Nicola Valley’s News Voice Since 1905 MERRITT HERALD merrittherald.com bcclassified.com THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS New LIMITED TIME Flamerower Cheeseburger ® With crispy jalapeño bacon! dq.ca BUY 1 GET 1 FREE! Buy any size of Orange Julius Original Drink & receive the second Orange Julius Original Drink of equal or smaller size absolutely FREE! Limit one per coupon, per customer • Expires: Aug 31st, 2011 Limit one per coupon, per customer • Expires December 31, 2015 FREE NEW STAFF HIRED The City of Merritt has officially hired a new director of corporate services / Page 3 CENTS GET GRADED The Herald’s Ian Webster takes a look back on the Cents’ 2015 season / Page 17 Maximum Refund Guarantee* Open Year Round 2145 Quilchena Ave, Merritt, BC 250-378-4695 A Christmas to remember Tonight the historic Murray Church in Nicola will see something it hasn’t seen in some 60 years — a Christmas Eve service / Page 9 BIOSOLIDS Residents to purchase Dry Lake property SOLD Nineteen homeowners living in the Sunshine Valley Estates hous- ing complex out in Lower Nicola have pooled their money to pur- chase the contested property on Woodward Road known as Dry Lake. Resident Georgia Clement, one of the purchasers and spokesper- son for the anti-biosolids group Friends of the Nicola Valley, said they offered to buy the property from BioCentral – the biosolids composting company that pur- chased the property last year for about $400,000 with the inten- tion to spread biosolids from its Sunshine Valley Road composting site on it. BioCentral owner Andres Murillo told the Herald that the company did not list the property for sale, the group came to them. Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD See ‘Terms’ Page 5
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Nicola Valley’s News Voice Since 1905
MERRITT HERALDmerrittherald.com bcclassified.com
THURSDAY, DecembeR 24, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Space /Size: 4-1/4”x5-1/4”
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Merritt, BC
250-378-4695
A Christmas to rememberTonight the historic Murray Church in Nicola will see something it hasn’t seen in some 60 years — a Christmas Eve service
/ Page 9
BIOSOLIDS
Residents to purchase Dry Lake property
SOLDNineteen homeowners living in the Sunshine Valley Estates hous-ing complex out in Lower Nicola have pooled their money to pur-chase the contested property on Woodward Road known as Dry
Lake.Resident Georgia Clement, one
of the purchasers and spokesper-son for the anti-biosolids group Friends of the Nicola Valley, said they offered to buy the property from BioCentral – the biosolids composting company that pur-chased the property last year for
about $400,000 with the inten-tion to spread biosolids from its Sunshine Valley Road composting site on it.
BioCentral owner Andres Murillo told the Herald that the company did not list the property for sale, the group came to them.
Michael PotestioTHE MERRITT HERALD
See ‘Terms’ Page 5
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www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 3
NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
Celebrating lives with dignity
MERRITT FUNERAL CHAPELA Division of Service Corporation International (Canada) ULC
• SAVING ST. MICHAEL’SAnglican church hopes to avoid selling historic building by offering its use to community groups
DiD you pick up LAST WEEk’S hErALD?
• Audit faults leisure services manager for cost overruns
Nicola Valley’s News Voice Since 1905MERRITT HERALD
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FISHIN’ TROUBLEfor
The Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club made good on their threats to fi sh Corbett
Lake once it froze over — and the RCMP made good on their threats to arrest them if they did. Read the full story on page 3
Audit faults leisure services manager for cost overrunsThe City of Merritt has parted ways with
its leisure services manager Larry Plotnikoff,
chief administrative officer Shawn Boven has
confirmed.The move comes days after an indepen-
dent audit report was released, which found
Plotnikoff primarily responsible for a city
project that was more than$300,000 over
budget.The project, a multi-use sports facility
and concession/washroom building located
in Central Park, to date has cost the city
approximately $1.1 million, but had an origi-
nal budget of $728,000.The audit report — prepared by Kelowna consultant company MMM Group
— stated the project had a few unforeseen
conditions that drove it over budget.These costly factors include extra costs for
rebar and concrete for the foundation, addi-
tions to the existing plumbing system and
utility installation in the concession build-
ing — the result of an oversight of the city’s
own bylaws — and further engineering costs
and alternative power sources being needed.
The report found that through proper
planning, the cost overruns could have been minimized or at least anticipated and
allowed for in budget preparation.“It appears the city’s project manager
did not have the proper skills or training
to complete a construction project of this
magnitude,” the report stated. “When cost
overruns started to rise, he did not have the
ability to try and minimize cost overruns by
changing the project scope and/or sched-
ule.”
The original contract with ICE Developments, awarded in July 2014, totalled just $537,285 after taxes, but by the
end of 2014 the project’s costs had reached
more than $792,000.It is at this point city council should have
been notified of the situation and the need
for additional funding, the report stated.The sports box was mostly complete
by that December but the concession/washroom building wasn’t finished until the
spring.Additional funds for LED lighting for the
sports box was brought to and approved by
council that December.The audit report stated that an overall
budget summary should have come out at
this point as well.In the report, Plotnikoff is said to have
told the auditor that the reason he didn’t
simply halt the project when issues on servic-
ing the concession building were identified
was because he had to get it done, so he kept
moving forward.In the report, he also said that then-chief
administrative officer Allan Chabot advised
to wait until all costs were accounted for
before informing council of the overages.No report was taken to council to identify
the extra budget required to complete the
project as it was thought there was enough
money still available. Plotnikoff also said in
the report that then-finance manger Ken
Ostraat — who the city has also subse-quently parted ways with — informed him
that he would make the necessary account
adjustments as to any overages through
an accounting adjustment at a later date
through council.
CITY BEAT
Plotnikoff no longer employed by the city, says CAO
See ‘Council’ Page 3
The Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club made good on their threats to fish Corbett Lake once it froze over — and the RCMP made good on their threats to arrest them if they did.
The City of Merritt has parted ways with its leisure services manager Larry Plotnikoff, chief administrative officer Shawn Boven has con-firmed.
The Herald poked around Merritt for the most impressive Christmas light displays — here’s what we found.
Michael Potestio and David Dyck/Herald
City hires director of corporate servicesThe City of Merritt announced
last Thursday that it has hired a director of corporate services.
Melisa Miles will start her new job this coming March, coming from the Village of Silverton, B.C., in West Kootenay
She held a variety of roles in Silverton, including administrative
assistant, deputy chief administra-tive officer and, most recently, as the village’s CAO over the past year.
In a release issued by the City of Merritt, Miles stated that she “strongly believes in the mechanics of local government, and when it is run efficiently and transpar-
ently it makes for a productive and vibrant community.”
In her new role, she will oversee the provision of bylaw enforce-ment and human resources servic-es, act as media relations contact for the city and serve as the emer-gency public information officer.
The director of corporate
services position is a new one for Merritt, created after a restructur-ing of administrative positions earlier this year.
There was a temporary act-ing director of corporate services installed this past fall while city hall searched for a permanent staff member.
Melisa Miles will start her new job March 2016
ciTy BEAT
www.merrittherald.com 4 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
Next council meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016Council agendas and minutes at www.merritt.ca
City of Merritt H 2185 Voght Street, Box 189Merritt, BC V1K 1B8 H Phone: 250-378-4224
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:
Director of recreation anD facilities
A great career opportunity!
The City of Merritt is looking for an energetic, dedicated individual to fill the role of Director of Recreation and Facilities on our new senior management leadership team. The team’s role is to effectively lead the continuous organizational and process improvement that is part of success in governance and administration.
Merritt is located in the Nicola Valley in South Central British Columbia adjacent to major transportation routes. Forestry, agriculture and tourism are major economic drivers. Major improvements in hydro-electric supply and connectivity have enhanced opportunities for industrial and manufacturing growth.
This position reports to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The Director will shepherd a vital and diverse portfolio of recreation services workers and direct the maintenance of existing buildings and construction of new facilities. The incumbent will advise the CAO, the Council and senior staff on issues and trends in recreation and recreation programming, and ensure facilities are functioning and up-to-date.
We are looking for a natural leader who:has demonstrated integrity, ethics, confidentiality • and professionalism in their work in the public and political environment is engaging and comfortable working with the public, • fellow staff and councilis a creative and strategic thinker who applies • forethought in all decision-making processesenjoys the detail work of municipal administration, • but doesn’t get mired in it and most importantly . . . has the drive to lead others • to succeed!
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCEA bachelor’s degree in recreation management or a • directly related fieldA solid understanding of municipal recreation • services, pool and arena operations, recreation and cultural programming and labour relations in a union environmentFive years of progressively responsible municipal • service with at least two years of directly relevant experience Experience liaising with community groups, cultural • organizations and sports groupsCompletion of a Local Government Administration • education program is desirableExcellent verbal and written communication skills • Demonstrated technical competence •
The City offers a competitive salary with a comprehensive benefits package for this senior management position. Applications will be reviewed commencing January 22, 2016 and will continue until the position is filled.
Please forward resume, cover letter & requests for information to the attention of: Shawn Boven, CAO [email protected] 250-378-8613
SUMMARY OFCITY OF MERRITT SNOW
REMOVAL POLICY
This procedure outlines the responsibility of the City, residents, businesses and contractors as it pertains to snow removal in Merritt.
NOTE: For purpose of this procedure “Area 1” is designated by heavy black line and “Area 2” is all remaining streets..
Service Level based on Snow Accumulation:0 – 5 cm: Area 1 only sanded AS PRIORITY5 – 20 cm: City streets are graded and sanded in the following time frame: Area 1 – within eight (8) hours Area 2 – within thirty (30) hoursOver 20 cm: Exceptional Snowfall – will call out such manpower and equipment as
may be available and required to maintain city streets in as passable conditions as possible.
Priorities:No.1 Emergency access routes to essential services such as hospital, police,
fire, ambulance, City services. Dangerous roadways including hills and intersections.
