
Weekly meetings at the Rock Cut Pub, Mon., 6-8pm. All welcome! Contact John Sullivan, 362-5278.
West Kootenay Family Historians, 7pm, first Monday each month, Sept toJune, SHSS, Castlegar. Annual fee $10. Contact Jean, 365-8100, or Grace, 364-1426.
Bingo Thurs., films Tues., both at 1:30pm, Rossland Seniors’ Hall. Meets every Wed. 6pm - 9:15pm at the 44 Trail Armory in Shaver’s Bench
1990-7th Ave. Contact: Michelle Szabo at 231-5000, [email protected]
A2 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
Highway Drive, Trail B.C. Waneta Plaza, Trail B.C.
AM PLUSAM .COM
The value of most Rossland homes will decline by about one per cent in the eyes of the provincial and municipal governments, and the city’s total assessment roll will also dip slightly in 2011 compared to the year be-fore.
That’s according to the latest figures from BC Assessment, which has just sent out let-ters to property owners informing them of the new estimated values of their homes and busi-nesses.
“In most of the municipalities in the Ross-land/Trail area, the market values decreased slightly,” regional deputy assessor Dennis Hick-son said.
As a result, a typical single-family home
in Rossland valued at $253,000 last year would be valued at $250,000 on the 2011 assessment roll.
The City of Rossland’s total assessment roll also dropped in 2011. It stands at $601 million this year compared to $624 million last year.
The annual adjustment is based largely on aggregate sale prices for properties in a given municipality, which BC Assessment collects from land registry data and uses to estimate
the new market value of a given home or business.
Changes in zoning, new subdivisions andnew construction can also impact the city’s overall assessment roll.
For most properties that have not under-gone any major changes, however, the new as-sessment is based entirely on market changesand reflects BC Assessment’s best estimate of a property’s value as of July 1, 2010.
January-February
Assessments down in 2011 for RosslandROSSLAND NEWSJan. 6
The Board of Education met as a group on Monday for the first time since a trio of trustees from Trail called on the minister of education to remove chairman Gordon Smith and have the board dissolved.
Tensions were high as trustees and senior staff of School District 20 gathered at Trail Middle School for their first regular meeting of 2011.
About two dozen members of the public also at-tended the meeting, and several who spoke at the end tended to agree with the Trail trustees’ desire to move forward with the district’s “Planning for the Future” process.
Recommendations outlined in the “Planning for the Future Part II” document, prepared by district staff, include school closures in Rossland and Castlegar which would save the district a sig-nificant amount of money but have upset many parents, politicians and members of the public in those two cities.
The division between Trail and other munici-palities over this issue continued to play out at the meeting.
Trail trustee Lorraine Manning said she was “disappointed in the board” over what she de-scribed as a pattern of ganging up on her, fellow Trail trustee Mark Wilson, and Warfield trustee Toni Driutti, who lives in Trail.
“If you look at all the (meeting) minutes, you’ll always see a bloc of votes and the Trail people are always left out,” she said.
The board’s decision last month to postpone public hearings on the Planning for the Future process was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Manning said, and what prompted her to sign her name to a letter asking Education Min-
ister Margaret MacDiarmid to dissolve the board and intervene directly in the process.
Castlegar trustee Mac Gregory, however, said he was “really disturbed” by the letter to the minis-ter.
He said the fact that the three trustees from Trail often find themselves on the losing end of votes is no justification to dissolve the board as a whole.
“Everyone does not agree all the time,” Gregory said. “If it’s a 6-3 vote all the time, perhaps the three are just out of touch.”
Bev Maloff, who also represents Castlegar, took things a step further and suggested the Trail trust-ees have some kind of grudge against Rossland.
“Why do you guys dislike Rossland so much?” she said. “Why do you always pick on Rossland?”
But Manning dismissed that accusation as ri-diculous.
“I don’t hate Rossland,” she said. “I have lots of friends in Rossland.”
Maloff’s accusation also prompted groans and plenty of eye-rolling from the Trail parents in at-tendance.
“I found Ms. Maloff’s comments ... out of or-der,” Roland Vogel told the board at the end of the meeting.
Vogel, who has been an outspoken critic of the board’s decision to delay the public hearings, tried to voice further concerns but was cut off by chair-man Smith, who insisted that members of the public ask questions — not make comments — during the designated question period at the end of board meetings.
It’s still unclear what will happen next with the “Planning for the Future” process.
Smith said the board must meet as a committee of the whole to decide how to proceed, but trust-ees couldn’t agree Monday on a date.
Smith said he wants to arrange for that meeting as soon as possible.
Kelly Acheson, one of the main or-ganizers for Winter Carnival, was re-ally pleased with the way the weekend turned out and she shared her high-lights with us.
“It was crazy busy all weekend, what a huge team effort” she said. “It was awe-some.”
“It was 100 strong that pulled it off,” she continued. “I want to thank my board of directors and all the volun-teers. We’ve got our event organizers and they just do their thing, they just run with it.”
Besides Acheson, the board includes Caroline Rousselle, Anna Caron, Mar-lene Streif, Sarah Dixon, Tara Kowal-chuk, Larry Doelle, Richard Reid, Don DeLong.
“They did everything that needed to be done,” Acheson said.
She also thanked the event’s four “major majors,” the City of Rossland, the Nelson and District Credit Union, Red Mountain, and Crossline Films, but also Doctors with Warm Hearts, Teck, Columbia Power, Columbia Ba-sin Trust, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, The South Kootenay Busi-ness Centre, Castlegar Hyundai, Fortis BC, and many others.
“It’s a great community event,” she said, thanking all these sponsors and others for “everything from cash, to flat bed trucks, to prize donations.”
“The bobsled’s always a highlight,” Acheson continued.
“We thought we’d be down in reg-istration [because Rick Mercer wasn’t here], but we weren’t. And the race went without incident.”
“The Slocan ice sculptures are a mon-strous favourite. You can just feel the
weekend kicking into mode that Thurs-day,” she said, when the Canadian SnowSculpture team arrives and begins tobuild the beer garden and the ice slide outside the library.
“These guys are world famous and we are so lucky to have them here. They’re somewhere different every weekend,” she said about the Kootenay artists who have worked together on sand and icesince 1992, offer workshops, and attendfestivals all over the map — visit www.snowsculpture.com.
“This year they embedded lights intothe bar. Everybody stops and checks them out. We’ve already booked them for next year,” Acheson said.
“Then there’s the rail jam, it speaks for itself,” she continued.
“It’s too bizarre that they would trans-plant a ski hill onto a downtown street. And there are really good riders! Pete Gearin [the organizer], he’s awesome. Isaw him on the street and he’s already talking about next year.”
Acheson was really fired up to bepaired with the Blizzard Fest, especially since “we were an official outdoor mu-sic venue for the fest, with wicked DJs. We’re going to do it up again next year, bigger and better.”
She wanted to give a special thanks to the Kootenay SnoGoers. “They gave snowmobile rides to kids all afternoon at the kids carnival at the Lion’s camp-ground.”
And there was so much more, from King of the Mountain and Learn toLuge, to the relay race, the kids’ art ex-hibition, snow golf, snow volleyball, not to mention the parade and all the food and drink.
“There’s just nothing about the weekend that’s not involved with the outdoors, the mountains, the snow,”Acheson said. “I just loved it, everyminute of it.”
ROSSLAND NEWSJan. 13
ROSSLAND NEWSFeb. 3
Tense meeting for board trustees
Winter carnival deemed a huge success
www.rosslandnews.com A3Rossland News Thursday, December 29, 2011
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Chords rang true at the Rouge Gallery’s Val-entine’s Day performance; meanwhile, down the street at City Hall, discord reigned as coun-cil held forth on a $6 million loan (approved), $250,000 on downtown engineering (ap-proved), a parcel tax review panel (that fell on its face last year), and a five year financial plan for our town that squeaked past first reading.
At one point, after much gavel banging and repeated warnings for Coun. Laurie Charl-ton to come to order, Mayor Greg Granstrom ejected Charlton from council and threatened to call the RCMP. After a two-minute recess - the second cool-down of the evening - Char-lton apologized, Granstrom accepted, and the meeting resumed.
Later, Coun. Jill Spearn advanced a notice of motion to inquire into the cost incurred by fol-lowing up on Charlton’s “excessive freedom of information requests.”
