news Local lady to celebrate a special day. Page 3
EVENTS ‘Bowling for Boobies’ — to Strike out Cancer. Page 6
SPORTS
Wednesday Ladies Curling wraps up season. Page 15
SPOTLIGHT $1.10 Includes TAX
The Similkameen
Volume 64 Issue 12
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.
Hedley investigation continues The small town of Hedley is still in a state of shock after the homicide of one of their own. Kristi Patton Penticton Western News
Last Wednesday, RCMP were called to a residence on Richter Road at approximately 8 p.m., where they found the body of 55 year-old Douglas Smith. “It is almost a bit unreal still for most people. This has always been the kind of place where people look after one another, so it doesn’t feel real,” said Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen director for the area, Angelique Wood. Some in the community, perched just 29 kilometres west of Keremeos, believe Smith suffered a deadly gunshot wound. RCMP have yet to confirm the details surround his death. Wood said many residents in the close-knit town of about 250 people suspect it was someone who knew Smith. “His very loyal dog was not in the trailer with him … That is one of the reasons friends went looking for him because his dog Rascal, a blueheeler, was running around town,” said Wood. Smith was expected at a engagement that evening with a friend and when he didn’t show up the friend went looking at Smith’s trailer to see what was happening. Wood said when he got there the trailer was locked so the friend got another man to help him get in and that was when they found Smith’s body.
See HOMICIDE - Page 2
Weather Watch Wednesday
High 8/Low 1
Thursday
High 6/Low -2
Friday
High 5/Low -3
Saturday
High 7/Low -1
Sunday
High 9/Low 1
Lisa Carleton/Spotlight
Left to right: Natalie Yurkowski, Bethany Mahoney and Caprice Roccamatisi, are three of Princeton’s Highland Dancers who performed during one of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that were enjoyed throughout the community on Saturday and Sunday.
$100,000 offered for rural doctors Tom Fletcher Black Press
VICTORIA – The B.C. government and the B.C. Medical Association are offering doctors a $100,000 bonus to relocate to selected rural communities for three years. The latest incentive is on top of a program to forgive student debt for doctors who will set up a medical practice outside urban areas, and other inducements to graduating and foreign doctors to venture outside large cities. Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid and BCMA president Dr. Shelley Ross announced the program Wednesday. Both said it was a difficult task picking the most needy locations, and expressed hope that it is successful and can be expanded.
Princeton
In the Interior Health Authority, Princeton and Clearwater are funded for two general practitioners each, and Nakusp gets one. Cranbrook is funded for one anesthesiologist. In Northern Health, the fund will be offered for one general practitioner each in Burns Lake, Chetwynd, Hazelton, Kitimat and Tumbler Ridge. Quesnel is funded for one internal medicine internist, and Terrace is funded for one anesthesiologist. In Vancouver Coastal region, one general practitioner each is funded for Bella Coola and Pemberton. In the Vancouver Island Health Authority, Port Hardy is funded for two general practitioners and Port Alberni gets the only emergency physician provided for in the program.
See RURAL DOCTORS - Page 3
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Princeton