FRIDAY
Valiev, Reinhart and the World Juniors
DECEMBER 5, 2014
Volleyball provincials at Mount Baker: final results Page 2
Page 8
Michelle Rybachuk
Janus: 1925 and the wreck of the 3885
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Vol. 63, Issue 234 Galen Olstead has recently taken the position of Key City Theatre manager.
Arne Petryshen photo
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Petition Crown takes decries its turn with highway Learn on stand conditions TRE VOR CR AWL EY
C A RO LYN G R A N T
surroundings of Cranbrook itself. Coming from the Lower Mainland, access to nature is there, but you have to seek it. “Here, it’s the exact opposite. It’ll be a little bit of an ongoing transition-period for me, but I am loving it.”
Tough winter driving conditions are a part of life in most of Canada. The seasons change, you put on winter tires, slow down and drive to conditions. However, this week, as anyone who has ventured out onto East Kootenay highways can tell you, conditions have been particularly challenging. A Facebook group called Taking Back East Kootenay Highways is pointing fingers at the highways contractor Mainroads, saying that they are not doing a good enough job keeping the highways in the area safe through the winter months. Robert Campbell is one of the administrators of the group. “It seems to us that not enough attention is being paid to roads after major incidents,” he said. That means making sure that roads are sanded and additional clearing is done days after a storm, he says. “We all understand there are limitations to what sand and gravel can do, but they are not doing enough. Look at the roads this week. Would those conditions be acceptable in a parking lot where owners are liable? I don’t think so.” As of press time, Mainroad was unavailable for comment on the situation. This week the group began circulating a petition stating the following: The undersigned petitioners, residents of the Province of British Columbia, request that the Honourable House demand the Government of British Columbia to: 1. Relieve “Mainroads Contracting” from its role in highway maintenance for the East Kootenays of British Columbia and elect a different contractor for at least one term. 2. Conduct a thorough review of the monitoring and enforcement of highway maintenance contractors.
See KCT, Page 4
See PETITION, Page 3
Key City Theatre’s new manager aims to make a difference FERDY BELL AND
G
alen Olstead is the latest in a long line of theatre managers who have overseen Cranbrook’s Key City Theatre. And with a combination of insight, experience and adventurousness, he stands to make his mark at the facility. “I saw the position
posted on an arts website,” Olstead said. “I’d been looking for a change in direction for some time, so I applied. It was an interesting interview process; as much as they were interviewing me, I was interviewing them to make sure it was the right fit. “I love the physical
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Crown counsel cross-examined Cheyenne Learn on Thursday in Cranbrook Supreme Court following testimony in his defence of the shooting death of Tammy Ellis in 2007. Learn testified his version of the events leading up to the shooting on Wednesday, while crown counsel Lianna Swanson got the chance to challenge that evidence in front of Justice Dev Dley. Learn was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009, but the decision was overturned on appeal in 2013 and he was awarded a new trial. Learn insisted he can’t recall certain parts of the incident on the night of the shooting on Dec. 17, 2007. Swanson made a number of suggestions in an attempt to pin down the reasoning behind some of his decisions, but Learn said his memory through the night was spotty because of intoxication. Learn said he couldn’t remember entering the residence of the event, but remembers being inside at one point. He also testified he didn’t recall loading the gun, pointing the
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
Cheyenne Learn is escorted from Cranbrook Court on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
gun, pulling the trigger, or leaving. He testified his next memory was laying on a road with his bicycle on one side and the gun — a sawed-off shotgun — on the other side. He said he didn’t realize he was on a bridge overrunning a creek, and that he couldn’t say why he tossed it away. Swanson opened her cross-examination by referring to the transcript from the first trial and pointing out inconsistencies in that testimony and the one he delivered on Wednesday.
See CROWN, Page 5
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