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Thursday, December 12, • 2013
Vol.10 • Issue 50
Phil (PJ) Poznekoff (250) 365-4679
Phil@castlegarrealty.ca
Thousands of reasons Pass Creek party makes to smile winter worthwhile See Page A7 See Pages A18 & A19
Rauni Naud
Advisor, Member of the Million Dollar Round Table Mutual funds offered by Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc.
• RRSP’s, RRIF’s, GIC’s, TFSA’s • Life Insurance • Income for Life • Health Insurance • Annuities • Estate & Financial Planning
250.365.0484 rauni.naud@sunlife.com
Jo-Ann Bursey Mountainview Realty Ltd.
304.8681
jo-ann@century21castlegar.com
Dana Schmidt works at radon (retro) mitigation in the home of a single Castlegar mom. The effort was a Rotary-initiated action in early 2013. Wayne Groutage
Nancy Trotman Mortgage Broker
250-365-9513 888-998-9513
Radon bylaw progressing with glacial speed JIM SINCLAIR Castlegar News Editor
Carmen Harris
Your HometownRealtor www.carmenharris.ca
Further to an item touched upon in the council briefs of last week’s Castlegar News, an issue relating to a dangerous natural hazard appears to be languishing in a bureaucratic holding pattern. The issue is radon gas mitigation being built in to the provincial building code, so it may be applied
locally. At the core of the issue are a couple of key points – the fact that Castlegar: • has radon levels that are among the highest in the province, and, • is home to a knowledgeable and outspoken advocate for boosted safeguards to deal with the carcinogenic gas. Dana Schmidt is the man who has acquired a wealth of data on the topic
and pushed hard for regulations to help reduce the risk of the invisible, tasteless, odourless gas. He is the driving force behind the Donna Schmidt Memorial Lung Cancer Society, an entity formed to honour his spouse who passed away in 2009. The society has partnered with the City of Castlegar to provide hundreds of free long-term radon testing units.
Well known steps may be taken to reduce radon risk during the construction of homes and larger buildings, and retrofitting of existing structures may also be done, although more expensive and time consuming. Those looking for a provincial building bylaw have found support in Castlegar, if not at higher levels. The latest installment
in the ongoing issue was at the council meeting of Dec. 2, 2013, when council received for information the most recent communication on the matter from Rich Coleman, Minister Responsible for Housing and Deputy Premier. The letter was in response to a message from Phil Markin...
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