“The fall of eight feet broke the murderer’s neck, the body twitched nervously for a moment.” — The Inland Sentinel, 1899 PART 4 OF 5
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‘a ghastly way to die,’ Page A7
TUESDAY
A slow walk up to the gallows. Friendly handshakes. Then, the hood is pulled down, the noose is tightened and the Lord’s Prayer is recited. On ‘deliver us from evil,’ the trap doors are opened and the condemned man falls.
K A M L O O P S
THIS WEEK
ONLINE ALL THE TIME: BREAKING NEWS AND UPDATES AT KAMLOOPSTHISWEEK.COM Tuesday, March 27, 2012 X Volume 25 No. 25 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
Skeeters the focus, but not West Nile virus By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
WEST NILE VIRUS IN B.C. Scientists believe West Nile Virus has been around for more than 1,000 years, but it was first identified in 1937. The virus, most commonly carried and spread by mosquitoes, first showed up in North America in 1999. During the three years that followed, West Nile virus received plenty of media attention in the U.S. and Canada, but
British Columbians were consistently told they had nothing to worry about. The virus arrived in B.C. in 2009 and has maintained a presence — albeit small — ever since. To date, there have been just two confirmed human cases — both in the Okanagan — in which the virus was contracted in this province.
Rick Hansen is coming to Kamloops! Join us for free food, music and activities!
Spring has sprung in the Tournament Capital — and that means the persistent buzzing of mosquitos is not far off. It used to be that mosquitos were nothing more than an annoying pest to British Columbians, but that changed in recent years as West Nile Virus (WNV) established itself in Canada and gradually worked its way west. In 2003, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) began its West Nile Virus Program — an effort to locate, identify and eradicate the virus in B.C. The program brought with it sweeping preventive measures, including pesticidelarvae control for spe-
March 29 ~ 4:30 pm Tournament Capital Centre
cies of skeeters known to carry West Nile. This year, however, authorities have determined those steps are no longer necessary. Late last year, the BCCDC issued a report on WNV, in which it states another provincial body — the B.C. Communicable Disease Policy Advisory Committee (CDP) — has decided to discontinue pre-emptive spraying of larvae known to carry the virus. “It’s been almost a decade, but now they’re scaling it all back,” said Cheryl Phippen, owner of BWP Consulting — the Kamloops-based company that has been responsible for WNV larvae-control work for much of the Interior. “The ThompsonNicola Regional District will be doing nuisance control, but there’s no longer funding available
for the West Nile work.” According to Phippen, nuisance-control pesticide use targets species of mosquitoes not known to carry WNV. West Nile is carried by a number of species of mosquitoes, but one — Culex tarsalis — is common in the Kamloops area, with the exception of Sun Peaks. Phippen said Culex tarsalis doesn’t usually become an issue until late-summer, usually July and August. The species is largely dependent on the weather, with damp springs and hot summers creating ideal conditions. “In general, those nuisance mosquitoes that are the really persistent ones, they’re not the West Nile carriers,” Phippen said. X See EITHER A18