Monthly Archives: December 2010

The 10 most popular stories of 2010

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As the media struggle to cope with the slow news of the holidays, it’s tradition to look back over the year to see what made the news, what captured their (and hopefully) the public’s attention in the areas they serve. Usually, this takes the form of the top stories as picked by the editor.

With the Nelson Post we have the benefits of knowing exactly how many people read each page, so the the Nelson Post presents the top 10 stories of 2010 (starting in mid-August, when we launched our service):

1. Man arrested after four-hour standoff with police

Page views: 743

Oct. 15

Police arrested this man after a four-hour standoff. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, a man held members of the Nelson Police Department and RCMP at bay with a slingshot and pieces of rusty metal, holed up in is downtown Nelson home. What brought matters to this serious turn was a friendly act by a neighbour who climbed onto the man’s roof to trim some tree branches resting on the man’s roof. The man took exception, and an altercation between the men brought the police.

The man retreated to his home, setting off a four-hour standoff which ended with only minor injuries for one RCMP officer and the man taken off to hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Police had cause to doubt his mental health, and as they took him away, with the Nelson Post videotaping it all, the man shouted: “There are 75 dead bodies under the Royal Bank!”

2. Nelson man trapped by Bella Coola flooding

Page views: 680

Sept. 27

The Bailey Bridge connects residents on the north-side of the Bella Coola River with the rest of the Valley. Photo by Steve Ogle, steveogle.ca

Nelson resident Steve Ogle went to Bella Coola for the fish, but he stayed for the flooding.

Ogle was working in Central B.C. and traveled to the coast for a relaxing few days fishing, but torrential rain and washed out bridges kept him there for much longer.

Ogle, a photographer and videographer, shared photos and videos he shot of the swollen waters rushing through the region.

His story made for an interesting local connection to a story that drew the country’s eyes.

3. Axor’s power purchase agreement cancelled

Page views: 564

Nov. 12

The Nelson Post broke a major development about a hydroelectric project north of Nelson: Axor cancelled it’s power purchase agreement with B.C. Hydro for the Glacier/Howser project.

The Glacier/Howser power project has long drawn resistance from Kootenay residents who feared it would negatively affect fish and grizzly bear populations.

Axor, the company behind the project, says the purchase agreement was signed in 2006 and market conditions had made that deal financially unattractive. Back in 2006, Axor had planned to have the 99.5 megawatt project running by November 2010.

However, concerns from environmentalists and the provincial Environmental Assessment Office stalled the project as the province asked for more information about how the hydroelectric project would affect trout populations in the area.

There have been no new developments on this story, though a spokesman for Axor says the company is committed to finishing the project.

A follow-up story (304 page views) on this, which featured an interview with Axor, would have been number eight in this list but it has been included in this story.

4. RCMP arrest Slocan mayor’s family for growing pot

Page views: 530

Sept. 24

Three men arrested at a Slocan Valley grow op isn’t normally news, but when the men are the husband and sons of the Village of Slocan’s mayor, and when the community and her council support her, it made national headlines.

Eventually, only Georges Perriere was charged with with drug production and trafficking, but what seemed to capture people’s attention was the support for Georges’s wife, Madeleine Perriere, the mayor of Slocan.

Madeleine Perrerie held a special council meeting t0 see what her council wanted her to do and the council said they wanted her to stay on. One village councillor told the Nelson Post she had the utmost confidence in Perriere to head the village’s council.

The later story about Georges Perriere’s charges would have been the top 10 story of this list (with 358 page views), but it has been included here instead.

5. Staff contract cancelled at seniors facility

Page views: 409

Nov. 10

Thanks to a tip to the Nelson Post, we were able to report about what appeared to be the impending loss of jobs at Mountain Lake Seniors Community.

The news came after Interior Health changed their funding model for all of the seniors communities in their region. The health authority set out specific requirements for operators to meet. Before, Interior Health only asked operators achieve certain goals, but now they set out the number of nursing hours for patients.

The new system made the contract with the staff unmanageable, said Park Place, operator of Mountain lakes Seniors Community.

Fortunately, Park Place and the union representing the 125 employees reached an agreement that saw workers take a pay cut and keep their job.

6. Heeding the siren call

Page views: 395

Sept. 6

Lucas Myers strikes a pose during the lineup for the casting call: Pained industrial. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

This fall and early winter Hollywood, personified by Jessica Biel, came to the Kootenays to film a thriller and they needed locals for extras.

There were a series of casting calls in Nelson and Salmo and I (Chris Shepherd) tried out and wrote about the experience. Needless to say, I wasn’t discovered and my film career didn’t leave the launch pad. Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this, now would I?

The post about the casting call was a fun story to write and I spoke with locals about their experiences and hopes for the day.

