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OKANAGAN A’S pitcher James Walker has become a formidable presence on the mound for the B.C. Premier Baseball League club.
THE TRAIN STATION Pub in downtown Kelowna, located at a Kelowna heritage site, is being given a new look and updated menu by its new owners, reports columnist Maxine DeHart.
THE CURRENT move by teachers to pull out of any extracurricular activities won’t impact the planned Mount Boucherie Secondary School Dry Grad festivities planned for students next month.
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THURSDAY May 3, 2012 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
serving our community 1930 to 2012
▼ BUDGET CUTS
▼ RON TAYLOR
Local Veteran Lake Country wildlife conservation Affairs office volunteer’s efforts earn recognition closed Judie Steeves STAFF REPORTER
The Veterans Affairs office in Kelowna is scheduled to shut its doors in the next two years, as operations are shifted to the Penticton branch. Kelowna’s closure is just one among nine Veterans Affairs office closures across the country, and represents a federal mandate that will eliminate one-in-three frontline service workers by 2015. The concern is that the cutbacks will force veterans to deal with a representative from a private U.S. company, via a toll free number, or through online services—a task many may not be up to. Kelowna-Lake Country MP Ron Cannan said, however, that Okanagan veterans should expect to see a similar level of service as they have in the past. “The same services will be provided and people who need face to face help at their homes…those will be provided from Penticton,” he said. The decision to shift operations south, he said, comes from the fact that the Penticton office serves a higher number of clients, so the need for a storefront in that region is more pronounced. That said, it’s not a closure he’s happy to see. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s necessary. We have to live within our means, and the reality is that a leaner government is better for all Canadians in the long run. We’ve seen what happen in Greece and other countries that live beyond their means.” Cannan said he doesn’t believe many of the six jobs in the lurch will be lost in the shuffle as employees have access to everything from bumping rights to buy-out packages. This latest sign of the federal government services receding from the community follows an earlier announcement that Citizenship Immigration Canada offices were closing in the region. The closure of offices across smaller cities in B.C. means access to citizenship and immigration services will only be available by phone or over the Internet. Cannan believes that the loss of these two offices should be the last service cuts in the area. The only remaining cut is contingent on whether the one person working in Kelowna at the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service will transfer to Vancouver.
CONTRIBUTED
RON TAYLOR with his Ted Barsby Conservationist of theYear award which was presented to him by the B.C. Wildlife Federation. hunting and fishing regulations, amongst other things. Taylor served for four years as Okanagan region president of the BCWF, which put him on the federation board. The Okanagan region hosted two provincial conventions, including fundraising events, which made them realize they could make as much
as $30,000 for conserving wildlife habitat with such events. As a result, he and Mike Edall and John Holdstock started the Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund Society in 1985, organizing fundraising activities annually and putting the resulting funds into purchasing land they considered critical as fish or
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the ORWHFS, which has acquired and helped fund hundreds of projects, including Ginty’s Pond in Keremeos, Edwards Pond in Grand Forks, sheep lambing range on the east side of Skaha Lake, 100 acres at the north end of Christina Lake, Rose Valley Pond in West Kelow-
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wildlife habitat. Eventually, the fundraisers became too big a job for the three of them, explained Taylor, but the society took on project administration work and continued its work conserving habitat. “We were concerned about loss of habitat, particularly riparian areas,” commented Taylor. He is still president of
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Kathy Michaels
Ron Taylor has been on the board of the Oceola Fish and Game Club for 50 consecutive years, but that’s not why he was presented with the Ted Barsby Conservationist of the Year award at the B.C. Wildlife Federation’s 56th annual general meeting last weekend. Ron Taylor has spent a lifetime volunteering wherever his efforts will help in the conservation of fish and wildlife and their habitat in B.C., and he still continues those efforts today. It all began when his family moved here from Saskatchewan in 1947, when Taylor was 12. He would go fishing and hunting with Max Day and his father, often just heading out onto Crown land from the Day orchard in Rutland to hunt and fish for brookies in Mission Creek. It was later that he discovered the upland lakes, fly fishing and trout. In 1960, he joined the Oceola club to meet others with similar interests, and by 1961 he was club president. Although he didn’t know anything about the BCWF when he joined, he soon learned about the importance of conserving habitat for fish and wildlife, and of lobbying for sensible provincial
+ Leathead Rd. Hwy 33w