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TELKWA COHOUSING Site plan the next stage in development.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2014
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Contractor loses battle with HFP
ON STRIKE
Picket lines were up across the region earlier this week as teachers took part in a province-wide rotating strike action. Students in Hazleton were affected Monday and Smithers and Telkwa students had no class Tuesday. Caitlin Clow photo
By Ryan Jensen Smithers/Interior News
SHOGUN CHAMPS Local martial artists win big at nationals.
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NHE ART SHOW Hazelton students show off their work.
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A Burns Lake contractor has lost his battle with West Fraser over the use of a rail line that travels across his property just off Highway 16 in Houston. Last week, lawyers for Tahtsa Timber owner Klaus Posselt and the forestry giant were in a Vancouver courtroom after West Fraser applied for a temporary injunction to allow them to use the rail line. Posselt said he was fed up with being bullied by the forestry company over issues such as logging rates, changing terms of contracts and a general lack of communication. On March 13, he took matters into his own hands and positioned an excavator over a rail line on his property located just off Highway 16 in Houston. West Fraser does not have an easement to the rail line and had no legal right to it. Because of this, Houston Forest Products was not able to ship their product out by rail. “I’m not happy,” Posselt said after returning from the Lower Mainland earlier this week. “I had a legal right to the blockade but they wanted to maintain the status quo because [HFP] has been using the line for 40 years. “Had West Fraser dealt with me fairly and honourably beforehand, this would never have happened,” he said. “It was a little bit of tit for tat. “I’m hoping they revisit their attitudes or strategies on how they deal with contractors.” The action was the culmination of years of frustration of dealing with the company, Posselt said. “Logging is the largest and most continuous business in our community and we’re in service to the big boys,” he said. “They say jump, and we do nothing but ask how high and when. Especially since they announced the [HFP] shutdown, they’ve been telling us how it’s going to be. They just run roughshod over everybody in so many ways. These guys are making huge profits and they’re in charge of a public resource.” The rail line in question is on 65 acres of land purchased by Posselt about a year ago. West Fraser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smithers-Telkwa secure Minerals North in 2016 By Todd Hamilton Vanderhoof/Interior News
Smithers and Telkwa will co-host the 2016 Minerals North Conference. The announcement was made last week at this year’s conference in Vanderhoof. Smithers, which hosted the conference in 2004 and 2008, will share the spotlight
with Telkwa in two years following the 2015 Minerals North Conference in Mackenzie. Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach said the bid committee had put a lot of work into the co-bid with Telkwa, adding he expected the conference to host between 500 and 700 delegates. “It’s going to be
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good for the economy and the community and a whole lot of fun to host,” Bachrach said. “Minerals North is really a chance to showcase the role exploration and mining play in the Bulkley Valley and the region as a whole.” Bachrach said he was excited that in 2016, the town will be able to make use
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of the new arena, holding events simultaneously. “It’s events just like Minerals North that were really part of the business plan of this arena, giving us the ability to hold larger events and I think that’s really going to allow us to put on a bigger show come time for the conference in 2016.” See MINERALS on A3