Not to be outdone, Charlton’s coup-de-grace was a notice of motion in the final minutes of the public meeting in which he accused CAO Victor Kumar of libel and officially recom-mended that he be fired.
To begin at the beginning, the Alternative Approval Process (AAP) expired on Feb. 10 with only 19 of the 247 dissenters required to trigger a referendum.
Consequently, council passed Bylaw No. 2493 at Monday’s meeting to authorize bor-rowing “not exceeding” $6 million to finance the potential Columbia-Washington infra-structure upgrades.
Before the vote, Charlton spent two minutes on his well-known opinion that “we still have no clear idea of exactly what work will be done ... We should hold off on finalizing this bylaw until we get a clear description from staff as to what, exactly, is planned.”
Spearn, “exasperated,” said, “for clarification to the community, [this bylaw] is so that we can engage in an engineering project that, without the engineering design, is absolutely impos-sible for [city staff] to predict.”
Ten minutes later, as the mayor prepared to put it to a vote, Charlton used two minutes to say, again, that the upgrades may be unneces-sary and the costs are unknown without an in-frastructure analysis.
Granstrom asked, “Councillor, how do you propose to get that information without doing the engineering?”
The bylaw passed 5-2, and council moved on
to authorizing $250,000 towards the engineer-ing and design for the corridor.
For six minutes Charlton returned to the no-tion that the upgrades were unknown, unnec-essary, and undefined. Granstrom attempted to intervene on a few occasions, most signifi-cantly to say, “You’ve been speaking for quite some time now, if you would get to your point that would be great.”
Charlton replied, “Well, if you would quit in-terrupting and let me finish.”
A couple minutes later, council voted 5-2 to commit the funds.
Things got hot when debate moved to the Ophir Reservoir parcel tax roll review panel. Before this parcel tax can be imposed the first time, council must appoint at least three people to a quasi-judicial review panel.
Charlton, Granstrom, and Coun. Kathy Moore were appointed to the panel last year to adjudicate complaints, but they failed to authenticate the tax roll. According to a public memo by CAO Victor Kumar, two of the panel contravened procedure in two ways, first by in-troducing a late amendment to the agenda - “a [panel] member cannot make a complaint and purport to adjudicate on that issue” - and sec-ondly by attempting to “investigate” an alterna-tive method of calculating the parcel tax. It is
Kumar’s opinion that “one or two panel mem-bers are confusing [the zoning bylaw with the application of tax.]”
Legally, Kumar said, the panel must “apply objective standards,” and “follow procedure,” but “the 2010 review panel prejudiced theirindependence,” confusing their “quasi-judicialfunction” with their “policy decision makingfunction.”
Granstrom was sure to point out that the for-mula contested “has gone to the BC court and was upheld in the Court of Appeal.”
Charlton took strong issue with Kumar’s wording, but first took two minutes to say that there were “errors in the parcel tax roll” thatneeded correction.
When pressed to highlight these errors,Charlton raised the O’Flanagan’s complaint, the one that has already been through the courts.
Saving the real fireworks for the final min-utes, Charlton put forward a notice of motion that Kumar’s memo “calls into question the in-tegrity and conduct of two members of council” and “contains unsubstantiated allegations thatconstitute libel.” Therefore, “be it resolved thatthe employment contract of Victor Kumar be terminated for cause, effective immediately.”
Granstrom took the notice and asked, “Are you done, sir?”
Coun. Laurie Charlton’s motion to terminate CAO Victor Kumar’s employment contract “for cause, ef-fective immediately,” forwarded at the end of the ac-rimonious Feb. 14 meeting, was met by a resounding silence in council on Monday — with no second to the motion, it failed.
Coun. Kathy Moore commented in a separate in-terview, “that whole thing got out of control, as far as I’m concerned. If there were legitimate concerns, they should have been dealt with in-camera.”
Charlton’s concerns arose from a memo Kumar circulated to council as background to the reappoint-ment of a quasi-judicial parcel tax roll review panel.
Charlton, Moore, and Mayor Greg Granstrom were the panel members last year, but they failed to authen-ticate the tax roll.
Kumar’s memo explained that two of the panel con-travened procedure in two ways, first by introducing a late amendment to the agenda — “a [panel] member cannot make a complaint and purport to adjudicate on that issue” — and secondly by attempting to “inves-tigate” an alternative method of calculating the parcel tax.
Granstrom was sure to point out that the formula contested by the panel “has gone to the BC court and was upheld in the Court of Appeal.”
Kumar’s memo further alleged, “one or two panel members are confusing [the zoning bylaw with the ap-plication of tax.]”
Legally, Kumar said, the panel must “apply objective standards,” and “follow procedure,” but “the 2010 re-view panel prejudiced their independence,” confusing their “quasi-judicial function” with their “policy deci-sion making function.”
Charlton called these comments “unsubstantiated” and “libellous,” claiming they questioned his “integrity and conduct.”
Moore said the whole “zoo and circus” was quite unnecessary. “There’s no need for that.”
Apparently the rest of council agreed.
January-MarchCouncil erupts over borrowing of $6 million
Carey Mulholland photoThe aftermath of the March 11 fire at Rossland Cedar.
ROSSLAND NEWSMarch
Rossland’s biggest structure fire in at least two years razed the planer building at the Bryden Sawmill on Highway 22 (Rossland Cedar) on Friday night, keep-ing fire fighters from Rossland, Warfield, Trail, and Montrose on scene from just before midnight until 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Dwight Wilson, the owner of Rossland Cedar — which took over from Jones Ties and Poles a couple years ago — did not wish to comment on the fire at this time, although regional fire Chief Terry Mar-tin, the commander on scene, said that Wilson has been “very helpful” and have been “working really well” with the fire de-partment as they work on identifying the cause of the fire.
“We got the call around 11:30,” Martin said. “It was reported by the neighbour across the highway, also passerbys, and one of the employees who lives in a nearby building.”
Martin was the first on scene and de-scribed the fire as intense.
“The roof had already collapsed and the walls were coming down. It was a very ag-gressive fire.”
Martin couldn’t recall the last time Rossland experienced a fire of this scale, but said it was “at least a couple years,” and the “biggest in recent memory.”
“We didn’t let it burn to the ground,” he clarified, noting that safety concerns forced them to wait for Fortis to turn off power to the building before sending fire-fighters into the fray.
In the meantime, the approximately 20 firefighters on scene put four hose lines around the building and started to put out the fire and protect the surrounding product — piles of lumber — and other structures so the fire didn’t progress any further.
“Once Fortis shut the power off, we were able to get crews into the sections that were hot and put out the hot spots,” Martin said.
It wasn’t simple however because there was such a mess of debris.
“It was very tough to put it out because walls were collapsed on walls. The build-ing was totally destroyed. It was lots of dig-ging and it took a while.”
Firefighters stayed long enough to make sure the fire was totally out before handing it over to the owner at about 8 a.m.
Martin, who was a volunteer firefighterfor 10 years in Rossland and has been a ca-reer fireman for 20 years since, said the fire was an excellent example of the benefits ofa regional fire service that unites severallocal fire companies.
One of the problems faced by the de-partment was a lack of water at the site. Three water tenders were required to haul water from a hydrant on the old CascadeHighway.
“That’s part of rural firefighing,” Martin said, “and the good thing about regional firefighting:
“We can call on other companies whenwe’re short and need help, either material or men.”
Rossland’s fire engines were also onscene, one actively fighting the fire andone to shuttle firefighters.
Although the cause of the fire remainsunder investigation, Martin said it wasfortunate that it happened at this time of the year.
“We would have been in for a long weekend if this happened in July.”
Council denies motion to fire CAO
Structural fire consumes mill ROSSLAND NEWSMarch 16
ROSSLAND NEWSMarch 2
A4 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
As school district officials plan to try an automated flushing system in their latest attempt to deal with the persistently high lead levels in water at Rossland Secondary School, trustees are looking at calling in an outside consultant.
“I think it’s time to bring somebody in who’s a water-quali-ty expert,” trustee Mark Wilson said at Monday night’s school board meeting.
At that meeting, trustees also heard that district staff plans to test an automatic flushing system in school drinking fountains to see if it helps reduce the level of lead coming out of the taps.
While the problem has not been pinpointed, it is believed that lead solder from old pipe connections is leaching into the
school’s water.The latest tests again showed quantities of the heavy metal
that are above Health Canada’s safety guidelines, said HeatherSimm, assistant director of operations with School District 20.