No.2 Schools;No.3 Downtown Business Core;No.4 Highway Commercial properties;No.5 Residential properties
Disposal:Residents, businesses and contractors are not permitted to blow or plow snow from private property onto right-of-ways, streets, lanes or walkways.Residents and businesses in areas with City sidewalks adjacent to roads shall be permitted to place snow from the walk on the road.
Sidewalk Clearing:Every owner or occupier of residential zoned property shall remove snow or ice from sidewalks or pathways abutting the said property within twenty-four (24) hours of accumulation except for weekends and holidays.
Every owner or occupier of real property shall immediately remove snow, ice or rubbish from the roof or other part of a structure adjacent to a highway or pathway or sidewalk where such snow or ice or rubbish presents a hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
Every owner or occupier of commercial or industrial zoned property shall remove snow or ice from sidewalk or pathways abutting the said property by ten (10) a.m. of any day and, as needed, following the accumulation of snow or ice.
Complete copies of this procedure can be obtained at City Hall during regular business hours.
Dec. 15, 2015 Regular Council Meeting recap
GENERAL MATTERS - Delegations and Recognitions
Shawn Sanders, MTS Maintenance Training Systems Inc. pinning ceremony for Kevin Vilac awarding Kevin his Professional Operators Certificate through the Environmental Operators Certification Program
Ms. T. Hadwin, Chief Operating Officer, Gold Country Communities Society made a presentation to Council highlighting the Gold Country initiatives for the upcoming year. Ms. Hadwin also showed Council the Gold Country YouTube Video for their viewing pleasure.
UNFINISHED BUSINESSTHAT the report from MMM Group titled
Phase 1 Central Park Review be received for infor-mation;
AND THAT the procedures associated with the Requests for Proposal process be reviewed to prevent this situation from happening in the future.
THAT Council direct Administration to prepare a Council Policy workshop to review the City’s revi-talization tax exemption programs; AND THAT Council direct Administration not to accept further applications for such exemptions until that review is complete.
THAT Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to execute a three-year Tourism and Visitor Information Services Agreement with the Nicola Valley Heritage Society as per the attached proposal.
BYLAWSCity of Merritt Five Year Financial Plan (2015-
2019) Bylaw Amendment Bylaw No. 2203, 2015 was adopted.
City of Merritt Fees and Charges Bylaw Amendment Bylaw No. 2204, 2015 was adopted.
NEW BUSINESSTHAT the City rescind Resolution #298 dated
May 12, 1980 that states:“THAT the letter from Mr. A. Moffat dated May
03rd, 1980 be received and filed and that Mr. Moffat be advised that a lease is not required as the town will provide a bowling green in perpetuity for use by the community”
Voting Opposed: Councillor ChristophersonTHAT the motion that the City separate the
Lawn Bowling facility into the lawn bowling green and the building, and lease the bowling green to the Lawn Bowling Club and look for other uses for the building be deferred until Administration can address concerns raised by Council from a previous In-Camera Council meeting.
See more at www.merritt.ca
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 5
JACKIE TEGARTMLA Fraser NicolaWishing you a Merry Christmas
and Happiness th roughout th e New Year!
God the Word, the World
With the Roman army, again, around the city, again created a serious problem for it was one of those special days when many people had come to worship.
Things got progressively worse. No help came for the Jews.
The Romans broke into the city, and burned the temple. The historians say that almost a million people perished in the city and nearly one hundred thousand were taken as captives to Rome.
Not one Christian perished. They believed God and He looked after them, as He still does for those who believe and worship Him.
This was the end of the Jewish nation. Now Jesus wants to use the church that is made up of all nations and people.
When Jesus left to go back to Heaven He gave a command to the church to preach the gospel to all the world. The good news of Jesus and His life, His love and His special closeness to His people is to be shared with everyone. Jesus is the
Creator of the world and all that is in the world, people included.
Jesus came to this world as a person, starting from a fertilized egg, growing in the womb of a virgin. He is the Son of God. His death and life was like ours. He went through all the problems that we have and at the end of His life he suffered more that any human being could handle. He experienced every kind of problem, struggle and pain (including death) worse than any person would. Then, He rose from the dead and went back to Heaven.
Jesus did all this, not only to save us from our sins, but to be able to fully understand the things that pain us as people. If you have a problem, Jesus knows your pain. If you ask for His help, He will know how to help you through it.
What a wonderful help Jesus is for us. He is willing and able to help us. All we need to do is ask.
Herman’s next article will be printed in the Thursday Dec. 31 issue, returning to the Tuesday edition on Jan 5.
By Herman Kneller
Paid
ad
vert
ise
me
nt
Effective January 4, 2016, the Petit Creek bus run stops are being amalgamated into one of either the Lower Nicola, Mamit Lake or 14 Mile/Nooaitch bus routes. Please be assured that all stops will remain the same, however, there may be a slight change to the pick-up and/or drop-off times of approximately 5 – 10 minutes.
Updated bus route information is below. In addition, it will also be posted on the District’s website (www.sd58.bc.ca) and in the newspaper over the holiday break.
Should you have any questions regarding this change, please do not hesitate to contact the School Board office at 250-378-5161.
Thank you for your assistance through this change.
He said that the process of the scien-tific review of biosolids, which the provincial government is undertak-ing to address concerns locals have expressed, is taking too long to complete.
Rather than con-tinue to wait, the com-pany decided to sell the property.
Clement said the group will be paying a little more for the prop-erty than BioCentral did, but did not disclose what the exact amount is, as the deal won’t officially close until late
January.About a year
ago, residents of the Sunshine Valley Estates learned of BioCentral’s purchase and intention to spread biosolids on the land. They then began protesting, fear-ing the spreading of biosolids — the solid waste left over after sew-age is treated at a water treatment facility, which is then used as fertil-izer — would leach into the ground and con-taminate ground water below the property that residents of the housing development use.
The movement gained steam and led to the provincial govern-ment taking a closer look at BioCentral’s
proposal, before ulti-mately approving it.
This spring, protest-ers from around the Nicola Valley came together and insti-tuted a road block to BioCentral’s compost-ing facility in Lower Nicola, and the five area First Nations bands called for a moratorium on biosolids being brought into the valley.
In response to these actions BioCentral stopped hauling bio-solids to the site and instead began hauling the product to a site near Clinton, B.C.
In June the govern-ment announced it would form a techni-cal working group to conduct the scientific
review that will exam-ine protesters’ con-cerns.
To date, the terms of reference for the study have yet to be agreed upon by the government and local First Nations recruited to oversee the process.
Clement said she and her fellow resi-dents wished to buy the property in order to place some restrictive covenants prohibiting biosolids, and other soil contaminants from being placed on it before reselling.
Murillo confirmed BioCentral is not sell-ing its property on Sunshine Valley Road where its biosolids com-posting site is located.
U.S. officially COOLs meat labelling restrictions
BORDER BEEF
This past Friday, President Barack Obama signed a year-end spending bill — a bill that included provisions to repeal COOL.
“The omnibus bill repealed the COOL requirements for muscle cuts of beef and pork, and ground beef and pork. Effective immediately, USDA is not enforcing the COOL requirements for muscle cut and ground beef and pork
outlined in the January 2009 and May 2013 final rules,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The WTO estimated that the law resulted in just over $1 billion of loss per year annu-ally to Canadian cattle, pig and hog producers.
“Today’s developments mean that Canada’s beef and
pork industries will be able to compete on a level playing field. We look forward to the restoration of full access to the U.S. market for Canada’s beef and pork, benefitting our farmers and our economy,” said Canada’s Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in a statement last Friday afternoon.
The move comes eleven days after the WTO approved $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
John Anderson, local rancher and director with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, told the Herald that if the current legislation were repealed, it would add about $100 per head of cattle sold.
From Page 1
COVER STORY
Terms of reference for scientific review yet to be finalized
David DyckTHE MERRITT HERALD
After a years-long trade dispute between Canada and the U.S., three appeals to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and billions of dollars in lost revenue to Canadian beef and pork producers, the mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) has been abolished.
www.merrittherald.com 6 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
Christmas has a reputation for being a time of giving, but increasingly for the Canadian travel industry, it has become a time of taking.
Like many others in Canada, I travel to see family over the holidays. I’ve previously done this via bus and plane — usually at a decent cost.
This year feels different. Perhaps it’s because in former years the price of oil was much higher I could assume the price of trav-el to be somewhat expensive. This year has totally revamped my ideas on the Canadian travel industry.
The price of oil and gasoline are at lows not seen in almost a decade, yet prices for travel within Canada are higher than they
have ever been. It makes sense then that this low cost of
fuel should be passed on to the customer, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
This isn’t the only thing about holiday travel that doesn’t make any sense.
Greyhound in particular has doubled their prices this season. In what should be their busiest time of the year, when they can expect the most passengers, it logically follows that prices should go down to attract more cus-tomers from flying or driving to their destina-tion.
This reeks far more to me of gouging peo-ple during a time which may be the only time they see family members all year. It begs the real question: Why is travel within Canada so expensive?
The reason that travel within Canada is so
expensive is often explained away by how big Canada is, how sparse the population. These factors play some role but the main driver is a collusion between business and government.
In B.C. there is only one bus service and two domestic airlines.
This near monopoly is the reason travel companies can charge whatever they want.
In what should be a competitive time of year for travel, the three companies have free reign to charge more because they cannot meet demand.
In the United States or Europe, where there are more airlines, coaches and even train companies (passenger trains in Canada seem more like a historic curiosity than a means of travel), prices are ludicrously low and demand is always met.
HERALD OPINION
Horgan on trade, carbon tax and LNG
NDP leader John Horgan sat down with Tom Fletcher for a year-end interview in his Victoria office Dec. 10. Here are excerpts. For the full version, see the opinion tab at www.merrittherald.com.
TF: In the recent federal elec-tion, national NDP leader Thomas Mulcair rejected the Trans Pacific Partnership sight unseen, endorsing letters from Unifor and CUPE saying this is a bad deal. Is your party seen as against Pacific Rim trade?
