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KELOWNA speed skater Nick Goplen is gunning for a spot on Canada’s national team.
WEST KELOWNA council is encouraging local residents to submit any complaints about the snow removal in their neighbourhoods to district staff.
LOTS TO be excited about for downtown Kelowna business owners as the Bernard street upgrade is just one of many changes slated for the year ahead, says columnist Jan Johnson.
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THURSDAY January 10, 2013 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ SKIING ACCIDENT
Snowboarder dies from hypothermia Jennifer Smith STAFF REPORTER
CROSSROADS board chairman Alan Sanderson (left) and executive director Shelley Gilmore announced the impending closure of the local addictions treatment centre Tuesday morning.
▼ CROSSROADS
Detox centre closing due to funding shortfall ASSISTANT EDITOR
After 37 years offering addiction treatment in Kelowna, Crossroads is shutting down. The announcement, described by an emotional board chairman Alan Sanderson as a “very sad day,” was made in part because the non-profit society that operates the centre could not reach a funding agreement with Interior Health for the publicly funded treatment beds and detox beds it provides. Crossroads has 38 publicly
funded treatment beds, 24 at its men’s facility on Franklyn Road in Rutland, as well as eight publicly funded detox beds. It also operates 14 publicly funded treatment beds at its women’s facility on Grey Road. In addition to its failure to negotiate a new funding agreement with IH, Crossroads also has a $1.3 million debt. While it also operates privately funded treatment beds as a way to generate revenue, those beds have not been heavily used, say Crossroads officials. “We can’t continue to operate
the addiction (treatment) service and detox as it currently exists,” said Sanderson, reading from a prepared statement, his voice breaking at times. “We totally hoped that restructuring, redefining and reorganizing our operation and opening frank negotiations with our funder (IHA) would create a better future for our society.” When asked about the timing, Sanderson said the decision was made now in order to avoid bankruptcy and help the 69-member staff find new jobs and not become creditors lumped in with
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other, larger organizations looking for money. The society that operates Crossroads plans to sell the two Franklyn Road buildings and the Grey Road building in order to pay off its debts. Executive director Shelley Gilmore, who has only been on the job for a year, said the “writing was on the wall” for Crossroads when she started her new job. But she said the board tried everything it could to continue.
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A well-liked, 22-year-old line-cook working his second season at Big White died on the mountain Tuesday while snowboarding in the Falcon Glades. The young man’s name has not been released, but Big White marketing manager Michael Ballingall was able to confirm he was an employee of Snowshoe Sam’s who was back for his second season, having worked on the hill two years ago. He is originally from Winnipeg and his family has been informed of his passing. The incident occurred while he was riding with a friend in the Falcon Glades. The pair got separated and, when he failed to show up at the end of the run, his riding partner started his own search. “His buddy went left, he went right, when he didn’t show up at the bottom, at the Gem Lake chair, his friend went back up and did the run a couple more times to look for him,” said Ballingall. The friend proceeded to the village to expand his search. Meanwhile, the lost snowborder was found by other mountain patrons partially submerged in water, buried in snow and seriously injured. “He was doing everything right. He was skiing with a buddy. He was in the runs. The only thing that we would add would be that you should carry a whistle. A whistle should now be part of your standard ski and snowboard equipment. It attracts attention,” Ballingall said. Police details released Wednesday indicate the snowboarder was already suffering from severe hypothermia when he was found and that his condition deteriorated as he was being extricated from the mountain to the point where CPR was being performed on-site. He was rushed to hospital, but could not be revived and was pronounced dead at Kelowna General Hospital. The incident took place at 3:30 p.m. during a heavy snow storm. The Kelowna RCMP and B.C. Coroner’s Service are investigating. Big White lost its on-site ambulance this year, but no one has indicated having an ambulance on site would have made any difference in this particular incident.
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