Wilson said it’s “frustrating” that the situation remains unre-solved and called for outside help. Trustees then approved a mo-tion directing staff to find out how much it would cost to hire a water-quality expert to address the problem.
April-June
ROSSLAND NEWSApril 6
Trustees eye water-quality consultant for RSS
Only four public secondary schools — Univer-sity Hill and Lord Byng in Vancouver, Sentinel in West Vancouver, and Okanagan Mission in Kel-owna — ranked higher than RSS in the Fraser In-stitute’s annual ranking of the province’s schools, with private schools dominating the top spots.
RSS tied for 30th place in the overall ranking of 274 secondary schools whose Grade 12 enroll-ment exceeds 15 students.
Terry McDonnell, principal of RSS, says he doesn’t put much stock in the institute’s rankings, focusing his attention on what he considers the root for RSS success: “We’ve got great kids, great teachers, and you can really feel the support from the community,” he said. “It’s a wonderful build-ing to be in. When you’ve got all that going for you — great people and a great atmosphere — positive things will come from that. That’s what I support.”
“I don’t spend a lot of time focusing on the institute’s report,” he continued, noting the com-mentary in the news about people’s agreement (or not) with the study’s indicators. “I’m more fo-cused on working with the kids, the community, and the teachers to keep it positive and upbeat in the building.”
“It takes a community to raise a kid,” he quipped. “Everybody’s dedicated to working to-gether and doing the best for the kids.”
“Hopefully [the ranking] will mitigate worries of inadequate education at RSS,” said Shelley Ack-erman, a parent active on the Neighbourhoods of Learning committee.
Ackerman was referring to region-wide con-cerns over the need to tighten up the teacher-to-student ratio, and the specific need at RSS to cut back on some staff.
“People are worried that this is going to make it impossible to offer all the necessary courses, and that some parents will pull their kids and send them to Crowe,” Ackerman said. “I personally have faith in RSS’s ability to keep doing the excel-lent job it’s always done.”
MacLean Elementary has also risen in the rankings, from an average spot of 188th of 751 elementary schools over the last five years, up to 128th of 875 elementary schools this year.
Teresa Burdusco, principal of MacLean El-ementary, declined to make any public comment regarding the rankings that also put Trail’s St. Mi-chael’s in 117th, James L. Webster in 303rd, and Glenmerry in 410th this year.
Others are more openly dismissive of the re-sults.
David DeRosa, principal of J.L. Crowe — which ranked 87th among secondary schools, above Stanley Humphries in 194th — said “it’s such a limited and finite data source that they’re using.”
The Fraser Institute’s “report card” measures a school’s status by looking at areas like average exam marks, percentage of exams failed, and graduation rate. The Fraser Institute writes that they focus on subjects with “uniform, statewide assessment,” but despite the apparent objectivity, there are methodological problems.
For example, DeRosa explained that “the par-ticipation rates in examinations at the Grade 12 level fluctuate from year to year and even semester to semester, depending if our students are going to post-secondary schooling and post-secondary job training, or directly into the job world.”
The institute measures improvement by com-paring results to a five-year average. By these comparisons, Crowe has dropped 13 places in the standings, while RSS has risen from 44th place.
But again, the tight focus on uniformly graded subjects leaves out areas like trades training, the fine arts, or development of good citizenship skills. Nor do the rankings consider the quality of fitness facilities or technology upgrades, areas where J.L. Crowe especially excels.
As another measure, DeRosa said, “we have one of the highest daily physical activity success rates in a high school. We have more kids doing more fitness-oriented activity in our school than most provincially.”
“We had the minister of education here on Fri-day and he said our school is second to none in B.C.,” he added.
Andrew Davidoff, president of the Kootenay Columbia Teacher’s Union, pointed out that the ranking is heavily influenced by “socio-economic status,” with top-heavy results for private schools. Rather than a sign of educational excellence, he said, these results are more a sign that private schools “don’t have to accept every student, and many of those students have entry tests.”
The district does look at the Fraser Institute results, he said, but to highlight areas of strength and areas that may need improvement rather than to compare schools.
The institute denies that the report only “dis-tinguishes have schools from have-not schools.”
They write: “While it is sometimes easier for schools to successfully teach children who enjoy many advantages at home, each year the report cards identify many schools with students that have very good results even though they serve students whose families do not have a high in-come level or high level of parental education.”
Many cats have gone missing last fall and this spring, disappearing without a trace — possibly in the jaws of coyotes — while others have found their cats fatally mauled by dogs.
The data does not exist to tell if there is a trend of increasing or higher-than-normal disappearances or maulings, but many Rossland pet owners are concerned.
At 10:30 p.m. last Saturday, Sam Troy of 2nd Avenue “bore terrible witness” to a dog attacking her beloved, 13-year-old Sneetch, a gentle gray cat this reporter knew well from two months of living in the lap of hospitality at Troy’s house.
Troy heard the screams of what she as-sumed were her neighbour’s young chick-ens being attacked. She ran out to find Sneetch being tossed around in the mouth of a mid-size mixed breed with German Shepherd markings.
She moved in and rescued Sneetch as the dog “cringed” away and bounded a tall stone wall and fence, leaving “silently,” Troy said.
Sneetch died four hours later, suffering from the trauma and wounds.
Troy suspects several dogs on the loose in Rossland are culprits behind numerous fatal maulings.
The same night Sneetch died, another cat was attacked in Lower Rossland by a mid-size mutt with Shepherd markings, and “a Mastiff face,” they reported.
Many more people report that their cat disappeared “without a trace.” Without ev-idence, many plausible explanations exist, but most argue that coyotes have snatched the cats. Others also suspect cougars or even raccoons.
Mr. Puss was five when he chose Stew-art Spooner over Spooner’s friend.
“He seemed to like my place better and stuck around,” Spooner recalled.
Now 16 years old, Mr. Puss hasn’t been seen for more than two weeks.
“There’s no evidence at all,” Spooner said. “Normally he doesn’t stray too far from home. We searched high and low, figuring he could be caught somewhere, or injured and hiding out.”
Since then, Spooner has asked around and has found many others who have lost pets.
“A guy on 1st Avenue, his 10-year-old inside-outside cat went missing at the same time. Another two over by the MacLean school went missing around
then too.”Spooner figured coyotes were a likely
culprit. “I’ve certainly heard coyotes at theperimeter of town,” he said, “and comingin at other times. It seems less likely to me, cougars wandering the streets.”
He suggested that the late spring andsnowpack might affect typical behaviours,but he added that it’s “all speculation at themoment. I haven’t heard of any sightings of predators.”
Neither has the conservation officer,Ben Beetlestone.
“If there’s a coyote problem,” he said, “noone’s told us about it.”
Since April 1, 2010, there has been oneunconfirmed cougar sighting near Ross-land reported to the conservation office,and one call to advise the office of a coyotepack here.
“If cats are going missing, it could be aneighbour who doesn’t like cats. It could be coyotes, it could be a cougar,” Beetle-stone said, illustrating the variety of expla-nations. “If a dog attacks a cat, it will kill it.It’s just a game, to kill it, and it will leave it wherever it killed it.”
Nevertheless, he added, the dog may not kill the cat somewhere that is easy tofind. The conservation office is most in-terested in reports of abnormal behaviour.For example, “If coyotes were being seen regularly through the day,” he said, “or ag-gressive behaviour was seen. But we’re not seeing any of that.”
Cindy Devine lost 17-year-old Nootka last September from her Cooke Avenuehome. Like Mr. Puss, there was no traceof “Nootie.” Since then, Devine began tonotice “posters all over town.”
She counted 15 cats missing betweenAugust and September. “There was a quietperiod over the winter,” she said, “I don’tknow where the coyotes went then.”
She argued, “usually if there’s an attack by a dog, there’s some hair or remains. Nootka’d been in a lot of kerfuffles. Usuallythere was a huge amount of hair.”
“There’s something about the coyotes that they remove them quickly; domestic dogs will maul them right there,” she said.
Devine’s cat went missing after dusk,but her friend Sarah Adamson’s cat went missing in the early morning.
Now she finds solace cuddling dozensof cats at the SPCA in the communal cat room, “instead of giving one cat all my at-tention.
Heather Smith lost her much lovedcat Lazer this spring, but philosophized,“How many birds and other animals didhe kill in his life?”
