WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
Expansion comes with minor costs to skiers
1 8 9 5
OCTOBER 17, 2012
Page 9
Vol. 117, Issue 198
110
$
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
MONTROSE
STORM DAMAGE
Funds add a few teaching positions to district schools
Residents growling over bear problems BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
A growing number of bears have inhabited the area and five Montrose men attended a regular village council meeting Monday night to express their concerns. After as many as 12 bear sightings in the Montrose community and allegedly several calls to both RCMP and conservation, resident Leo Ganzini and his neighbours urged council members to get involved—indicating comments from council had more weight than a residential complaint. Ganzini angrily addressed council members and the Montrose councillors unanimously agreed he had seen the worst of our furry friends this season. Throughout the past few months, bears have destroyed his garden and grape vines. As well as damaging trees and gates in his yard. “My wife and I dedicated hours and hours and hours and we spent a great deal of money to own property, and now we are trapped in the basement,� Ganzini told council. “I have a piece of paper that says I own it, but I don’t own it, they (bears) do.� Councillor Mary Gay, who was acting mayor, sympathized with Ganzini and encouraged his counterparts to make contributions and suggestions. Resident Rob Greenwood stepped up to the plate and explained four recent encounters with bears in the community, the most startling was one of which put his dog’s life in jeopardy.
BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
The shell game of educational funding continues. The school district has hired the equivalent of 3.7 full time teaching positions—money gleaned from the teachers’ job action last school year— after losing almost eight teachers and two teacher-librarians last spring from the current budget. Through the $60 million Learning Improvement Fund (LIF), School District 20 (Kootenay Columbia) superintendent of schools Greg Luterbach said the district has allotted out most of the $455,880 the province had given it this fall—and nearly all but $28,395 has been accounted for. But it’s a bittersweet pill to swallow, said Andy Davidoff, Kootenay Columbia Teachers Union representative. Half of the savings for the fund came from the net of what the province saved on teacher job action last year. Even with the new hires, Davidoff added that the funding shortage in the educational system is still so severe that the LIF isn’t enough. “The problem is this Learning Improvement Fund was a good thing, but it doesn’t make up for our massive ‌ shortage in education,â€? he said. “B.C. is dead last in the dollars we spend per student (in Canada).â€? LIF is targeted money provided to districts with an emphasis on learning improvement. Throughout the spring the school district came to agreement with CUPE around the portion of the LIF that was targeted specifically to the union (just over $58,000). Then funds were used to support additional hours for those direct student support staff who work less than 35 hours a week—with the additional hours being used for collaborative planning or staff meetings. With its allocation of LIF funds schools in the district have hired additional staff with an emphasis on co-teaching in specific classrooms identified by the school, said Luterbach in his report to the board of trustees in their regular meeting Monday night at Trail Middle School. Most schools received an additional .25 in teaching, he said, including Fruitvale, Webster and Glenmerry in the Greater Trail region. In Fruitvale the .25 teacher full time equivalent (FTE) will add a teacher in three grade classes (Grade 1 and 2), at Webster in Warfield
See SCHOOLS, Page 3
See CITIZENS, Page 3
Storm strikes region October thunderstorm ‘unusual’ BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
City of Trail crews were busy mopping up the mess from Tuesday morning’s storm that blew across the region. A large limb from a tree at Gyro Park was snapped off by high winds and landed on Charles Lakes Drive. The limb was moved into the Gyro Park parking lot where crews chopped it up and hauled it away. The storm also left many residents without power until the afternoon.
A thunderstorm early Tuesday morning left many residents in Greater Trail and some of its surrounding communities in the dark. Several thousand FortisBC customers reported outages due to “unusual� weather conditions and small pockets of customers were still experiencing problems by noon on Tuesday, according to FortisBC’s spokesperson Tracy Tang. She added that FortisBC work crews made the necessary repairs to restore as many customers as possible and made the areas safe, but Tang said some customers were still being impacted by the conditions. “We’re still working on some restorations in an area of Patterson and small sections in Castlegar, Creston, Fruitvale and Salmo,� Tang said.
Contact the Times: Phone: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 Newsroom: 250-364-1242
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See TREE, Page 3
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