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Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
Vol. 63, Issue 165
www.dailytownsman.com
Teachers hit the bricks a week before school set to begin Lack of deal between BCTF and BCPSEA threatens to push back start of school semester ARNE PETRYSHEN Townsman Staff
Local teachers and members of CUPE are back on the picket lines, and with only a week before the time schools are supposed to open, a deal between the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) has not been reached. This week, School District 5 sent a letter to parents noting the situation. “While we are hopeful that the two parties, with the help of external mediator Vince Ready, will find a way to reach a negotiated settlement before schools are due to open, a decision on school opening will likely not be made until this Friday, August 29,” Lynn Hauptman, superintendent of School District 5, wrote in the letter. Hauptman said if there is a settlement, they expect school to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 2. If there is no settlement, she wrote, many of the Southeast Koote-
nay schools will be behind picket lines. The BCPSEA may also reintroduce the lockout that was imposed back in June and lifted for the summer. “If that is the scenario, a withdrawal of service due to strike action and/or a lockout will again impact our ability to provide educational services and supervise students,” Hauptman wrote. “Again we ask parents to not send their children to school.” That a deal has not been reached has not been for want of trying on the part of the teachers, said Shelley Balfour, President of the Cranbrook and District Teachers Association. “The teachers have been ready to bargain all summer,” Balfour said on Tuesday. “Government has been missing in action for most of July. They stepped up a little bit in August. Our president asked on Sunday ‘let’s mediate on Monday’ and we’re still waiting.”
See TEACHERS, Page 3
TREVOR CRAWLEY PHOTO
There was all kinds of mayhem at the 12th annual Cranbrook Mower Nationals on Saturday, as racers took their souped-up machines through the dirt track at a course built by Pete Durning at Mission View Moving and Storage. Racers felt the sweet taste of victory as they ripped around the track, while others felt the sting of defeat as their machines crumbled under driver abuse. After the winning racers were crowned, the event heated up with a variety of live musical acts.
Local SAR aviators are tops TRE VOR CR AWLEY
SUBMITTED
Four local members of Cranbrook Air Search and Rescue were named the top aviation crew at a recent training exercis. From left to right: Dan Shynuk, Louise Shynuk, Allister Pedersen, Grant Tulloch.
A local air crew was named the top aviators at a recent training exercise featuring 19 aircraft and personnel from across Western Canada and the Territories. Last weekend, pilot Dan Shynuk and navigator Allister Pedersen, along with spotters Louise Shynuk and Grant Tulloch were honoured with the title at the conclusion of a three-day Western Canada SAREX (air search and rescue exercise) in Camrose,
Alberta. The foursome are part of a volunteer B.C. PEP (provincial emergency program) that is associated with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA). CASARA provides aircraft and crews who support the Canadian military in missing aircraft searches as well as assisting the RCMP and ground SAR crews for missing person searches.
See SAR , Page 3
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