JH: No, I don’t think so, and what I said at the time was that I support trade. We’re a trade-centred prov-ince. We’re looking across the ocean at the largest market the world has known, and I support getting our products to higher-priced markets.
But having said that, the B.C. Liberals embraced TPP without even having seen it.
TF: The NDP and unions have historically been protectionist. Do you see any need to modernize the B.C. party?
JH: When it comes to trade, I think we have modernized. And who was the first premier to go on a trade mission from British Columbia? It was Dave Barrett. And now there has been a succession of premiers make regular visits to other markets to try to stimulate economic activity here at home.
TF: Your party supports the car-bon tax now, but not the revenue neutral approach. Do you support increasing the rate?
Travel industry lacking in Christmas spirit
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 financial 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
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 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: newsroom@ merrittherald.com.
?HERALD QUESTION OF THE WEEK
What is your favourite part of Christmas
dinner?
To vote, go online to
merrittherald.com
PREVIOUSQUESTION
Do you agree with Trudeau’s position on cli-mate change?
YES:43%NO:57%
LETTERS POLICY
YOUR OPINION Speak up
You can comment on any story you read @
merrittherald.com
JH: I’ve looked carefully at the report tabled by the premier’s [advisory] group, a vast array of British Columbians, and there was a lot of water put into the wine to get to the position they got to. What I’m comfortable with is that the date that they’ve selected for a ramping up of the carbon tax is 2018, which will be a year after the next provincial election. So if I’m successful and form a government, I’ll have time to look at tax policy broadly to see if we can make improvements in the carbon tax.
For me, and I think for most British Columbians, the model that Alberta has adopted of taking revenues and driving them into indus-tries, or activities like transit, that will reduce emis-sions over time.
TF: Natural gas price and volume continue to go down, along with commodities generally, and supply of oil and gas keeps going up. What’s your take on the prospects for LNG after the year we’ve had?
JH: Not good. I’ve always said price will deter-mine whether investors drop down multi-billions of dollars in a far-away place to provide a product that is not developed here. Brownfield opportuni-ties have moved very quickly in the U.S. Changing LNG import facilities to export facilities is a whole lot easier and cheaper than starting from scratch.
Getting to the coast is a challenge for fossil fuels, and the last LNG price point I saw delivered in Asia was $5.70 a unit. You’re not going to make money at that price, even with rock-bottom prices here in B.C.
TF: We’ve just had a couple of announcements as part of the government’s Jobs Plan, $100 mil-lion in financing for tech startups, which your critic was pleased about, and an agriculture and food strategy. Are we going to see more Jobs Plan adver-tising in the new year?
JH: It’s the Christmas season, the federal elec-tion is over, there are two sets of ads running now. I think these ads are self-promotion. These are not informing the public on information that they really need.
If it’s just smiling people with hardhats on, I think we’re going to have something to say about that.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
Many Canadians are strand-ed by overbooked Greyhound buses every year, often in the middle of nowhere.
The government colludes with companies like Greyhound and Air Canada by creating all sorts of fees and taxes that make sure no new companies can compete.
The U.S. air carrier Jet Blue has had permission to fly to Canadian destinations for years yet refuses to do so because its simply too expensive due to gov-ernment fees.
Pearson International Airport in Toronto was at one time the most expensive airport in the world for an aircraft to land in.
The dark side of Canada’s economy is the rampant protec-tionism of Canadian businesses at the detriment of service and price to Canadians.
We saw this ugly protection-ism when Verizon looked to enter the hugely overpriced Canadian mobile phone market.
The Canadian companies’ response was to call their friends in Ottawa to block competition because lower prices and better service might put them out of
business. We see the same protection-
ism in the travel industry, to the disservice to the time of year Canadians hold dear — the time to be home with their fami-lies.
Even the Grinch who stole Christmas had a change of heart.
I fear that the Grinch has nothing on the Canadian travel industry.
Christopher Tomlinson is a writer living in Merritt. He has a penchant for discussing politics and occasionally craves a good baguette.
From Page 6
Taxes put an unfair burden on travellers
Editor:
I was shoveling my driveway Friday morning after Thursday night’s snowfall.
A cube truck pulled up and a group of men in red piled out, all carrying shovels.
They told me they’d take care of it and made short work of the snow.
I don’t know if they are part of the official Snow Angels program, but whoever they are, I just want-
ed to say thank you so very much.It made my holiday season to be the recipient of
such an act of kindness.I hope some of them read this letter and know
that they are making a difference.Thanks again.
Lindsay CurryKamloops
LETTER to the editor
Saluting my snow angels
RE: LETTER: OTHMAR MISSES THE MARK ON CANADA’S INDIGENOUS (Dec. 17)
A selection of comments on Herald stories, culled online
YOUR COMMENTS
‘Many perceptions about Canada’s Aboriginal peoples are far from reality. Socio-economic dis-parities between Aboriginal and non-Indigenous Canadians remain wide, and government leaders provide only lip service to the discrimination faced by Aboriginal peoples.’
I think that was well written. Of course, you could have added that the problems of discrimina-tion are not only faced by natives, but by natives AND non natives.
It is time that the government started taking some steps to make all the people in Canada equal at birth. It just is not right that in this day and age there is such inequality amongst Canadians who are born side by side and who had nothing at all to do with the history — and you can’t fix history.
— posted by “glen rutherford”COMMUNITY DINNER The Civic Centre was full this past Monday for the Merritt Community Christmas Dinner, serving traditional Christmas fare to Merritt’s less fortunate. David Dyck/Herald
www.merrittherald.com 8 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
Following the success of this past June’s sixth annual Merritt Country Run, which raised $12,500 for Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program, there’s still plenty of funds in the cof-fers, says Canadian Tire manager and Jumpstart ambassador Mike Wekking.
Jumpstart is a charity that helps out families who are inter-ested in getting their kids into sports, but don’t have the means to finance the equip-ment, registration and other costs.
“There’s still money to be had for people to take advantage of,” said Wekking. “It’s such a shame for it to keep piling.”
The run is the big-gest single fundraiser for the program. This year he said it raised $7,500, and Canadian Tire contributed the remaining $5,000.
The store also collects additional donations through-out the year. “Our [Jumpstart] budget for this year is $31,400,” he explained. “What
we’ve paid out this year so far is 15,600, and that’s for 177 kids. The remaining budget right now is $15,000.”
He said that fami-lies don’t have to be completely destitute to sign up.
And it’s a relatively simple process, with people at the City
of Merritt and the Merritt Youth and Family Resources Society who can help.
To sign up online, parents can also go to canadiantire.ca and click on the Jumpstart link at the bottom of the page.
“Both of my kids love sports, and I know there’s a few
people where we are that are taking advan-tage of the program, but I know there’s so much need out there,” said Wekking. “It would be nice for people to recognize that if they want to, they can — it’s not that we’re stopping them. We have the funds available.”
Donations desperately needed for spay and neuter services. Donations can be to made to The Angel’s Animal Rescue Society at The Interior Savings Credit Union, Account #1193739.
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One guilty, one acquitted in moose-hunting incident
Calling shooting of a bull moose “brazen,” a provincial court judge found one of two men guilty of illegally killing and abandoning the animal on Dec. 17.
Xin Xiao was found guilty after trial of ille-gal hunting out of sea-son, possession of an animal and abandoning the bull moose at the side of a logging road in the Nicola Valley in October 2013.
He was fined about $8,500, with $4,000 of that going to the provincial Habitat Conservation Trust Fund.
“I don’t believe a third party killed the moose and Mr. Xiao came upon the moose and decided to take it,” judge Chris Cleaveley said in his decision.
Cleaveley ruled Xiao said “yeah” to another hunter when asked him if he killed the bull moose.
That hunter, Kyle Carusi, testified at the trial.
Both Xiao, rep-resented by defence lawyer Kevin Walker, and co-accused Wei Li, defended by Fred Kaatz, used an inter-preter during the trial and did not testify themselves.
Cleaveley found the Crown did not have enough evidence to convict Li of the same three offences, nor of hunting without a spe-cial licence needed for a non-resident.
The Crown’s case was built on circum-stantial evidence.
Two deer hunt-ers who came across a dead bull moose at the side of the road testified when they returned to the same logging road later, they saw two Asian men with a Ford Raptor truck backed up to the moose.
Carusi said they appeared to be using a winch to get the moose — not yet field dressed
or gutted — into the truck.
A surveillance cam-era at a gas station in Merritt recorded Xiao and Li the morning before the moose was found.
Food and gas receipts from Merritt the day before were also found inside the Ford pickup.
During trial, Carusi testified the two men beside the moose immediately stopped as he and his father rolled up in their pickup.
Carusi said the two acted “shifty” while beside the moose.
“It’s reasonable to infer Mr. Xiao and the other man realized they’d been caught red-handed,” Cleaveley said.
Conservation offi-cers tracked the Ford pickup to a Vancouver home.
They seized the truck and a trailer.
Xiao, 49, had a “much stronger con-nection to the Ford Raptor,” Cleaveley said.
Inside that pickup, registered to a woman from Vancouver, they
found Xiao’s Canadian passport, as well as a wallet with his driver’s and hunting licence and credit cards.
Conservation offi-cers used DNA to link the moose to blood found on a jacket in the truck.
Cleaveley found it was Xiao’s jacket.
Following the Wildlife Act charges, the civil forfeiture office applied successfully to have the Ford Raptor sold, with half the $48,000 proceeds going to the Crown.
In addition to the approximately $8,500 in fines, Xiao forfeited two guns found in the truck.
He is also prohibited from hunting from two years.
Walker urged Cleaveley to reduce the fine from the $10,000 requested by the Crown because his client, a building property manager who earns about $40,000 to $50,000 a year, has a limited ability to pay.
Xiao rents an apart-ment in Burnaby he shares with his wife and child.
