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Friday, April 18, 2014
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Vol. 6 • Issue 84
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28 years of service
This week’s feature:
Historic video found
Leaving Welcome Wagon
Shows fire drill in Nelson
valhallapathrealty@telus.net www.valhallapathrealty.com “It is my goal to work hard to reach your goals”
Barbie Wheaton
GREG NESTEROFF Nelson Star Reporter
including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Australia, plus Calgary, Vancouver, and Spokane. There were also a number of local school and college tours, specially tailored for educational purposes. Although Hollis originally planned winter tours as well, he says they didn’t happen because they required more preparation than he first thought. However, he expects to begin offering them this
Faced with a building that is “literally falling apart,” the parent advisory committee at Trafalgar Middle School is trying to kickstart its stalled replacement process. The 90-year-old facility has been atop the Kootenay Lake school district’s capital plan for five years, awaiting over $22 million in provincial funding for a rebuild, but trustees say the government’s priorities are in fast-growing districts and schools that need seismic upgrades. Trafalgar doesn’t fall in either category. Parents, however, don’t want the project forgotten and met Tuesday to talk about it. “It’s easy for things to fall off the table,” said committee secretary Greg Haydu. “If we don’t speak up, there is no pressure. But if we keep it in the forefront, maybe our turn comes up.” Haydu, who has one son in the school and another who will attend in a few years, acknowledged his children probably won’t be around to benefit directly from a replacement or renovation. However, he said it’s worth pushing the project for the community’s sake. Haydu said Trafalgar “looks like a penitentiary in certain lights,” which contributes to an unfortunate reputation, but didn’t want to paint a picture of doom and gloom as his son is “thriving” there. “Our school is not defined by the physical structure,” he said. Committee co-chair Greg Bezaire agreed Trafalgar has a “dedicated team [of teachers] and kids who love being here. We’re proud of the school. It has lots of positive attributes.” However, he and fellow chair Andrew Jones enumerated the building’s many shortcomings: uneven
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Close to 900 people visited the Cody Caves, north of Ainsworth, in 2013 after they reopened to the public.
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Reopened site drew 900 in 2013
Spelunkers return to Cody Caves GREG NESTEROFF Nelson Star Reporter
Nearly 900 spelunkers explored the Cody Caves last year after they reopened to the public following a three-year closure. Lee Hollis, who has a 10-year permit from BC Parks to run a commercial guiding service in the provincial park north of Ainsworth, said attendance was lower than he’d hoped, but he’s “encouraged to go into season two” and is aiming for 1,200 to 1,500 visitors. “All in all a very positive start,”
he said. Hollis changed the model for tours from hourly to telephone reservation to avoid problems a previous operator ran into. BC Parks couldn’t find another operator until last year. Between mid-June and midOctober, 667 people participated in one-hour family tours, 163 people did 3½-hour explorer tours, and 66 went on 5½-hour adventure tours, for a total of 896 visitors through the caves. They came from far and wide,
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