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Vol. 89 Issue 37 • Wednesday, September 12, 2012 • $1.25
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PM40036531
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Golfers turn out in force for Doug Courage Tournament By Teresa Zanier
Special to the Arrow Lakes News
Madalyn Courage will be the recipient of the Doug Courage Tournament funds raised. TERESA ZANIER/ARROW LAKES NEWS
Perfect weather and not a minute past 3:30 p.m., little 13-month-old Madalyn Courage is ready to greet the golfers in honour of her grandfather, Doug Courage for the 2nd Annual Iron Man Tournament. She smiles and wanders over to say hi, puts her arms up and says “up” or something like that and without hesitation, someone is leaning over to pick up this gorgeous little girl who lost her Grandpa way too soon in life. Right behind this precious little girl sit her parents, Frank and Sara Courage, watching over her and no doubt were humbled by the affection and support from the people who came out to golf in honour of their friend. This year the Nakusp Mens Golf Club raised $840 to be donated to little Madalyn’s RESP fund which was created in honour of her grandfather. This year the support was even more noticeable with 55 golfers on the course. Jim
Draper of the Nakusp Golf Club was smiles all around with the amount of people coming out to support the tournament and the Courage family. “It was a big success!” he said. Not only did the guys get to enjoy an evening of golf, but Mel and the ladies in the kitchen served up an incredible dinner of BBQ steak, baked potatoes, a variety of salads and all the fixings to go along with it. And to boot, a desert table that had everything from fresh watermelon to fruit tarts drizzled in chocolate. The atmosphere on the golf course, whether you were teeing off on 1 or finishing the round on 9, was high spirited with laughter and stories of Doug aplenty. With darkness falling upon us earlier at this time of year, golfers were hurrying along to get their full round in with the last group coming in at about 8:15 p.m. Yup, it was pitch black out, but not for one group as Wayne Abbott customized his golf cart with bush lights
to make sure they could see to the end. They were determined and managed to finish their entire round. That’s dedication! Dan Watt won for Overall Low Gross, and Mark Tennant for Second Flight Low Gross. Overall Low Net went to Gary Hellard, and Second Flight Low Net to Butch Warantz. The First Flight Closest to the Pin was won by Kyle Grenier, First Flight Long Putt by Paul Roberts, Second Flight Closest to the Pin went to Bryan Hewatt , and Second Flight Long Putt to Chris Ewings. The grand overall winner was Dan Watt where by some sort of magic, the Tournament trophy ended up at the Leland Hotel filled to the brim with ... errrr ... soda pop! All in all, this was an evening of laughter and friendship with memories of a special man and the talk of a promising future for one beautiful little girl. Cheers Doug, we raise our glass of Glenfiddich to you!
BCGEU post-Labour Day strike not likely the last By Tom Fletcher
Black Press
Provincial government employees staged their largest one-day strike so far Wednesday, Sept. 5 to press for a bigger wage increase, with two thirds of the workforce off the job at ministry offices, liquor stores and ICBC offices province-wide. Both the government and the B.C. Government and Services Employees’ Union remained unwilling to budge from their positions after negotiations broke down over wage increases this spring. The union executive is meeting next week to consider further strike action this fall. Two earlier one-day strikes targeted liquor warehouses and then selected resource ministry offices in the B.C. Interior. Government negotiators offered raises of two and 1.5 per cent for the next two years, then withdrew the offer after the union staged the first strike. BCGEU chief negotiator David Vipond said Wednesday the wage offer has been tabled and withdrawn three times since talks began early this year, a tactic he called “peeka-boo bargaining.” And after three years without a wage increase, he said the union is stick-
ing to its demand for 3.5 per cent in the first year and a cost-of-living raise of about 2.5 per cent in year two. “They want us to reduce our real income over this contract, and we’ve already taken a five-per-cent hit,” Vipond said in an interview. “So to try and chisel us again with a skinny deal doesn’t make sense to us. We want to at least keep up with inflation and gain a little of what we have lost.” Premier Christy Clark unveiled her new cabinet lineup in Victoria Wednesday as BCGEU pickets circled government offices downtown. Both Clark and Mike de Jong, the new finance minister, said they have no intention of increasing the burden on taxpayers to provide bigger raises to provincial workers. “The government’s position on this hasn’t changed,” Clark said. “I am not going back to taxpayers for more money in order to give government workers a raise. We are in very tough economic times and we have to balance our budget.” The government estimates that the wage offer adds up to $1,700 more over two years for a BCGEU employee making $48,000 a year.
Ken Wells and Megan Marcolli were on strike outside the locked BC Liquor Store in Nakusp, Sept. 5. This may become a familiar sight, depending on the outcome of the union executive’s next meeting. CLAIRE PARADIS/ARROW LAKES NEWS
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