Cam FortemsKAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
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Plenty of Jumpstart funds still availableJUMP START
David DyckTHE MERRITT HERALD
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 9
NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
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Award-winning ranchers
John and Kate Anderson don’t come from traditional ranching families, but they don’t see that as a bad thing. In fact, they say it has given them the freedom to pursue the kinds of sustainable initiatives that won them the BC Cattlemen’s Association’s (BCCA) Environmental Stewardship Award this year.
They own and operate Kane Lake Ranch, just south of Merritt.
John arrived in the Nicola Valley with his family as a youngster, when his father, a mining engineer, arrived to help with the opening of the Craigmont Mine.
He grew up around animals, and his mother had a love for agriculture. In 1985, Kate came to work as an irrigator on his mom’s ranch, and just never left.
“The joke about irrigating is that it’s irritating, because it’s pretty repetitive,” said Kate. “So I came [to the ranch] to be his irritator for a while — I haven’t stopped for 30 years,” she laughed.
Now they have four ranch prop-erties around Merritt, Kane Lake, Sunshine Valley and Iron Mountain, consisting of 740 deeded acres, 3,300 leased acres and 3,000 acres of Crown range.
According to John, ranching wasn’t something they were born into. “We sort of evolved into it, I guess,” he said.
And they’ve come to be quite influential in the ranching com-munity. John is a director with the
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, a BCCA board member, chair of the BCCA research committee and pres-ident of the Nicola Stockbreeders Association.
“There’s been some tremendous-ly volatile events on the Coldwater River,” said John, pointing to flood-ing events, especially in the spring and winter. “When those events take place, there can be quite a bit of erosion created, quite a bit of dam-age to the stream bank areas. So we recognized quite a long time ago — 30 plus years ago — the best way to mitigate erosion was to take better management practices, or manage-ment practices that were somewhat nontraditional.”
Erosion creates siltation in the river, and that affects the salmon population, in various ways.
The Andersons see it as a posi-tive trend of the mainstream culture influencing farming practices, and said they hope it continues.
“I think the next thing in the agriculture world will be something called ecological goods and services,” said John. “So when you provide an ecological good and service, which could be considered riparian or a clean water filtration area — some-thing like that — I think at some point society will see enough of a value in that so that they’ll financial-ly support it. Right now we basically pay because we own the land — we put up the infrastructure to manage it in a healthy way.”
If you drive north of Merritt on Highway 5A, it won’t be long until you arrive at Nicola Ranch, a small collection of pictur-esque buildings, some of which seem to have been frozen in time. Among them is Murray Church, built in 1876.
Although its age is starting to show, the building is getting dusted off for a special Christmas Eve service
at 1:00 p.m. tonight, hosted by the Trinity United Church, which owns the church.
There are still pews lining each side of the single aisle, leading up to an old pulpit, with a pump organ off to the side. Plenty of light shines in from the stained glass windows on either side, but the decor is otherwise plain, in typical Protestant fashion.
COUNTRY CHRISTMAS
Murray Church opens for Christmas Eve serviceDavid DyckTHE MERRITT HERALD
See ‘Church’ Page 15
www.merrittherald.com 10 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
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‘TIS THE SEASON 7. (From left) Grade 7 student Trace Cooke, food bank manager Marlene Fenton, Grade 4 student Victoria King, food bank volunteers Lorraine Brown, Nick Tolerton and Mike Brown, and Diamond Vale leadership program co-ordinator Daniella Ricci. Michael Potestio/Herald
3. Merritt’s Sikh Temple donated food, blankets and $500 to the food bank. (From left) Harry Lali, Bakhshish Sandur, food bank manager Marlene Fenton, Harbans Sandhu, Joginder Mahil and Ajaib Sahota.
7
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65. Tim Hortons raised $2,520 through its Smile Cookies sales for the Merritt food bank. (From left) Food bank volunteer Lorraine Brown, food bank manager Marlene Fenton, and representatives from Tim Hortons including owners Eric Weiser (fourth from left) and Sadra Weiser (first on the right). Michael Potestio/Herald
2. NVIT donating $1,000 to the Food Bank, collected at the school’s staff Christmas party. (Left to right) Marlene Fenton, Leah Garcia-Gray and Chelsea Vaughan. Submitted photo
1. Pharmasave made a Christmas time donation to the food bank for $1,000. Food bank manager Marlene Fenton (left) and Pharmasave assistant manager Lynn Tulliani. Michael Potestio/Herald
4. The Merritt Bread Basket, a soup kitchen at St. Michael’s Anglican Church, received a cheque for $2,500 from Brian Kennedy and Robert Lizotte, donated by their employees. (Left to right) Kennedy, Fran Delaney from Community Futures, Lizotte and Marg Davis, bread bas-ket manager.
6. (From left) Lisa Babcock, food bank volunteer Lorraine Brown and food bank manager Marlene Fenton. Babcock raised $236 for the food bank. Michael Potestio/Herald
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 11
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Back when Merritt was just a sprouting commercial hub, in the spot that is now the Country Music Hall of Fame, stood a part of the city’s history — Armstrong’s Department Store.
The foundations of that mem-orable store date back to 1882, when George Brown Armstrong, at the tender age of 15, came to the Nicola Valley from Ontario. His first job was working for his brother-in-law A.E. Howse in the general store Howse owned in the Valley.
He put in long, hard hours for his demanding boss for seven years and learned quickly from
this sometimes wily, but always resourceful man. G.B. (as he came to be called) developed a work ethic to match his intense ambition.
He finally decided that if he was going to work that hard, it would be better if he did it for himself. So he moved to Lower Nicola and opened his own store in 1889. He sold groceries, phar-maceuticals, glassware, hardware, dry goods and mining equipment.
Over the next 18 years, his business prospered. He and his wife Dora Grace Wolff had two daughters. Unfortunately, Dora passed away when the girls were very young.
In March 1907 G.B. became aware that mining and a new railway were making Merritt an attractive business site. He sold his entire stock at cost and by May his new store, a two storey building with its business on the main floor and living quarters upstairs, was open for business. It also had a post office with G.B. as the Postmaster.
Unfortunately, in 1908 the building burned to the ground. G.B. was undaunted and began construction at the Quilchena
Street location. This building gar-nered a great deal of attention by the townspeople. They watched as the basement was scooped out by horses pulling a Fresco, a large metal scoop with handles that dug into the earth and brought out a load which was then hauled to a pile site and dumped.
The walls were built using clear tongue and groove fir, fitted together vertically. A large coal furnace was the only source of heat for the building. In the base-ment was a vault and a tobacco room as G.B. was the only authorized retailer of McDonald tobacco in the Interior. The tobacco room was made of metal lined brick with a wooden door also lined with metal. It blended so well with the wall that it was hard to find.
The upper floor had knotholes that let the daylight through and as they aged the large, rough beams of wood turned a beauti-ful deep brown. The store had a general office and a post office. G.B. incorporated his business as Armstrong Department Stores Ltd.
ARMSTRONG’S DEPARTMENT
STORE The history behind one of Merritt’s most recognizable storefronts
SUSAN GEARING-EDGEA looking glassTO THE PAST
Armstrong’s Department Store on Quilchena Street, before it was the Country Music Hall of Fame. Nicola Valley Museum and Archives
See ‘Armstrong’s’ Page 12
www.merrittherald.com 12 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
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The store was prosperous. Records show that customers could buy a side of bacon or a ham for 24 cents a pound, three pounds of butter for 78 cents, or 25 cents for two packages of short-ening. Clothes were also sold. Customers could buy a blouse for $2.50, a polo shirt for $1.25 and children’s hats ranged in price from 35 cents to $2.95.
By this time G.B. was remarried to his new wife Olla. They had a son, George Standish and a daughter Kathleen. The family moved into a house on Granite Avenue, near Garcia.
During the 1920s, G.B. ran a stage coach service between Kamloops and Merritt. In 1927 there was a bit of a mishap when the passengers got a dunking in Nicola Lake after the driver swerved to avoid a car on the narrow road. Fortunately there were no injuries.
In 1929, at the age of 62, George B. Armstrong was elected as Mayor of Merritt, but this venture was cut short tragically that same year when the family home caught fire while he was home alone. He suffocated from smoke inha-lation and died. At his funeral, 150 cars lined the streets and more than 1,000 people paid tribute to him.
Olla and her step-daughter Vera ran the busi-ness until Olla’s death in 1948. George Standish Armstrong took over as Manager and Vera worked as the stenographer.
In 1949 he built an addition which housed the grocery store and had a cold storage and a walk-in cooler. In later years it also served as a ladies wear store. Behind the store there was a barn where horses and carriages were kept to make deliveries. When the barn burned down, Armstrong rebuilt it as a garage and filled it with vegetables that were sold throughout the win-ter. Today, this addition is now home to Panago Pizza.
In 1950-52, a cement shed was built directly behind the store next to the garage. The shed was filled with grain on the main floor and raw hides (animal skins and leather) in the basement. The two floors were divided by an ash filling that kept mice and other pests out of the grain.
In 1967 George Jr. died of cancer and G.B.’s grandson George took over the role of store-keeper, a duty he performed for 21 years. Sadly, it was he who had to close Armstrong’s Department Store in 1989 — 100 years after G.B. set out to become an entrepreneur. According to documents that are stored at the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives, even though the store closed, the build-ings are still owned by the Armstrong family.
For more information on the history of Merritt and the Nicola Valley, call or come and visit the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives, 1675 Tutill Court, (250)-378-4145. You can also visit our website at www.nicolaval-leymuseum.org.
From Page 11
The interior of Armstrong’s Department Store. Nicola Valley Museum and Archives
Armstrong’s Department Store lasted for a century, closing in 1989
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 13
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Trinity United Church
At the heart of the city for over 100 years, welcomes you to the warmth of Christian Community this Christmas.
