PRICES IN EFFECT UNTIL JAN. 31/14 www.sublor.com

A New Year Means New Projects

$69962’x2’ panel

Tel: 250-459-2544 Fax: 250-459-2596Clinton Building Centre

Warm • Dry • ComfortableKeep your basement as comfy and cozy as the rest of your house. Quick and easy installation, ideal for basements or rooms built over concrete slab.

The JournalA S H C R O F T t C A C H E C R E E K

Thursday, January 23, 2014 $1.30 includes GST

Serving Clinton, Spences Bridge, Lytton, Savona, Walhachin and surrounding areas Since 1895Volume 121 No 4 www.ash-cache-journal.com

7 7 8 1 9 5 5 0 0 1 1 6

I N S I D E : First Nations advocate James Teit. Page 6

PM # 400121123

Belkorp recycling plant conditional on MV reversal

See RECYCLING on p. 2

Tri City NewsThe firm that runs the Cache

Creek landfill wants to build a $30-million highly mechanized plant in Coquitlam to pull recyc-lables from garbage before it’s dumped or incinerated.

But Belkorp Environment-al Services is also squaring off against Metro Vancouver, saying it will only build the plant if the regional district backs down on im-posing restrictions on how material recovery facilities operate.

Monday’s announcement is the latest shot by private industry across the bow of Metro’s strategy to burn more garbage in waste-to-energy plants instead of dumping it in landfills.

Belkorp vice-president Russ Black said the proposed plant could process 260,000 tonnes of garbage per year – more than a quarter of Metro’s waste stream.

He estimates residual garbage in the region – even after intensive efforts to recycle – still consists of 36 per cent recyclable material, much of it paper and plastics.

Belkorp and other propon-ents of material recovery facilities (MRFs) say advancing technology to sort garbage holds much prom-ise to pull out more usable materi-al.

Black says Metro’s bylaw 280, passed in October but awaiting provincial government approval, restricts MRFs too tightly and must be rejected by the province or re-vised by the regional board for Bel-korp’s plant to go ahead.

He accuses Metro of deliber-ately hamstringing MRFs because their advanced sorting machinery will pull too much paper and plas-tic out of the garbage, leaving in-sufficient combustible fuel to jus-tify building a costly new inciner-ator.

He called on Metro to suspend

its waste-to-energy strategy for five years while mixed-waste MRFs like the one Belkorp proposes are built and tested.

“Step back on this $500 million unnecessary expense,” Black urged of a possible second Metro incin-erator. “Postpone it for five years. Let these facilities get up and run-ning. See if they can get what they claim they will get out of the waste stream. And then assess the need afterwards for incineration.”

Black said he sees room for three mixed-waste MRFs in Met-ro Vancouver – the proposed one in Coquitlam, one already mostly built by Northwest Waste Solutions in South Vancouver and potentially a third one in Surrey, in addition to another in the Fraser Valley.

He argues all garbage should go through a MRF before it’s land-filled or burned to retrieve materi-als.

“Our company philosophy now is we don’t want to take unpro-cessed waste to landfill.”

MRFs weren’t contemplated when Metro’s solid waste manag-mement plan was drawn up, but it calls for the region to maximize recycling and material recovery ahead of either landfilling or incin-eration.

Coquitlam has endorsed Belko-rp’s proposal.

Coquitlam city manager Peter Steblin said the new plant would maximize recycling and reuse of material and help meet Metro’s waste diversion targets at no extra cost to residents.

The plant would be built on 16 acres of industrial land Belko-rp owns on United Boulevard. It would create 80 new green jobs and use technology increasingly in use in California.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, chair of Metro’s zero waste

Bantams win back to back gamesMinor hockey league play is wrapping up for the season and soon we’ll be into the playoffs. (Right) Bantam Goalie Ryan-Spur Reid holds on to the puck after a shot by the Logan Lake team. Ashcroft ended the Sunday game with a 2-1 win over their Logan Lake counterparts. See more on the games on p. 3.

ChurCh DireCtory

Anglican Church of CanadaREV. DAN HINES OR DEACON LOIS PETTY

St. Alban’s501 Brink St, Ashcroft ~ 250-453-9909

SUNDAY WORSHIP: 10 amKIDZ MONDAY SCHOOL: 3:30 pm

Cache Creek Pentecostal ChurchChrist Centered People Centered

1551 Stage Rd. Cache Creek B.C.Phone 250-457-6463Pastor David Murphy

Worship and Sermon commences at 10 a.m.Everyone welcome

ZION UNITEDSunday Worship 10:50 am

401 Bancroft, Ashcroft, BC • 250-453-9511 zuc@coppervalley.bc.ca • http://ashcroftunited.ca

United Church of CanadaPastor Alice Watson, DM

MEMBERS & BONA FIDE GUESTS WELCOME

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday • 12 pm - 5 pm Thursday - Friday • 12 pm - 11 pm

Saturday • 12 pm - 8 pm Sunday • 12 pm - 6 pm

Ashcroft Legion General Meeting3rd Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.

(no meeting July and August)

Euchre, � rst & third Sunday of every month1:00 to 4:00 pm, beginners welcome

Contract Bridge, beginners welcomeEvery Wednesday 3:00 to 5:00 pm

MEAT DRAWEvery Saturday ~ 3:00 pm

Ashcroft Royal Canadian Legion

FRI., JAN. 24th • 6:30 - 8:00 pmROBBIE BURNS NIGHT

FEATURING ROAST PORK$10/plate

* Legion Crib Tournament last Sunday of the monthOpen 10 am starts 11 am sharp - 12 games * Free Pool Daily

Crib every Thursday at 7:00 pmDarts every Thursday at 7:30 pm

Ashcroft Royal Canadian LegionAshcroft Royal Canadian Legion

Add your community events to ouronline calendar at

http://www.ash-cache-journal.com/calendar/

Jan. 27 - The next Cache Creek Council meeting will be held at 4:30 pm in the Village Of� ce.

Feb. 1 - Seedy Saturday seed exchange, displays and demonstrations will be held in the Cache Creek Community Hall, 10 am to 3 pm. Free event organized by the Cache Creek Beauti� cation Society.

Feb. 1 - Ashcroft Curling Club “Fun Mixed Heart Spiel” 10am - 4pm. Sign up at curling rink or call Barb Hodder 250-453-9286 for more info.

Every Friday - Soup’s On from 11 am to 1 pm at St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Ashcroft. Soup, buns and dessert by donation.

Wednesdays 8-10 pm - Drop In Adult Badminton in Cache Creek Community Hall. Bring a racquet and gym shoes, $3 per night. Call Rick for information 250-457-9644 (days) or 250-457-2370 (evenings).

Coming ComingEvents

Ashcroft/Cache Creek Rotary Club9th Annual Citizens of the Year Award

Congratulations to our2013 Citizens of the Year

Ashcroft & Area - DEANNA HORSTINGCache Creek & Area - ANNE BONTER

A lunch in their honour will be held at noon on Thursday, February 6, 2014 at the Ashcroft LegionAdvance ticket purchase at Interior Savings & Ashcroft Work Wear,

Second Time Around, Buffalo Station & Trackside Diner.