Mixed reaction to strong RSS ranking
Cat owners disturbed by disappearances
ROSSLAND NEWSMay 18
ROSSLAND NEWSJune 9
www.rosslandnews.com A5Rossland News Thursday, December 29, 2011
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Letters PolicyThe Rossland News welcomes letters to the editor intended for publication but reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, legality, accuracy and topicality. Letters should not be more than 300 words long. Anonymous letters will not be published. To assist in verification, name, address and telephone number must be supplied, but will not be published.
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Is a subsidiary of
.Programs at RSS, MacLean Elementary or Ma-
cLean Annex : If you currently enjoy a program or class in one of the school buildings – MacLean Elemen-tary School, Rossland Secondary School or MacLean Annex, all classes and programs are cancelled over the Christmas holiday, which starts Monday, Dec 19 and runs until Tuesday, Jan. 3. Affected programs include; Karate, Family Basketball, Volleyball and Indoor Soc-cer.
Rossland Arena :The Rossland arena is closed on Dec. 24, 25, 31 and
Jan. 1. Recreation Department Holiday Hours :The recreation department and city hall are closed
on Monday, Dec. 26 and remains closed through the week. The recreation department reopens on Jan. 2.
Zumba – Miners Hall:Morning and evening Zumba classes are cancelled
over the Christmas holiday. Classes resume Jan. 2Public Skating Schedule over the Christmas Holi-
days Public skates will be on Tuesday, Dec. 20, from 3:45-
5:15 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 21, from 6:30-7:45 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 22, 3:45-5:15 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 23, 5-6:30 p.m.
The public skating schedule for the week of Dec. 26 to Jan. 2. will be Tuesday, Dec. 27, from 3:45-5:15 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 28, 6:30-7:45 p.m., Thursday, Dec 29, 3:45-5:15 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 30, 5-6:30 p.m.
The City of Rossland outdoor ice rink located on 3rd Ave, between Spokane Street and Washington Street. The public works department will be installing a fire pit and benches in the next few days. Bring some wood to build a fire and enjoy our beautiful outdoor ice rink!
Senior’s Duffer Hockey on Tuesday mornings runs from 9:30-10:45 a.m. each week. This is a great pro-gram for enthusiastic seniors who would like to learn
how to play hockey or already know and want to get out and play. Over the Christmas holiday, Tuesday, Dec. 20 is on, and Tuesday, Dec. 27 has been cancelled. Regular play resumes in January!
If you can’t get enough hockey, Co-ed Rec Hockey runs through the holiday season with a few changes.
They are: Tuesday, Dec. 20, 9:45-11 p.m.Saturday, Dec. 24, cancelled, Sunday, Dec 25, Can-
celled, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 9:45-11 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 31, cancelled and Sunday, Jan. 1, cancelled.
Kids Rec Hockey on Thursdays takes a break over the Christmas holiday as well. Classes on Thursday Dec. 22 and 29 have both cancelled. The program resumes Jan. 5.
Summit Backcountry Maps:If you enjoy backcountry and cross-country skiing
at the Nancy Greene summit, stop by the recreation department to pick up a topographic map of the area, complete with locations of all the cabins.
Little Gretzky’s Hockey Program: The Little Gretzky’s hockey program started Nov. 22
from 11-11:45 a.m. in the Rossland arena. Team Profili has signed on to lead the next generation of hockey players to learn the fundamentals of skating and hockey. If you have a preschooler in the house, who would like to learn to skate and play hockey, register them for the Little Gretzky’s program! Skaters need a full-face hockey mask, neck guard, skates, good mitts or gloves and a hockey stick. Parents are encouraged to come out on the ice and will also need a full-face hockey helmet and skates. Drop-ins are welcome at $10 per family. The program takes a break over the holiday and resumes on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
The Recreation Department will be creating a sup-plementary Winter brochure for the months of January to March, 2012. If you would like to run a program, please contact our office to discuss the specifics.
It’s been an eventful year here in Rossland, with controversial things, like the often tumul-tuous events that transpired in council and the breathtaking sporting events, from ski races to soccer and field hockey.
Hopefully everyone is still enjoying the time with family and friends that is synony-mous with the holidays and looking forward to another exciting year in this little mountain town.
There are New Year events going on all over Rossland, including events at Red Mountain.
With the new year here it’s also a time to look back on the past year and take a moment to think about all that has happened.
For the city it’s been a back a forth battle with Ministry of Transportation and businesses to try and get everyone onboard for the Colum-bia-Washington renewal project. But now that the city has heard the bad news - that there will be no federal grants - those plans will be likely be changing.
The battle for keeping a school in Rossland also heated up again recently and should be a focus off attention for most of the residents of Rossland in the New Year as the Board of Education has their next meeting. Keeping a school in Rossland is definitely something that benefits a community and losing it would be a detriment to Rossland, something we don’t have to say.
There were also a lot of sporting events that took place from the NorAm a few weeks ago to the free skiing that happened last January and will be happening again soon.
The year 2012 looks to be exciting as well.
Looking back on another
eventful year
Publisher: Barbara Blatchford
Editor: Arne Petryshen
Sales: Monika Smutny
2114 Columbia Ave., Rossland
250-362-2183
Editorial
Program schedule for ChristmasRecreation, Education, Community - Rossland Rec Department
A6 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
Council’s Monday meeting opened di-rectly into controversy as the mayor issued a statement that rebuked Coun. Laurie Char-lton for publicly accusing the CAO Victor Kumar of libel on Feb. 14. The drama ended with Charlton’s expulsion from the council chamber.
The mayor’s statement noted that the CAO could sue for $250,000 or more, plus legal fees, at taxpayer expense for breach of contract, and recommended that Charlton either apologize, or that council censure Charlton’s comments publicly.
In the course of discussion, Charlton re-iterated his accusations of libel, prompting the mayor to demand an immediate apology under threat of expulsion. When Charlton refused to apologize, the RCMP were called and, after some resistance — notably the threat of arrest by the attending officer — Charlton left the room.
Mayor Greg Granstrom’s statement noted that staff have a responsibility to give their “best professional advice, without consider-ing whether it might be popular or unpopu-lar.”
He continued that council members should “raise valid concerns about the per-formance” of staff. “However, such concerns must be properly aired and handled by council.”
The thrust of the mayor’s point was that Charlton’s choice to drop a notice of mo-tion on council which contained accusations of libel pointed at the CAO was unethical, “equivalent to trying [to defame] him with-out due process.”
According to the mayor, due process for issues of staff begins “behind closed doors,” in an in-camera meeting.
Granstrom noted that staff who “feel bul-lied, intimidated, harassed, and defamed” may resort to legal action, lacking the privi-lege of public debate.
He also wrote, “Mr. Kumar does not wish Rossland taxpayers to suffer any financial
loss as a result of this very serious incident. The city and the taxpayers of Rossland are facing a precarious position.”
Charlton asserted he had nothing to apol-ogize for after a lenghthy discussion. The mayor called a motion to sustain the chair’s decision and he received council’s support.
The meeting was adjourned until an RCMP officer arrived on scene 35 minutes later. Coun. Moore was not pleased, “This situation does not benefit our community.”
The mayor reconvened the meeting and asked one more time for an apology, but Charlton refused and the RCMP took over.
“Sir, could you just step outside with me?” the officer asked.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Charlton replied, “the mayor doesn’t have the authority to have you expel me.”
“He does,” the officer replied. “I’m here to enforce that bylaw to ask you to leave peace-fully.”
The officer maintained that the issue was no longer public, but would be continued in the lobby. Charlton remained seated and de-nied there was an authority that could move him.
“If you wish to file a grievance, through the city, or by whatever means you want to. It’s not going to happen now,” the of-ficer explained. “Stand up, leave this room right now.”
“By what authority, what legislation,” Charlton protested.
“Okay, stand up,” the officer said, taking him by the arm.
“If you fail to comply with this, you will be charged and arrested for obstructing justice, do you understand?”
Charlton pressed for an authority.“The Criminal Code of Canada,” the of-
ficer answered.Faced with arrest, Charlton agreed to leave
the room, “to go have a discussion.”
June-July
Coun. Laurie Charlton was escorted from the June 13 council by RCMP. Rossland News photo
Roughly 200 Rosslanders and friends took the traditional Canada Day hike up Mount Roberts to sing the anthem and enjoy the view as a massive Canadian flag was raised up the Cominco pole, almost spanning it from top to bottom.
