THURSDAY
DECEMBER 19, 2013
Kimberley Alpine Resort gears up for Christmas season Ski Hill promising great skiing of the holidays | Page 5
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Vol. 61, Issue 246
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MBSS singers like ‘guests of honour’ in choral hotbed A R N E P E T RYS H E N Townsman Staff
Mount Baker Secondary School’s senior choir recently went on a trip to Austria. The choir students were invited to take part in an international choir festival in Vienna. Evan Bueckert, who heads the music department at Mount
Baker, said the whole trip was an incredible success, with students doing a great job as ambassadors for both Cranbrook and Canada. “We were actually representing Canada as a whole, as the only Canadian choir at the festival,” he said.
See MBSS, Page 3
Council opts out of proposed new MOU by Ktunaxa ARNE PETRYSHEN Townsman Staff
Cranbrook council followed city staff’s recommendation that council not enter into a recently proposed memorandum of understanding entitled “Cranbrook Urban Governance Collaborative.” The memorandum was proposed by the Ktunaxa First Nation Council. Cranbrook Councillor Gerry Warner noted during the Dec. 9 council meeting that in the background report, it says Cranbrook already has a memorandum of understanding with the Ktunaxa. “This is redundant, then, and I think we
have a good working relationship too,” he said. CAO Wayne Staudt explained city staff’s concerns around the memorandum. One is that the memorandum doesn’t just detail how they would work together. One of the big issues staff has is with the vision statement, which talks about funding. “Their concern is that funding will be cut off, because they primarily rely on grants from the senior governments,” Staudt said. “Their mission statement clearly states that funding will be a high priority for them.
See COUNCIL, Page 5
ARNE PETRYSHEN PHOTO
Bill Visentin was among the volunteers preparing Christmas hampers at the Cranbrook Food Bank on Wednesday afternoon. The hampers include about 50 pounds of food. There are hams for individuals and turkeys for families of two or more to help celebrate the Christmas season. This is the last stretch as the food bank will be closed after Dec. 23 until the New Year.
Food bank prepares hampers ARNE PE TRYSHEN Townsman Staff
Volunteers at the Cranbrook Food Bank were hard at work this week putting together Christmas food hampers to spread the Christmas cheer to those in need. Donations of food that have been coming in were sorted out in various stations by volunteers and each ham-
per full of food ends up weighing around 50 pounds. The hampers are then picked up or delivered to the deserving family or individual. On Wednesday afternoon the food bank was a bustling place as the volunteers rushed to fill the orders, weighing each bundle that makes up part of the hamper as they go
along. On the meat station, Bill Visentin sorted each bag adding hot dogs, wild meat, perogies and other frozen food. At another station volunteers packed bags full of cereals and pasta, while others filled bags full of canned food to go into the hampers. Then of course the turkeys and hams were wheeled
through the building to add to the hamper before they went out. The volunteers at the food bank can put together about 50 hampers per day. If you are interested in volunteering at the Cranbrook Food Bank Society, give them a call at 250-426-7664. Hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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