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Vol. 120, Issue 78
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Squash court upgrades Page 9
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Store coming to downtown gas station
TUESDAY TRAFFIC TIEUP
BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
Three vehicles were involved in a collision at the intersection of Victoria St. and Second Ave. in Trail Tuesday morning. There were no serious injuries but rescue crews needed the Jaws of Life to free someone from the car turned on its side. The RCMP have not released further details on the accident.
Bear destroyed after entering Sunningdale home BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
Saturday night was actionpacked for homeowner Barb Billingsley in Sunningdale when a bear broke into her basement. On May 16, around 11 p.m., a large male black bear came in through the basement door, knocked over a deep freezer, and alarmed Billingsley and her family, but didn't do any lasting damage. She says she figured out something was wrong in her home when she heard a noise coming from the basement. “I just heard the noise downstairs, wondered what it was,” she said. “I just had a feeling, so I grabbed my dog and headed down the stairs. I opened up the door and saw a big bear and the deep freeze was tipped over.” Her first reaction? Get her family and get out of the house. “I had a family member sleeping
downstairs, so I had to wake him cerned with humans and wouldn't up and get him upstairs fast,” she leave her property despite the pressaid, adding that once everyone was ence of dogs and humans trying to out of the basement, the ordeal still scare it away. As a result, the bear wasn't over. was destroyed by RCMP officers and “We got upstairs and I said, 'darn, disposed of by the city. I have to call 911.' Then “The bear just I thought the bear was didn't care. He has “I opened up the gone because I didn't been around the door and saw a hear any other noises. neighbourhood a lot, So I went downstairs to but this time, he came big bear and the go close the door again into our house,” she deep freeze was and he was right there, said. “He just stood tipped over.” so I went running for there with the police it.” spotlight on him and BARB BILLINGSLEY Billingsley and he just wasn't going her family waited at a away. If he had just neighbour’s house until the police left, nothing would have happened arrived to deal with the belligerent to him. He would take something bruin. from the basement, go out in the She says the bear wasn't a yard and eat it, then come back stranger to the area, wreaking inside to get something else.” havoc at other homes, breaking Now that the bear has been into her pool house previously and destroyed, she feels safer at home even standing on its hind legs on and in Sunningdale. her deck. The bear wasn't con“I was trying to scare him away
and there was no reaction,” said Billingsley. “I am not convinced that he wasn't going to be aggressive, and he wasn't at the time, but when he was up on the deck, he was big and intimidating.” Sgt. Darren Oelke from the Trail RCMP detachment, said the bear was destroyed by officers, but only out of necessity. “It was just the fact that the bear was in a residential area and there was a concern for the safety of the people that live there,” he said, adding that the bear had made it outside to the yard before it was destroyed. “The bear had already been inside and officers would have to look at the situation and decide whether or not to destroy the bear.” Oelke says to keep doors and windows closed to prevent an unwanted visitor in your home, but some bears are determined to get in, no matter what the obstacle.
After sitting empty for nearly a year, the former 7-Eleven location on Victoria Street in Trail will soon be open and taking customers. Scott McKelvie is the director of retail operations in Canada for Parkland Fuels, the new operator for the location, and he says work on the gutted building will begin next month. “We are going to be going ahead now with fixing up the convenience store into a Town Pantry,” he said. “All plans are in place and we should be starting really soon – next month, in June.” The work was supposed to start around now, says McKelvie, but some equipment delays have pushed the start date back to June. Town Pantry is the name of the convenience stores that accompany most Chevron gas stations in Canada. There are already locations open in Cranbrook and Castlegar. As for why the building sat empty for so long? “It was just about finalizing some details,” said McKelvie. He says the location, once work is finished, will have all of the usual offerings of a gas station convenience store with snacks, drinks, a lotto centre, cigarettes and more. See HOURS, Page 3
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