Nelson’s own Lucas Myers landed a speaking role in the movie (‘Deputy Campbell reporting for duty’) and the film company even contributed to the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation via Interior Health. The film company rented out the old Mount St. Francis Hospital and the money went right to the foundation.

Several other stories related to The Tall Man made the top-10 list and have been included here instead. Other stories included news of quick visit of Biel’s beau – Justin Timberlake (369 page views) call for people to come out to the casting call (360 page views)  – and Myers’s landing of his role (298 page views)

7. No second vote for library referendum

Page views: 369

Oct. 21

The Nelson Municipal Library referendum drew passionate arguments from both those for and against the question, which asked rural residents in Areas E, F and H (which all surround Nelson) if they wanted to contribute, through taxes, to Nelson’s library in exchange for a library card and some other services from the library.

It was a close vote in Area F, where the question passed by just three votes: 416 yes; 413 no.

The director for the area, Ron Mickel, had mused about holding another referendum in his area in the hopes of getting a more decisive outcome, but he eventually opted to let the results stand as they were.

Along with Area F, voters in the southern portion of Area H (the Slocan Valley. The referendum did not include the northern portion of Area H) approved the referendum question while Area E voters defeated it.

8. Big renos at Nelson’s movie theatre

Page views: 298

Sept. 28

Hollywood wasn’t far from the minds of Nelsonites, it appears, as the story about renovations at the city’s movie theatre drew a fair amount of attention from readers.

The theatre’s new owner, Kirk Nielsen, has big plans for the theatre, including a “crying room” – where mothers with upset babies can watch the movie from and not disturb the other viewers – and a completely remade lobby.

9. Police on the lookout for a suspicious van

Page views: 289

Dec. 8

The unsettling news that a man was driving around Nelson in van, asking women to have sex with him drew a lot of attention from readers.

Police later made an arrest in the case, which hopefully will put an end to the situation. A 19-year-old man has been charged with invitation to sexual touching and with indecent acts.

According to reports from police, the young man would drive up beside a woman out walking or jogging, first ask for directions and then ask if they wanted to get into his minivan and have sex. No women were injured in any of the dozen incidents reported to police.

10. Nelson remembers

Page views: 264

Nov. 11

Veterans march in the Remembrance Day parade. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

The top 10 story in Nelson was the Nelson Post‘s report of the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Nelson. The coverage included many photos and video of the day and highlighted the strengths of reporting online as I could use all the good photos of the solemn day.

news@inthekoots.net

Police arrest man in van case

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The Nelson Police Department has made an arrest in the case of a man driving around town asking women to have sex with him.

Nelson Police Department

The 19-year-old Nelson man is charged with invitation to sexual touching and with indecent acts. The man was released from custody and placed under several conditions including restrictions on his movement and the use of a vehicle.

Police notified the public about the man in early December. The man, driving a newer model minivan, would stop his vehicle and ask women for directions and then ask the women to get into his van and have sex with him. Nobody took the guy up on his offer and police encouraged women to go out for walks or jogs in pairs.

news@inthekoots.net

Man rampages on Ward Street

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A man is facing charges of assault  and mischief after a late-night rampage that left six people injured in downtown Nelson.

Photo source: elise.y, Flickr, Creative Commons.

The Nelson Police Department came across a fight in the 400 block of Ward Street at 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18 where one man was attacking four men and two women.

One victim lost two front teeth and a second  was knocked unconscious.

The accused also kicked and punched a parked car, causing roughly $1,000 in damage.

The attacker fled the scene when he saw the police and after a quick foot chase he was arrested. Police took the man to Kootenay Lake Hospital where he was received 10 stitches to cuts on his hands.

Police released the man on conditions and he will appear in court in mid-February to face four counts of assault, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of mischief under $5,000.

news@inthekoots.net

Police warn women to stay cautious

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Police are still looking for a man making indecent suggestions to women from his van as more reports come into the Nelson Police Department.

Nelson Police Department.

Since first informing the public about the man, who stops to ask women for directions and then asks for sex, the suspicious activity stopped. However several women have come forward with similar allegations spanning a period of approximately fiveweeks. To date 12 complaints have been received.

The man is described as Caucasian, mid-20s with a pale complexion, no facial hair and who speaks with a lisp. The man is driving a newer minivan, possibly a North American make and teal in colour

Information tips continue to come in daily, which have assisted in identifying one person of interest in this matter.

Police advise the public, in particular women, to remain vigilante, observant, walk or jog in pairs and carry a cell phone.

Call 911 immediately if approached by this individual giving your location, a suspect description and a plate number.

news@inthekoots.net

Share your spirit

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I would say Christmas lights are one of the highlights of the holidays. They’re an opportunity for everyday people to turn their homes into tasteful, or not, displays that bring light and colour to the dark winter nights.

There can be some difference of opinion about what’s good and what’s not. Some prefer a minimal effect, others seem to think the bigger, the better.