$15 includes meal and beverageAll members of the public are invited to attend and pay

tribute to these very deserving individuals who make our communities better places to live. You are all � ne examples

of the Rotary motto - “Service above self”

Thank you to our sponsors - Interior Savings Credit Union and RBC Royal Bank

A 2 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The JournalCOMMUNITY

Ashcroft rcMP DetAchMent

POLICE REPORTWendy Coomber

Recycling could be killed

Following months of consultation through seven in-person and online town halls - includ-ing one in Ashcroft, two surveys and several written submissions and presentations – and re-flecting the input of thousands of students, fac-ulty, staff and community members – Thomp-son Rivers University is ready to present a draft document of its new Strategic Priorities for pub-lic input.

Community meetings to review the draft document are being organized at TRU’s Wil-liams Lake campus as well as its regional cen-tres in 100 Mile House, Ashcroft, Barriere, Clearwater, Lillooet and Lytton.

The draft document will also be posted at tru.ca/strategicpriorities and the focus of an online “24-7” town hall which will be access-ible through the same website. Input is wel-come in person, through email or through social media.

Submitted

Readers of Black Press community news-papers from Ashcroft to Prince Rupert will have a chance to win a cool $1,000 for completing an online survey that will help local businesses bet-ter understand customers in their community.

The of Pulse of BC North survey looks at the shopping plans and priorities of our readers and their media reading habits.

Responses will be kept completely confi-dential; reader contact information will only be gathered in order to enter the name into a prize draw for one of two, $1,000 cash prizes to be given away across the Black Press BC North re-gion.

Readers who submit the survey before Feb. 3 will also have their name entered into a draw for a chance to win one of 10 $50 grocery gift cards.

Check out www.pulseresearch.com/bcnorth to complete the survey and to enter the prize draws.

Help measure the pulse of BC North

TRU’s future needs local input

Visit ends on bad noteJan 15 at 2:45 am police were

called by a 27 year old woman who said she was the victim of an assault and attempted kidnapping while she was visiting an acquaintance at a Cache Creek motel. The woman was located safe and sound at her home in the Cache Creek area. She could not provide any further information other than that she and her male friend had a disagreement. Alcohol was involved.

Winter brushfireJan. 15 at 5:50 pm RCMP were

called to assist the Cache Creek Fire Dept. just north of Cache Creek in an area between the winery and Host-ings Farms. The fire had been called in by a passing motorist who reported a house fully engulfed. Police discovered a large brush fire that was being mon-itored by the property owner. The area was outside of the Cache Creek Fire Dept. service area and they did not at-tend.

Cracked windshieldsJan. 16 between 1:30-3 pm Ashcroft

General Duty and Traffic Service offi-cers conducted a road check on Hwy 97C near the brake check. Over 100 vehicles were stopped. Cracked wind-shields and forgotten insurance decals were the biggest infractions.

Written in dirtJan. 18 at 2 pm an 81 year old Cache

Creek man reported that someone had been writing nasty things in the dirt on his vehicle. He said it was an ongoing problem and it was upsetting.

Missed the busJan. 18 at 4:30 pm police received

a complaint about a suspicious male on the highway near Cache Creek’s Petro-Can acting oddly. The 37 year old man from Roe Lake was located trying to hitchhike but carrying a bus ticket. He said he had gotten off his bus to have a cigarette, got distracted and missed getting back on before it left. He was also somewhat intoxicated. He was ad-vised to limit his drinking if he wanted to board another bus or even get a ride.

Suspicious activitiesJan. 18 at 7 pm police were

called to the new construction site near the Motorplex on the Ashcroft Reserve after some-one complained about two sus-picious vehicles on the site. Neither was located. There was no damage or theft re-ported on the site.

Fight down by the riverJan. 20 at 6 pm police received

a report of an assault taking place in Ashcroft down by the river between two Ashcroft men in their 50s.

The men had been fishing earlier. One man was located, police are still look-ing for the second man. The matter is still under investigation and police are trying to determine whether there are grounds for an assault charge. Alcohol was involved.

Bad dreams upset householdJan. 21 at 2 am police attended a

dispute at a house on the Bonaparte Re-serve where a 51 year old family mem-ber had woken up agitated from a bad dream and had disrupted the sleep of everyone else in the house. He had calmed down by the time police ar-rived.

commit-tee, said he sees no rea-

son to delay the waste-to-energy procurement process, which could see Metro burn an addition-al 370,000 tonnes of garbage per year starting in 2018.

The regional district will begin optioning potential sites in the next few weeks.

Belkorp is trying to derail the strategy so more garbage might keep getting trucked to Cache Creek, he said.

Brodie said Metro’s new by-law leaves enough room for MRFs to operate, and propon-

ents who disagree probably want to see their machines take over the job of separating recyclables from households.

“We’ve got a whole industry that has been generated because Metro Vancouver has insisted for 20 years on source separation,” Brodie said, adding a MRF-cen-tred model could unravel years of recycling education efforts, re-sult in more contamination of re-cyclables and undercut existing green industries.

“I have a hard time believing we can put the solution in private hands like that and it will get us to our goal.”

Recycling from p. 1

The Journal Thursday, January 23, 2014 www.ash-cache-journal.com A 3COMMUNITY

Ashcroft teams finish well

Funding buys new chairs for CentreHappy New Year

to all our members and members to be! You are welcome to come out and enjoy our pas-times of bridge, car-pet bowling, bingo and crafts. Come out and get more information on our activities.

Sandy Williams was the guest speaker this month at the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Seniors As-sociation meeting on Jan. 16. She is our advo-cate for senior’s needs. We are among 68 sites in BC to take advantage of this service. Her office is at 405 Railway Ave. so if you want to volun-teer or need help getting medical appointments or grocery shopping, you can visit her there or phone her at 250-453-9911. This is a three year trial program, so please use it. Some of the ser-vices are light housekeeping, snow shovelling and companionship.

Our monthly meet-ing carried on with Pat Kirby in the chair. All reports were read and passed. Thanks was

given to the Teshima sisters for the door prizes at our Christmas dinner.

Thanks also given to Safety Mart and our

local People Drug Store for door prizes and per-mission to sell tickets inside the store.

Our grant from last year has bought us some new chairs and a love eat for our craft room. Pat Kirby has been the push behind this so we all say thank you for your work and help to get these new chairs.

Dates to remember are: Wed., March 12 Clinton Daffodil Tea; Sat., Apr. 26 our Bazaar and Tea; and every Saturday our bingos.

Thank you to Nola for her offer to help Barb in the kitchen for our daily refreshments.

Jokes were read by Donna and Pat.Birthdays for January: Marge Lapointe and

Merry Teshima.The meeting was adjourned and some new

members were instructed in some new card games. We had a lot of laughs and good fun.

by Keith McNeillBarriere Star JournalThompson-Nicola Regional

District now has a dangerous dog control bylaw, but it doesn’t apply to any of the electoral areas in the North Thompson Valley.

“The bylaw in its current form provided limited reactive solutions to dangerous dogs,” commented Tim Pennell, TNRD director for Wells Gray Country (Area A). “I felt that by the time a dog issue got to the point where the bylaw would deal with the problem it would al-ready be an RCMP issue.”

