NEWS: Study shows pine beetle leaves snowpack effect.
COMMUNITY: Grade 4’s gather at Moricetown learning feast.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012
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Region shows elevated risk of flooding By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
News staff/Houston Today
WATOTO Sings
People filled every seat in Houston’s Baptist Church last Thursday to hear the Watoto children’s choir from Uganda. The performance brought together song, dance, and stories from the children, many of whom were orphaned by war and HIV/Aids.
High snow levels have raised the risk of spring flooding in the Skeena-Nass region, but actual chances of a Houston flood depend mostly on what weather comes in May and June. B.C.’s River Forecast Centre reported the elevated regional flood risk in its latest snow bulletin, which is based on snowpack data collected up to early March. By this time of year, more than 80 per cent of the B.C.’s snowpack has already built up. Snow pillows at Lu Lake and Tahtsa Lake, which both feed Houston waterways, showed levels at 132 and 151 per cent above normal last week, with the Tahtsa Lake level
“ “We have a pretty good idea of the snowpack by this point.”
- Wenda Mason
nearing a 19-year record. “We have a pretty good idea of the snowpack at this point,” says RFC manager Wenda Mason. With just a month to six weeks of snowpack potential, Mason said more than 80 per cent of B.C.’s snowpack hits is accounted for. See RISK on Page 2
New owner may be taking over Houston’s Fields store By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Houston’s Fields store may not go empty after all In February, Hudson’s Bay Co. announced it was closing all 167 Fields across Canada as part of a strategic decision to refocus on its other
stores: The Bay, Lord & Taylor, and Home Outfitters. But on Wednesday, HBC spokesperson Tiffany Bourré confirmed that a company called FHC has reached a tentative agreement to buy the lease for the Houston Fields and another 36 Fields stores across
“
“We have entered into a tentative agreement.”
Canada. That list includes several Fields in other parts of northern B.C.,
- Tiffany Bourré including Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, Kitimat, 100 Mile House, Fort St. James, Masset and
Port McNeill. Under a separate agreement announced on Monday, discount retailer The Bargain! Shop said it will take over another 10 Fields stores across Canada, including the one in New Hazelton. Officials at HBC have said they expect to close all of the re-
maining Fields stores sometime this fall. Along with Zellers, Fields was the most value-priced of HBC’s department stores. Having already sold 220 of its Zellers stores to Target Canada in 2011, HBC has said it is reviewing its options for its 84 remaining Zellers stores, includ-
ing the Smithers location. Before HBC announced the closure last month, there were 58 Fields stores in B.C., many of them in small towns. Joseph Segalopened the first Fields store in Vancouver in 1950, and HBC bought the chain in 1981.