December 241pm Historic Murray Church at Nicola Ranch
December 24 6:30pm Candlelight Christmas Eve Service
December 25 10am Christmas Day with Communion
Located at the corner of Quilchena & Chapman Visitors are Welcome
One of the forgotten aspects of the Christmas story is the birth of humility in the person of the Christ Child.
Innumerable Christmas devo-tionals point out the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth — among shepherds, in a crude stable, with a feed trough for a bassinet.
When Jesus himself tried to summarize why people should take up the yoke of following him, he said it was because he was meek and humble (Matt. 11:29).
Seldom, however do we
explore the full implications of how Jesus’ radical humility shapes the way we live our lives daily.
The Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus humbling himself to the extent of taking the form of a servant on his way to the cross. But the same humility was evi-dent at the root of the incarna-tion story, God being willing to take up human form, thus subjecting Himself to human ministrations.
A truly spiritual person will always be ready to humble him-self. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Humility is crucial for Christians. We can only receive Christ through meekness and humility. Jesus humbled him-self and was exalted by God. Therefore, joy and power through humility is the very dynamic of the Christian life.
If we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us at the proper time. This teaching of Scriptures is simple and obvious.
The problem is that it takes great humility to understand
humility, and even more to resist the pride that comes so naturally with even a discussion of the subject.
We are on slippery ground because humility cannot be attained directly. Once we become aware of the poison of pride, we begin to notice it all around us.
We hear it in the sarcastic, snarky voices in newspaper col-umns. We see it in civic, cultural and business leaders who never admit weaknesses or failure. We see it in our neighbours and some friends with their jealousy, self-pity and boasting.
And so we vow not to talk or act like that. If we then notice “a humble turn of mind” in ourselves, we immediately become smug. But that is pride in our humility.
Humility is so shy. If we begin talking about it, it disap-pears. To even ask the question, “Am I humble?” is not to be so. Examining your heart, even for pride, often leads to being proud about your diligence and cir-cumspection.
The advent and affect of humility
NARAYAN MITRAYou Gotta HaveFAITH
See ‘Humility’ Page 15
www.merrittherald.com 14 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
The team at Royal Lepage sends out their warmest thoughts and best wishes for a
wonderful holiday season.
May this Christmas season fill your home with joy and laughter.
Merry Christmas and
a prosperous, healthy New Year!
Happy Holidays
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FAITH
Karen Szabo
Mayor Neil Menard picking the winners
1st
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Keighnyn Larose
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Congratulationsand the Winners
Merritt on shopping locallyFrom Nov. 24 - Dec. 17, 2015 Passport ballot entries were nearly doubled from last years amount at the 24 participating merchants that took part in our 7th annual Passport To Christmas Contest.
the passport to christmas program was able to help support the local food bank as well with double stamp days.
Renate Banka
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Photo not available
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Gracious, self-for-getful humility should be one of the primary things that should dis-tinguish Christian believers from the many types of moral, decent people in the world.
But I think it is fair to say that humility is largely missing in the church. Therefore, non-believers, detecting the
stench of sanctimony turn away.
Humility is only achieved as a by-prod-uct of understanding, believing, and marvel-ling at the gospel of grace.
When we listen to the gospel preached or meditate on it in the Scriptures, we should drive it so deeply into our hearts, imagina-tions, and thinking that
we begin to instinctively live out the gospel.
God often breaks us by allowing us to be misunderstood, mis-judged, falsely accused and publicly humiliated.
It is best to leave such matters with God. He knows what He is doing and He’s got everything under His control.
He chisels away at the rock to sculpture the
likeness of Jesus in His people. Some parts of the rock may be very hard, wherein He has to use persecution to bring out the “shine.”
No one who waits upon God will ever be disappointed or be put to shame (Isaiah 49:23). If we honour God, He will honour us one day.
If we are serious about following the Lord, we will find that
God takes us through many painful experi-ences.
But His purpose in all of them is to free us from the opinions of men and from the chains that tie us down to earth, so that we can “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah
40:31).God will order our
circumstances to so humble us before men that we get to the place where we finally care only for His opinion of us.
Our spiritual author-ity would then be exceedingly powerful.
Let us continue to practice and preach grace till humility just starts to grow in us.
Narayan Mitra is the pastor of Merritt Baptist Church at 2499 Coutlee Ave.
Humility is a staple of the Christian life — but it is also very fragileFrom Page 13
“This building was one of the first churches to be dedicated to public worship in the interior of the province,” reads a plaque on the wall inside.
It was originally a Presbyterian church, but all Protestant denominations in the valley made use of it, it goes on to say.
John Moore was one of the men who was instrumental in the construction of the church, and was one of the first elders. He still has family in the valley.
“It’s nice that they’re looking after it,” said Barbara Sayles, Moore’s great-great-granddaugh-ter, who lives in the Nicola Valley. “It was impor-tant to dad — his parents were married there.”
Sayles said she’d be in attendance at tonight’s service.
There haven’t been regular services there since 1958, though the building is still used a few times a year for special services, or the occasional wedding.
When the United Church was formed in 1927, the building was named Murray United in honour of its founder, Rev. George Murray.
Murray was sent by the Church of Scotland to cover a wide area in the Interior, including Merritt. He died in 1917.
In the 1860’s Nicola Lake was a thriving com-munity, but the population shifted to Merritt after the discovery of coal at the confluence of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers — at that time known as the Forks.
Church was named for founder George MurrayFrom Page 6
www.merrittherald.com 16 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
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Two Great Locations to Serve You Better!603 St. Paul Street, Kamloops, BC • 250.374.9443#10-2025 Granite Ave. Merritt, BC • 1.888.374.9443
How’s your hearing?Ask an
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Call Monday - Friday
315-96882076A Granite Avenue, Merritt(Located at Nicola Valley Chiropractic)
A division of Carolyn Palaga Audiology Services Ltd.
Merritt Hearing Clinic
THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE
Dear Magdi,
I have a daughter who I raised myself with love and care, and we used to have a very close relationship.
Now she is enjoying an executive career in a big corporate company. It seems the success has made her forget all the support I gave her.
When I hear from her, the conversation is only a few text messag-es. Three of her rela-tionships ended recently and this has broken her heart.
She has told me that
she is afraid of being close to me because if I died, she feels she wouldn't survive.
How can I re-establish the closeness that I had with her and have her communicate more empathetically with me?
Steven, Merritt
YOUR TWO CENTSSometimes we have
to let go of our chil-dren's hands and feel-ings for a while, so they can "feel" the distance and appreciate our love and care towards them.
She has to show you in her own time that she's dependant on you and needs you the same way you need her.
You don't need to re-establish that closeness in empathy. Sometimes the best reaction is not to react at all!
Anonymous
MAGDI SAYSDear Steven,Thank you very
much for sharing your challenge with me and our readers!
I have good news! You can re-establish the closeness that you had with your daughter and communicate again with her more empathi-cally.
You have had a great relationship with your daughter in the past, but now she is afraid to be emotionally close to you, because she is afraid of losing you.
Her overwhelm-ing fear shows that the abandonments she experienced in her three previous romantic relationships caused her feelings of loss and extreme emotional pain.
She now feels it is safer to live without emotional closeness.
Due to this pain-ful history and fear of loss, she stopped being open emotionally and focused entirely on her work. This is not
healthy.The human brain
has right and left sides that have evolved over millions of years. We developed two hemi-spheres with two differ-ent ways of processing — the cognitive and the emotional.
Although the left side differs from the right, the two physically separated sides are con-nected to each other.
This separation enables each side of the brain to function some-what independently.
The left mode processing is logical, linguistic, cognitive rea-soning in nature.
The right mode processing is holistic, understanding others emphatically through facial expression, eye contact, posture, gesture and with spontaneous raw emotions.
Healing, as well as healthy living, requires the presence of both right and left modes of processing.
The cultural con-strains of the cor-porate world where your daughter works privileges cognition and reason, often at the expense of emotions. As a result of her emotion-ally hurtful experiences, the “left mode process-ing” proved to be safer to her.
Changes can be made to help her become open with her emotions towards you again.
• Meet her in person in order to repair your relationship.
This way you will be able to communicate with her, in the right mode processing, in a holistic way, with empa-thy, the use of facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, body language, posture and gesture.
• The best attitude towards your daughter and towards our chil-dren as parents is to temporarily downside our expectations and
have the attitude of COAL — Curiosity, Openness, Acceptance and Love.
• Be open and accepting of what is happening in her life, and let go of your expectations.
• It will be challeng-ing to let go of your expectation mindset, but it will enable you to become mindfully aware of what is hap-pening in your daugh-ter’s life.
Use the attitude of COAL and you will be able to reconnect with her emotionally again.
NEXT WEEK'S CHALLENGE
Dear Magdi,My 10-year-old
grandson Michael has been on a large dose of psychotropic medication for the past five years to help him to control his angry outbursts.
His father and moth-er were both addicted to cocaine and he often experienced traumatic
and shocking events at an early age.
I think these past experiences made him reactive. When he has these explosive episodes, he often refers to past events.
Can he get thera-peutic treatment for his early traumas to help him become less angry and reactive?
I am very worried about the long term effect of the use of drugs on his young brain.
Marlene, Merritt
Magdi Tornyai is a clinical counsellor with a private practice, Safe Haven Holistic Counselling, in Merritt. If you have a question you would like Magdi to consider, or to write in with your two cents on a weekly challenge, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. Submissions will be kept anonymous. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our readers.
Use COAL to reconnect with your children
MAGDI TORNYAIAsk MAGDI
A construction worker might blame his jackhammer for his sore back. An office worker might chalk up the ache to an uncomfortable chair. Fair enough. But if either person happens to be a smoker, there just might be a different explanation for his or her pain.
In recent years, researchers have uncov-ered a surprising con-nection between smok-ing and back pain. In study after study, smok-ers seem to be more
likely than nonsmokers to suffer from a sore back. The trend holds for men and women, manual laborers and white-collar workers.
The investigations raise interesting ques-tions about the root causes of pain.