Pennell pointed out that the ser-vice would be relatively expensive.

“Many of the costs of the ser-vice are at this time unknown, in-cluding both legal and boarding costs, which could be substantial,” he said. “A dog could have to be boarded at TNRD expense for two years while the legal process ran its course.”

The Wells Gray Country direc-tor also said that the service pro-vider would be located at some dis-tance, which would result in de-layed response times.

The bylaw took effect Jan. 1, and is only enforced in Elector-al Areas I (Blue Sky Country), M (Beautiful Nicola Valley-North), N (Beautiful Nicola Valley-South), and P (Rivers and the Peaks).

The directors for elector-al areas A (Wells Gray Country), B (Thompson Headwaters) and O

(Lower North Thompson) chose not to participate.

The dangerous dog control by-law, whose parameters are defined in TNRD Bylaw No. 2383, 2013, is not breed-specific in that it does not discriminate against certain breeds. It applies only to dangerous dogs, not unlicensed dogs, dogs at large, or aggressive dogs.

Under TNRD Bylaw No. 2383, a dangerous dog means any dog that:

(a) has killed or seriously in-jured a person,

(b) has killed or seriously in-jured a domestic animal in a pub-lic place or while on private prop-erty, other than property owned or occupied by the person responsible for the dog, or

(c) an animal control officer has reasonable grounds to believe is likely to kill or seriously injure a person.

“The dangerous dog control bylaw was brought in by the board of directors as a way to increase safety within these four elector-al areas,” said Ron Storie, man-ager of community services. “Be-fore, there was little recourse for those who live in rural areas if they or their animals experienced one of these horrific attacks.”

The animal control service has been contracted out to K-9 Servi-ces, which will be responsible for enforcement in the four participat-ing electoral areas.

Valley rejects TNRD’s dangerous dogs bylaw

FROM THE CENTREAshcroft-Cache Creek Seniors

Muriel Scallon

BantamsAshcroft Bantams played their

last league game of the year in Ashcroft, Jan. 19. For the second time last weekend they played and beat Logan Lake. Saturday’s score was 4-1, and goals were scored by Griffin Aie, Dreydon Thomas and Dario Antione. On Sunday, Drey-don Thomas, the team’s newest player, scored both goals to lead the bantams to a 2-1 win.

They pulled together as a team and played intensely from start to finish in a fast-paced, aggressive game. Players played their pos-itions well.

The team heads off to a tourna-ment in Logan Lake this weekend. League playoffs begin after that.

This Saturday the PeeWee Girls play against Kamloops in Ashcroft, starting at 11:15 am. This is tbeir last league game of the season.

Deanna Horsting

NoviceThe Ashcroft Ninjas Novice

team hosted Lillooet last Saturday for their last regular game of the season. Some great workout on the ice from both teams ... Everyone touched the puck and we saw lots of improvement out there!

Good to see the players really getting after the puck and staying with it. We saw some great cama-raderie and sportsmanship on the ice with players encouraging each other. Way to go!!

A Big Thank you to coach-es Lewis Kinvig, Steve Aie and Shane Minnabarriet for all their hard work and their dedication to furthering the development and growth of our players skills and confidence and making this hock-ey season Lots of FUN!

Diana HoggardA faceoff at last Saturday’s Novice game in Ashcroft with Erika Ignace (15) about to capture the puck and Emma Antoine (2) ready to back her up. They played their last regular game of the season against Lillooet last weekend.

Last November’s Christmas Tea and Bazaar in the Seniors Centre took a big effort to organize on the part of a lot of people and sponsors.

A 4 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The JournalCOMMUNITY

V I E W P O I N T SThe Editor’s DeskWENDY COOMBER

Published every Thursday in Ashcroft by Black Press Ltd.Founded in 1895

Editor: Wendy Coomber

Success is just over the next hill

The JournalA S H C R O F T t C A C H E C R E E K

A d i v i s i o n o f B l a c k P r e s s E s t . 1 8 9 5

EDITORWendyCoomber

PUBLISHERTerryDaniels

PRODUCTIONAnneBlake

FRONT OFFICEBarbaraRoden

EMAIL:Advertising: sales@accjournal.ca production@accjournal.ca

Editorial: editorial@accjournal.ca

402-4th Street, Ashcroft, BCPO Box 190, V0K 1A0Ph: 250-453-2261 or 250-453-2655Fax: 250-453-9625

Subscribe to The Journal1 Year Subscription: $44.10 (GST included)Senior Rate: $37.80 (GST included)Out of area subscriptions pay a $17.85 mailing surcharge

The Journal is a politically independent community newspaper. All material contained in this publication is protected by copyright. Reproduction is expressly prohibited by the rights holder.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

A MARBLED SKY hovers over Winter’s stick landscape around Barnes Lake

Demand growing to tackle income inequalityby Ryan Meili, Expert AdvisorEvidenceNetwork.cawww.troymedia.comSASKATOON, SK/ Troy Media/

- As of 1:11 p.m. on Jan. 2, top CEO compensation had exceeded what the average Canadian worker would earn all year.

It’s hard to imagine anyone think-ing this gross inequality is fair, that the work of a CEO is over 200 times more important than that of other Canadians. Indeed, a 2012 poll showed that over 70 per cent of Canadians believe that income inequality, now growing fast-er in Canada than the United States, presents a serious problem that under-mines Canadian values.

But one thing is certain: growing in-equality undermines our health.

Greater levels of income inequality lead to worse health outcomes. This is most true for those who, as Pope Fran-cis said in his recent letter, “must be content with the crumbs.” People living in poverty suffer from far higher lev-els of illness and often have life expect-ancies 20 or more years less than the wealthiest members of society.

The ill health effects of inequality don’t rest entirely with the poor, how-ever. As Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett pointed out so well in their 2009 book, The Spirit Level, there’s some-thing about living in a country that is less equal that harms the physical and mental health of everyone in society, even those at or near the top of the soci-oeconomic scale.

Whether it’s higher levels of crime, a greater burden on social structures, or

simply the toxic stress of constant com-petition, there’s something about high levels of inequality that damages us all.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called inequality, now reaching levels in his country not seen since just be-fore the Great Depression, the “defin-ing challenge of our time.” Even Can-ada’s Federal Finance Committee has released a report raising concerns about this issue, calling for some (albeit min-or) changes to our income tax and benefit system to help offset inequality.

However much attention this issue merits, there is an inconvenient truth that few in the realm of politics are will-ing to discuss. To deal with income in-equality, and thus prevent the economic and social harms it causes, some people have to be paid less than they’re cur-rently earning and some people more. The incomes of those at the top of the scale and those at the bottom aren’t go-ing to magically gravitate toward one another.

There needs to be a conscious deci-sion, before or after taxes, to increase equality.

Perhaps this uncomfortable fact explains the fleeting attention paid to the whopping salaries of the top earn-ers relative to the rest of us. Despite the growing chorus of concern, govern-ments have been loath to legislate in-creased wages or even to effectively tax executive compensation (much of the pay of the highest earning CEOs is in stock options which are taxed at a lower rate than cash income). The flattening of tax rates and a laissez-faire approach to the economy are simply too sacro-

sanct to address, even in the face of mounting evidence of their harm.

