REVY-FOODIES: New group seeks to bolster local food and agriculture movement in Revelstoke - 8
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Vol. 114, No. 26
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Revelstoke beats Whistler in Ski Town Showdown - 10
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Mountain View’s 98th and final class
Left: Mountain View Elementary School held a final school assembly and photo on June 22 to mark the end of Mountain View’s 98th and final school year. The school was opened in 1914 as Revelstoke High School and was switched over to Mountain View Elementary in 1965. For more, see page 11. Above: Students check out a cake depicting Mountain View Elementary school. The amazing vegan cake was made by Kathy Bracken. Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review
Rescuers make last-minute save after boaters capsize in frigid Columbia Revelstoke RCMP are commending Revelstoke residents Brett Renaud and Colin Titsworth after they saved a pair of capsized canoeists who were clinging to a log and near death in the Columbia at Blanket Creek AARON ORLANDO editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
Revelstoke residents Colin Titsworth and Brett Renaud are being credited with saving two lives on June 15 after rescuing two capsized canoeists who were slipping into shock and hypothermia while clinging to a floating log in the middle of the Columbia River. The incident happened on June 15 at around 8:45 p.m. Revelstoke resident Cameron Vansolkema and his stepson Cody Thomson, 16, were camping at Blanket Creek Provincial Park south of Revelstoke. They canoed across the flooded Columbia River earlier in the day to do some fishing on the eastern shore.
Rescuer Colin Titsworth said he’s been an avid canoeist since he was a kid – something that helped him and Brett Renaud rescue two other Revelstokians from an icy death in the Columbia River. Facebook image
While on their way back across the river that evening, the pair slipped up for a brief moment. “We both looked over one side and it
just flipped,” said Thomson. “We tried flipping [the canoe] back over, but all the water went into it and it started to sink, so we started swim-
ming.” Thomson said they swam for about 20 minutes towards the western shore. They soon realized just how bad their predicament was. “I looked back and it was like we never even moved,” Thomson said. The Columbia is currently flooded and very wide at Blanket Creek. Thomson said that’s when they started cramping up and feeling the effects of the extreme cold. The pair managed to find a log that was floating in the middle of the river and swam towards it. “We started calling for help,” Thomson said. “I went into shock and got hypothermia. I was really freaked out.” Luckily for Vansolkema and Thomson, camper Brett Renaud and Blanket Creek park manager Colin
Titsworth were having a chat at one of the campsites closest to the river. “As we were taking, I said, ‘Did you hear that?’” Titsworth told the Times Review. The pair ran down to the shore. “We could see way off in the distance them splashing,” he said. “You could tell it was a pretty panicked yell.” They ran back up to the camping area, where Titsworth and Renaud commandeered a truck already loaded with a canoe from another campsite, driving down to the shore. They forged towards the struggling pair. When they arrived, Vansolkema was pulling Thomson along using a backstroke. “The kid
‘Extraordinary,’ page 4
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