A study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases drives the point home.
British researchers asked 13,000 people about their lifestyles, including their smoking habits, jobs, activity lev-els, and history of pain.
After adjusting for the demands of strenu-ous jobs and other fac-tors that might cause back pain, the scientists concluded that smok-ing — by itself — raised the risk of debilitating back pain by about 30 per cent.
Smoking also seemed to make people slightly
more vulnerable to pain in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, and knees. Their report is not alone in its conclu-sions. A review of over 40 studies published in a recent issue of the medical research journal Spine concluded that “the data are fairly consistent that smoking is associated with... low back pain.”
Scientists aren’t sure why some smokers are prone to back pain. According to the report in the Annals of the
Rheumatic Diseases, nicotine from cigarettes “could affect the man-ner in which the brain processes sensory stimuli and the central percep-tion of pain.” In other words, cigarettes affect the way the brain sends its pain signals.
Smoking may also damage tissue in the lower back and else-where in the body by slowing down blood circulation and reduc-ing the flow of nutrients to joints, disks, and muscles, according to
the journal.Giving up cigarettes
probably won’t immedi-ately banish back pain, but it just might help. Of course, quitting smoking will also dra-matically lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, and a host of other diseases. Back pain or not, that’s still a great comfort.
Dr. Colin Gage was born and raised in Merritt. He’s been helping patients from his clinic at Nicola Valley Chiropractic since 1996.
The relationship between smoking and back pain
DR. COLIN GAGESpinal COLUMN
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 17
HERALD SPORTSmerrittherald.com bcclassified.com
Have a sports story tip? Tell us about it by calling 250-378-4241 or emailing [email protected]
2075 Mamette Ave., MerrittThe longest continuously run franchise in the BCHL
NICOLA VALLEY MEMORIAL ARENA
Merritt CentennialsCoquitlam Express4:00 pm Thursday, Dec. 31at N.V. Memorial Arenavs
The mindless and totally subjective holiday revelations of Merritt Centennials hockey writer and photographer Ian Webster
When second-year netminder Anthony Pupplo failed to live up to expectations and was released, the puck-stopping duties fell to former WHLer and Kamloops Blazer Cole Kehler and rookie Colten Lancaster.
It’s been a rough road for the like-able pair of goaltenders who have had their moments. Kehler is ranked 20th in the league with an .897 save per-centage and 3.74 goals-against average. Lancaster’s .856 SV% and 5.13 GAA puts him second last in 32nd place.
Hopefully, things can only improve.
Goaltending CDespite just two returning blueliners
from last season (captain Malik Kaila, Tyrell Buckley), there were high expec-tations for this year’s defensive corps due to some notable summer signings and last-minute acquisitions.
The beleagured backline has had to spend too much time in its own end, and hasn’t received sufficient help from the forwards. The result is the Cents have given up the third-most goals in the league (161) and are fourth-to-last in plus-minus (-35). Whatever happened to the adage ‘Defence wins games’.
Defence C At 3.41 goals-per-game (9th in the
league), the Centennials have shown up to this point that they can score goals. The problem is they’re allowing 4.35 goals-against-per-game (14th league-wide). That’s not a recipe for success.
Veteran forwards Gavin Gould and Colin Grannary have lived up to expec-tations points-wise, while rookies Nick Jermain and Tyler Ward along with defencemen Mike Faulkner and Nick Fiorentino have been a solid supporting cast. With the puck, the team is strong; without — that’s another matter.
Offence B
Even though Merritt has been in the middle of the pack all season when it comes to the powerplay (currently 8th), the same can’t be said of the penalty kill. Down a man, the Cents have been the league’s worst from day one — by a huge margin. They’ve surrendered a horrendous 59 goals on 165 chances. That’s 25 more than they’ve scored themselves on the same number of PPs.
One solution is to stay out of the darn penalty box. Merritt players visit the sin bin far too frequently. That’s just play-ing with fire.
Special Teams C-It’s been quite a christening for new
Centennials head coach and GM Joe Martin and his rookie assistant, Matt Samson. At the break, the Cents find themselves dead last in the Interior and nine points out of a playoff position.
On the positive side, Martin and Samson have refused to panic or throw in the towel. They have faith in their players, and firmly believe the team has the horses to reel in some of the opposi-tion ahead of them. A glimmer of hope — the Cents go into the holiday on their first two-game win streak of the season.
Coaching C+This year’s edition of the Merritt
Centennials is once again a class act — comprised of players with character, color and community-mindedness. It’s something we’ve grown used to in the Luke Pierce/Joe Martin era.
That said, the team has struggled to establish an identity, and to play smart hockey. There have been too many poor starts to games and periods, too many miscues in the defensive zone, and too many trips to the penalty box. The only thing consistent has been the team’s inconsistency.
www.merrittherald.com 18 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
SPORTS
Christmas came a few days early for Merritt Centennials players, coaches and fans — in the form of a pair of weekend wins against BCHL Interior division rivals.
Friday night, at Kal Tire Place in Vernon, Colin Grannary’s lone third-period goal was just enough to propel the Cents past the Vipers 3-2. Merritt scorers in the first 40 minutes were Michael Regush and Ryan Forbes.
One day later, on home ice, the Centennials scored three times in the first four minutes of the game en route to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Trail
Smoke Eaters. Tyler Ward had Merritt’s first two goals, followed shortly thereafter by Grannary’s team-leading 20th tally of the season.
Grannary picked up his second of the night and 21st of the year at the 9:32 mark of the middle period, and Nick Fidanza scored his team’s final goal six min-utes later.
Cents’ netminder Cole Kehler was between the pipes for both of Merritt’s week-end wins, stopping 70 of 74 shots in total.
The two victories marked the first back-to-back wins by Merritt this season, and helped to keep the last Centennials in the race for a post-season position. The Cents are currently eight
points back of fifth-place Trail and nine points behind Vernon who occupy the fourth-and-final playoff spot.
Centennials head coach and GM Joe Martin was very pleased with his team’s weekend
performances.“It was an enter-
taining, tight-checking game,” Martin told Q101’s Alex Kerrigan in his post-game interview Friday night in Vernon. “Both teams generated good scoring chances.
Both goalies played well.”
Martin gave a lot of credit for his team’s performance to captain Malik Kaila.
“He played a great game, and was a true leader. I’m really happy
for him.”Both Merritt and
Vernon had play-ers ejected for serious blows to the head of opponents. For the Vipers, it was Jimmy Lambert just five min-utes into the game; for the Centennials, it was 20-year-old Zak Bowles at the 11:07 mark of the second period. Lambert and Bowles have sub-sequently received additional two and three-game suspensions respectively from the league.
“The refs did a good job,” Martin said. “They made the right calls on both players.”
Going into the Centennials’ final game before the Christmas holiday on Saturday, Martin said his team
had to treat it like a game seven, a do-or-die.
“We wanted to go into the break on a win-ning note. It was a great start for our team.”
Ward’s two goals and the third by Grannary before the game was five minutes old had the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena crowd buzzing, and the Cents brimming with confidence.
“We’re starting to play a lot better as a team, and do things for each other,” Martin said.
Merritt players have a nine-day break at Christmas before returning to the Nicola Valley to prepare for their New Year’s Eve encounter with the visit-ing Coquitlam Express. That game goes at the special time of 4 p.m.
Cents head into the Christmas break on a two-game winning streak
THINGS LOOKING UP Merritt Centennials players salute their loyal fans on Saturday night at the conclusion of their final game before the Christmas break — a 5-2 win over the Trail Smoke Eaters. The night before, they downed the Vernon Vipers 3-2. Ian Webster/Herald
Ian WebsterTHE MERRITT HERALD
CELEBRATING THE SEASON (Above) The Merritt Centennials gathered for a festive team photo at the club’s Christmas din-ner on Dec. 7 at the Evangelical Free Church. (Below) Santa paid a surprise visit to the Nicola Valley Skating Club’s final practice and Christmas skate on Dec. 18 at the Shulus arena. NVSC classes will resume in January. Ian Webster/Herald
Panthers and Rebels hoop it upThe junior boys
and girls basketball teams from Merritt and Princeton Secondary Schools engaged in a home-and-home series of games last week.
On Wednesday, the teams squared off at the MSS gymnasium.
The host Panthers led the girls contest for three quarters before the visiting Rebels overtook them down the stretch for a 61-50 victory.
Leading the way for the MSS girls was guard Mesha Naiker with 22 points, while Logan Moorhead added 10.
Princeton’s Jessica
Parker, a member of Team BC, tallied an astonishing 45 points, including six second-half three-pointers.
In the boys show-down on Wednesday, Sam McNiven drained 17 points to lead the Panthers over their dis-trict rivals, 65-28. Both Sebastian Dexel and Tom Girard netted 13 points.
The game results were very similar 24 hours later in Princeton. Merritt’s girls were edged once again by the Rebels, 44-37, while the Panther boys were victo-rious once more, 54-34.
On the girls’ side, it was Naiker on top again
for MSS with 18 points. Parker had 19 in reply for Princeton.
Evan Sahota was Merritt’s leading scorer in the boys’ match-up with 19 points, while Brody Pattison had 12 and McNiven 11.
“I’m really happy with both teams,” head coach Dick Wowchuk said. “The boys, I didn’t expect to gel as quickly as they have. As for the girls, many of them are very inexperienced. They’re doing well.”
Both MSS junior teams play at Westsyde on Jan. 5, then travel to a tournament in Osoyoos the following weekend.
