SPECIAL: Bright lights in the class o f 2012
PROFILE: Scandinavian students sign off on a wild year
PAGES 11-17
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012
PAGE 22
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HCS grads kick off cowboy style By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
Andrew Hudson/Houston Today
GENTLEMAN Grad
Tyler Delege gets a leg-up thanks to his nine Houston Christian School classmates, whose June 28 graduation ceremony rolled out Clydesdale-style in a horse-drawn carriage. Unseen is HCS grad Laura Leffers, who is pictured on page 2.
One tuxedoed young man and nine gowned ladies graduated on the Houston Christian School stage June 28. Walking up the school’s front steps was like walking into an old Western bar, with weather-worn walls and swinging saloon doors. A row of “Wanted” posters hung inside, each showing a graduate’s face with “charges” printed below. Under Cassandra Barden’s was the line: “Fer completin’ high school and abusin’ the iPod.” During the ceremony, graduates sat on hay bales under a canopy of lights and a Grad 2012 sign with hand-painted names. Several academic awards went to Ruth
Hamblin, who also got a mention for her fullride basketball scholarship at Oregon State University. Allison Sienen also won an award for athletic ability. Both Lauren Vandenberg and Kimberly Keegstra earned several academic awards as well, and Laura Leffers won the award for art and music. An honourable mention went to Juanita Dieleman for her “servant heart” and all the volunteering she did with elementary students. Teacher Ed Kronemeyer presented Justine Vander Mooren with a unique award for thriftiness. Kronemeyer had promised the girls $20 if any could get a graduation dress for under $100. See GRADS on Page 2
Irrigation Lake users asked to speak up and save dam By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
People who fish, swim, or camp at Irrigation Lake are being asked to speak up and save it before the province has to pull the plug on its dam. Built before 1947, the dam no longer complies with B.C.
safety standards, although provincial officials say it’s unlikely to break. If neither the District of Houston nor the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako takes control of the dam, provincial officials say they will have to dismantle it—a move that would lower
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“The rest had no idea there was a potential the dam would come down.”
the lake by about two metres. “Speaking to the people in our area, I’ve met one who knew what was happen-
- Rob Newell ing,” says Rob Newell, RDBN director for the rural area where the dam is located, about 15 km north of Houston.
“The rest had no idea there was a potential the dam would come down.” Newell is asking people who want to keep the dam to write the District of Houston and RDBN—not to complain, he said, but to suggest ideas on how to fundraise for a dam upgrade.
On Thursday, RDBN directors voted to have staff find out the likely long-term cost of maintaining the dam, how much money the District of Houston is requesting, and the impact of the dam’s removal. On that last point, Newell says if the dam goes, there is a clear
loss in recreation value. The lake plays host to an annual ice-fishing derby that brings out several dozen fishermen. But Newell says the biggest impact would be felt by kids at the adjoining Rough Acres and Mountain View summer camps. See LAKE on Page 6