Recognizing this intransigence on the part of the elected, one new organ-ization, WageMark, is taking the case to the companies, and the consumers, themselves. Along the lines of Certified Fair Trade or Certified Organic, they offer a means to see, right on the pack-aging, the equality ethic of a company. Certified WageMark businesses have a maximum of 8:1 ratio between the highest paid employee and the lowest. To contrast that with the current situa-tion, the second-highest paid CEO in the country in 2012 earned 500 times the national average wage, and over 1,000 times that of someone earning minimum wage. They’re a long way off the mark.

It’s a novel idea, and only time will tell if it catches on, but there’s one thing working in its favour. While ballooning CEO salaries have never been shown to boost company performance, reputa-tion certainly has. If the growing atten-tion to income inequality translates into consumer demand, then company poli-cies will follow. And consumers are voters, so if the message resonates at the till, it may resonate at the ballot box as well.

Ryan Meili is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca, a Saska-toon Family Doctor and the Direc-tor of Upstream, a new, national non-profit dedicated to improving health outcomes by addressing the social de-terminants of health.

What is it about bad habits? Are there any of us who don’t have any? And why is it that we focus on our bad habits and not our good habits at this time of year? Is that a bad habit?

Many of our “bad” habits are only bad because we think they are, but if they are a negative behavior that interfere with our lives, then that qualifies them as bad.

Addictions are the extreme end of the bad habit scale. Anyone who has ever tried to kick an addition knows how difficult it can be, emotionally and physically.

Makes us wonder why we ever started in the first place. If we only knew “then” what we know now, or if we had just listened to all the good advice everyone was offering...

But we all walk our own paths. Our per-sistence, dedication and faith to overcome bad habits and addictions make us strong-er and wiser.

The longer we indulge a bad habit, the harder it is to break. That doesn’t mean we should try, try and try again.

“Experts” tell us that right about now, all of those “bad habit” New Year resolutions are being re-evaluated and are in danger of failing either because the benefits aren’t showing up fast enough or because the life-style still supports those habits and the temptation to succumb is overwhelming.

So we give up, feel crummy and com-miserate with our Facebook friends about how tough we tried.

Where there is a will to do it, anything can be achieved. How bad do you want it?

Three things:Find out when and why you eat, spend,

smoke, drink, fight, belch, crack your knuckles or commit some other bad habit. Seeing a pattern might help you break it.

Put it in writing. Log the events sur-rounding your bad habit for at least a week. What were you doing, what were you feel-ing, who did you see?

Recognize what triggers your bad hab-it and eliminate or modify them. It’s more difficult when you’re living with an enabler - someone who supports your bad habit, but strength, determination and creativity will reward you with success. And sometimes, kicking a bad habit is just the start.

Reserve your space!Call The Journal 250-453-2261

BUSINESSSERVICES

John Bundus& son Ltd.

202 BRINK STREET, ASHCROFT, BC

Welding • Fabrication • Machiningchain SaWS • laWn & garden equipMent

453-2242

John Bundus

Terry Daniels Publisher

Office: 250-453-2261

Fax: 250-453-9625

e-mail: publisher@accjournal.ca

402 - 4th Street, Ashcroft, BC • V0K 1A0

www.blackpress.ca

• Residential •Power Lines• Industrial •Fire Alarms• Commercial •Heating & Cooling controls•Construction & maintenanceCLASS “A” LICENSED FREE ESTIMATES

453-9247

Golden CountryReal Estate Services Ltd.

Kelly Adamski - Bob Cunningham - Cindy Adamski250-453-2225 • Toll Free 1-800-557-7355

www.goldencountry.ca

View photos of these properties and more at www.goldencountry.ca250-453-2225 1-800-557-7355

Carefree living in Ashcroft’s finest strata development. Relax and let someone else do all the work. Enjoy the closeness of the beautiful Thompson /river and walk downtown on level ground. Seniors oriented ( 55 + years). $169,900.00Commercial lot for sale, downtown Ashcroft Railway Ave. Fabulous neighbourhood, across from park. Give away price $18,900.00Older mobile home in Ashcroft Valley Estates Mobile Home Park. Four bedrooms, large back deck & large storage or work shop. Fenced yard, lots of renos, priced to sell quickly. $30,800.00Lovely 3 bedroom doublewide on large pad overlooking Bonaparte River. Double glazed windows, newer floors, skylights, stainless steel appliances, pad rent $225 per month. Kitchen renovated. New central air. $59,000.00

AUTOMOTIVE488 Trans Canada Hwy, Ashcroft

250-457-6698 albert44@telus.net

Two licenced techs,no apprentices

Come to the placewith experience

Celebrating 21 Years

Celebrating

• Residential •Power Lines• Industrial •Fire Alarms• Commercial •Heating & Cooling controls

•Construction & maintenanceCLASS “A” LICENSED FREE ESTIMATES

250-453-9247

Better at Home

You are Invited!Ashcroft Cache Creek

Better at Home ServiceLaunch & Open House

Monday, January 27, 2014 at 1:30 pm405 Railway Avenue, Ashcroft

Please join us in welcoming the Better at Home Program to our area. Ashcroft &

Cache Creek residents, seniors, interested volunteers, contractors are all invited to

attend. Refreshments will be served.

250-453-9911

Better at Home is funded by the Government of British Columbia

The Journal Thursday, January 23, 2014 www.ash-cache-journal.com A 5COMMUNITY

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR

Nadine Davenport

creativecurrent@telus.net

CREATIVE CURRENT

Continued on p. 10

Spring brings fresh creativity and concertsClassical Valentine weekend matinee

Winding Rivers Arts & Per-formance Society offers four more fabulous Dessert Concerts in down-town Ashcroft at St Albans Hall. Tickets are now available at The Ashcroft Bakery, Nature’s Gifts and The Jade Shoppe in Cache Creek. You can also help out as a Volun-teer to get a discounted ticket - well worth it for just a few hours work! For more info call (250) 453-9100 or email windingriversarts@gmail.com

On Valentines weekend come out and see a very unique Sunday matinee show. Bring your sweetie, mom, or the whole family to Paws & Tales Ensem-ble on Sunday, Feb. 16.

Paws and Tales is a quartet of clas-sical musicians from Kamloops. Head-ed up by our favourite Ashcroft Choir

pianist - Dimiter Terziev, Paws & Tales presents a concert programme which focuses on art music pieces either relat-ed to the animal theme or having a nar-rative story behind them. The range of music styles in the concert is enormous - it includes works from, 18th century (Scarlatti, Daquin, Mozart), 19th Cen-tury (Grieg, Debussy), and contempor-aries (Clifford Crawley, Catherine Mc-Michael). The soprano Carlene Wiebe, the clarinetist Sally Arai, the flutist Catharine Dochstader, and the pian-ist Dimiter Terziev perform in various combinations ranging from a single in-strument to a full quartet.

