TODAY’S WEATHER Summer-like! High 20 C Low 5C
KEG MEETS ONCE AGAIN
ARE THEY BUGGING YOU, TOO?
Prospecting runs in the Denny family
One man is ‘haunted’ by the little buggers
A5
A7
KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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APRIL 16, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 46
HOMEOWNERS HELP HEAVY INDUSTRY ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
The average homeowner will pay an extra $49 in taxes and fees in 2015 after Kamloops city council set the tax rate on Tuesday. Property taxes will rise 1.22 per cent but, because of a decision to freeze the mill rate for the city’s heavy industries for a third year in a row, other taxpayers will pay a bit extra, about $34 for a home assessed at $344,000, which is the average in Kamloops. The freeze amounts to $272,000 saved for heavy industry — a
tax class that includes Domtar, Tolko, Arclin and Lafarge. They have been lobbying for several years for a decreased rate per $1,000 of assessed property to bring the city in line with the provincial average, which is less than two-thirds of what industries in Kamloops pay. Coun. Tina Lange could not find support for her suggestion the city make a larger offering to industry in a year in which the propertytax increase is relatively low, shifting $500,000 onto commercial and residential ratepayers,
arguing the smaller amount is “a drop in the bucket,” but couldn’t find support from her council colleagues. Coun. Arjun Singh questioned whether the city’s strategy so far — freezing its heavyindustrial tax rate as it attempts to annex the New Afton Mine west of the city— is working. Were the mine within city boundaries, it would bring in additional tax dollars that would drop the tax rate closer to the province’s average, but Singh said he’s not sure the province is on side with the annexation bid. See TAX RATE, A6
Is he Eric or James Rocky?
A NEW TALLEST PEAK IN WELLS GRAY NEEDS A NAME PAGE A11
TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
What’s in a name? For a Kamloops man, it almost meant more time behind bars. The Crown unsuccessfully appealed six provincial-court sentences handed down in 2013 to someone named James Rocky Whitford. The problem is the James Rocky Whitford who was jailed for terms ranging from two weeks to three
months is not a real person. He is actually 31-year-old Eric Charlie. The alias wasn’t caught until a court-ordered DNA sample for Whitford matched Charlie and authorities in Ottawa notified Kamloops Mounties on Feb. 10, 2014. During an appeal hearing in B.C. Supreme Court this week, Crown prosecutor Frank Caputo said Charlie, who has a lengthy criminal record, received relative slaps on the wrist because of Whitford’s lack of a history. See CHARLIE, A14
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