SPORTS: BV Soccer Society - Houston Teams
COMMUNITY: Retired teachers
PAGE 8-9 & 11
PAGE 10
Publications Mail Registration #0040028607
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Proudly serving Houston and District - Home of Canada’s Largest Fly Rod
www.houston-today.com
No. 27 $1.30 Inc. GST
Million dollar HSS gym renos By Percy N Hebert Black Press
School’s Out
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Silverthorne Elementary School had their “Fun Day” wrap up last Wednesday. Before students were set free for summer holidays, they had a visit from several firefighters, who drove a fire engine onto the playing field and sprayed students with water.
School District 54 board of trustees announced they are spending more than $1 million to renovate several schools over the summer last Tuesday at their last meeting of the school year, June 18. The largest ticket item is the renovation of the gymnasium at Houston Secondary School with a bill of almost $1.3 million. “It’s been a long time in coming,” School District 54 secretary/treasurer Steve Richards said. The renovations, under the Ministry of Housing’s building envelope program, a province-wide program, are intended to improve the school’s envelope to stop water leakage. The exterior of the HSS gymnasium will be completely replaced. At the same time,
Richards said the drainage around the school will be improved. Work on the gymnasium is expected to be underway this week with a projected completion date some time in September. The school district is also spending close to $85,000 from their annual facility grant money to improve the insulation of several schools in the district. HSS, Twain Sullivan Elementary and Silverthorne Elementary schools in Houston, as well as Telkwa Elementary and Smithers Secondary schools are receiving renovations to their thermal barriers to reduce the amount of heat lost, especially during the winter. The heat loss was identified using a thermal imaging camera, Richards said. See GYM on Page 3
“Large producers control majority of timber supply” By Walter Strong Black Press
With discussions surrounding changes to the forest act supposedly to resume this summer, the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) is preparing a policy statement to help inform the
process. At the June 20, 2013 RDBN forestry committee meeting, Bill Miller, RDBN chair and director of area B, tabled a document summarizing his experience and thoughts on forestry in the region. Miller’s ‘Notes to Policy
Paper on Forestry’ outlines points of discussion meant to inform future RDBN forestry discussions, and possibly a formal RDBN position on forest management. “We want to influence policy decisions,” Miller said. “We’re concerned about the
information they are using. We don’t feel they are hearing as much from us [the RDBN] as they should.” M i l l e r ’ s backgrounder on forest policy draws attention to two main concerns. First, the globalization of the forestry industry has
shifted the emphasis from community ‘sustainability and resiliency’ towards a shareholder profit model where shareholders and owners often do not live within the regions affected by their company’s forest practices. Second, B.C.’s log
market is no longer a free market space. According to Miller, approximately 85 per cent of B.C.’s timber is not sold on the open market. Instead, large producers control the majority of B.C.’s timber supply. There is very little room for smaller
HUGE CLEARANCE
INVENTORY
entrepreneurs to enter the marketplace. “At the very least, the lack of a free market place for logs has severely curtailed the development of a large and innovative secondary manufacturing sector,” Miller said. See TREES on Page 3
Many models at
0%
CONTACT GLACIER TOYOTA FOR FULL DETAILS
3187 Tatlow Road, Smithers, BC 1.866.844.6723
www.glaciertoyota.ca