NEWS Princeton celebrates Rick Hansen again Page A9
COMMUNITY Stan Thompson Memorial rodeo coming to town Page A3
BUSINESS Princeton’s Fields store here to stay Page A8 $1.10 Includes TAX
SPOTLIGHT The Similkameen
Volume 63 Issue 18
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
Under water Tulameen’s Otter Lake rose more than three feet in two days, damaging one-third of the community’s houses Michaela Garstin editor@similkameenspotlight.com
Tulameen residents were put on evacuation alert April 25 when Otter Lake suddenly rose, completely covering the beach, pouring into the street and flooding houses blocks away. Eighty-one out of 272 houses were flooded or nearly flooded. The lake rose three feet overnight, sending residents scrambling to put up sandbag walls and fetch their belongings. They said it was the worst flood to hit the community since the early 1970s. “There is a lot of snow melt and water building up. There is no way of releasing it, so the lake is flooding,” said Fire Chief Jody Woodford. “The ice melts won’t stop for a while, and we hope it stops raining,” she said, as rain poured down early April 26. Some residents decided to stay in their houses as the water rose, engulfing their basements and coming within inches of their doorsteps. Other people were forced to flee their houses Michaela Garstin/Spotlight because of the rising water. “The homes are on a flood plain and have A house close to Otter Lake is flooded by rising waters during the last weekend in April. More photos on Page 4. been prone [to flooding] before, but this came on very rapidly and totally unexpected,” said Dan Ashton, Regional District OkanaganSimilkameen spokesman. The greatest concern is possible contaminaMichaela Garstin PSS didn’t fare as well in 2011 as it did the year before in overall tion between wells and septic tanks, he said. editor@similkameenspotlight.com score, average exam mark, percentage of exams failed and graduTulameen residents were advised not to drink ation rate. The school earned 6.3/10 in 2010, up dramatically from the water, and to boil it before use. Princeton Secondary School ranked in the bottom half of all B.C. 2.3/10 in 2007. Otter Lake began to go down April 29, and Yukon schools in the Fraser Institutes 2010 annual report. Similkameen Secondary in Keremeos scored better than but could rise again without notice, said Dale PSS placed 218 out of 280 schools, with a score of 4.9/10. Princeton, coming in 98 out of 280 schools and scoring 6.6/10. Kronebusch, emergency services superviSchools were based on seven key indicators using data from the PSS students’ average exam mark was 63 per cent in 2011, down sor for the Regional District of Okanagan- annual province-wide exams administered by the B.C. Ministry of four per cent from the last year, but up from 2007. Similkameen. See RANKING - Page 21 See TULAMEEN - Page 4 Education.
PSS ranks in bottom half of B.C. schools
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