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Sentinel
Northern Volume 57 No. 37
www.northernsentinel.com
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
1.34 INCLUDES TAX
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The reach for the beach Enough councillors had cold feet over a motion by Phil Germuth to table it, but the question of getting waterfront land from Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) will still be asked in the coming weeks. Germuth put forward a motion that would have had the District of Kitimat asking RTA to donate “Alcan Beach and the Alcan Boat Launch to the District...as part of Kitimat’s 60th anniversary celebrations.” “This has been Kitimat’s only no-cost public boat launch. It is the only sizeable sandy beach on the north end of the Douglas Channel,” Germuth told the council. With the proposed developments for the west side of the channel he said acquiring the land is important to preserve the area for the public’s benefit, and would not negatively impact the modernization project. He also added that there would be little financial impact because the land is already developed. The proposal, he thought, would be win-win for both sides. Councillor Mary Murphy had a different idea, and suggested that as the District is in the middle of relationship building with RTA, it would be best to approach RTA directly through a series of meetings already scheduled between the two sides with this idea. Rob Goffinet was also not prepared to move ahead on the motion. While not opposed to the idea, he didn’t want council to get locked into what could be perceived as a demand from RTA. “I don’t want us locked into a demand before we actually see them face-to-face and broach subjects like this,” he said. Murphy added after Goffinet that there are other areas they may want to discuss with RTA and she doesn’t want to lock discussion to the Hospital Beach land. Corrine Scott stood by Germuth, emphasizing the motion was simply a request and that it would be a conversation starter the next time they met with RTA. With so many questions, Scott moved to table the discussion until after they had met with RTA, a suggestion Germuth didn’t support. He said there’s little point to making a motion after having the conversation. “It’s stacking the deck and making a motion that we aready know the outcome of. I don’t believe that’s a proper way to do things.” His motion will have to wait to see another day after the tabling motion passed successfully. He was the sole opponent to tabling.
Students enjoy the new playground climbing structure at Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School during the open house for the re-organized facility which took place the week before classes started on Sept. 4.
Middle school now open Cameron Orr An open house at Mount Elizabeth Middle School gave parents, students, and alumni the chance to see some of the changes that will greet new and returning students this year. The middle school will fit entirely within the Mount Elizabeth Secondary facility and will host students from grades 7-to-9. Mount Elizabeth Secondary was a grade 8-to-12 school before the change. As the start of the school year neared, principal Janet Meyer was not shy in expressing her excitement for the year. “We were pleasantly suprised with the number of people who showed up,” she said of the open house on Aug. 30. Along with food and refreshments, visitors were also treated to visits by school mascot Eddy the Eagle. Meyer explained the middle school concept was first pitched about two years ago in a community consul-
tation meeting. Parents were open to the idea, just as long as work was done to ensure middle school students and secondary school students were separated as best as could be. “The feedback we got from parents was that while they understood that we could not in this school keep the kids separate...they wanted us to do everything we could do to make that happen,” she said.
“I think this is a good concept for the community.” There were three phases to the school’s re-construction. First, the school’s science wing grew by two classrooms, from eight to 10, in order to accommodate most of the high school students.
Next they moved the school’s offices to make room for new classrooms for the middle school. The new middle school means an addition of approximately 100 new students, said Meyer. She also said there are additional teachers and that the entire school’s employment is 37.28 full-time equivalents. At the open house, Kitimat school board trustee Linda Campbell spoke highly of the facility as well, adding that the open house was a good way to get people to understand how the new concept works. “I think this is a good concept for the community,” she said. “When you look at the concept of middle school elsewhere you know it has worked for years and years and years in other school districts. Even in our school district in Terrace.” Terrace has their own middle school now with Skeena Middle School, also marking their grand opening this year.
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Fish Derby results ... page 8