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September 19, 2012
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Sweaters afford a good lifestyle The Bolivian women who make these wonderful sweaters from alpaca wool and pima cotton receive all the revenue from their sale here. ...............................
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Doctrinal placebos Columnist Jim Taylor says that while religious doctrines of old may lack substance today, they served a useful purpose. ...............................
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Flyers ■ Home Depot ■ JYSK ■ Rona ■ Staples
Couple tries to put a plug into perpetual flooding on their property KEVIN PARNELL A mystery about water run-off has a Lake Country couple contemplating legal action and asking the District of Lake Country for help in finding the source of the water. Long-time Lake Country residents Lillian and Gerry Holitzki say water runoff from a neighbouring property ends up inside the shop that houses their homebased business, claiming that over-watering by a nearby orchardist is the root of the problem. But the orchardist says it’s not coming from his watering habits and district officials claim they don’t know where the water is coming from, whether it’s underground springs, sprinkling or from any number of properties located above
Small Business
GERRY AND LILLIAN HOLITZKI follow the trail of water damage to the driveway where it drains after regular flooding of their shop business on their Lake Country property. the Holitzki’s. “This is the second year in a row that this has happened,” said Liilian. “The water comes down the slope and into our yard and in through the back of the shop. The floors are sopping wet and if we get a lot of frost our cement floors could start to crack.” The Holitzki’s have lived on the same piece of property in Lake Country for the past 50 years, raising seven children and running their glass business G & L Glass and Supplies.
“We’ve never had any problems like the past two years,” said Lillian. “If we can’t get this rectified this year then we are probably going to start all over next year.” Orchardist Harry Sidhu, whose property sits about 20 feet above the Holitzki’s, says he has complied with the district’s watering regulation and denies he is over-watering and causing the Holitzki’s shop to flood. “I don’t know what the problem is over there,” said Sidhu. “I
have had a guy from the district here checking many times and he says it’s not my fault.” District watering regulations call for orchardists to have a flow control valve on their watering systems. The valve limits the amount of water that goes through each sprinkler in a set amount of time. Lake Country Mayor James Baker says the orchardist in question does have the proper valves so there isn’t much the city can do. “Our irrigation man-
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Watch for this special supplement in the October 17 issue of your local Lake Country Calendar
ager who is responsible for making sure there is flow control valves and no broken pipes has been looking into that area and there is no overwatering and no broken pipes,” said Baker. “In that area it’s a sandy soil and any water that gets on the surface ultimately filters through and leaks out where it can.” Baker added that the district can’t do much if a resident is following the sprinkling bylaws and the issue is located on private property. “We can’t stop him
from watering if he is doing it within the regulations,” he said. “It’s difficult to know whether to spend tax payers dollars to solve a problem on private property.” As for the Holitzki’s they say they aren’t getting much sympathy or help from the district when it comes to the problem. They aren’t sure what their next step will be, but are hoping something can be done to solve the problem. “I just want this mess cleaned up,” said Lillian. newsroom@lakecountrynews.net
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