Inside
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UBCM CONFERENCE P. 2 EDITORIAL P. 6
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CRIME STATS P. 3 LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE P. 9
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Serving Vanderhoof ● Fort Fraser ● Fraser Lake & Area www.ominecaexpress.com
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
VIA Rail meets with Vanderhoof Sam Redding Omineca Express VIA Rail Canada held a meeting in Vanderhoof last Thursday to talk about accessibility and options to improve it going forward. Michael Woelcke, Senior Manager, Real Estate, Western Canada spoke at the meeting on September 26 and said “if there is a different way of doing things, then we’re all ears. Let’s see what we can do together to benefit both of us.” Many citizens spoke up, worried about snow buildup but others were full of praise for the rail stating that the personnel are always helpful. VIA Rail had a meeting with Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen before the public meeting to discuss similar options. “Basically we talked about the service of VIA Rail and the value it has to our community,” said Thiessen. “They needed to go out there and clean up the ramp and make it more accessible both in summer and winter. A lot of the time it’s uneven, it would be difficult for someone with disabilities or someone in a wheelchair to get up there. If they want to offer a service they should keep it ploughed out and shoveled out and we as a community could help them.” Another one of the concerns is the boarding location itself. It isn’t well lit, sheltered, or in a preferable location. Thiessen and several citizens feel that they should move the site either to Co-op or near A&W. That way people could get a coffee and wait for the train to come. “My family moved here because of the railway,” said Thiessen. “They came out to Saskatchewan and convinced my family and others to come out to Vanderhoof because of the railway. I believe that they have a social responsibility to us both in the areas of passenger service and also in the transportation of goods and services.”
Future farmers and agriculture workers came to DMS farms to learn several trades including the light horse and heavy horse plowing.
Project Agriculture Sam Redding Omineca Express From September 25 to 27 Vanderhoof students attended Project Agriculture. There, 24 students got to try out many different aspects of farming work on David Martens and Sons farm. The stations that kids participated in were weeds, ATV lessons and safety, light horse, heavy horse, hay truck, dairy
and calf barn, welding, cattle handling, tractor w/spear, and Bobcat. Kids also get to see the stream rehabilitation for the Murray Creek Project, they’ll get a presentation about the reasoning for it and why it’s important for farmers and residents. Students learned about meat cutting as well. Co-op’s Colin Walker came in to teach the kids which part of the animal goes into what cut of meat. “We spent some time at Nechako Val-
National Career Week October 27 - November 3, 2013
To help celebrate National Career Week the Omineca Express is publishing this informative supplement. In our October 30 issue we will be publishing a special section titled Career Week. In this supplement the Omineca Express will interview a staff member of each of the participating sponsors to profile what they did to get where they are today in their career. This interview will also provide employers an opportunity to speak about what training people need to have to work for their organization. Each sponsor will also have a dedicated advertising space on the same page as the editorial to promote their company and corporate logo. For more info and to advertise with us... Please contact 567-9258 to participate in this popular supplement.
ley Animal Health Services with Corey Stevens and her staff,” said Darren Carpenter, district coordinator. “And she shut down her practice for the entire morning and she’s been doing that ever since she became involved in this program. She had three stations and we had a dog that was sedated and students got involved with how they cleaned his teeth and did some teeth extractions, its really hands on.” Continued on page 7