Andy Russell hauled the 50 square me-tres of flag up the 800 metres of vertical that separate the top of Mount Roberts from the Cascade Highway trailhead, pumping his fist in jubilation (and relief) as the flag was raised and billowed out over the north face in a gust of hot summer wind.
Some 120 hikers were present for the tra-ditional group photo organized by Ronnie Mah and his orange whistle.
Ronnie Mah remembered his first hike in 1990 (or thereabouts) when an older but equally massive flag was hoisted on the old flag pole.
“That one broke,” he said, so Cominco (now Teck, Trail Operations) stepped up to fund $5,000 for the current burly pole in 1997 as part of Rossland’s centennial celebra-tions.
Hutch Hutchinson and Leo Telfer resur-rected the patriotic tradition in 1979, but the history goes much deeper.
The first flag pole was originally erected in June, 1900, when Spokane Mountain
was renamed Mt. Roberts to commemorate Lord Roberts’ capture of Pretoria that end-ed Britain’s war with the Boers earlier that month.
The next year, the flag flew at half mast for the death of Queen Victoria, and the Ross-land Museum has a photo on file showing some merry Dominion Day hikers raising the flag in 1917.
Mah says the time the flag stays up varies from year to year and “mostly depends on the weather.”
Renee Clark of the Chamber of Com-merce suggested we’ll see this one — clearly visible from downtown Rossland and even in the U.S. — flying high until September.
STAFF WRITERRossland News
Rossland celebrates Canada Day in true alpine style
RCMP escort Rossland councillor from meeting
ANDREW BENNETTRossland News
www.rosslandnews.com A7Rossland News Thursday, December 29, 2011
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A8 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
2125 Columbia AvenueRossland, BC (250) 362-5385
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Rossland Secondary is transitioning into a more research and personalized structure approach to learning this year.
The new approach will be implemented in the lower grades of the 6-12 school, just the 6-9 for next year.
Principal Terry McDonnell said the move comes as a new direction from the Ministry of Education.
“What we’re doing is stepping back and trying to follow where the ministry is head-ing now, from the point of view that empha-sis on learning outcomes is no longer there as much as it used to be,” McDonnell said.
The ministry is working towards individu-alized personal learning to try to work more with students’ strengths and interests. They then formulate a plan around that.
McDonnell gives the example of social studies.
“If a student is interested in a particular
country then the teacher would work out with the students to decide what the out-comes would deal with in the project,” he said.
“So it’s just a different way. You try to cap-ture their interests and use their interests to get them involved in their learning moreso than ‘here’s the outcome, go into a test.’”
The overall proposal was put together by vice-principal Mike Vanness.
The proposal diverges from the typical high school timetable, into an individual, personalized learning structure, without blocks and bells.
“It’s a more pod-like structure,” McDon-nell said. “A pod would be, for example, grades six and seven all together. Let’s say there were 75 students, and we would des-ignate, in this case, because it’s so simple, three teachers who would be responsible for all the instruction time for those students. The way they can get around that and get the kids involved is through the individualized learning.”
McDonnell said they hope to use thisschool year to develop the project.
“Next year would be the year that we tryto implement it for 6 - 9,” he said. “We’d also begin to focus our energies on what can 10 -12 look like.”
McDonnell said that it’s more difficult be-cause of the teachers strike.
“We initiated it last year, we got them in-terested in May- June and we were able tomeet in August,” he added.
“There’s a good chunk of teachers that arerolling with it.”
Vice-principal Vanness said that the changes are already being seen, but the pro-posal is not final.
“At this point, we’re looking for input from the community at large,” Vanness said, add-ing that so far the reaction has been posi-tive.
“Rossland as a community has demon-strated strong support for this school, but thebiggest challenge with any proposal is mak-ing it a reality.”
Transitioning to personalized learningROSSLAND NEWSSept. 22
The great outdoors may attract a lot of tourists to Rossland, but it is attracting some-thing else – doctors.
Rossland home builder and chamber di-rector Cezary Ksiazek did some research and thinks there are more doctors per capita in Rossland than any other city in Canada.
“I looked at the number of doctors from (Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital) and found 57 of them with the 362 prefix on their home phone numbers,” he said.
He and his wife, internist Danuta Ksiazek emigrated from Poland 10 years ago. She was certified in the U.S.; did her residency and fellowship in Bethlehem, N.J. flew to Vancouver for an interview in Maple Ridge, and wound up in Rossland because of the sunshine.
“We were staying in a hotel and it was al-ways raining,” he said. “Then one beautiful sunny day, I saw all these people sitting out-
side in the parking lot. I asked why they were outside and they said they were so happy to have a sunny day. I asked how many days in a year it rains and they said 300. So I asked where to go in B.C. for good weather and they said Kootenays.”
Ksiazek couldn’t find a town called Koo-tenay on a map, but subsequent googling led him to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospi-tal, where it was noted they were looking for an internist.
“So we came for an interview and met Dr. Wagner, the cardiologist. My wife was inter-ested in cardiology and he was retiring.”
Dr. Ralph Behrens invited them to stay in his home. They had dinner at the former Ol-ive Oyl’s restaurant, hiked in the mountains, met tons of nice people and decided Ross-land was it. They’ve been here ever since.
Dr. Jane Grey and her husband, orthope-dic surgeon Rob Grey, came from England in 1981, urged on by the late Dr. Roger Cr-isfield.
“He and Rob trained together in Eng-
land,” she said. “Roger was a big influenceand guided Rob into orthopedics. He got fed up with the wages in England and decided to immigrate to Canada.”
They lost contact with each other for some time, other than the occasional Christmascard. Then one day, an invitation was pre-sented.
“He called and asked if we’d like to comefor a ski holiday. We were going to go to France but a couple of the children gotchicken pox.”
Having missed their usual holiday, theGrey’s took Crisfield up on his offer.
“Rob was wowed by the skiing and there were a lot of ex-pat Brits.”
After three “fabulous weeks in Canada,”the family proceeded with immigrationplans, took required examinations and set-tled in Rossland.
“We looked around at other communities but Roger tried to keep all his friends close,”she said. “We were in love with the town, the people, the whole area.”
Rossland home to many doctorsROSSLAND NEWSAug. 25
Rossland residents have been given a chance to retrofit for the future. The Ross-land Energy Diet is a partnership between FortisBC and the city in an attempt to help Rosslanders ease off power consumption.
“You may or may not have heard that Rossland is quite a heavy energy user and uses more electricity than the provincial average,” said Carol Suhan, FortisBC Power Sense manager. “Homeowners will learn how they can make their home more com-fortable, save on utility bills and use less en-ergy.”
The program is a partnership and col-laboration between FortisBC, the City of Rossland, the Columbia Basin Trust and the Nelson and District Credit Union.
FortisBC will be giving 253 energy assess-ments and distributing $1.5 million in grants to improve homes.
“That’s from the province, the Smart Pro-
gram, the federal eco-energy program and of course the FortisBC program as well,” Suhan added.
Mayor Greg Granstrom was pleased.“I just want to say thanks a lot to Fortis for
bringing this project to Rossland and all the efforts of Steve [Ash] and the crew have been marvelous,” Granstrom said. “I think Ross-landers will embrace this and the savings we realize and the economic impact it will pro-duce to this small area is very welcome. We look forward to co-operating further.”
Ash, who worked on getting the initial plans as a part of the Rossland sustainability commission, said it makes sense in Ross-land.
“Several years ago there were a number of people in Rossland that got to thinking, ‘What does it take to make a sustainable community here?’” Ash said. “They did a lot of work and consulted with the community to find ideas that were local.”
What that lead to was the establishment of the sustainability commission, with the co-
operation of the city.“We got to look at the various important
pieces of the community. Water supply, housing, economic development,” he said.“Energy is important to make the town sus-tainable. We looked at how we could make the town more energy efficient. We did a fair bit of work.”
He said Fortis helped with focus groups and asked people what the company wouldhave to do to get them to participate in theseprograms. He said that most people in Ross-land want to do the sustainable thing, butdon’t know how to do it, so the challenge wasto find ways to help them.
Their focus has been to try to find a proj-ect that was simple that Rossland would getbehind.
And why Rossland?“It’s a mountain community and so tends
to get colder here than many other places.There are a lot of older homes and buildings that can benefit greatly from retrofits and in-sulation,” he added.
