SPORTS
FINANCE
PARENTING
OPINION
THE KELLY SCOTT rink from Kelowna is beginning to make it a habit of winning the Scotties provincial women’s curling title.
LIVING ON a fixed income in your golden years of retirement can be stressful and requires some careful financial planning.
UNDERSTANDING six commitments towards your parenting attitude that can make you a more effective parent.
ALISTAIR WATERS says despite predictions about the demise of newspapers, the industry has changed but is far from dead just yet.
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TUESDAY January 22, 2013 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ TURMOIL
BCFGA president wants peace with tree fruit co-op
Judie Steeves
STAFF REPORTER
Mending fences will be one of the priorities for the coming year, according to the new president of the B.C. Fruit Growers Association, Jeet Dhukia of Vernon, who was elected last weekend. It has been a year of turmoil for the 124-year-old lobby group for B.C.’s orchardists, as it elected its first East Indian president last year, then watched as he took on his co-op packinghouse and was ejected for not living up to his contract, finally resigning from his position as president last month. Dhukia has committed to reinstating friendly relations with the Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative, and says he would even like to work with that organization to support it in applying for funds from senior governments so the co-op can update its outdated facilities. In a report to growers Jeet Dhukia at the convention, co-op general manager Alan Tyabji said it will be amalgamating with B.C. Tree Fruits this year, in order to realize some tax savings as the co-op moves to liquidate some of its unused properties. “The packinghouse is not in a good position right now to update,” said Dhukia, so it’s important that the two organizations work together to modernize facilities. “Growers need better returns.” Another priority for the new president will be on efforts to quantify the economic cost to the tree fruit industry of the Columbia River Treaty which was signed in 1964 and which comes up for notice of termination or renewal next year. Dhukia says the water stored as part of the treaty, which is focused on provision of electricity, not irrigation water, has actually permitted the apple industry in Washington State to expand from three times that of B.C., to 40 times that of B.C. “We are working on establishing what that treaty has cost us,” he said. See Peace A10
FRESH START…
Shari Lowther, executive director of Friendly People’s Single Family and Seniors’ Food Bank, stocks a bin with various canned goods. Lowther says the first two-and-a-half months of operation have been difficult as the new food bank attempts to separate itself from a former Westside single family and seniors’ food bank that had its charitable status revoked last year. See story A6 .
▼ WOOD LAKE
Oceola club calls for kokanee fishing ban Kevin Parnell STAFF REPORTER
The Oceola Fish and Game Club is calling for an outright ban on kokanee fishing in Wood Lake until officials can determine
why the numbers of spawning kokanee plunged last year in the popular Central Okanagan fishery. Fish counts done by the Oceola Club last fall were drastically lower than in past years, prompt-
ing the club to make the motion at its annual general meeting last week. “We’re quite concerned over the dip in kokanee numbers,” said Oceola Fish and Game Club vice-president Pat Whittingham.
“We don’t think that fishing is the number one contributor but until the situation is resolved, maybe every little bit would help.” See Ban A11
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