WEDNESDAY
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MAY 8, 2013
Mother’s Day Specials!
Identification of species will prompt rethink | Page 15
Lacrossers make the cut >
Locals get spots on regional squad | Page 8
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Vol. 61, Issue 89
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ARNE PETRYSHEN PHOTO
MUSIC MONDAY MAGIC: Hundreds of students gathered in a huge semi-circle in Rotary Park Monday. May 6, for the Music Monday mass choir. Students from elementary school right up to high school performed a number of songs, including I.S.S. (“Is Somebody Singing”) co-written by astronaut Chris Hadfield and The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson. The song was sung all across Canada to celebrate music in schools. Hadfield himself sang along from the International Space Station.
City Council delays brick building breakdown A R N E P E T RYS H E N Townsman Staff
The brick building behind City Hall, set to be demolished at an unknown time, was back up for discussion during Monday night’s council meeting, after numerous residents and a group commented that the building should be preserved. Those that hope for the preservation will get a bit more time, as council pushed the date for possible
City to allow group in favour of preserving building time to look at options
demolition until June 21. A few weeks ago, council voted to have the building taken down. The city had a professional engineer look at it and estimate repairs at $135,000, which would only make the building structurally sound and not yet suitable for use. At Monday night’s meeting, Coun. Gerry Warner argued that the city should put
more emphasis on preserving buildings like this one. “This city does not have a good reputation when it comes to protecting its heritage values and here I’m surrounded by a group of people that aren’t prepared to give this building a second chance,” Warner said. He suggested setting a timeline for a group that has come forward with an inter-
est in preserving the building to look at options. He also suggested an independent engineering report or estimate, as he didn’t quite trust the city administration since it seemed to him in a hurry to take the building down. “I think we’re really failing the people of Cranbrook if we do this,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of public com-
After 12 years of cuts
ments, all in the favour of preservation. “Can’t we show a little vision and leadership here and save one of our last pieces of brick heritage in this city.” Mayor Wayne Stetski said the challenge is that residents didn’t know what was going to happen to the building prior to council passing the motion.
“I’d like to give some time for discussion to occur between staff and this group around the actual costs and give them some time to come up with some funding,” Stetski said. “First and foremost we are public servants and we serve the public. What the public has said to me is that ‘we want some time to see if we can make this building into something better.’”
See GROUP , Page 3
On May 14th, let’s vote to give our students
smaller classes, more one-on-one time
LET’S VOTE for the
and extra help when they need it.
education kids deserve Mr. Sidhu
Ms. Jay Mrs. Ciardullo
Authorized by the BC Teachers’ Federation, registered sponsor under the Election Act, 604.871.2283