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Wednesday, October 16 • 2013
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Vol. 6 • Issue 31
Nelson Fire and Rescue wants you See Page 2
Revenge served up Leafs style See Page 15
Sensible BC Campaign
Kaslo
Interior Health slammed
JUST IN From Benjamin Moore
KIRSTEN HILDEBRAND Nelson Star Reporter
forcing the federal law against possessing small amounts of marijuana. Its goal is to use that as a starting point to work towards broader cannabis legalization. Defeat in any single district means the petition campaign fails. And even if it succeeds, a referendum is not automatic — the Legislature could introduce the proposed Sensible Policing Act but not put it to a vote. If it was sent to another referendum it could be non-binding — the
Kaslo village council has officially stated it has no confidence in Interior Health’s senior management. At their regular council meeting held last week, they passed a formal non-confidence resolution after the health authority recently announced it would end 24-7 emergency room services for Kaslo. Mayor Greg Lay explained the community spent a year working with IH trying to find solutions to a doctor shortage that has forced periodic closures of the Kaslo ER. “At the end of that year, Interior Health came back to us with nothing,” he said. “No change in ambulance service, no change in paramedics, no change in nurse practitioners, no change in contracts for physicians…” Efforts included commissioning of the Ross Report in which Dr. John Ross, a Nova Scotia physician and expert on rural health, explored the current state of health care in Kaslo. Among other things, Ross suggested ER services be maintained using remote physician support of a nurse practitioner. “He is one of Canada’s well-known and respected doctors in the area of rural medicine and his report was really not embraced in the manner in which we expected,” said Lay. Since the report came out last month, IH proposed the ER at the Victorian Community Health Centre be reduced to the hours
Story continues to ‘Surrey’ on Page 10
Story continues to ‘Kaslo’ on Page 7
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Canvassers Herb Couch (left) and Bob Hennessy were out on Baker Street last week seeking signatures for the Sensible BC campaign. So far, over 2,200 of the necessary 2,826 names have been collected. Kirsten Hildebrand photo
Pot petition gathers steam JEFF NAGEL Black Press Reporter
ULLRS IN ACTION BAMBOOMTOWN.COM
While pot reformers have fallen short of their sign-up target for the first third of their campaign to force a provincial referendum on marijuana enforcement, they are ahead of schedule in Nelson-Creston where over 2,200 signatures have been secured out of 2,826 needed. Sensible BC spokesman Dana Larsen said the campaign had 65,000 signatures as of October 9 — 15,000 fewer than their aim of 80,000 by the 30-day mark of the 90-day drive.
“We’re a little bit behind the target we set,” Larsen said, adding getting canvassers officially registered has proven more onerous than expected. But he remains confident the campaign can succeed in getting the signatures of 10 per cent of eligible voters in every BC district. That would take 300,000 signatures in total, but Larsen said the aim is for 450,000 or 15 per cent in each riding to provide a buffer against signatures that are declared invalid. The campaign aims to pass legislation that would bar police from spending any time or resources en-
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