THURSDAY
S I N C E
1 8 9 5
JUNE 21, 2012 Vol. 117, Issue 121
Rays reap rewards
110
$
Page 9
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
Plant theft a growing concern BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
Smile, you are on camera. People who choose to peruse a budding flowerbed in the city will now be captured for posterity on one of the city’s new surveillance cameras, installed this week after City of Trail flowerbeds were afflicted with a spat of vandalism. On Tuesday Trail Community in Bloom volunteer Bill Garnett said there have been several incidences this year already of people uprooting freshly planted plants, trampling or outright stealing them. Along with several dozen other volunteers, Garnett has been diligently placing plants in the fertile soil in areas around the city—primarily the downtown—but has found they are spending more time replacing and restoring what has been destroyed than designing verdant foliage. “It’s a cost to the city,” he said. “After a while the garden centre will run out of the plants and you can’t replace the ones that were lost.” He estimated the city has lost about $400 worth of plants already out of the $140,000
TIMOTHY SCHAFER PHOTO
Although caught on camera, Community in Bloom volunteer Gail Winters was not stealing but planting this salvia in the flower beds outside the Trail Memorial Centre. the city budgets for planting and maintaining beds. The Community in Bloom
committee has also lost several dozen volunteer hours since volunteers have to go back
HIGHWAYS 3B AND 22
and do the work each time the weed of vandalism crops up, draining precious hours from the workforce. Around 170 hanging baskets and nearly 100 potted trees are being strategically placed in the Silver City’s downtown core—and throughout the Gulch—as part of the Trail Community in Bloom committee’s next attempt in the international Communities in Bloom competition. In the White Garden in Jubilee Park people are letting their dogs run loose and they are jumping into the planters, uprooting the new plantings. Garnett said he has had to repair the damage three times since they were planted two weeks ago. Three nights ago a $70 lantana standard tree was stolen from a bed in the Gulch. Some of the damage is unnecessary and senseless, he said, with flowers being uprooted and cast about. This sort of trouble has occurred in the past, Garnett said, but it was usually later in the year, and not to the extent that it has happened this year.
Road work ahead for Trail and Warfield BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
Synergies are set to shape the countenance of the city’s downtown as the province announced this week it will begin paving on the main thoroughfare through the Silver City. A $1.7-million contract has been awarded to Interoute Construction Ltd. of Crescent Valley to resurface sections of Highway 22 and Highway 3B in the Trail and Warfield area, paving the way for the first phase of the City of Trail’s Downtown Plan. Councilor Kevin Jolly said the start of the road work means the city will begin work on its Gateway Corridor, a framework of entry features and a green streetscape to “build an urban identity to provide ‘cues’ that a visitor is entering the downtown.” “This is an excellent opportunity to dovetail a couple of projects and leverage the improvements and create a more impactful appearance for the downtown entry point and the gateway we are creating for the downtown in Trail,” he said. People will see improvements all along Victoria Avenue this summer, Jolly said. The Trail Memorial Centre will also be painted at the same time, and renovations are underway on the old Dairy Queen building across from the centre. For its part, the city has employed MMM Group of Kelowna on some design details for
See NO, Page 3
See TENTH, Page 3
WALTER CROCKETT
Montrose bestows award on longtime resident BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
He felt like a fish out of water. The Village of Montrose saluted its Citizen of the Year, Walter Crockett, by presenting him with the 2012 Community Service Award at a picnic during Montrose Day festivities at the beginning of the month. “It was a real surprise to me,” said Crockett. “I like to be on the outside looking in, or on the inside looking out—however you want to look at it. I’d sooner be on the outside looking in DONNA DEKLEINE PHOTO at somebody else getting someWalter Crockett was presented with the thing like this, not me.” Village of Montrose’s Community Service Despite his initial shock Award during the Montrose Day festivities. about receiving the award, the
recognition came as a relief to Crockett. He received a phone call from the mayor during the water restrictions that were previously imposed on the village and assumed he was being fined. “When the mayor phoned me to tell me I got this citation kind of thing, I said, ‘My God I haven’t been using any extra water,’” Crockett explained. “And then he told me what it was and I was kind of relieved about that.” Crockett wasn’t sure who did “most of the kudos” for him to receive the award, but his neighbours attest that he is simply his own worst critic.
“I’ve known Walter for a long time and he’s been very community oriented and very helpful—especially with the BC Old Time Fiddlers group,” said his neighbour Grace Terness. “He has always been very involved in helping out and volunteering his time to promote fiddling.” When he’s not fiddling around, Crockett organizes food drives and repairs small engines in his garage. Perhaps, it’s a hobby that stemmed from volunteering with the Montrose fire department in the 60s and 70s. But Crockett’s keen interest in music has been instrumental for community development in Montrose.
“I was a banjo player,” he said laughing. “But I was playing around with a fiddle for awhile when I had my own band going. And then I had my own band for about 40 years— which I still do—we’re called the Rusty Nails.” And 40 years later, he is still volunteering to bring music to the community at public events with the Old Time Fiddlers and the Rusty Nails. “I play mostly at the old folks homes and things like that,” he said. “It puts a smile on their faces and a twinkle on their toes. That’s what it’s all about— it’s worth a whole pot of gold just to see the smiles on their faces.”
Make the right choice. mortgages
home renovation loans
equity lines of credit
When you need to borrow money, Kootenay Savings is the right choice for so many reasons. Our Flexible Choice Mortgage and FlexLine LOC make it easy to manage your monthly payments, consolidate debt and get ahead. Let us show you how.
better. together.
kscu.com
Contact the Times: Phone: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 Newsroom: 250-364-1242