Williams Lake Tribune, May 10, 2012

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Breaking news, video, photo galleries, and more always online at www.wltribune.com

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930

VOL. 82. No. 37

Man robbed, Colourful poster promotes harmony attacked at bank On May 6 at 2:30 a.m. the Williams RCMP received a report of a robbery at a bank in downtown Williams Lake. When officers arrived on the scene they discovered that a 25-year-old male and his girlfriend had entered the bank to use the bank machine. Moments after their arrival, two unknown males entered the bank. One of the males pushed the girlfriend aside and struck the man on the back of the head with a blunt object, and robbed him of a small amount of cash. The victim sustained head injuries and was transported by ambulance to Cariboo Memorial Hospital and later released. Both suspects have been described as non-white, wearing dark grey bandanas and dark clothing. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Williams Lake detachment at 250-392-6211 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www. bccrimestoppers.com.

Inside the Tribune NEWS A3 City tax-rate bylaw adopted. SPORTS A13 Locals earn top marks in rodeo. COMMUNITY A20 Intergenerational project a hit. Weather outlook: Mainly sunny today, high of 8C. Sunny Friday, high of 17C.

$1.34 inc. HST

Gaeil Farrar photo

Miche’Lyn Whitfort, a Grade 6 Mountview Elementary School student, won a Red Shred’s hat for having the most colourful poster in the multiculturalism poster contest sponsored by the local Canadian Mental Health Association in support of the Walk for Harmony that took place in the lakecity Tuesday in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racism. A wide variety of community groups, students and others participated in putting on the walk, an ethnically diverse buffet lunch in Spirit Square and the poster contest. For more on the story see Page A 22.

Panel established for mine assessment Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer The review panel for the federal environmental assessment of the proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project has been established. On Wednesday Peter Kent, federal minister of the environment and minister responsible for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, announced the three panel members and the panel’s terms of reference for the environmental assessment. Kent has appointed Dr. Bill Ross as the panel chair, as well as Dr. George Kupfer and Dr. Ron

Smyth as panel members. According to a news release, Ross is a professor emeritus at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Environmental Design. He has focused most of his research on the professional practice of environmental assessment and has extensive expertise on cumulative effects assessment. Ross has chaired the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency for the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories for five years and has worked with the four aboriginal groups involved for a decade. In 2009, Ross was the winner of the Rose-Hulman Award from the

International Association for Impact assessment. Kupfer is a consultant focusing on community consultation, conflict resolution and mediation related to social and environmental issues and industrial development. He taught at the University of Alberta for 15 years, and has facilitated many community consultation and stakeholder engagement initiatives related to industrial projects and their impacts. He facilitated a multi-stakeholder review of the Alberta environmental impact assessment process and on developing agreements between First Nations, Métis and the govern-

ment in the Wood Buffalo Region. Smyth is a professional geologist and independent consultant. He holds a Ph.D. in geology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He spent most of his career in government geological survey organizations. He joined the British Columbia Geological Survey in 1982 as a mineral land use specialist and prepared regional assessments of mineral and coal potential for land and resource management planning processes. See TERMS Page A2

Wheelchair-accessible taxis spark debate Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer While the suggestion that the city encourage a local taxi company to purchase a wheelchair accessible vehicle was easy to swallow at Tuesday’s regular council meeting, the idea of adopting a bylaw that would require local taxi companies to incorporate a wheelchair accessible taxi sparked debate.

Coun. Ivan Bonnell agreed with the intent of encouraging the taxi company to purchase a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, but did not agree with government imposing its will on the company. “We’re not suggesting that we’re doing that tonight, but we are putting the wheels in motion to have that discussion,” he said, adding council has not heard back from the company yet and questioned why the city would want to

move in the direction of a bylaw to begin with. Coun. Surinderpal Rathor disagreed, saying the city should move ahead to develop a bylaw. “Why wait? If someone wants to run a taxi company they should be asked to do that because that’s what we’re going to need to address the aging population in our community,” Rathor said. Coun. Danica Hughes took exception to a report comparing Wil-

liams Lake with larger cities such as Kamloops and Prince George. “I don’t think it’s a fair comparison at all. I think we should be comparing ourselves with Quesnel or similarly populated municipalities,” Hughes said, adding she thinks the city should wait and see how the HandyDART’s extended hours play out. See COMMITTEE Page A2


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