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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Aboriginal art show set for gallery
Artist Merial Barber (left) and NVIT elder Bernice Ball show a traditional star blanket during the set up of Ancestor Teachings: First Nations Arts and Culture, Past and Present, the new exhibition at the Olde Courthouse Art Gallery. Emily Wessel/Herald
By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
The Olde Courthouse Art Gallery is taking on an educational role with its latest exhibition Ancestor Teachings: First Nations Arts and Culture, Past and Present.
The display, which started Friday and runs until April 6, mixes traditional tools and art pieces crafted by methods passed down for generations in First Nations communities with a few contemporary art pieces reflecting First Nations culture.
M E R R I T T
The display includes medicine bags, star blankets and cedar baskets. Some of the pieces are museum quality, while others are more modern items crafted in traditional methods, said show assistant and artist Merial Barber. “The baskets are very traditional,”
Barber said. “They go back for thousands of years. The care that you see that some of these things had put into them is a reflection of First Nations ideology.” You won’t see very many of these kinds of things except in a big gallery. We’re very lucky.” Barber said all of the exhibition’s pieces are from private collections. “There are rattles here used in ceremony,” Barber said. “They are living pieces, they are not just something that belongs in a museum. They’re part of someone’s medicine bag.” Although most of the pieces will be for sale, Barber said gallery curators will be on hand to connect people with local artists if they want to inquire about art purchases. Curator and Nicola Valley Institute of Technology elder Bernice Ball said the theme of the show is one that hits close to home. “We’re having the show to make people aware of what the culture is and what the native people do and what they have done in the past,” Ball said. “I’m teaching my kids and my grandkids the beading and things like that. If I didn’t teach it, they’re not going to get it. It’s slowly fading out, unless somebody keeps it going.”
See ‘ Art Gallery’ Page 8
Making the grade: Merritt Fire Dept improves upon assessment By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
A recent assessment by the Fire Underwriters Survey found the Merritt Fire Rescue Department is better equipped to fight fires despite its small size and limited funding, City of Merritt Fire Chief Dave Tomkinson says. The survey looks at the city’s infrastructure and its fire department to determine two separate fire protection grades: the dwelling grade, which looks at residential firefighting capacity, and the public classification, which is for commercial buildings and industry. The ratings are then used by insurance companies in their formulas for determining fire insurance premiums. The dwelling grade
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theoretically save just under a couple hundred dollars. They’ve had to do nothing, the City of Merritt has made some improvements, and they will reap some benefits.” The fire protection grade for public buildings and industry falls on a scale of 10 to one, again with a score of one being the highest level of protection possible. Within city limits, the public grade rose from six to five, which Tomkinson said puts Merritt’s fire station on the same fire protection level as other cities with similar populations but much larger forces and budgets than Merritt’s. “We are on par with departments that are spending a lot more money operationally,” he said.
See ‘Fire Dept’ Page 5
Firefighter Lev Gammer (right) practices rigging up a sled to one of the department’s trucks during some down time at the fire department. Gammer is a graduate of last year’s work experience program, which is the fire department’s biggest improvement since the last Fire Underwriters Survey in 2006. Emily Wessel/Herald
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ranges from five, which is unprotected, to one, which is the best possible protection. Within city limits, the dwelling grade raised from 3A to a two, and outside the city (but within the department’s jurisdiction, based on agreements with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District), the grade rose from a four to a 3B meaning both have better coverage than the last time the area was surveyed in 2006. Outside the city, that dwelling protection grade also means people with residential fire protection could save on their premiums in the future, Tomkinson said. “That could be a 10 to 15 per cent savings,” he said. “For someone who pays $1,200 in fire insurance, they can
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