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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
The Vancouver Piano Ensemble wowed a crowd of about 70 people at the Merritt Civic Centre on Saturday night. The show Eight Hands, Two Pianos saw the four players sit two at each piano, and even three to one piano. The concert was the final in the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council’s 2012-13 concert series. Emily Wessel/Herald
Donation kickstarts new driving school for region By Craig Lindsay THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
It’s been a long time coming, but soon Merritt and the area will have its own driving school again. In January, Interior Salish Employment and Training Society (ISETS) received a cheque for $70,000 from Teck Highland Valley Copper to start up a driving school for Class 7 and 5 licences. “This is an exceptional partnership in that the mine will leave a legacy for this and future generations of workers,” said Georgina Beatty, ISETS
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community program liaison. “It will enrich families and communities with the ability to work, travel and in general provide a better quality of life.” Currently, there are no driving schools in Merritt, Princeton, Ashcroft, Lytton, Hope, Spences Bridge or Lillooet. “There has been a need for years and ISETS considers possessing a driver’s licence 7L, 7N and 5 as essential,” said Beatty. “Rural community members need their driver’s licences in order to obtain and retain employment. Industry, private and public sector
alike require employees to have a driver’s licence in order to carry out some of the basic requirements of their work duties.” Beatty said they hope to start up the driving school in October. “We’ll be centred in Merritt, Lytton and Lillooet,” she said. “But we plan to bring our services to people in those areas as well to people in 16 aboriginal communities. We’ll do it then and there. We’ll have in class sessions as well as road sessions. Right now people have to go to Kamloops, so this will really save people money.”
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Interior Salish Employment and Training Society, represented by job coach Ken Smith, recently received a cheque for $70,000 from Teck Highland Valley Copper to help start a local driving school. Submitted
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