Grand Forks
Gazette
Your community voice since 1897
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012
VOL 115 NO. 33
❚ Flying high
page 11 Air show and show and shine Aug. 26.
❚ FORESTRY ❚ CHRISTINA LAKE
Lake mourns death of ex-fire chief KARL YU Gazette Editor
The former fire chief of Christina Lake is dead after falling into a private lake while on his canoe on the morning of Aug.
9 at 9:30 a.m. According to Barb McLintock of the BC Coroners Service, Richard (Dick) Arthur Thomas, 78, was in his canoe at Moody Lake cutting weeds when he fell out of the canoe. “Our understanding at this point is he had his canoe out and was working from it to try and cut back some of the weeds in the lake,” McLintock told the Grand Forks Gazette. “He fell out of the canoe and was not able to self rescue, whether that was because of the weeds or not, it’s too early to say.” According to RCMP, Thomas’ body was later located approximately 15 metres from shore and about three metres under the water’s surface. He was not wearing a life-jacket or personal flotation device and B.C. Ambulance and the Christina Lake Fire Department were called to the scene. The recovery was especially difficult for the fire department considering its ties with Thomas. “Dick’s been a prominent member of this community for all of his life. I took over as fire chief here in 1990 from Dick and he had been the fire chief here for 14 years before that,” explained Christina Lake Fire Chief Ken GresleyJones. “It was a difficult call for this department because everybody knew him and it was the Christina Lake Fire Department that recovered the body.” According to Gresley-Jones, Moody Lake is a man-made lake – made by Thomas – and is on Thomas’ property. Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Area C Director Grace McGregor also had known Thomas for a long time. “He was fire chief for a long time and my husband was a fire man out at Christina Lake for 30-something odd years,” she said. “The one saving grace on this is Dick loved the outdoors and he loved to do what he was doing. He loved his little lake up there, he spent a lot of time there, so I guess you could say he passed on doing what he loved,” she explained. “Having said that, it’s just a tragic loss for Christina Lake too.” The lake is located approximately three kilometres west of Christina Lake. With the summer here and many heading out to beaches and lakes, McLintock is imploring people to wear personal flotation devices or life-jackets if going out on the water. “Over the last six weeks, we’ve had a lot of tragedies and a lot of them involved people who are not wearing life-jackets,” she said. Gresley-Jones said a memorial would take place in October with more details to come at a later date.
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Interfor authorizes $8.9 million for Grand Forks plant
International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor) recently announced that the Grand Forks mill will be receiving an additional $8.9 million for improvements to the log and lumber storage yards. Pictured here, Andrew Horahan, Interfor’s general manager of Kootenays.
KARL YU PHOTO
KARL YU Gazette Editor
International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor) allotted $19 million to upgrade its Grand Forks plant last year and recently announced it has authorized approximately $8.9 million for additional upgrades. “Four million dollars of it is to do with the increased operational reliability of the plant,” explained Andrew Horahan, Interfor’s general manager of the Kootenays. “The $3.4 million of it is site work, including paving yards and site integrity of both the log yard and the lumber yards, and $1.6 million of it is to improve the aesthetics of the plant.” The improvements will include re-cladding the buildings on the site and re-cladding and painting the interior of the facility and various other civil work projects around the site. Horahan said that the additional money will bring the total capital that will be invested in the Grand Forks site this year to $27 million and said that there was a need to pave the yard in Grand Forks.
“We’d like to pave certain areas of it to reduce dust throughout the community, to improve the reliability of the operation,” he explained. A bulk of the original $19 million is for the installation of a small log line and a smaller portion of it went to the installation of an automated grading system, which Horahan said is already installed and running well. He went on to say that the upgrades will improve the local plant significantly. “I’m excited that Grand Forks was able to obtain the necessary capital. The Grand Forks planer was modernized a few years ago, these changes will improve the saw mill dramatically and allow it to become an excellent facility and the money spent on the yards and the aesthetics of the plant will make it a world-class site,” he said. Horahan said the estimated time when all upgrades will be completed is January or February 2013 but likely won’t lead to more jobs. “The upgrades will not lead to a significant increase in employment but will result in a solid operation that will maintain employment levels for the future,” he went on to say.
GRAND FORKS & DISTRICT
FALL FAIR
Fri, Sat & Sun, Sept. 7, 8 & 9, 2012 Grand Forks Curling Rink & Dick Bartlett Park
MINIATURE CHUCKWAGON RACES Minis that think they are thoroughbreds!
Fun for the Whole Family
THEY’R BACK! E
Second Class Registration # PM0034