Sabotage suspected along KVR trail
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SPOTL SPOT SPOTLIGHT LIGHT
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The Similkameen
Volume 65 Issue 23
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
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Princeton is ready for the rodeo! Petition calls for more cops Andrea DeMeer Spotlight Staff
Spotlight file photo
Bull riding has overtaken Bronco riding as the popular contest at most rodeos, according to Princeton Rodeo Club president Ken Compton. While some rodeos now have only bulls the Stan Thompson Memorial Rodeo still manages to attract riders for seven different events.
Spotlight Staff Organizers are hoping a new weekend for the Stan Thompson Memorial Rodeo spurs greater attendance at the annual event. The rodeo, being held this Saturday and Sunday at Sunflower Downs Exhibition Grounds, has been held on Mother’s Day weekend for several years. While the event generally attracts between 800 and 900 people, only about a third of those fans typically turn out on Sunday. “Maybe mothers don’t like rodeos,” laughed Ken Crompton, president of the Princeton Rodeo Club, during an interview at the fairgrounds Saturday. Crompton said the club has also researched weather during May and June weekends for the past 25 years, and decided a June rodeo might be warmer, with less chance of rain. The Stan Thompson Rodeo includes seven rodeo events plus a wild horse race. Crompton said bullriding tends to be the most popular event
for spectators, but added the Princeton event still has its share of bronco riders. A total of $9,000 in prize money is awarded. While the Princeton Rodeo Club has more than 40 members and associates – most of whom help out on rodeo weekend – Crompton said the biggest challenge in staging the competition is getting volunteers to help before the event, cleaning up the grounds, painting shoots and getting bleachers in place. Approximately half a dozen volunteers joined a work party Saturday. While the Stan Thompson Memorial Rodeo has existed in its present format for about 35 years, the town has a rodeo history that dates back to at least the 1920s. At that time rodeos were held near the present airport and it took two days to drive the necessary stock from the Cawston area. The rodoe opens Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Ticket prices are as follows: Adults $15 for one day, $25 for the weekend. Seniors $10/$17, Kids (13-18) $10/$17 and children under 12 are free.
A petition demanding more police officers for the Town of Princeton has not ruffled the feathers of local RCMP. “I really don’t have an opinion on it,” Sergeant Barry Kennedy, detachment commander, said in an interview with The Spotlight last week. “It’s nice to see that they would like more officers here and they are petitioning so I guess it’s a way of making a request for more officers.” The Princeton RCMP detachment currently has seven fulltime officers. According to Kennedy, the number of officers assigned to each community is not determined by population, but by the number of criminal files open at any detachment. He said he believes frustration and fear over drug crimes is motivating the petitioners. “I think there are a group of citizens that are fed up with the drugs that are in town and they want something done about it and are wanting more police officers out here to help combat the problem.” JoAnne Tomusiak is one of the organizers of the petition, which can be found at several retail locations in town. She is the grandmother who initiated a well-publicized meeting last month with local politicians and continued page 10
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