THURSDAY
S I N C E
MARCH 28, 2013
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Vol. 118, Issue 50
Recalling the birth of Trail airport
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
SCHOOL DISTRICT 20
Balanced budget forcing more staff cuts BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Father Jim McHugh displayed the Stations of the Cross at OLPH on Wednesday. Good Friday, he will lead a symbolic walk with prayer, beginning at 2 p.m. at St Michael’s School and ending at OLPH. There will be 14 stops, each symbolizing an event (station) during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Easter celebrations abound in Trail BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
Whether Easter is observed as a religious holiday or as a mark of spring; there are plenty of activities planned in the Greater Trail area this weekend. Good Friday is a statutory holiday in all Canadian provinces and territories except Quebec, where it is partially observed. However, for Christians, since the 13th century, Good Friday signifies the day to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That day, beginning at St. Michael’s School at 2 p.m., the Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross, will led by Father Jim McHugh. There will be 14 stops along its path to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH), accompanied by singing and prayer, each stop symbolizing a station. The event symbolizes Christ carrying the cross to the crucifixion in the final hours before he died. It will be followed by a reading of the Passion at OLPH in East Trail.
If it’s chocolate treats that are of interest, Trail Parks and Recreation is hosting its annual Easter egg hunt at Gyro Park that day. Beginning at 11 a.m., kids can keep a lookout for the Easter Bunny and enjoy a hunt for chocolate goodies. Hot dogs and hamburgers will be available for purchase, with all proceeds donated to the JumpStart initiative. The Fruitvale Fire Fighters Non-Profit Society is hosting its fourth annual Beaver Valley Easter egg hunt that day, at Haines Park in Fruitvale, beginning at 11 a.m. Over 7,000 chocolate eggs will cover the field, and hot dogs and cocoa will be available by donation. The hunt for Easter eggs continues on Saturday, when the Waneta Plaza hosts its annual event, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Children three years and younger are asked to meet at Bootleggers or Suzanne’s. Children aged four to six, meet outside No Frills; and seven to nine years old, meet in the upper lot. For service times of Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday mass, see Page 10.
More staff cuts are coming as the school district prepares to balance its books and fill in the blanks on its budget for the coming school year. School District 20 (Kootenay Columbia) chair Darrel Ganzert said there will likely be another series of staffing cuts as the board of trustees begins to nail down the 2013/14 budget numbers this spring. However, he said the cut won’t be as “deep” as it was last year when nearly 14 positions from the district’s teaching and support staff were cut to make up a $1.55 million budgetary shortfall. Ganzert said the district has made over $4 million in cuts to programs and services—which ultimately means staff—for last eight years, and that trend will continue as the budget amount from the province keeps shrinking, dropping from $36.2 million in 2010/11 to $33.8 million in 2015/16 (estimate). “There will be fewer people working in the district after this is over, hopefully most through attrition,” he said. The anticipated deficit for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 is $500,000, figures that could get worse if any labour settlements are not fully funded by the province.
“So we’re at the point now where it’s hard not to impact student learning in major ways, but we will have to do the best we can,” said Ganzert. “We’ll try to impact students in the classroom as a last resort.” The majority (88 per cent) of the district’s budget this year is made up of wages—salaries and benefits, a number not lost on Andy Davidoff, president of the Kootenay Columbia Teachers Union. In addition to the savings the board will generate from the school closures and the reconfiguration of Rossland Secondary School, the board is also looking to cut another $611,000 this year. “The odds are it is all going to be staffing cuts,” Davidoff said. “I think its pretty clear they are not going to save any more money on school closures or facilities.” For 2013/14 the district’s enrolment could be 3,760—about the same as this year—but could dip to 3,754 the next year, rising to 3,816 in 2015/16, the beginning of the estimated rise to 4,495 in 2026/2027. Last year the teacher-to-student ratio rose by one to 25-to-one across the district, and up to 30-to-one in the high schools. A ratio rise is off the table this year, said Ganzert, after people said it was too much. See PUBLIC, Page 3
Local man identified as victim in Revelstoke avalanche BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
The man who died in an avalanche near Revelstoke Sunday has been identified as a 38-year-old former Rossland resident. Jason Westbury, who lived in Revelstoke at the time of his death, was testing the backcountry snow conditions in the bowl of Sifton Col in Glacier National Park on Sunday afternoon
when the avalanche was triggered. Two other skiers were waiting near the top of the ridge when the 2.5 category avalanche came down and buried him. Westbury was born in 1974 in Trail and attended school in Rossland, graduating from Rossland Secondary School in 1992. A Memorial Service for Jason Westbury will
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be held on Saturday, at 2 p.m. at the Cominco Gym in the Trail Memorial Centre.
No Paper
There will no paper tomorrow to allow for the Good Friday holiday. Publication will resume Tuesday.
Contact the Times: Phone: FineLine250-368-8551 Technologies 62937 Index 9 Fax:JN250-368-8550 80% 1.5 BWR NU Newsroom: 250-364-1242 Canada Post, Contract number 42068012