EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Recycle depot moving from downtown Page 2
Proceeds of crime to be paid for property Page 3
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 PM40008236
Vol. 60 No. 3 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Rising cost of food pinching consumers By Tracy Hughes
Eagle Valley News
Shuswap consumers might be experiencing sticker shock when it comes to filling up their grocery carts. Prices of produce and beef are exceptionally high at the moment, due to a combination of factors, primarily poor weather, the low Canadian dollar and the high cost of shipping. “You are out on the floor and you are hearing and seeing the customers staring at the prices and they are traumatized,” says Salmon Arm Askew’s uptown produce manager Mike Medwid. “They really just can’t understand it.” Prices of items like cauliflower, celery, broccoli, leafy salad greens, green onions and herbs like cilantro and parsley are among the highest grocery stores have seen. “These growers plan months in advance to schedule their crops, but you can’t count on Mother Nature,” says Medwid, who notes drought conditions, followed by El Nino-influenced heavy rains have resulted in widespread flooding of fields. “People have come to expect these types of produce on the shelves year-round, so there is demand for it, and when you can’t produce enough to meet the demand, prices go up.” Medwid suggests consumers be cautious with their spending and only buy smaller amount of produce that they are sure they will use before it spoils. “Now is not the time to stockpile,” he says. Brad DeMille, at DeMille’s Farm Market, says prices have been shocking, even to those in the know. “I’ve been looking at the price lists and going, ‘holy jeez,’” he says. At Christmas time, DeMille’s was selling free range turkeys for $3.69 a pound while brussels sprouts were going for $5.99 a pound. “I couldn’t believe sprouts were more than your turkey, but people were buying them. There was not a brussels sprout to be found in this town just before Christmas.” The low Canadian dollar is also a huge factor, as the lion’s share of produce sold in local grocery stores is coming from California, Arizona and Florida. “When your dollar is worth 30 cents less than it used to be, that has a real impact on your buying power,” says Medwid. The high prices impact consumers at the till, but programs like the Good Food Box are also feeling the pinch. The Good Food Box is a volunteer-run, co-operative produce program which uses bulk buying in an efSee Options available on page 3
Little helper: Certified therapy dog Mocha poses with owner Regina Forry.
Photo by Lachlan Labere
From fearful stray to therapy dog Mexican rescue: Sicamous pet finds happy home.
By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Mocha’s tale is one of rags to riches. The approximately three-year-old dog of “indeterminate breed” belongs to Regina Forry. The two became acquainted about two years ago through Audrey Simser, who was looking after Mocha at the time. Forry said she’d been looking for a dog at the time, but something smaller. “I said no, I think that one’s too big. But she’s not that big, she ended up being only 40 pounds,” said Forry. “Then I happened to be at the dog park, ran into her… and when I went to leave, the dog decided she needed to come with me.” Soon after, Mocha became part of
Forry’s family. While Forry was aware that Mocha had been a rescue, she didn’t know where the dog had been rescued from until the two visited Forry’s veterinarian. “I phoned my vet and said I’ve got this dog and I’d like for you to check her out,” Forry explained. “I went in and said she’d been tested for heartworm at the other veterinarian. So they had the paperwork faxed over and she said, why didn’t you tell me the dog was from Mexico?” And I just kind of stood their blankly and said, “I didn’t know.” Forry says Simser regularly winters in Mexico. When she returns to Canada, she is known to bring with her stray dogs, typically found at landfills. “She fondly refers to them as purebred Mexican dump dogs, because you have no idea what their history is… and because dogs aren’t treated nicely and she’s an avid dog lover,” said Forry. Simser is currently in Mexico and
couldn’t be reached for comment. Forry says Simser has her dogs checked out before bringing them to Canada. “She takes them in to a Mexican vet – she says it’s the same vet she works with all the time,” said Forry. “She takes the dogs there, I guess for a check to make sure they’re healthy enough to bring across, because she doesn’t want to bring sick dogs back.” Being a rescue dog, Forry said Mocha was initially extremely fearful, yet also very affectionate. Soon, however, Mocha’s good nature began to show through, and she became something of a peacekeeper/caretaker at Forry’s home. “I’ve got a house full of rescues – I’ve got a couple of cats and if they decide to spat, she runs over to break it up…,” said Forry. “I have an older rescue who is now 16 and blind, and if he See Program on page 2