Coming on Friday,, March 14 will be The Moonshiners. Known for their powerful three part harmonies, dance-able grooves and wild instru-mental excursions The Moon-shiners are an Urban West Coast take on Bluegrass, folk, early Country and Blues. Based in Victoria BC the Band is comprised of some of Van-couver Islands best acoustic musicians: Chris Herbst (Do-bro, vocals), Cluny Macpher-son (Bass, vocals), Miriam Sonstenes (Fiddle, Vocals), Mike Brooks (Mandolin) and Tad Ruszel (Guitar, vocals).

House Concert with beat poet CR Avery

Creative Cow House Con-certs presents a House Con-cert with slam-poet, beat-box, multi-instrumentalist, CR Av-ery. Join them for to the Ash-croft area for a House Concert on Friday, Feb. 28 at the Farm-

house at Barnes Lake (just a 12 minute drive from downtown Ash-croft).The show starts at 7:30 pm and the house location is at 3820 Barnes Lake Rd, just past IG Ma-chine.

C.R. Avery is a unique, raw and dynamic performer. His genius lies in many genres - blues, hip-hop, spoken word and rock and roll. He is a one-man band, but one for this generation; with the rare abil-ity to sing poetic verse while beat-

boxing simultaneously while pounding the piano and adding harmonica like a plot twist. A multi-talented front man for his Legal Tender String Quartet; a crazed lead singer/harp player for his rock & roll band The Special Interest Group; a lyrical dynamo & the musical backbone of the spoken word trio Tons of Fun University.

Call Nadine or Andrea at (250) 453-9100 to reserve your seat. Hope to some new faces at this very enjoyable com-munity event - coffee, tea and sweets provided. Sure to be a great show !

Dear EditorOne of your recent letter writers

(“Sad to see the Daily close”: Esther Darlington MacDonald, Jan. 16) re-ferred to the closure of the Sidney Review. Just to clarify, the paper was David Black’s first purchase on Vancouver Island and has been pub-lishing for more than 100 years - it has just been renamed a few times, from the Sidney and Islands Re-view 100 years ago to today’s Pen-insula News Review.

A minor point, really, in the wake of unfortunate newspaper closures, but one I felt needed to be made.

Steve Heywood, editorPeninsula News Review

Dear EditorI had honour

to pass through Cache Creek hav-ing walked up from South America.

The good people of British Colum-bia were wonderful! Thank you all.

George Meegan (prof)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Meegan

Sidney Review is not dead

Traveller praises B.C.-ers

Call 1-855-678-7833 today for more details.

We are yourRecruitment Professionals

14 COUPONS ONTOP PRODUCTS

ON YOUR NEXT GROCERY BILL

SAVE$35UP

TO

flyers. coupons. deals. savings tips.

Visit

*coupons subject to availability.

14 COUPONS ONTOP PRODUCTS

ON YOUR NEXT GROCERY BILL

SAVE$35UP

TO

flyers. coupons. deals. savings tips.

Visit

*coupons subject to availability.

14 COUPONS ONTOP PRODUCTS

ON YOUR NEXT GROCERY BILL

SAVE$35UP

TO

flyers. coupons. deals. savings tips.

Visit

*coupons subject to availability.

14 COUPONS ONTOP PRODUCTS

ON YOUR NEXT GROCERY BILL

SAVE$35UP

TO

flyers. coupons. deals. savings tips.

Visit

*coupons subject to availability.

14 COUPONS ONTOP PRODUCTS

ON YOUR NEXT GROCERY BILL

SAVE$35UP

TO

flyers. coupons. deals. savings tips.

Visit

*coupons subject to availability.

ROOMS$79.95

+tax

551-11th Ave, Downtown Kamloops, BC

booking@scottsinn.com www.scottsinnkamloops.ca

TOLLFREE 1.800.665.3343

WINNER of the 2013 “Certifi cate of Excellence”

from tripadvisor.

FREE Continental Breakfast

Single/DBL occupancy/1 Queen. Must present coupon. Coupon expires Dec 31, 2013. Copies of coupon accepted

Includes

20% Off dinner &

non-alcoholic beverages

Real COMFORT • Real FOOD • Real VALUE

Volunteers Wanted!Ducks Unlimited Canada is a national,

private, non-pro� t conservation organization dedicated to the preservation of wetland and associated habitat for the bene� t of

waterfowl, wildlife, and people.We’re encouraging new volunteers to come

out and help us in our community.Come to our next meetingon � urs. Jan. 23 - 6:00 pm

Herbie’s Restaurant, Cache Creekto � nd out how you can help!

A bigTHANK YOU

to everyone who donatedto the 2013 Toys for Joys

run. It’s because of you that a number of families in need in our communities received a Christmas morning with presents for their children

On behalf of all of those whom benefitedTHANK YOU

A 6 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The JournalCOMMUNITY

James Teit - a hero of the common peopleby Esther Darlington MacDonaldIn 1993, I had the pleasure of meet-

ing the son of one of the most remark-able men that Canada has produced. The late Sigurd Teit was living in Mer-ritt at the time, and I spent a fascinating couple of hours in Sigurd’s home, look-ing over accumulated material about his father, James Alexander Teit. The Museum in Merritt had only recent-ly opened a whole section devoted to James Teit’s life, works and artifacts.

James Teit’s studies of the Thomp-son, Athapaskan and Shuswap peoples has left an invaluable legacy for gener-ations to come. Studies of the works, photographs, research papers and arti-facts collected and created by Scottish born Teit are an on-going discipline in several areas, including anthropology, botany, linguistics and social history.

At a time when the native peoples of central and northern British Col-umbia were witnessing the steady ero-sion of their hunting, fishing and agri-cultural areas by white settlement, as well as some Chinese takeovers of land formerly used by the bands, James Te-it’s efforts to speak and write on their behalf to federal government officials has been preserved and catalogued in regional museums and our national museum in Ottawa.

The 1880s was a time of acute vul-nerability for the native communities. Roadways, railroads, farm and ranch settlement, mining claims, towns and villages,were all spelling at a speed-ing rate, the end of native life as it had been for thousands of years. The chiefs of various interior bands gathered to ponder how to cope with the changes. Change that was effecting the physic-al and spiritual health of their peoples. The stress and strain of the changes had created dramatic declines in birth rates, higher than normal suicide rates, par-ticularly among the women, and loss of strategic areas of fishing and hunting

areas. Tribal autonomy became eroded markedly, with the establishment of the federal government Indian Affairs De-partment, a department that would af-fect every aspect of native life from birth to grave.

James Teit was just a young man when he arrived in Spences Bridge in 1884. He’d given up his birthright back in the Shetland Islands, left family, friends and associates, and at the age of 17, went to join his uncle, John Mur-ray who had established a general store and an inn, as well as an orchard enter-prise in the tiny settlement at the mouth of the Thompson and Nicola Rivers. Clerking in a general store gave him free access to not only the non-Indian population of the area, but with the na-tive peoples. He quickly found intense interest in the native way of life. Their hunting and fishing and social mores. He quickly absorbed their language. Not only absorbed the language of the Thompson Indian people, he began to work on developing a written language for them.

