Merry Christmas
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Town councils visiting Houston By Xuyun Zeng Houston Today
LET it snow!
Robin Vander Heide/Houston Today
Elementary students, parents, and staff from the Houston Christian School enjoy a toboggan party at Rock Nest Ranch on Friday, December 18 to kick off the beginning of Christmas holidays. All who attended enjoyed treats and hot chocolate, got a chance to reconnect with each other, and enjoy a romp in the beautiful winter wonderland.
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Council will be going places next year, and will also host Smithers’ and Vanderhoof’s town council. All councillors and the mayor will attend the 2016 North Central Local Government Association conference and annual general meeting on May 4-6 in Dawson Creek, and they will also attend Minerals North May 18-20 in Smithers, along with chief administrative officer Michael Glavin. In addition to that, the mayor will send out a formal invitation to Smithers’ council, who will come to town Jan. 14, with five or six attending. “I think local governments are working together more than in the past, where they were all doing their own thing. They’re thinking more regionally,” said Mayor
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“I think local governments are... thinking more regionally. ” - Mayor Shane Brienen
Shane Brienen. “We’re just getting together to have a little meet-andgreet, and they would like to tour some of our facilities and we’ll talk about common issues and what we’re working on and what they are working on.” According to Glavin’s report, Smithers council will tour the Leisure Facility. Brienen added See VISIT on Page 2
Plans to get a Syrian refugee are continuing to unfold By Xuyun Zeng Houston Today
The plan to get a Syrian refugee to Houston is unfolding further. A meeting of eight people on Dec. 15 at the Library of the Houston Group to Support Syrian Refugees had people
signed up for different tasks that go towards developing a settlement plan. “We find that we are able in Houston to fundraise, provide accommodation and dental services,” said co-chair Bobby Seinen. “We went over what Smithers is doing … thinking that we
“Refugees need both financial and resettlement support.”
might join them, but we decided on setting our own objectives.” “The HGSSR
will try to sponsor a Christian family for settlement in Houston based on some feed-
back we have received from townspeople.” Seinen and Robin Euverman are heading
the organization as cochairs. Seinen said the group considered that a Muslim member would need to travel to Prince George for religious services. The group also hopes to pick a refugee that is from local dental hygienist Akram Khalil’s hometown.
“This seems to be an interesting development from other community groups who are sponsoring refugees,” said Seinen. “Once you get everything in place, you have to actually choose a refugee. It’s not like they assign you one.” “We will be conSee SYRIAN on Page 3
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