FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 20, 2015
Council reviews City tax rates
Janus and the Legend of the Lost Lemon Mine
Page 4
WHL Wild Card on the line
Edmonton Oil Kings in town to take on Kootenay Ice
Page 7
Page 7
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Vol. 64, Issue 35
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February set some new records ARNE PETRYSHEN
It’s been a record setting February in terms of weather temperature. Lisa Coldwells, Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist, noted that the weather has been rather remarkable, with seven high temperature records broken this month.
TREVOR CRAWLEY PHOTO
Three members of the Kootenay Ice stopped by the Cranbrook Public Library to read to kids on Thursday afternoon with a theme of foxes. After reading some short stories, the players and the kids put the books down and picked up some scissors and paper for arts and crafts.
Lawyers lobbying for full-time judge TRE VOR CR AWLEY
With the looming retirement of Justice Tom Melnick, the Kootenay Bar Association is concerned with getting access to a judge to hear court cases. Andrew Mayes, a lawyer in Cranbrook, currently serves as the president of the Kootenay Bar Association, but is ap-
proaching the end of his oneyear term at the end of February. Mayes says the Bar has been lobbying the chief justice in B.C. to replace Justice Melnick when he retires. At the present, Melnick is only working half-time to complete a report for the Electoral Boundaries Commission
before full retirement and is not sitting for any jury trials. When Melnick fully retires, local lawyers fear that will impact the amount of judge time in Cranbrook Supreme Court, which will have a resulting effect on cases. “One of the major issues that the Bar has advised me of the drawbacks to not having a
resident judge, is a problem of continuations with trials,” Mayes said. “It’s not uncommon that trials won’t get finished in the allotted time— that’s when you have a judge from the Lower Mainland or somewhere else in the province—conducting that trial.
See FEBRUARY, Page 3
Bennett shuts down conflict of interest rumours TRE VOR CR AWLEY
Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett denies there is a conflict of interest in his involvement with a dispute between B.C. guide outfitters and resident hunters, given an old shareholder loan of his in a now-defunct guide outfitters business. Bennett, who had invested in a small business 20 years ago, says he gave his shares back when he received the BC Liberal Party nomination before winning his first election in 2001. “I did that very specifically and deliberately so that I would put some clear space between me and this company,” said Bennett. “Because at the
Every deduction and credit count±. See LAWYERS, Page 5
She said it is common to have one record broken, but seven is a much rarer occurrence. Many of those were lumped together. “You had five in a row, from the 10th of February to the 14th,” Coldwells said. “Those are all-time records.”
BILL BENNETT
time, there was this guide outfitter working this territory and I just didn’t want to have any association with anything like that because I knew after I got elected that I would be wanting to be involved with public policy issues relating to wildlife management.”
See BENNETT, Page 4
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