The history of native peoples had been handed down from generation to generation by oral tradition. A written history would not be created for dec-ades. Legends, stories, anecdotal in-formation regard every aspect of native community life was not recorded. It is

difficult to imagine the variety and depth of the native culture which included every aspect of personal lives.

It was only after years of interviews, some of which were recorded on the newly in-vented recording devices cre-ated by Thomas A. Edison, and many hours, days and months spent with the native peoples of the Thompson, that the col-or, character and depth of that culture began to emerge, all re-corded by James Teit.

Teit’s book, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia, edited by Franz Boas, is a most

valuable book available in most librar-ies.

Boas, a world renown anthropolo-gist, had been looking for a source of the Thompson culture as part of the Je-sup North Pacific Expedition. His meet-ing with Teit at Spences Bridge began an extraordinary relationship that built the bridge between academia and the day to day field work and knowledge which Teit was able to contribute.

Boas was struck by the meticu-lous documentation that James Teit was able to provide. Teit, after all, did not have a university degree, and per-haps, not even an equivalent of a high school education back in Scotland. Yet the word Genius would not be an exag-geration relating to Teit’s extraordinary insights. Teit’s instincts always hit the mark. His sound reasoning and respect for what he discovered built a bond of trust with the Thompson people, as well as the Athapaskan people of north-ern B.C.

Boas (pronounced Boaz) was an extraordinary man himself. Prompt-ed by an exhibition of native dancers from Canada’s west coast while he was in Berlin, Boas proceeded to the Arc-tic, where on Baffin Island, he became fascinated by the Inuit culture. Born a Jew, Boas wondered about the causes of racial prejudice. He was firmly con-vinced that a culture should be judged according to its own standards, not by the standards of those who studied it. This was an extraordinary perspective at that time, at the turn of the century. And when you consider how different it was from the standards of judgement of the day, when native Indian residen-tial schools were opening and trying to change the culture and beliefs of the native peoples, Boas’s belief seems in-deed, generations before its time.

James Teit married a Thompson In-dian woman, Lucy Antko. Lucy gave Teit access to native communities in the region, and she provided him with invaluable prime source material. She had a short life, however, and died at the age of 33. Her grave marker in the cemetery at Spences Bridge, written in the Thompson language, lies in the south end of the cemetery. It is a devot-ed tribute.

Drawings of native artifacts, photographs taken by Teit of the na-tive people’s of the area, are not only beautiful portraits executed with great skill and artistry, but the photographs he took of day to day activities in the native communities have left us with a priceless record of the time. A time long past, but more recently immortal-ized for study for generations to come.

James Teit, 1904

ASHCROFT IRLY TIM-BR-MARTBuilding Supplies & Garden Centre

For all your Electronic needs

We feature Air Miles on all purchases

Free Colour Matching!Free Colour Matching!Bring in a sample and we will match it to our paint!

(Has to be a solid color)

5th Annual

LADIES GALA EVENT

Contact Irene at250-453-2553 forEarly Registration

Limited SpaceBook Early

Friday, January 31, 20147 pm - 9 pm at Peoples Drug Mart

9 pm - 10:30 pm at the LegionAll proceeds to

South Cariboo Elizabeth Fry Society

*Large Gift Basket Draw *Make Overs*Para� n Wax Hand Therapy *Goodies Bags for All

*One Free Beverage at the Legion

$2500 each includes:

All the pampering you have come to loveand now even more:

Skin Care Products, Mabelline, Loreal & Covergirl

Many more In Store SpecialsBring a non-perishable food item and receive

one extra ticket for the Gift Basket Draw

15% off

The Journal Thursday, January 23, 2014 www.ash-cache-journal.com A 7COMMUNITY

Residents fight for the old bridgeHappy New Year! Here

we are still in January and we’ve been getting some spring like weather al-ready! I hope all our plants and trees sap and buds aren’t tricked into an early start only to get hit by real winter weather later on.

We were, however, lucky that the weath-er stayed cold enough to skate on Mud Lake. The skating party on the Dec. 28 was a lot of fun. There was a great turn out; kids and dogs all over the ice! It was very nice to see some folks come out just to watch, sit by the fire, and roast a hotdog. Thanks to all who helped!

The New Year’s Dance was well attended, enough to feel like a good party, but yet there was lots of room on the dance floor. The Community Club hosts this event as part of their mandate to provide social and recreational activities. The dance is intended to pro-vide an affordable New Year’s event for the community, so the fact that we didn’t quite break even this year is fine, as long folks were able to get out and enjoy themselves ringing in the New Year. Thank-you so much to everyone who volunteered; whether it was organizing, bar-tending, decorating, cooking, or cleaning up, it couldn’t have been done without you!

The idea of hosting a regu-lar bingo was discussed again at the last meeting. Please watch this space, and for posters in the coming months.

The SBCC has decided to support the “One Billion Rising V-day” event. This is a global event, participants are registered so that there is a count. The con-cept is to take a stand against violence against women – in a safe public, fun manner. All are welcome to join us in Spences Bridge to Dance, Drum and sing and speak out against violence against women. Wear your pink and red colours – bring a drum or just come as you are. Friday, Feb. 14 at 2 pm Chief Wistem-

nista Centre (Cook’s Ferry building)

Family Literacy week will again see many activities throughout our region from Jan. 27 – Feb. 1. Spences Bridge will again have an evening of bad-minton at the Chief Wistem-nista Gym at 6:30. There will be great prizes and snacks – and of course promote physical lit-eracy by getting mobile with the whole family! Everyone is wel-come, you don’t need to have children to attend – just get off the couch and come be active and have fun!

The Club has been discuss-ing hosting a movie night twice a month. The movies would focus on those filmed in the area, or perhaps subject mat-ter pertaining to the area. We thought we’d try movie nights on every other Saturday – with popcorn of course – for a loon-ie donation. Most movies will not be suitable for young chil-dren. Suggestions are welcome, but the line-up so far include The Sweet Hereafter, An Unfinished Life, Canyon Wars, The Pledge, The Sisterhood of the Trav-eling Pants, Shooter, and Thirst. Please watch for posters for the

first showing!The New Hori-

zon’s Senior’s Program has so much go-ing on it will be a struggle to list it all here! First of all there is a free digital media workshop be-ing offered on Fridays from 10

am – 2 pm where you can learn all sorts of interesting technical tricks for photos, home movies, music and more – at the old school.

Qui Gong is a relaxing simple but powerful form of stretching and move-ments to improve energy, balance, strength and breathing. This free work-shop is being offered Wed-nesdays 10:30 – 11:30 at the old school (Next week only will be Thursday in-stead) through the end of February.

The next New Hori-zon’s pot luck is Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 5:30 at Clemes Hall. The theme this month is drums and quilts. Bring your favorite potluck dish, a drum and quilt – you don’t need to have made them, perhaps they were gifts, or lucky finds, maybe there is a story to tell! Or just bring some food and enjoy the others items and stories. There will be priz-es!!

Soup Day seems to be growing in popular-

ity – there have been great turn outs, great soup, and lots of laughs and sharing – ongoing on Wednesdays at noon at the old school.

Although I try to keep this column to only issues per-taining to the Spences Commun-ity Club, I must mention here this sad occurrence; our beloved old bridge has been permanent-ly closed.