ROSSLAND NEWSOct. 6
Rossland gets chance to set energy trend
www.rosslandnews.com A9Rossland News Thursday, December 29, 2011
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seda
n w
ith m
anua
l tra
nsm
issi
on/2
012 F
usio
n SE
with
aut
omat
ic tra
nsm
issi
on
for
$19,4
99/$
16,7
49/$
24,7
49 a
fter
Tot
al M
anuf
actu
rer
Reb
ate
of $
0/$
0/$
500 d
educ
ted.
Tax
es p
ayab
le o
n fu
ll am
ount
of pu
rcha
se p
rice
after
Man
ufac
ture
r R
ebat
e ha
s be
en d
educ
ted.
Offer
s in
clud
e fr
eigh
t an
d ai
r ta
x of
$1,6
00/$
1,5
50/$
1,6
00 b
ut e
xclu
de v
aria
ble
char
ges
of li
cens
e, fue
l fi ll
cha
rge,
insu
ranc
e, r
egis
trat
ion,
PPSA
, adm
inis
trat
ion
fees
, any
env
ironm
enta
l cha
rges
or
fees
, an
d al
l app
licab
le tax
es. A
ll pr
ices
are
bas
ed o
n M
anuf
actu
rer’s
Sug
gest
ed R
etai
l Pric
e. M
anuf
actu
rer
Reb
ates
can
be
used
in c
onju
nctio
n w
ith m
ost
reta
il co
nsum
er o
ffer
s m
ade
avai
labl
e by
For
d of
Can
ada
at e
ither
the
tim
e of
fac
tory
ord
er o
r de
liver
y, b
ut n
ot b
oth.
Man
ufac
ture
r R
ebat
es a
re n
ot c
ombi
nabl
e w
ith a
ny fl e
et c
onsu
mer
ince
ntiv
es.
**C
hoos
e 0%
ann
ual p
erce
ntag
e ra
te (A
PR
) pu
rcha
se fi n
anci
ng o
n a
new
2012 F
ocus
SE
seda
n w
ith m
anua
l tra
nsm
issi
on/2
011 F
iest
a SE
seda
n w
ith m
anua
l tra
nsm
issi
on/2
012 F
usio
n SE
with
aut
omat
ic
tran
smis
sion
for
a m
axim
um o
f 60 m
onth
s to
qua
lifi e
d re
tail
cust
omer
s, o
n ap
prov
ed c
redi
t (O
AC
) fr
om F
ord
Cre
dit.
Not
all
buye
rs w
ill q
ualif
y fo
r th
e lo
wes
t APR
pay
men
t. Pur
chas
e fi n
anci
ng m
onth
ly p
aym
ent is
$279/$
237/$
367 (th
e su
m o
f tw
elve
(12) m
onth
ly p
aym
ents
div
ided
by
26 p
erio
ds g
ives
pay
ee a
bi-
wee
kly
paym
ent of
$129/$
109/$
169 w
ith a
dow
n pa
ymen
t of
$2,7
50/$
2,5
50/$
2,7
50 o
r eq
uiva
lent
tra
de-i
n. C
ost of
bor
row
ing
is $
0 o
r A
PR
of 0%
and
tot
al
to b
e re
paid
is $
16,7
49/$
14,1
99/2
1,9
99. O
ffer
s in
clud
e a
Man
ufac
ture
r R
ebat
e of
$0/$
0/$
500 a
nd f
reig
ht a
nd a
ir ta
x of
$1,6
00/$
1,5
50/$
1,6
00 b
ut e
xclu
de v
aria
ble
char
ges
of li
cens
e, f
uel fi
ll c
harg
e, in
sura
nce,
reg
istr
atio
n, P
PSA
, ad
min
istr
atio
n fe
es a
nd c
harg
es, an
y en
viro
nmen
tal c
harg
es o
r fe
es, an
d al
l app
licab
le t
axes
. Tax
es a
re p
ayab
le o
n th
e fu
ll am
ount
of
the
purc
hase
pric
e. B
i-W
eekl
y pa
ymen
ts a
re o
nly
avai
labl
e us
ing
a cu
stom
er in
itiat
ed P
C (In
tern
et
Ban
king
) or
Pho
ne P
ay s
yste
m thr
ough
the
cus
tom
er’s
ow
n ba
nk (i
f of
fere
d by
tha
t fi n
anci
al in
stitu
tion)
. The
cus
tom
er is
req
uire
d to
sig
n a
mon
thly
pay
men
t co
ntra
ct w
ith a
fi rs
t pa
ymen
t da
te o
ne m
onth
fro
m the
con
trac
t da
te a
nd to
ensu
re tha
t th
e to
tal m
onth
ly p
aym
ent oc
curs
by
the
paym
ent du
e da
te. B
i-w
eekl
y pa
ymen
ts c
an b
e m
ade
by m
akin
g pa
ymen
ts e
quiv
alen
t to
the
sum
of 12 m
onth
ly p
aym
ents
div
ided
by
26 b
i-w
eekl
y pe
riods
eve
ry tw
o w
eeks
com
men
cing
on
the
con
trac
t da
te. D
eale
r m
ay s
ell f
or le
ss. O
ffer
s va
ry b
y m
odel
and
not
all
com
bina
tions
will
app
ly.
**Fr
om D
ec. 1
6, 2
011 to
Dec
. 30, 2
011, r
ecei
ve 0
% A
PR
pur
chas
e fi n
anci
ng o
n ne
w [2012 F
iest
a (e
xclu
ding
S),
2011 F
ocus
(exc
ludi
ng S
), 2011 F
usio
n (e
xclu
ding
S),
2011 M
usta
ng (e
xclu
ding
Val
ue L
eade
r, G
T500 a
nd B
oss
302),
2011 T
auru
s (e
xclu
ding
SE)
, 2011 a
nd 2
012 E
dge
(exc
ludi
ng S
E), 2
011 F
lex
(exc
ludi
ng S
E), 2
011 E
scap
e (e
xclu
ding
I4 m
anua
l), 2
011
Expe
ditio
n]/[
2012 E
xped
ition
]/[ 2012 F
ocus
(exc
ludi
ng S
), 2011 F
iest
a (e
xclu
ding
S),
2011 R
ange
r Sup
erca
b (e
xclu
ding
XL)
, 2011 a
nd 2
012 F
-150 (e
xclu
ding
reg
ular
cab
XL
4x2
and
Rap
tor)
, 2011 a
nd 2
012 F
-250 to
F-450 (e
xclu
ding
cha
ssis
cab
s), 2
012 F
usio
n (e
xclu
ding
S),
2012 M
usta
ng (e
xclu
ding
Val
ue L
eade
r, G
T500 a
nd B
OSS 3
02),
2012 T
auru
s (e
xclu
ding
SE)
, 2012 F
lex
(exc
ludi
ng S
E), 2
012 E
scap
e (e
xclu
ding
I4 M
anua
l)] m
odel
s fo
r a
max
imum
of [3
6]/
[48]/
[60] m
onth
s to
qua
lifi e
d re
tail
cust
omer
s, o
n ap
prov
ed c
redi
t (O
AC
) fro
m F
ord
Cre
dit.
Not
all
buye
rs w
ill q
ualif
y fo
r th
e lo
wes
t in
tere
st r
ate.
Exa
mpl
e: $
30,0
00 p
urch
ase
fi nan
ced
at 0
% A
PR
for
60 m
onth
s, m
onth
ly p
aym
ent is
$500, c
ost of
bor
row
ing
is $
0 o
r A
PR
of 0%
and
tot
al to
be r
epai
d is
$30,0
00.D
own
paym
ent on
pur
chas
e fi n
anci
ng o
ffer
s m
ay b
e re
quire
d ba
sed
on a
ppro
ved
cred
it fr
om F
ord
Cre
dit.
Taxe
s pa
yabl
e on
ful
l am
ount
of pu
rcha
se p
rice.
