kamloopsthisweek.com kamloopsthisweek kamthisweek
#YKASTRONG
SALUTING OUR NURSES Special section begins on page B1
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 32
BADGERED IN BROCK TODAY’S WEATHER
WILL COVID PUT SQUADS ON ICE?
Seldom seen animal arrived and declined to leave
Showers High 15 C Low 9 C
KIJHL commish fears some teams may fold
SPORTS/A25
NEWS/A12
Weapons ban draws ire of local target sports club TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
In this image from a surveillance video, a bear is seen walking through the yard of a Westsyde resident’s home recently. Below, the ursus is seen lumbering down a Westsyde driveway. Video is online at kamloopsthisweek.com.
THE BRUINS ARE BACK
MICHAEL POTESTIO
STAFF REPORTER
michael@kamloopsthisweek.com
S
pring has sprung and the bruins are awake. Sightings of bears are beginning, including that of a large black bear captured on multiple cameras wandering Westsyde recently in the middle of the night on Bebek and Porterfield roads. Dayana Rescigno — an employee of Kamloops This Week currently at home with her family of five — was surprised to see the bear had walked through her carport when she checked security footage that day. She shared
the video to a Westsyde Facebook group, as did two other residents. Garbage and recycling collection was that morning and, while Rescigno kept her bins inside
until 7 a.m., she noticed some neighbours had left their bins out overnight. Rescigno believes that is why the bear came so close to her home and is concerned trash left outside overnight may attract more of the animals. The bruin’s presence is not unusual as the residential area backs onto the Lac Du Bois Grasslands, Kamloops conservation officer Graydon Bruce told KTW. “You have a large riparian area that is adjacent to a residential area, which we see a lot of in Kamloops,” he said. See EIGHT BEARS, A6
A director in the executive of a Kamloops firearms club said he is devastated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that all assault-style weapons will be outlawed immediately. The ban, covering 1,500 types of what the federal Liberal government calls “military-style” weapons, comes less than two weeks after the deadliest mass slaying in Canada’s history, in which a gunman in rural Nova Scotia armed with illegal weapons killed 22 people before he was shot to death by police. “I feel like my sport has been taken away from me,” Geoff House, a director with the Kamloops Target Sports Association, told KTW. “As a law-abiding citizen who’s maintained a clean record and always followed the rules, what did I do to have my passion outlawed?” For the next two years, Trudeau’s cabinet order doesn’t forbid people from owning any of the assault-style weapons, but it does bar them from being used and halts the trade in them. After two years, the guns must be turned over to the government in a buyback program currently
estimated at $250 million. “Today, we are closing the market for military-grade assault weapons in Canada,” Trudeau said on Friday, citing mass shootings, including last month’s mass murder in Nova Scotia and the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique slaying in Quebec. That explanation doesn’t fly for House, who noted the Nova Scotia gunman had previously been barred from possessing guns. “The firearms he used were obtained illegally through the U.S.,” House said. “What they’re doing to change the rules today would not have changed what that individual did. He was prohibited from owning those weapons. They were illegal. “If this individual had used a baseball bat or a hockey stick, would we be banning those items now? Or would it just be a national tragedy, which it is? “We’re the low-hanging fruit. As someone who follows all the rules, I’m very disappointed in this.” Stricter controls on firearms were promised in the Liberals’ election campaign platform last fall and Trudeau promised action last week following the Nova Scotia slayings.
Lots in stock for all the moms! artknappkamloops.com
OPEN 9 AM - 5:30 PM shopartknappkamloops.com
See CLUB PRESIDENT, A4
Covid Practices in Effect
420 Nunavut Way Kamloops, BC Behind Home Hardware & Honda on the Halston
GREAT SELECTION OF FRUIT TREES! PLANT EARLY FOR GREAT SUCCESS!