The plan is to dismantle it entirely, leaving no means even for pedestrian or cycle traffic. Personally I find this very hard to swallow. I do understand clos-ing the bridge to vehicular traf-fic - given the age of the bridge, our small population and the costs involved in keeping it safe. However, surely the cost of dis-mantling it entirely would be greater than the removal of the heavy deck, (apparently the risk

threat), and the replacement with a light deck that the base struc-ture would be capable of sup-porting.

The hardships for those with-out the means of a car are great. The distance to the number one bridge is substantial for those needing to go to the Post Office, the store, the health offices, the band office and so on. And more problems for those wishing to get to the hall or the Inn from the other side. Also disappointing is the fact that no safety measures were put into place prior to clos-ing the bridge, such as safe side-walks or even wider shoulders, a pathway to get off Hwy 1 soon-er, or a right turn lane for east-bound cars coming into town. There is my rant.

Our next regular meeting will be Feb. 12 at 7 pm at the hall. Everyone welcome!

Mavourneen Varcoe-Ryan

COMINGS & GOINGS ON

in Spences Bridge

Sharri Boucher, visiting from Australia, picks up hockey’s finer points.

January • Week 4ARIES - Aries, your tendency to say what you feel can come across as being impolite. Many, however, appreciate your honesty and unwillingness to mince words.

TAURUS - Apr 21/May 21 A loved one needs some help, Taurus. This week you will have to � gure out a way to assist this person and still tend to your own pressing affairs.

GEMINI - May 22/Jun 21 Gemini, focus your energy on someone important. This may be a friend, family member or even a romantic partner. Brush up on your relationship skills in the meantime.

CANCER - Jun 22/Jul 22 You have a natural charm that immediately puts others at ease, Cancer. If you are wooing a client, they will be putty in your hands. Just open your mouth, and you will win them over.

LEO - Jul 23/Aug 23 Leo, your stubbornness comes into play this week, and it could cause a rift with friends or colleagues. Try to see their point of view, and put off any serious disputes for another time.

VIRGO - Aug 24/Sept 22 Virgo, spend a little time this week plotting your next getaway. You tend to be happiest when you’re on the move and exploring. Everyone needs an escape now and then.

LIBRA - Sept 23/Oct 23 Enjoy some local culture this week, Libra. Take in a concert, an art show or a theater performance. Just enjoy anything that will educate and entertain at the same time.

SCORPIO - Oct 24/Nov 22 Scorpio, you may � nd that someone you thought was weak is much stronger than they appeared. This person may not need as much of your assistance as you initally thought.

SAGITTARIUS - Nov 23/Dec 21 Sagittarius, analyze any problems you may have by breaking them down into smaller tasks. Then you can tackle one thing at a time and come to a happy resolution.

CAPRICORN - Dec 22/Jan 20 Capricorn, your children or the youngsters in your life will be the center of your universe this week. Make the most of this time and enjoy kids’ carefree natures.

AQUARIUS - Jan 21/Feb 18 This week may be a little boring, Aquarius. Make the most of your down time, as you could use a few slow days to recharge your batteries and plan your next move.

PISCES - Feb 19/Mar 20 You are bubbling with energy, Pisces. Make the most of this energy by exercising, partying or taking a day trip.

LORIWELBOURNEloriwelbourne.com

ON A BRIGHTER

NOTE

On dragon� y wings, we start againOur mother’s cel-

ebration of life was held on January 11, one month after she passed away, and except for the days immediately follow-ing her death, it was the most emotion-ally draining time my brother and I have ever experienced. It was also incredibly

healing.We cried, we

laughed, we shared stories and we ex-pressed regrets. But in the end, we felt the love – for her and for us.It’s been said that

funerals are for the living and not for the dead. To me, it feels like they exist for

both. The honoring of a person’s life is important, whether it’s a formal public gathering or an in-formal private fare-well. The opportu-nity for friends and family to say their goodbyes and attain some kind of closure seems necessary to most of us. But a public fu-

neral isn’t reserved just for people who

knew the deceased. There were people at our mom’s service who had never met her before, but were there to support us. That felt amazing.The subject of

death scares many people away, though, so some keep their distance. And a lot of people have no idea what to say, so they might say noth-ing at all.

I understand these feelings completely. When I was in my early 20s, before I had ever lost a loved one, the subject of death was terrifying to me, as was saying the wrong thing.But there’s obvious-

ly no way to avoid it. We all eventually die, and unless we die young, we all expe-rience losing people we love.I think the reason

some of us stress out about what to say is because we can’t think of anything that doesn’t sound cliché, or we can’t think of anything that could alleviate the sorrow. From my own personal expe-rience, just a simple “I’m sorry for your loss” feels support-ive. It’s not necessar-ily the words that are comforting, but the

acknowledgment.I’m certainly no ex-

pert on grieving or death, and I have no idea what’s around the corner for me emotionally in re-gards to my mother’s passing. All I know is that loss is a part of life, and I just have to feel the feelings as they come and live as fully and fearlessly as I can. Some days I’ll be able to, and some days I won’t.Many years ago our

mother told me that dragonflies symbol-ized new beginnings. I don’t know if that was a common be-lief she had heard, or just a personal one that she felt, but whichever it was, I’ve loved dragon-flies and thought of them in that way ever since.Her passing has

been extremely diffi-

cult, but I recognize that her departure is a new beginning for us. The woman who gave us life no lon-ger exists physically in the world as we know it, but her love will live within our hearts, and it will grow if we nurture it.Every time I see the

image of a dragonfly - which will be often since I have several - I will be reminded of our beautiful moth-er’s love, and the fun, happy lives she want-ed us to live. She would have wanted us to fly, and we will.To see the won-

derful video tribute my brother, Jeremie White created for our mom, please visit vimeo.com/NHLartLori Welbourne is a

syndicated columnist. She can be contacted at LoriWelbourne.com

War Amps key tags protect keys, remote

devices and USB drives. Nearly 14,000 sets of lost keys are returned

every year!

Key tags are confi dentially coded

and free.

Order online.

and free.

online.

Kaelyn andAdam

Charitable Registration No.: 13196 9628 RR0001

The War Amps1 800 250-3030waramps.ca

Protect Your Keys With War Amps Key Tags

A8 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The Journal

Community Volunteer GroupsThe Royal Canadian Legion #113301 Brink St., Ashcroft, BC V0K 1A0Phone: 250-453-2423 Fax # 250-453-9625

South Cariboo Elizabeth Fry Society601 Bancroft St. Box 603, Ashcroft, BC V0K 1A0250-453-9656

Ashcroft and District Fall FairContact Person: Janna 250-457-6614Contact Person: Jessica 250-457-7128

Second Time Around201 Railway Ave., Ashcroft BC Anne Bonter 250-457-9781

BC Lung Association Carolyn Chorneychuk,Director 250-453-9683 Email:carelee67@gmail.com