Ian WebsterTHE MERRITT HERALD
DISHING OFF Merritt Secondary School Panther Sam McNiven (middle) passes the ball to teammate Mack Stead (11) during MSS junior boys’ basketball action against Princeton on Wednesday. Trailing the play are Evan Sahota (right) and Brody Pattison. The Panthers defeated the visiting Rebels 65-28. Ian Webster/Herald
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR MASSES 2015CHRISTMAS EVE, DEC. 245:00 - ST MICHAEL’S LOGAN LAKE7:30PM - SACRED HEART, MERRITT10:00PM - OUR LADY OF LOURDS, QUILCHENACHRISTMAS DAY, DEC. 259:00AM - SACRED HEART, MERRITT11:00AM - ST PAUL’S CHURCH COLDWATERNEW YEAR’S EVE, DEC. 315:00PM - ST MICHAEL’S LOGAN LAKE10:00PM - OUR LADY OF LOURDS, QUILCHENANEW YEAR DAY, JAN. 19:00 - SACRED HEART, MERRITT
11:00 - ST PAUL’S COLDWATER
VoluNTEERS NEEDEDH.E.L.P. (Hospital Equipment Loan Program) Red Cross
in Merritt Hospital. 2 hrs per week. For more info call 250-378-5276.
THE CouRTHouSE ART GAllERY MERRITTWe are looking for artists to show their work depicting
landscapes in the Nicola Valley. Can be done in any paint medium. You can submit up to 3 paintings, space permitting. The show is scheduled to begin April 8, 2016. The deadline to deliver your work to the Courthouse Gallery in Merritt is March 26th at 5pm. There will be an nominal entry fee. There will be 2 prizes awarded through a jury process. The amount of the prize depends on how many entries there are. Gallery hours are... Thursday through Saturday from noon until 6pm. Wednesday is an Admin day and hours are noon until 5:30pm. If you have questions you can reach the gallery at 250-378-6515 or you can email the gallery manager at [email protected]
lIVING WITH loSS SuPPoRT GRouP As of January 2016, the Living with Loss Drop-in
Support Group will be meeting the first and third Wednesday of every month from 1 to 2:30pm at 2025 Granite Avenue, Room 12.
ElkS BINGoEvery Wednesday at 1 p.m. Doors open at 11 a.m.
Come in for lunch!
oPERATIoN GET HoME SAfE Parents of the Merritt Army Cadets are offering a ser-
vice of “Operation Get Home Safe” to you. 100% of the proceeds raised during your event go back to the Local Merritt Army Cadets. Our organization is a 94 year old non-profit youth organization. This organization is Free to any youth from age 12-18 years old. Thanks for sup-porting Merritt Army Cadets. If you are having an event that you would like us to be of service please contact Debra Raymond 250 378 6781 or myself Tracy Woods-Brooks 250 378 4722
CoNAYT BINGoJoin Conayt Friendship Society every Thursday for bingo.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and bingo starts at 6 p.m. Everyone welcome to come and play! 2164 Quilchena Ave.
CoNAYT ElDERS DRoP IN CENTRETuesday & Thursday mornings, 8:30 a.m. – noon, 2164
Quilchena Avenue. All Elders welcome – just come out and visit! For information contact Deloris at 250-378-5107.
MERRITT SENIoR CENTREWeekly schedule is as follows: Monday: Seinor’s Exercise
READY SET lEARNBring your preschoolers and join us for some fun and
adventures at your local elementary schools. Make con-nections with community professionals who work with young children and families. Every child will receive a gift, snacks will be provided, and fun will be had by all! Tuesday, January 19, 2016 – Merritt Bench Elementary – 9 to 10 a.m. Math Magic For Little Ones. Brought to you by School District 58 and the BC Ministry of Education.
THE MERRITT CHAPTER of THE VINTAGE CAR CluB of CANADA invites all persons interested in restoring and enjoying
vintage vehicles to join us at our monthly meeting held at the Anglican Church Hall, 1990 Chapman Street, at 7:00 PM on the second Wednesday of each month. Vintage car ownership is not required. Call Jack Cross 250-378-2662 or Kim Jurriet 250-378-2672 for more info.
Have an event we should know about? Tell us by calling 250-378-4241 or emailing [email protected]
Deadlines for submissions is noon on Friday prior to publication
■ Approved mini-storage■ On-site rentals■ Secured■ Sale of New and Used storage containers
CONTAIN-ITSTORAGE
1750 Hill Street ■ Phone: 250-315-3000
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The ChurChes ofMerriTT WelCoMe You
Crossroads Community Church 2990 Voght St. • 250-378-2911
Service Time: Sundays 10:30 a.m.
Merritt Baptist Church 2499 Coutlee Ave. (Corner of Coutlee and Orme) • 250-378-2464
Service Time/ Sunday School: Sunday 10:00 a.m.
Merritt Lutheran Fellowship in St. Michael's Anglican Hall • 250-378-9899
Service Time: 3rd Sunday each month 1:00 p.m.
Nicola Valley Evangelical Free Church 1950 Maxwell St. • 250-378-9502 Service Time: Sundays 10:00 a.m.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Corner of Jackson & Blair • 250-378-2919
Mass Time: Sundays 9:00 a.m.
Seventh Day Adventist Church 2190 Granite Ave. • 250-378-4061 Service Time: Saturdays 11:00 a.m.
St. Michael’s Anglican Church 1990 Chapman St. • 250-378-3772 Service Time: Sundays 10:00 a.m.
Trinity United Church Corner of Quilchena & Chapman • 250-378-5735
Service Time/ Sunday School (age 4 - 8 yrs)
7 Day Weather Forecast for Merritt, BC - Thursday, March 14 - Wednesday, March 20, 2013
• STAIN GLASS• SUN CATCHERS• NIGHT LIGHTS• PICTURE FRAMES
Available at Creative Company2074 Quilchena Avenue, Merritt, BC
Monday - Saturday Ph: 250-378-0813
Stain Glass by Almerina RizzardoThurs. Mar. 14
Cloudy w/ShowersHigh: 9CLow: 6C
Fri. Mar. 15
Cloudy PeriodsHigh: 10CLow: 4C
Sat. Mar. 16
Variable CloudsHigh: 8CLow: 4C
Sun. Mar. 17
Wet SnowHigh: 6CLow: 2C
Mon. Mar. 18
Variable CloudsHigh: 6CLow: 0C
Tue. Mar. 19
SnowRain ShowersHigh: 7CLow: -1C
Wed. Mar. 20
Light SnowHigh: 7CLow: 0C
7 Day Weather Forecast for Merritt, BC - Thursday, Dec. 25, 2015 - Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015
Thurs. Dec. 24
AM Snow Showers
High: -2˚CLow: -13˚C
Fri. Dec. 25
Partly Cloudy
High: -6˚CLow: -13˚C
Sat. Dec. 26
Cloudy
High: -2˚CLow: -7˚C
Sun. Dec. 27
Cloudy
High: 0˚CLow: -6˚C
Mon. Dec. 28
Cloudy
High: 1˚CLow: -7˚C
Tue. Dec. 29
Mostly Cloudy
High: 2˚CLow: -7˚C
Wed. Dec. 30
Partly Cloudy
High: 2˚CLow: -7˚C
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 19
BOARD
Contact us today!
help us reach our goal
Would you like to see a community theatre in Merritt, then the Nicola Valley Community Theatre Society can use your help!
If you would like to help donate to this wonderful cause please make cheque payable to Nicola Valley Community Theatre Society and mail it to:
1952 Eastwood Ave., Merritt, BC V1K 1K3
For more information
call Rich Hodson250-378-6794
phase 2has started.
goal to reach $136,000 for
design & architect fees
Membership forms available at
Merritt printing
www.merrittherald.com 20 • THURSDAY, December 24, 2015
A Division of Service Corporation International (Canada) ULC
• 24 hour compassion helpline
A DA DDDDDDDiviiviivisiosiosiosion on on o of Sf errvviceicec Corporporpopopp ratrarar ion Internatnatationionononal aa (Ca(Ca(Ca(Ca( nadn a) a) )) ULCUU
Celebrating lives with dignity
Helen Bernice RichterOct. 8, 1930 - Dec. 13, 2015
Mom passed away peacefully on Sunday evening. Her last thoughts and words were of Dad who passed away on July, 9, 2015. She was a super Mom, Grand-ma, Great Grandmother, Sister and Auntie. Left to mourn her passing are her children: Joey (Den-nis), Jean (Dave), John (Karen), Jim (Laura); her 10 grandchildren: Mandy, Shauna, Corey, Joseph, Shane, Loren, Jessica, Juliana, Branden and Skyla, as well as 10 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.Mom was one of 10 kids, all raised in Rossland, B.C. Mom was Rossland Snow Queen when she met a young handsome marine who would be her future hus-band. They married and had 4 children. They moved their young family to Nicola Lake Ranch where mom took a job at Uncle Ed’s Grill, then in time she bought it and it became Helen’s Grill. She had a passion for cooking and made sure all of us kids could cook. She loved to be around people. They were good times - a 24 hr cafe isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.They moved to Muncho Lake on the Alaska Hwy where they purchased J&H Wilderness Resort, it was a truck stop, motel and cafe. The place was hopping with lots of truckers, who would get on the CB radio and say, “Hey Happy Cooker, you got a copy on, you got your ears on. We are at the driveway. Have you got the soup on and a good cup of coffee and of course some apple pie?” They moved back to Merritt when they retired where she enjoyed going to bingo every week. Dad would often say, “When its our time to be together I’ll be waiting to drive you to Bingo.”She will be missed by many. Our hearts are sad, but also happy because Mom and Dad are together again. They will not be forgotten.There will be no service as requested.
It is with heavy hearts that
we announce the passing of
our beloved father, Brownie
Pichurski, on December
10, 2015, at the age of 81.
Brownie was surrounded
by the love of his children,
Brenda, Ramona, Darrell
and his grandson, Desmond
Lough (girlfriend Abigail)
and Bonnie Padley.
Brownie was a man of
great honesty, integrity,
wisdom, had a wonderful
sense of humour, a hard
worker and a heart of gold. Brownie spent most of his life in
Merritt, BC and had worked for Pooley Bros. Construction for
over 40 years. Brownie enjoyed his time coaching minor hockey,
camping, shing, hunting, gardening, tinkering with projects
around the house and creating art projects.