Visit Crease Avenue, in Rosemont, and you’ll see neighbourly competition has all but banished the night. It almost looks like Christmas exploded, sending flashing lights and reindeers everywhere. Nobody can doubt their enthusiasm for the holiday.

Please share your own photos of your favourite Christmas light display or whatever epitomizes the holiday for you by sending them to news@inthekoots.net.

The consequences of drinking and driving

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PRESS RELEASE from the Nelson Police Department

Planning on drinking and driving this Christmas season? You’d better think again. British Columbia has the toughest drinking driving laws in Canada. The consequences are severe and immediate, beginning right at the roadside.

Photo source: BarelyFitz, Flickr, Creative Commons.

During the month of December, through the CounterAttack Drinking and Driving campaign, the Nelson Police Department will look to enforce these laws. “Our approach is the same as it has been traditionally,” says Dan Maluta, chief of the Nelson Police Department. “We’ll be conducting random checks throughout the holiday season. Times and locations will vary, and the message we want out there is that drinking and driving is never an option.”

“On some nights there will be officers stationed at all the arterial routes leaving the city, to make sure that drivers leaving establishments and parties are not going out on the highways drunk,” say Maluta. “People really need to think ahead now. Sure, enjoy your holidays. But make plans in advance so that you get home safely. Have someone that you can call, in case you can’t get a taxi or another safe ride home.”

If you have been drinking and are stopped roadside, you may be required to give a breath sample. If the result is a warn, and it’s your first offence, you will receive an immediate three-day driving ban, a $200 fine; a possible three-day vehicle impoundment and a $250 driver’s licence reinstatement fee. This adds up to at least $600.

A second offence will result in a driving ban for seven days, a $300 fine and a possible vehicle impoundment. The total amount will be at least $760.

A third offence will give you a 30-day driving ban, $400 fine, 30-day vehicle impoundment, enrolment in the Responsible Driving program, an Ignition Interlock installed for one year and a $250 driver’s licence reinstatement fee. This will cost you at least $3,960.

If your breath sample is a fail you can expect to face a 90-day driving ban, $500 fine, $250 reinstatement fee, 30-day vehicle impoundment, Responsible Drivers Program, and have ignition interlock installed for one year. This will cost at least $4,060. Plus you may face the possibility of criminal charges.

Drivers in the Graduated Licensing Program with any amount of alcohol in their bodies will face specific consequences, as well as the ones listed above.

Mayor worried as RCMP boat leaves Kaslo

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The RCMP are moving their boat from Kaslo to New Denver, which has Kaslo's mayor concerned. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

The RCMP are relocating one of their boats from Kaslo to New Denver, a move that has Kaslo’s mayor concerned the north end of Kootenay Lake won’t get the service it needs.

Staff Sgt. Dan Seibel, head of the RCMP’s Kootenay Boundary Regional Detachment, says he’s moving the boat to make it more centrally located in the region.

Seibel has three boats in the Kootenay Boundary region stationed in Nelson, Christina Lake and now New Denver (formerly Kaslo).

“Basically what we’re trying to do is centrally locate it and there’s not going to be a perfect answer for that,” says Seibel.

Seibel adds there’s nothing to suggest one community is busier for the police than the other.

Mayor Greg Lay.

Greg Lay, mayor of Kaslo, says he was surprised to hear the news because the boat is one of the important services the RCMP provides to the community.

“The concern is the boat traffic, both motorized and non-motorized is increasing on Kootenay Lake,” the mayor says.

This incident this summer, when one person was killed on Shuswap Lake, looms large in he mayor’s mind when he thinks about losing the police boat.

“The issue for me is that we need to have a presence on that lake, by the RCMP, checking for boat equipment that’s required, checking for possible use of alcohol, in order to demonstrate that the lake is being managed responsibly.”

That doesn’t happen often, says Staff Sgt. Seibel. The Kaslo detachment has three officers and new RCMP regulations state officers can’t go out on the boats alone, a regulation created after an officer drowned in the Okanagan while working on the lake alone. Seibel says the community can’t be properly policed with two thirds of the town’s police force on the lake.

Seibel also says the Kaslo boat was not frequently used enough to warrant it being based in Kaslo.

“When I look at the Kaslo boat being used a dozen hours, total, in the last two years, that’s not an effective means of using resources.”

Seibel says the police have to operate like a business and ensure they get the most “bang for your buck.”

Mayor willing to raise money to buy a boat

Mayor Lay is looking into ways to have a boat patrol the water around his town. He suggests there could be a partnership between the village and the surrounding rural area – Area D – to buy a boat for search and rescue and emergencies. Lay would like to get a boat similar to the search and rescue craft based in Nelson and expects it would cost $40,000.