† F
rom
Dec
. 31 2
011 t
o Ja
n. 1
5, 2
012, r
ecei
ve $
500/
$1,0
00/
$1,5
00/
$1,7
50/
$2,0
00/
$2,2
50/
$2,5
00/
$3,0
00/
$3,5
00/
$4,0
00/
$4,5
00/
$5,0
00/
$5,5
00/
$6,0
00/
$6,5
00/
$7,0
00/
$7,5
00/
$8,0
00/
$8,5
00/
$9,5
00/
$10,0
00 in
Man
ufac
ture
r R
ebat
es w
ith t
he p
urch
ase
or le
ase
of a
new
2011 F
ocus
S, 2
011 E
dge
SE,
2011 E
xplo
rer
Bas
e, 2
011 E
scap
e I4
Man
ual,
2011 a
nd 2
012 E
-Ser
ies,
2012 F
usio
n/ 2
011 F
iest
a S, 2
011 a
nd 2
012 E
xplo
rer
(exc
ludi
ng B
ase)
, 2012
Fies
ta (ex
clud
ing
S),
2012 F
lex
SE,
2012 T
rans
it C
onne
ct (ex
clud
ing
elec
tric
)/ 2
011 M
usta
ng 2
dr C
oupe
V6 V
alue
Lea
der,
2011 F
lex
SE,
2011 F
-150 R
egul
ar C
ab X
L 4x2
Val
ue L
eade
r, 2012 E
dge
(exc
ludi
ng S
E)/
2012 M
usta
ng V
6 V
alue
Lea
der/
2011 R
ange
r Sup
er C
ab X
L an
d R
egul
ar C
ab F
EL, 2
012 F
ocus
(ex
clud
ing
S),
2012 S
uper
Dut
y C
hass
is C
abs/
2011 F
iest
a (e
xclu
ding
S),
2011 T
rans
it C
onne
ct (ex
clud
ing
elec
tric
)/ 2
011 F
usio
n S, 2
011 T
auru
s SE,
2011 E
dge
AW
D (ex
clud
ing
SE)
/ 2012 F
usio
n (e
xclu
ding
S),
2012 F
lex
(exc
ludi
ng S
E)/
2012 E
scap
e (e
xclu
ding
I4 M
anua
l & V
6),
2011 F
ocus
(ex
clud
ing
S),
2011 a
nd 2
012 M
usta
ng V
6 (ex
clud
ing
Valu
e le
ader
)/ 2
011 E
dge
FWD
(Ex
clud
ing
SE)
, 2012 E
scap
e V6, 2011 E
scap
e (e
xclu
ding
I4 M
anua
l & V
6),
2011 S
uper
Dut
y C
hass
is C
abs,
2012 M
usta
ng G
T, 2
012 T
auru
s (e
xclu
ding
SE)
, 2012 E
xped
ition
/ 2011 F
usio
n (e
xclu
ding
S),
2011 E
scap
e V6, 2011 M
usta
ng G
T, 2
011 F
lex
(exc
ludi
ng S
E)/
2012 F
-150 R
egul
ar C
ab (ex
clud
ing
XL
4x2
), 2012 F
-250 t
o F-
450 G
as e
ngin
e (e
xclu
ding
Cha
ssis
Cab
)/ 2
011 T
auru
s (e
xclu
ding
SE)
/ 2011 R
ange
r Sup
erC
ab (ex
clud
ing
XL)
, 2012 F
-150 S
uper
Cab
and
Sup
er C
rew
/ 2011 E
xped
ition
, 2011 F
-150 R
egul
ar C
ab n
on 5
.0L
and
non
3.7
L (e
xclu
ding
XL
4x2
)/ 2
012 F
-250 t
o F-
450 d
iese
l (ex
clud
ing
chas
sis
cabs
)/2011 F
-150 S
uper
Cab
and
Sup
er C
rew
non
5.0
L an
d no
n 3.7
L/ 2
011 F
-250 t
o F-
450 g
as
engi
ne (ex
clud
ing
chas
sis
cabs
)/ 2
011 F
-150 R
egul
ar C
ab (ex
clud
ing
XL
4x2
) 5.0
L an
d 3.7
L/ 2
011 F
-150 S
uper
Cab
and
Sup
er C
rew
5.0
L an
d 3.7
L/ 2
011 F
-250 to
F-450 D
iese
l eng
ine
(exc
ludi
ng c
hass
is c
abs)
- a
ll R
apto
r, G
T500, B
OSS302, a
nd M
ediu
m T
ruck
mod
els
excl
uded
. Thi
s of
fer
can
be u
sed
in c
onju
nctio
n w
ith m
ost re
tail
cons
umer
offer
s m
ade
avai
labl
e by
For
d of
Can
ada
at e
ither
the
tim
e of
fac
tory
ord
er o
r de
liver
y, b
ut n
ot b
oth.
Man
ufac
ture
r R
ebat
es
are
not co
mbi
nabl
e w
ith a
ny fl
eet co
nsum
er in
cent
ives
. ◆
◆Pur
chas
e or
leas
e an
y ne
w 2
011/2
012 F
ord
Fies
ta, F
ocus
, Fus
ion,
Esc
ape,
Edg
e (e
xclu
ding
Spo
rt) o
r Ex
plor
er o
n or
bef
ore
Jan.
3/1
2 a
nd r
ecei
ve the
cho
ice
of (i
) a w
inte
r sa
fety
pac
kage
whi
ch in
clud
es: f
our
(4) W
inte
r Ti
res,
fou
r (4
) ste
el R
ims
(Esc
ape
rece
ives
allo
y w
heel
s), a
nd fou
r (4
) Tire
pre
ssur
e m
onito
ring
sens
or; O
R (i
i) $750 in
cus
tom
er c
ash,
but
not
bot
h. C
usto
mer
s el
ectin
g to
rec
eive
cus
tom
er c
ash
may
app
ly the
am
ount
tow
ard
thei
r pu
rcha
se o
r le
ase
(tax
es c
alcu
late
d af
ter
cust
omer
cas
h am
ount
is a
pplie
d) o
r re
ceiv
e a
cheq
ue for
the
am
ount
fro
m F
ord
Mot
or C
ompa
ny o
f C
anad
a. T
his
offe
r is
not
app
licab
le to
any
Flee
t (o
ther
tha
n sm
all fl
eet
s w
ith a
n el
igib
le F
IN) o
r G
over
nmen
t cu
stom
ers
and
not co
mbi
nabl
e w
ith C
PA, G
PC
, CFI
P o
r D
aily
Ren
tal A
llow
ance
s. S
ome
cond
ition
s ap
ply.
See
Dea
ler
for
deta
ils. V
ehic
le h
andl
ing
char
acte
ristic
s, tire
load
inde
x an
d sp
eed
ratin
g m
ay n
ot b
e th
e sa
me
as fac
tory
sup
plie
d al
l sea
son
tires
. Win
ter
tires
are
mea
nt to
be o
pera
ted
durin
g w
inte
r co
nditi
ons
and
may
req
uire
a h
ighe
r co
ld in
fl atio
n pr
essu
re tha
n al
l sea
son
tires
. Con
sult
your
For
d of
Can
ada
deal
er for
det
ails
incl
udin
g ap
plic
able
war
rant
y co
vera
ge.
***
Estim
ated
fue
l con
sum
ptio
n ra
tings
for
the
2011 F
iest
a 1.6
L I4
5-s
peed
Man
ual t
rans
mis
sion
: [7.1
L/100km
(40M
PG
) City
, 5.3
L/100km
(53M
PG
) Hw
y] /
2012 F
ocus
2.0
L I4
5-s
peed
M
anua
l tra
nsm
issi
on: [
7.8
L/100km
(36M
PG
) City
, 5.1
L/100km
(51M
PG
) Hw
y] /
2012 F
usio
n FW
D 2
.5L
I4 6
-spe
ed A
utom
atic
tra
nsm
issi
on: [
9L/
100km
(31M
PG
) City
, 6L/
100km
(47M
PG
) Hw
y]. F
uel c
onsu
mpt
ion
ratin
gs b
ased
on
Tran
spor
t C
anad
a ap
prov
ed tes
t m
etho
ds. A
ctua
l fue
l con
sum
ptio
n w
ill v
ary
base
d on
roa
d co
nditi
ons,
veh
icle
load
ing
and
driv
ing
habi
ts.
‡R
emem
ber
that
eve
n ad
vanc
ed tec
hnol
ogy
cann
ot o
verc
ome
the
law
s of
phy
sics
. It’s
alw
ays
poss
ible
to
lose
con
trol
of a
vehi
cle
due
to in
appr
opria
te d
river
inpu
t fo
r th
e co
nditi
ons.
††©
2011 S
irius
Can
ada
Inc.
“SIR
IUS”,
the
SIR
IUS d
og lo
go, c
hann
el n
ames
and
logo
s ar
e tr
adem
arks
of SIR
IUS X
M R
adio
Inc.
and
are
use
d un
der
licen
ce.