Brownie is survived by his children, Brenda Franklin, Ramona
Lough, Darrell Pichurski, son-in-law Kelly Lough, daughter-in-law
Jennifer Petrina, his grandchildren Megan and Alex Franklin,
Desmond Lough, Nicholas and Jackson Pichurski, his half-sister
Marie Seabrook, nieces and nephews and his beloved dog
Madison.
Brownie was predeceased by his beloved wife, Eleanor
Pichurski (nee Bann) on July 8, 2015, his father Woiciech Pichurski,
mother Annie Babenchuk, step-father Fred Babenchuk, sister
Josephine Makowski, brother Edward Ferrer and son-in-law
Kenneth Franklin.
With great appreciation we would like to thank Bonnie
Padley, Interior Health Home Care, Nicola Valley Hospital, staff
at Gillis House as well as family, friends, neighbours for their
unconditional love, support and care.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. If so desired,
donations can be made to the Gillis House (Dementia Ward).
Condolences may be expressed to the family fromwww.myalternatives.ca
Brownie Pichurskiniee Picc1934 ~ 2015
Richard Melvin Crookshanks March 28, 1918 - December 17, 2015
Richard Melvin Crookshanks, passed away peacefully on December 17, 2015. Predeceased by wife Wanda and son Eddie he will be dearly missed by nieces Carol of Merritt, and Maureen(Rob) of Lethbridge, nephew Bill(Martha) of Penticton, some good friends here and
nieces and nephews, and friends farther aeld.
Mel, the youngest of ve children was raised by an aunt and uncle in Stonewall Manitoba after the death of his mother when he was just a few days old. After High School graduation he spent several years working at mines in remote areas and in northern Ontario. He volunteered for service and served four years, part of it in the Pacic during WWII. After the war he returned to Ontario where he met and married Wanda. During the years they lived there, Eddie was born They moved west in the early fties rst to Kaslo then Salmo. After
relatively short stays they came to Merritt.
Mel liked the Nicola Valley immediately, saying it was the most beautiful area he had ever seen. And he always loved living here. He worked for Conners as a diamond driller and later in the mill at Craigmont. Mel spent much of his leisure time shing in all seasons, exploring on his trail bike, panning for gold along the rivers and creeks and rambling in the hills. As those who were lucky recipients of his gifts of produce know, he was an amazing gardener. He took pride in keeping his homes attractive and well maintained. Mel had a keen mind with an interest in science and was well read in a variety of subjects. He had a dry wit and a great sense
of humour.
Mel always felt the tragic loss of his son Eddie. Happily married he missed his wife Wanda greatly after her death and spoke of her fondly almost daily. Mel was stoic and independent, a private individual who lived
modestly but was very generous with others.
Mel took care of himself well after he was widowed, requiring assistance only when medical conditions made that necessary. He appreciated the help and company of friends Barb and Rod, Pat and Steve, Bob, Don and others. Mel received good care with medical concerns from the nurses at the NV Health Center, the Home Care staff, nurses and doctors at the hospital and Dr. Kanehan. He received great kindness and care from Dr. Van Der Merwe and staff as well as the staff of Gillis House during his brief stay there. For all there is
much gratitude.
Mel's was a life well lived. He will be greatly missed. Should anyone wish to honour his memory a contribution to a charity of choice would be in keeping
Learn how to install your child’s car seat correctly. Call 1-877-247-5551 or visit ChildSeatInfo.ca
“Grandma, we’re coming to visit!”
Drive to Save Lives
www.merrittherald.com THURSDAY, December 24, 2015 • 21
AberdeenPublishing.com778-754-5722
Full Time ReporterThe Northeast News is looking to hire exceptional and dedicated REPORTERS and SPORTS REPORTERS to join a fun and friendly team.
The successful candidate works well in a team setting but is self – motivated. You will be exposed to a variety of potential news stories from city council, school district meetings, court cases, RCMP press conferences, sports, the local café, an emerging artist or the latest event.
The successful candidate will be responsible to write multiple news stories a week, take photographs to accompany stories, attend community events as well as design and layout pages.
The Northeast News is known for its local news, which means the successful candidate is one who will immerse him or her self in the community. Our publication also delivers strong breaking news content. Therefore we are looking for a go-getter and someone who has a nose for news.
If this sounds like you, email your cover letter, resume, and three clippings to [email protected] start date ASAP. Only those considered will be contacted.
Quali cations:
Positive attitude, must be organized and able to work independently and in a team setting
The Northeast News is a weekly paper distributed every Thursday through Canada Post. It is delivered to over 17,700 homes and businesses in 31 communities from Tumbler Ridge
For further information please call: Leesa Van Peteghen, Justice & Prevention Coordinator, (250) 455-2304. [email protected] Closing Date: January 15th, 2016 Only qualified applicants will be interviewed. Apply with cover letter, resume, copies of certification & Current Criminal/Child Checks and 3 recent employment references to: Leesa Van Peteghen, Lytton First Nation P.O. Box 20 Lytton B.C. V0K-1Z0
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
LYTTON FIRST NATION
Aboriginal Restorative Justice Assistant
(Justice & Prevention)
The Lytton First Nation is currently recruiting a full time Assistant for the Justice & Prevention department, Lytton B.C. This position is classified as full-time permanent working under the support and supervision provided by the Justice & Prevention Coordinator. The Assistant is responsible for providing administrative support services and duties in conjunction with the high standards recognized within this legal framework of the departments Federal and Provincial Funders. Duties:
Maintain Legal statistical Record-keeping Organize and streamline filing systems Assist clients in obtaining Legal Aid services (here and surrounding Bands) Excellent written reports and documentation Highest level of professionalism, confidentiality and non-judgemental attitude Liaises with RCMP, Crown Counsel, and other relevant agencies Ability to coordinate and implement numerous tasks under deadlines Flexible hours as some evening and weekend work possible Proficient computer skills including data-base design and Excel, Word & researching
Qualifications:
Professional Business Admin and/or legal background will be given preference Caring and trustworthy approachable manner Able to work independently & as a part of a team Ability to supervise and mentor persons and projects Good physical, mental and spiritual health Reliable vehicle and Class 5 Drivers License Strong work ethic and positive attitude. Excellent communication and written skills (spelling, punctuation, creative writing, etc.) Successful Recent Criminal Record and Child Welfare check Ability to write Proposals & coordinate events and trainings.
Salary and Remunerations:
$16.50 an hour starting salary & benefits after successful probationary period We offer a respectful and progressive work environment, salary negotiable based on experience
e
SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 74 (GOLD TRAIL)
The Gold Trail School District invites applications for the above noted position. The successful applicant will possess: urrent inter provincial trades certi cate in
the eld.Please refer to the District website,
www.sd74.bc.ca for details. Application deadline is 08 January 2016.
Submit applications with an up to date resume and references to:
SUTCO seeks US qualifi ed drivers for Super B fl at deck division. We offer e logs, benefi ts, matched con-tribution pension plan, late model equipment and more. Apply; on line at sutco.ca, email [email protected] or fax (778)754-4025
We thank all candidates who ap-ply but only those selected for an
interview will be contacted.
Merritt, BC
Employment Employment Employment
Help Wanted Help Wanted Trades, Technical
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)1985 or newer. Skid steers, wheel loaders, screeners, low beds, any condition running or not. 250-260-0217.
Safe, Secure, Easy Access, 8’ to 40’ Shipping Containers
SUITABLE FOR:
• Cars • Boats • ATV’s • Snowmobiles,
• Household Goods
• Monthly & Yearly Rates
• Business or
personal fi les & More.....
2865C Pooley Ave., Merritt, B.C. 378-5580
SELF STORAGE UNITS
Full-time Watchman on site
Starting @ $45./month
with HST
STORAGE
JIM POTTER
MERRITT TREE SERVICE• Fully insured, certi ed faller• WSBC covered• Dangerous tree assessment
E SERVVVVVVVVVVIIIIICCE
CALL JIM at 250-378-4212Solutions for your tree problems!
➤ Schedule your FREE Estimate
TREE TOPPING
PLUMBING
Feb 4, 2016
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
Full Time Notary Assistant/Conveyancer
Employment Opportunity
Full Time Notary Assistant/Conveyancer required for Notary office in Merritt.
Successful candidate must have legal experience, trust accounting background and good computer skills. Good communication, organizational and interpersonal skills are a must. Conveyancing experience would be an asset.
Responsibilities:Include preparation of all Notarial documents, reception duties, conveyance documents, trust accounting.
WHATSHAN Retreat is accepting resumes for Caretakers (April 1-Oct 31, 2016). Closing date December 31, 2015. Send to tammy.verigin-burk @gmail.com. www.what-chan.com.
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
Misc. for SaleFor Sale : 4 x Winter Tires
245/65R17 Arctic Claw. 2 Month Old. $400.00 for set. (250) 378 - 6333 Ask for John
Reasonable Rates, while using customers time efficiently
CONTRACTING
Serving all citizens of Merritt and surrounding areas
Stoyoma Dental CliniC
Stoyoma Dental is Merritt’s newest Dental Clinic. We are a Not For Profit Society serving all residents of Merritt and the surrounding areas. If you are covered by Status, Healthy Kids, Disability, Ministry or the Emergency Plan you are fully covered for eligible services & no additional funds will be required of you!
Did You Know?
New patieNtS alwayS welcoMe!
250-378-5877MaKe aN appoiNtMeNt toDay!
1999 Voght Street (next to the Credit Union)po Box 3090, Merritt, BcHOURS: Mon-Fri 8AM - 4:30PM
DENTISTMERRITT LUMBER SALES2152 DOUGLAS ST., MERRITT, BC
250-378-5382 • 250-314-4249
HOURS OF OPERATION:Mon to Fri.: 8 am - 5 pm & Sat.: 8 am - 4 pm
SCREWS, NAILS, ROOFING, INSULATION, JOIST HANGERS & much more