I N S I D E : New fines coming for distracted driving. Page 8
Journal ASHCROFT t CACHE CREEK
The
Volume 121 No 12
PM # 400121123
Thursday, March 24, 2016
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Guilty plea for man who shot Mountie BARBARA RODEN The Journal
Members of the Ashcroft and District Health Care Auxiliary presented a donation of $20,000 to the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation’s Radiothon on March 4. (from l) Heidi Coleman (CEO of the RIH Foundation); Auxiliary executives Fran Helland, Elsie Howard, Irene Trueman, Kitty Murray, and Shirley Holowchuk; and Alan Gazda, RIH Foundation Board Chair. For more about the Health Care Auxiliary, see the story on p. 3. Photo courtesy of Lisa Novak Photography
New full-service gym coming to the Ashcroft HUB BARBARA RODEN The Journal
Thanks to a donation of $5,000 from Interior Savings Credit Union, the Ashcroft HUB Society will be opening a full-service gym at the site (the former Ashcroft Elementary School on Hill Street) on April 1. “They wanted the funds to go towards something that would give us sustainability,” says site manager Vicky Trill. “They said ‘Do something you can bring money in with,’ so we sat on it for a while and tried to decide what to do.” People had been asking about the possibility of a gym for some time, so the society negotiated the purchase of gym equipment from a local businessman. Merv McKague was the man responsible for bringing it to the site and reassembling it; something that was
easier said than done in some cases, given the complexity of the equipment and the state some of it was in. “It took four hours to assemble the universal gym,” he says. “We had no pictures to go by, so ended up taking it apart two or three times. And we moved things around a lot.” The set-up took almost a week in total, says Trill, but the work is almost done; something that seemed almost impossible when they began work on the project in February. “I said ‘Let’s try to be open by April 1’,” laughs Trill. “And the response I got was ‘Are you kidding?’ ” Now, however, all they have to do is paint the walls and install a security system. There will also be a key fob or key card entry system, which will allow gym users to access the facility—located in the former District Training Centre rooms on the Government Street
side of the building—to gain access to the gym at any time between 5:00am and 11:00pm. Trill says that staff will be on site during office hours (9:00am to 5:00pm), and that between those times gym users will have access to showers near the gymnasium. Outside those hours they’ll have access to nearby washrooms. “There’s pretty much all you would expect in a gym here,” says McKague. “You can do pretty well all you can in most gyms.” Weightlifters will find chin-up bars, squat racks, bench presses, and free weights, and there’s a wide range of cardio equipment. “There are a lot of options,” says Trill. Membership is $40 per month for seniors, youth, and the disabled, while adults will pay $55 per month. All gym See GYM on p. 6
The man charged with shooting RCMP Cpl. J.R. Michaud, a former Ashcroft resident, in Kamloops in December 2014 has been sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison for attempted murder with a firearm. Kamloops resident Kenneth Knutson, aged 38, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in court in Kamloops on March 17. In the early hours of Dec. 3, 2014 he failed to stop for Michaud, who had identified the vehicle Knutson was driving as one that was being used to deal drugs around the city. Michaud flashed his lights but Knutson kept driving, finally stopping in the Batchelor Heights area. When Michaud approached the car, Knutson fired six shotgun blasts through the vehicle’s rear window, two of which struck Michaud. The prompt actions of Const. Steve Marcil, who was fresh out of depot, helped save Michaud’s life. Marcil returned fire, then administered first aid to Michaud until emergency services arrived on the scene, for which he will receive official recognition. Michaud sustained injuries in the abdomen and elbow, which caused one of his lungs to collapse. He underwent 12 surgeries over more than 100 days in hospital, and was not able to return to full-time duty for 13 months. Knutson fled the scene, but was apprehended after a 13-hour manhunt. His sentence will be reduced by 2 years for time served, and he will be eligible for parole when he has served one-third of his sentence. Michaud was head of the Central Interior Traffic Services at Ashcroft detachment from 2009 to 2012, and served as the detachment’s Commander between the departure of Sgt. Dave Prentice and the arrival of Sgt. Michel Grondin. He was transferred from Ashcroft to Kamloops in the sumCpl. J.R. Michaud in 2010. mer of 2012. Photo by Wendy Coomber
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