▲O
ffer
onl
y va
lid fro
m D
ecem
ber
1, 2
011 to
Janu
ary
31, 2
012 (t
he “
Offer
Per
iod”
) to
resi
dent
Can
adia
ns w
ith a
Cos
tco
mem
bers
hip
on o
r be
fore
Nov
embe
r 30, 2
011. U
se thi
s $1,0
00C
DN
Cos
tco
mem
ber
offe
r to
war
ds the
pur
chas
e or
leas
e of
a n
ew 2
011/2
012 F
ord/
Linc
oln
vehi
cle
(exc
ludi
ng F
iest
a, F
ocus
, Ran
ger,
Rap
tor,
GT5
00, M
usta
ng B
oss
302, T
rans
it C
onne
ct E
V &
Med
ium
Tru
ck) (ea
ch a
n “E
ligib
le V
ehic
le”)
. The
Elig
ible
Veh
icle
mus
t be
del
iver
ed a
nd/o
r fa
ctor
y-or
dere
d fr
om y
our
part
icip
atin
g Fo
rd/L
inco
ln d
eale
r w
ithin
the
Offer
Per
iod.
Offer
is o
nly
valid
at pa
rtic
ipat
ing
deal
ers,
is s
ubje
ct to
vehi
cle
avai
labi
lity,
and
may
be
canc
elle
d or
cha
nged
at an
y tim
e w
ithou
t no
tice.
Onl
y on
e (1
) of
fer
may
be
appl
ied
tow
ards
the
pur
chas
e or
leas
e of
one
(1) El
igib
le V
ehic
le, u
p to
a m
axim
um o
f tw
o (2
) se
para
te E
ligib
le V
ehic
le s
ales
per
Cos
tco
Mem
bers
hip
Num
ber.
Offer
is tra
nsfe
rabl
e to
per
sons
dom
icile
d w
ith a
n el
igib
le C
ostc
o m
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THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.CERTAIN DATE RESTRICTIONS APPLY. OFFERS NOT AVAILABLE AT THE SAME TIME.
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OOR
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The public was able to get a glimpse of the proposed design for Rossland’s infrastructure upgrades to its main street. Monday’s open
house was a similar presentation to the one engineering firm ISL, Ministry of Highways and city staff put on for businesses earlier in November.
The one concern that kept popping up at both meetings was the issue of parking, namely that with the parallel parking on the north side
of Columbia Avenue would leave insufficient parking for the high traffic areas around the post office, credit union and pharmacy.
There was also a feeling by businesses that the north side of Columbia would be getting an unfair advantage with its wider sidewalks and central foci point.
City staff confirmed that this was the sameproposal as Nov. 8, with the inclusion of thegeneral public, not just concerned downtown businesses.
There were a few new illustrations thatweren’t there at that time, but for the most part no new information was added.
November
ROSSLAND NEWSNov. 24
Concerns persist over Columbia-Washington renewal project
A10 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
Announcements
Happy Thoughts
From the Staff at
the Rossland
News, We wish all our
readers a WonderfulHolidays
and a Happy
New Year!
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Employment
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Journeyman Electrician. Horizon Climate Controls, an HVAC & Electrical contracting company in Williams Lake has an immediate opening for a journeyman electrician. Horizon Climate Controls is a progressive, community orient-ed company offering competi-tive wages & benefi t package. Williams Lake is located in the Central Interior of BC & offers numerous opportunities for the outdoor enthusiast. The ideal candidate will be a self-starter who works well in a team envi-ronment with experience in a variety of electrical work from residential to light industrial. Email resumes to: [email protected] or fax to (250) 398-9099.
Employment
Work Wanted
WORK WANTEDCollege student available
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Help for today.Hope for
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www.rosslandnews.com A11Rossland News Thursday, December 29, 2011
This spot could
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To have a local Real Estate guide with links to interior photos e-mailed to you, contact me at: [email protected]
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A12 www.rosslandnews.com Thursday, December 29, 2011 Rossland News
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JANUAYHOT Special
Rossland denied downtown renewal grants
This year, the City of Rossland didn’t receive the biggest Christmas gift it had been hoping for: the $8 million in grants it applied for towards the Columbia-Washington project. The money, which would have covered the extent of the renewal project as it was laid out, would have come from federal grants.
At Monday night’s council meeting, Mayor Greg Granstrom spoke with disappointment of the news that he and city staff found out about on Friday.
“The government has let us know that the grant ap-plications for Columbia-Washington have been turned down,” Granstrom said. “So what we will have to do now is work with ministry to see where we’re at.”
Granstrom said they don’t have a date set yet to talk with the Ministry of Transportation, which will have to commit its funds by the end of January.
“We have to come up with another plan,” the mayor added.
Coun. Jill Spearn said that the news was devastating, given that the city had been planning with the hopes of getting some sort of funding.
“This will turn this whole project upside down,” she said.
Spearn wondered if there was any rationale behind the decision given in the letter.
The mayor shook his head.“There was no real statement in the letter,” Gran-
strom said. “There’s really no explanation. It’s very dis-
appointing, but it doesn’t mean that it all dies. We justhave to move in another direction for a while.”
The city and engineering firm ISL placed manyitems into the grant proposal that should have helpedthe project along.
Things like bump-outs and wider sidewalks as traf-fic calming measures, parallel parking on the mainnorth block of Columbia and a large gas-fuelled fire-place that would warm those walking downtown.
The project originally began with the Ministry ofTransportation wanting to repave Columbia, which isalso part of Highway 3B.
The city saw an opportunity to replace aging infra-structure under Columbia and Washington at a timewhen the roads would need to be dug up anyway.
The need for the pipes to be replaced has long beenknown, with leaks happening due to the degenerat-ing state of some that are as old as 105 years. In mostcases it is the lead hinges that fail and cause the pipesto leak.
This in turn causes water to seep through the con-crete or into properties.
Granstrom last week said the pipes need to be re-placed regardless of the grants and council has heardISL and city staff talk about the dangers of not fixingthem.
Fixing them now would be a preventative measure,since the cost of fixing a burst pipe after the streetshave been paved would be much more.
Without the grants, the project will likely be scaleddown to a more modest renewal project.
December
ROSSLAND NEWSDec. 20
Council will face tough choices to fund the renewal project after the city was unsuccessful in attaining any of the more than $8 million in federal grants it had applied for to fund the Columbia-Washington project.
Black Jack Ski Club hosted the Hay-wood NorAm/Teck Sprint series and the event went off without a hitch.
The event saw more than 180 cross-country racers come to compete in the Rossland leg of the event, which spanned both Saturday and Sunday.
Chief of competition Ian Sibbald said he was happy with the way the event turned out.
“The fastest skiers are winning, but it’s been close and that’s what we want,” Sibbald said. “The course has been good. We had 120 volunteers. They were all enthusiastic and enjoyed themselves.”
Sibbald said anytime you have a race of this size, there are always some small areas where one can improve, but to him, all the important things that hap-pen with good racing happened over the weekend.
“We’ve had accurate results, the courses are good and racers are happy, which is the bottom line,” he said.
On Saturday, Foothills racer Jesse Cockney took first overall in the Teck Sprint 1.6 km intervals. Black Jack skier Geoffrey Richards placed second in the Junior Men 1.6 km Free ski. Richards is from Rossland but trains in Whis-tler. Knute Jansgaard took first in that
category.Richards, who raced both days, said it
was a good race, but also a lot of work.“The flats weren’t easy and the down-
hills you had to work for still,” Richards said. “I definitely made my move at the right time in all the heats.”
Jessica Diggins, from the U.S., took first overall for the Women 1.4 km Free.
Black Jack’s Rebecca Reid took third place in the Junior Women 1.4 km Free, just behind Maya MacIsaac-Jones in first and Dahria Beatty in second. Reid currently trains in Canmore. On Satur-day, she was happy to be starting higher in the field, as she came in at a top seed position after her results the week be-fore.
“It was kind of nice racing in the front,” Reid said. “I had kind of a tough go last season, so I’m building into this season and it seems to be working well. I was faster than I was last weekend and hopefully I’ll be faster next weekend. So I’m just looking forward from here for sure.”
Reid competes in both day’s events.“Reid and Richards both have the
goal of competing in the World Junior Championships, which are hosted by Turkey this year.
“That’s kind of the main competi-tion,” she said. “Try-outs are in Whistler in the middle of January.”
ROSSLAND NEWSDec. 20
Rossland hosts NorAm ski race
