EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Seized Malakwa residence back on the market Page 3
Students move up a notch in belt testing Page 8
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 55 No. 15 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Snowmobile thefts yet to be curbed
Cool riders:
Bait sled: No one takes the bait during winter policing initiative.
Morgan Kerr and Netanyel Quessy enjoy a break in the wet weather by riding their bikes at the Sicamous skate park.
By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Word of mouth wasn’t a good thing for the Sicamous RCMP when it came to curbing snowmobile theft last winter. Upon asking Sicamous council to consider what their list of policing priorities will be for 2013, Sicamous RCMP Sgt. Dave Dubnyk received a tip from Coun. Greg Kyllo as to what one priority will likely be when he raised the ongoing issue of snowmobile and trailer thefts in the community. “We’re trying to build up our snowmobiling business and when a guy shows up for the weekend and has his sled stolen, that story spreads really quickly, and it’s brought in a real negative view of snowmobiling in Sicamous,” said Kyllo, asking if there was something police There are initiacould do about this. tives we can try… “Absolutely,” replied and we can certainly the community’s relamake it one of our tively new RCMP depriorities. tachment commander, going on to explain this is the first time he’s lived Sgt. Dave Dubnyk Sicamous RCMP and worked in such an snowmobiling mecca and has actually been confronted by this issue. Dubnyk went on to say that he’s already met with the mayor and discussed some initiatives from an enforcement perspective, as well as what the district and resort owners might be able to do. “I can tell you that over the winter we did, for a while, try the bait sled here,” said Dubnyk. “It wasn’t overly successful. Other than in saying when the word had got out it was in town, we didn’t have any thefts during that time… “There are some initiatives we can try and I’m glad to explore those, and we can certainly make it one of our priorities.” Kyllo had another question for the sergeant relating to pub patrons possibly being targeted by See Sergeant says on page 2
Photo by James Murray
Chamber asks to shift fireworks to August By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
The Sicamous chamber would like to see one of the community’s most popular summer events held later in the season, or doubled down. Recently, the chamber’s new executive director Michelle Wolff presented Sicamous council with something of a wish list, the top item relating to the annual Canada Day fireworks display. Due to last summer’s flooding, the fireworks display was moved to the August B.C. Day long weekend. Wolff asked that the district consider either moving the fireworks show permanently to August, or else have fireworks shows for both occasions. By having fireworks in August,
Wolff said the community could look at hosting a much larger event, even resurrecting Moose Mouse days. “Moose Mouse Days has been gone for, I think, 15-plus years, and numerous businesses in the communities say they still get requests for Moose Mouse souvenirs,” said Wolff. The chamber surveyed its members about the idea of moving the fireworks to August, and of the 30 per cent who responded, 70 per cent were in favour, 27 per cent asked to keep them on Canada Day, while six per cent asked that a plan be worked out to offer fireworks on both weekends. Weighing the pros and cons of the move, Wolff noted the
See Interest on page 3
More bang:
Councillors are favourable to Sicamous hosting two fireworks events. File photo