KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
LOCAL NEWS
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NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | Volume 30 No. 142
WEATHER Cloudy High 7 C Low -1 C
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 63 cm Alpine: 81 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
LEGEND ON HIS WAY
SANTA CAME TO TOWN
Dwight Yoakam will perform in Kamloops on March 3
Turn to pages A6 and A7 for all the photos from Allen Douglas
A3
City beefs up security at Stuart Wood shelter Following complaints from residents, City of Kamloops staff has installed temporary fencing at the former Stuart Wood elementary. Its gym is now being used as a winter shelter for the homeless and the fencing is there to encourage shelter users to not use the playground on the grounds of the former school. ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW
ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
A Kamloops childcare worker is hopeful a culture clash between the city’s homeless and children and parents is coming to a end at the former Stuart Wood elementary downtown. “It feels like everybody is really working together now,” said Patti Pernitsky of Kamloops United Church Preschool. “Everybody is listening to what the concerns are from each of the parties because it’s not just an issue for us, it’s an issue of homelessness in Kamloops and, as a community, we all need to be working together to help these people.” Since the beginning of November, the gym in the shuttered school at St. Paul Street and Third Avenue has become a shelter for the homeless, a warm place for the city’s less fortunate to sleep at nights and get a hot meal. But parents of children who use the site as a bus stop on weekdays have complained the school grounds have become a problem spot
during the day, when the shelter is closed. Parent Katrin Dietrich said needles and human feces have been found on the property. The City of Kamloops announced Friday that, after a meeting with Interior
Health, shelter manager Canadian Mental Health Association, School District 73 and others, more lighting will go up around the school. Outdoor needledisposal containers are being installed, as is signage “reminding all
park users that children play in this area,” a city press release states. The city has also pledged to have bylaw officers, street outreach and overdose prevention workers and park staff patrol the site, particularly when school buses arrive to pick up
and drop off students who attend Beattie elementary a few blocks up Columbia Street. By Monday morning, a fence had been erected to separate the shelter entrance and a small section of the school yard from the rest of the playground.
By 6:45 a.m., many of those using shelter had already left the grounds for the day and staffers were encouraging those still lingering to move on quickly, reminding them kids would be arriving soon for bus pickup. Others patrolled the
grounds outside the fencing. Those staying at the shelter seemed unsurprised it had been the subject of complaints. Diana Gallagher, who told KTW she has been homeless since last September, agreed drug users aren’t cleaning up their used needles well, but said the issue is citywide, not specific to Stuart Wood. She said the complaints from parents show Kamloops needs to go beyond Stuart Wood to solve its housing issues. “If the homeless had more places to live, they would not be doing it [drugs] outside,” she said. “They’d rather be doing it in their homes. I think the housing is where it’s at.” See SD73, A11
THE BIGGEST AND D L E H GREATEST SALE IN HISTORY! OVER TURN THE PAGE TO A2 FOR DETAILS!