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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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JUNE 30, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 78
Turban used in heroic river rescue AVTAR HOTHI USED HIS HEAD — AND WHAT WAS ON IT — TO SAVE GIRL’S LIFE
MAIL MAY STOP THIS WEEKEND
CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
The City of Kamloops and businesses are preparing for a stoppage in postal service as early as Saturday, July 2, as the union and Canada Post near an impasse on negotiations. Lara Plummer, local president of Canadian Postal Workers Union, said 175 members in Kamloops are preparing for a lockout. They voted last week and through the weekend whether to strike to back demands. She said the number of employees in Kamloops is down from about 200 five years ago. “We feel there’s going to be a lockout,” she said. “They’re [Canada Post] acting like there will be a labour disruption.” See STOPPAGE, A4
PAUL HOTHI PHOTO
Heffley Creek farmer Avtar Hothi is the talk of the province after employing a novel way to pull a girl from the North Thompson River. Son Paul credited his father with quick thinking: “My dad took his turban and threw it out in the water and pulled her out. She was in the middle of the river. We followed along. When she got close enough, we used it [turban] as a rope.”
SERVING WESTERN CANADA SINCE 1929
JUNE
When Avtar Hothi needed to rescue a girl floundering in the chilly North Thompson River on the weekend, he used something that was top of mind — his turban. The North Thompson farmer and son Paul were called to the riverside in the early evening on Saturday by shouts. The farm is beside the North Thompson River downstream of the Heffley Creek rapids. Neighbour Betty Timuss said she was outside her riverfront home with a friend when she heard noises she first though was a coyote or another animal. The pair heard it several more times and went down to look more closely at the river. “I could hear someone yelling, ‘Help, help! I can’t swim!” Timuss said, noting she jumped on her tractor to catch up to the swimmer while her girlfriend ran. Just downstream, the Hothi father and son duo was also coming to investigate. “We ran over and she was in the middle of the river,” Paul said. The girl was making her way downstream, her head bobbing up and down in the current. When she came close, Avtar yanked off his turban and tossed the end to the girl, about 10 or 12 feet into the river as she neared the shoreline. “My dad took his turban and threw it out in the water and pulled her out,” Paul said, crediting his father with quick thinking. “She was in the middle of the river. We followed along. When she got close enough, we used it [turban] as a rope.” Emergency services from Kamloops Fire Rescue and an RCMP helicopter were also dispatched to the scene, neighbours said. Paul said the girl was extremely cold from the time she spent in the river. A neighbour brought down a blanket and he drove the girl, who he does not know, to a relative’s house in the area.
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