THURSDAY JANUARY 22, 2015
Arts and Entertainment Colin James; Waiting for Godot; Homegrown Coffeehouse; New Cranbrook Concert Series; Cara Luft Page 12, 13, 14, 15 Inside Walmar t
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Both sides of the science Attempting to save Mountain Caribou through a wolf cull is a complex, difficult issue C AROLYN GR ANT
work isn’t there, trial co-ordinators around the province will request Supreme Court judges. regardless of where they live, to run trials in other jurisdictions. That usually means presiding on trials in the larger population centres of the Lower Mainland. “For a full-time judge living here, it’d be tough, it is tough,” said Melnick. “But that’s not to say I’m not supportive of the idea of there being a judge here to replace me. Quite frankly, I’ve told the bar, and I don’t mind repeating it, I think it’s a good idea.
The decision by the provincial Ministry of Environment to try to protect the dwindling South Selkirk Mountain Caribou herd by taking out predators — namely wolves — is generating a lot of reaction. The Ktunaxa Nation and Northern Lights Wolf Centre have already responded, the former stating that the intention to shoot wolves from helicopters is a narrow and short term approach, while the latter called it morally indefensible. However, others believe it is the only solution. Bob Jamieson, a wildlife biologist well-known in the East Kootenay, and a member of an ad hoc group of those who have lived and hunted elk in this valley for years, says he is concerned with the situation with predators and ungulates in its totality. He says he certainly understands the opposition to the plan — nobody wants to kill wolves — but does anyone want to lose the caribou either? Jamieson doesn’t buy that the caribou herd is habitat challenged. He says given the amount of lichen each caribou consumes in a year, he doesn’t believe the 18 or so animals can’t find that forage over the many kilometres of the Salmo-Creston higher elevations.
See JUDGE, Page 4
See WOLF, Page 5
CHRIS PULLEN/CRANBROOK PHOTO
On Tuesday evening, Jan. 20, the Kootenay Ice celebrated the achievements of its two medallists in the recent World Junior Championships. Jeff Chynoweth, Ice President and General Manager, presented Rinat Valiev, Silver Medallist with Team Russia, and Sam Reinhart, Gold Medallist with Team Canada, each with a mounted and framed print of their exploits and the tournament held in Toronto and Montreal. The Ice then went on to defeat the Vancouver Giants 4-3. See more on Kootenay Ice action on Page 8.
Melnick reflects on judicial career Longtime Supreme Court judge soon to be vacating the bench
TREVOR CRAWLEY
After a legal career spanning almost 50 years, Justice Tom Melnick is set to retire. If he had his way, he’d already be off the judicial bench and tending to his vegetable garden at his house outside Cranbrook, but there is one last project to wrap up before he, in his own words, fades away “like the mist drifting off into the trees.” Sitting as the only Supreme Court justice in Cranbrook since 1990, Melnick is all but retired, save for his work as one of three panelists working on a preliminary report to identify any issues
with B.C.’s electoral boundaries. Once the report is submitted to the legislature, it’s up to the MLA’s to suggest any amendments before it gets approved and cemented into law. His office, on the second floor of the Cranbrook Law Courts, is situated right behind Supreme Court chambers and overlooks Rotary Park. The hallways, carpeted with red, are lined with portraits of his predecessors, dating back to 1905. Melnick is currently working half-time to wrap up his work with the Electoral Boundaries Commission, but once he’s fully retired, it
JUSTICE TOM MELNICK
looks like there won’t be a Supreme Court justice replacement in Cranbrook for the immediate future, he said. “At the present time, no. That was an issue that was up in the air until the end of last summer, early September,” said Melnick. “I think part of the reasoning behind that was that the volume of work in our court — and it’s not just Cranbrook, it’s largely throughout rural courts — is not as high as it once was.” That could be a sign of falling crime rates, or the expense at which it costs to run a jury trial, he added. If the