NEWS: Police Report
Community: Cowboy ‘Hall of Fame’
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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Events on May Day weekend By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
Fire Hall Tour
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Two and a half year old Teagan helps Fire Deputy Chief Vern Czirfusz fire off the water hose. Teagan was part of a group of kids from the Houston Friendship Centre who toured the firehall and learned some of the tricks of the trade last Thursday morning. For more photos see page 14.
Houston is stirring with activity as the May long weekend comes up. The Pleasant Valley Horse Club is gearing up for their annual kick off with rodeo events planned Friday through Monday. Horse Club treasurer Lory Howard says the events will be at Four Seasons Park and are planned as follows: Friday the club is hosting a cattle sorting clinic at 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday there will be cattle sorting 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. “We have up to 40 riders for the cattle sorting,” said Howard. At 1 p.m. Saturday, there will be the Ranch Hand Competition, Undecoration, Steer Daubing and Break-
Away-Roping. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, there will be a 20-rider Jackpot Gymkhana, as well as a dog show hosted by Head to Tail, with proceeds going to the Northwest Animal Shelter. Monday at 10 a.m. the Horse Club is hosting a Little Britches Gymkhana for children under 17. Besides the Horse Club kickoff, the Houston fire fighters are hosting a pancake breakfast, by donation, on Saturday, 7 to 11 a.m. at the Houston Fire Hall. The Ian Bush Memorial Slo Pitch Tournament will be Friday to Monday, with six teams playing at the Four Seasons Park. Enjoy your long weekend and check out the many local events around town.
Little change in northwest B.C. jobless rate By Staff Writer Black Press
The northwest economy may be on an upswing but unemployment remains stubbornly high among people who live in the region. Fewer people were working in the northwest in April than in March, reports Statistics
Canada today. The drop from 39,500 in March to 39,200 in April continues a monthly trend so far this year. At the same time, the number of people considered jobless fell slightly from 3,500 in March to 3,400 in April, sufficient to shave the unemployment rate
from 8.2 per cent in March to 8 per cent in April. And the labour force, defined as those who are working and those who are not working but considered themselves as part of the labour force dropped from 42,900 in March to 42,600 in April. The decline in
employment and in the labour force this year stands in contrast to April 2012 when there were 40,000 people employed, 800 more than was the case this April. But there were also more people unemployed last April as well, pushing the unemployment rate to 11.3 per cent,
higher than this April’s. The northwest unemployment rate continues to rank as the highest in the province with the lower mainland at 7 per cent running in second place. Northeastern B.C. continues to have the lowest unemployment rate, pegged at 5.2 per cent in April.
But that’s more than last April’s 4.2 per cent. The provincial unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent in April and nationally it was 7.2 per cent. The northwest jobless rate is not the number of people collecting Employment Insurance. Instead it is
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based on interviews of people from the north coast to just this side of Vanderhoof who consider themselves as part of the workforce whether they are employed or not. And that means the jobless rate can reflect how people feel about their own employment prospects.
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