Kaslo is too isolated to not have a boat, says Lay, noting Nelson and New Denver are an hour’s drive away.

“We would hope that the RCMP would then get involved with some kind of memorandum of understanding as to when they [the RCMP] could go to search and rescue and say ‘We need the boat, we have an incident,’ or ‘On this date we want to patrol, if you supply the crew we’ll supply the officers.’”

Seibel also suggested the community look into providing their own boat, but he was unsure whether having a search and rescue crew accompany one RCMP officer would satisfy the force’s regulations.

Seibel also suggested policing on the water wouldn’t be likely even with the community-owned boat.

“We’re not out as visibly as we were in the past, enforcing the law on the lake, so to speak,” says Seibel. “The priority is on the land.”

Selkirk TRIUMFs in physics research

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PRESS RELEASE from Selkirk College

Selkirk College has joined forces with TRIUMF – a consortium of 15 universities in Canada whose purpose is to conduct world-class experimental research in subatomic physics and nuclear medicine and to commercialize its spin-off technologies.

Housed at University of British Columbia’s campus in Vancouver, TRIUMF is one of the world’s leading subatomic physics laboratories.

It has partnerships and collaborations with researchers from across Canada and around the world.

It usually costs thousands of dollars and about two years of advanced planning to book an experiment in TRIUMF’s research facility. One of their latest developments, a new form of superconducting linear accelerator (linac), is budgeted at about $60 million.

Selkirk is the first college in Canada to work with TRIUMF through a Memorandum of Understanding. “I believe that this partnership could have significant programming implications for Selkirk, and major commercialization and economic benefits for the region,” says Dean of University Arts and Sciences, Neil Coburn.

The reason that Selkirk College was chosen to become a partner goes back to the history of master-mind Morgan Dehnel. Dehnel completed a PhD in accelerator physics at TRIUMF/UBC, and returned to his roots in Nelson to set up his business D-Pace along with his two brothers Kent and Kurt Dehnel.

D-Pace has licensed about 10 technologies from TRIUMF and commercialized three of them to date. Its most prominent product is a negative hydrogen ion source for cyclotrons, a type of particle accelerator used to produce radioisotope tracers for diagnosing cancerous tumors. D-Pace was recognized as a Canadian innovation leader by the federal government earlier this year.

The company has contracts to build and further develop ion sources for research/production facilities around the world. Morgan Dehnel is currently in France for a few months to co-ordinate a five-year supply deal recently signed with a European accelerator manufacturer. D-Pace’s most recent sale is to Fermilab in the United States.

Morgan would like to work with Selkirk College to possibly commercialize more of the technologies D-Pace has licensed.

Part of TRIUMF’s mandate is to transfer technology to the market place for the social and economic benefit of Canadians. Because of the Dehnels’s success in commercializing TRIUMF technology and creating a Canadian company that is successful in the world market, TRIUMF is interested in a partnership with Selkirk College that would support these activities.

“This is a great opportunity for TRIUMF to connect world-class training and opportunities with the highly talented students and faculty at Selkirk,” says Head of Strategic Planning and Communications at TRIUMF Tim Meyer.

For more information about research and innovation activities a Selkirk College please visit their website.

Final video out endorsing Anderson Street housing project

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Michelle Mungall has released the third and final video “letter” to Rich Coleman, encouraging him to release funds for a seniors housing project in Nelson.

Coleman, the Minister of Housing and Social Development, is in a position to encourage BC Housing to release funds for the project.

The final video features an interview with Donna Macdonald, a Nelson city councillor. Macdonald highlights how the city supports the project and how recent studies show there’s a proven need for the housing in Nelson.

The first video was released two weeks ago and the second last week.

Prepare yourself for the Polar Bear Dip

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PRESS RELEASE from the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation

Brave men and women take the plunge during the 2009 Polar Bear Dip. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

Chilly is a relative term. Chili isn’t. The first depends on your metabolism, attire and attitude. The second is what’s waiting for you at this year’s Polar Bear Dip. The Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation is sure that attitude is the most important element and that the warm chili that awaits will more than make up for the rest.

The hospital foundation welcomes all of Nelson’s swimmers and floaters, young and not so young, to take the plunge for health, personal pride, and appropriately, to raise money to purchase essential emergency ward equipment.

The quick dip into Kootenay Lake starts at noon on Saturday, Jan. 1 at Lakeside Park, and will be preceded by a hot chili lunch, which can be purchased by donation, at 11:30 a.m. While the foundation gladly provides the warm snack, in turn, they welcome the environmentally conscious. Please feel free to bring your favorite washable bowl, mug, and spoon.

Pledge forms for the Polar Bear Dip can be found at the front desk of Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson, as well as at the foundation’s website. Donations will also be accepted at the hospital and at Lakeside Park during the event.

Start the New Year with gusto. Bring your supporters. Make them pay.