Ashcroft & District Rodeo AssociationPhone: 250-457-9390

SCI Thompson River, B.C. ChapterKen Brown - Phone: 250-453-9415

Ashcroft Yoga GroupCall Marijke - Phone: 250-453-0050

Desert Bells Handbell ChoirCarmen Ranta 250-457-9119

Sage Sound Singers Adult Community Choir Michelle Reid 250-457-9676

Cache Creek Communities in Bloom Committee Carmen Ranta 250-457-9119

Cache Creek Beautification Society(and Farmers Market) Judy Davison 250-457-6693

Ashcroft and Masonic LodgeZarthan Lodge No#105Contact Person: Fred Dewick Phone 250-453-2415

Canadian Red Cross - Health Equipment Loan Program (H.E.L.P.)Ashcroft Hospital - 250-453-2244

Ashcroft & District Tennis AssociationContact Person: Maria Russell MartinPhone 250-453-9391

Ashcroft & District Lions ClubContact Person: Lion Vivian Phone 250-453-9077

Ashcroft-Cache Creek Seniors Assc.601 Bancroft St., Ashcroft, BC Phone 250-453-9762

The Ashcroft & District Health Care Auxiliary Thrift Store601 Bancroft St., Ashcroft, BC Phone 250-453-9944

347 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet CorpContact Person: Lt. (N) Curran 250-319-3461Alexine Johannsson 250-453-2661email: darrin.curran@cadets.gc.ca

Sage & Sand Pony ClubDistrict Commissioner: Marcie Downmleedown@yahoo.ca.

Ashcroft-Cache Creek Rotary ClubContact Person: Karin Magnuson Phone 250-457-6629

Desert Spokes Cycle SocietyPhone 250-457-9348

Ashcroft Curling Club Phone 250-453-2341

Ducks Unlimited CanadaAshcroft/Cache Creek Volunteer ChapterPhone 250-374-8307

Ashcroft Volunteer Fire DepartmentPhone 250-453-2233

Cache Creek Volunteer Fire DepartmentPhone 250-457-9967

Bridging to LiteracyContact Person: Ann Belcham 250-453-9417

Ashcroft Royal Purple Phone 250-457-9122

The “Purpose of Sunday” Car ClubPresident: Tom Lowe 240-457-6564

Cache Creek Recreation SocietyContact Person: Jackie Phone 250-457-9122

Winding Rivers Arts and Performance SocietyContact Person: Nadine 450.453.9100

South Cariboo Sportsmen Assc. #3366Attn: Marian Pitt, Box 341, Ashcroft BC V0K 1A0

Soccer AssociationContact: Tom Watson Phone 250-457-7178

Minor Hockey AssociationContact: Lewis Kinvig Phone 457-7489 or 299-3229lewis.kinvig@rona.ca or lewiskinvig@hotmail.com

Historic Hat Creek RanchContact: Jack Jeyes Phone 250-453-2259

Ashcroft Soup’s OnSt. Alban’s Anglican Church Hall, 501 Brink StreetTel: 250-453-9909 or 250-453-2053 - All Welcome

Lillooet Soup’s On St. Andrew’s United /St. Mary’s Anglican Church, 577 Main St., Mondays 12:00 pm - Oct. to May. 250-256-7037 - all welcome

Ashcroft Communities in BloomContact Persons: Andrea Walker 250-453-9402 or Marijke Stott 250-453-0050

Taoist Tai Chi Contact Person: Danita HowardPhone 250-453-9907 e-mail: dangre@telus.net

Ashcroft Hospice ProgramShirley 250-453-9202 or Marijke 250-453-0050

Kinsmen Club of South CaribooContact Person: Dave 250-453-9062

February 3rd, 10th, & 20thAshcroft High School - 5 - 7 pm

February 5th & 12thCache Creek Elementary - 5 - 7 pm

Last Chance February 20th

A BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND MEDICAL CARDMUST BE PRESENTED FOREACH PLAYER REGISTERED

REGISTRATION FEE (First & second child from one family):(tournament fee included) U7: $75.00 U10/U13/U16: $100.00 LATE REGISTRATION SURCHARGE (after Feb. 20): $50.00

UNIFORM DEPOSIT: (Post-Dated cheque, Oct. 31, 2014): $100.00REFUNDABLE VOLUNTEER FEE: $50.00

REGULATION SHORTS ($20),SOCKS ($8), SHIN PADS ($12)

& BALLS ($15) WILL BE ON SALE AT ALL REGISTRATIONS

*Uniform deposit & medical number mandatory at registration

2014 OUTDOOR REGISTRATION

SOUTH CARIBOO MINOR SOCCER ASSOCIATIONSOCCER ASSOCIATIONSOCCER ASSOCIATION

SOUTH CARIBOO MINOR SOUTH CARIBOO MINOR SOUTH CARIBOO MINOR SOUTH CARIBOO MINOR

Additional children from one family receive $10.00 off registration fee

* Uniform Deposit a Must! * Equipment Swap or donate

For more info please call Sandi Harry at 250-457-9366or Kara William at 250-453-2578

The Journal Thursday, January 23, 2014 www.ash-cache-journal.com A 9COMMUNITY

There are so many things go-ing on in our busy lives nowadays. With work, family, household chores, and other things to take care of, finding time for fitness or a healthy lifestyle can be difficult.

I had difficulty last season training for Ironman and still get into conversations about the bal-ance of these aspects I’ve men-tioned. If I work too much Over-time, there is not enough time for family. If I spend my whole week-end riding my bike no household chores are getting done, and defin-itely no time for family.

So how do we find balance? How can we get the household chores done, go to work, spend time with the family, yet still get a workout done to maintain fitness? I’m still learning as I go, but here are some tricks I’ve picked up.

Do your workouts early in the morning before the family is awake. This leaves my whole day

open for all other as-pects of my life. Plus it leaves me feeling re-freshed and invigorat-ed all day.

The internet, it’s a total time waster. You-tube, Facebook, Twit-ter, The Chive, - limit-ing or eliminating time on these and other sites will certainly help.

TV, one hour or more of TV per day is a certain way to waste pre-cious time.

Find ways to incorporate your family into your workouts. I drag my wife or kids along on my runs whenever I can.

One of my new big tricks is to simply skip the workout. If my family wants to do something and I’ll miss that scheduled run, so be it. I’ll do the run tomorrow.

Make a workout schedule with dates and duration.

You can go the other direction though as well, by spending all your time doing stuff other than fit-ness. If you don’t get any exercise, this could shorten your lifespan, therefore making it so you can’t spend precious years with your family. I also guarantee if you fit some workouts into your daily rou-tine, your quality of life will im-prove.

Wayne Littleminer1098@gmail.com

Living WellBalancing fitness with life

Individuals, couples, friends and families hit the pavement for Skip’s annual charity run

BUSINESSSERVICES

Reserve your space!Call The Journal 250-453-2261

LLPL A W Y E R S

YOUR LAWYER MAKES THE DIFFERENCE…

Serving the BC Interior since 1911.

Heather Johnston is in the Ashcroft office on Wednesdays. Call to make an appointment.

401 Railway Avenue (in the RE/MAX office)

250.453.2320 1.888.374.3350 www.morellichertkow.com

P.O. Box 1060210 Railway Avenue

Ashcroft, B.C.V0K 1A0

Tel: (250) 453-2553Fax: (250) 453-2404

Email: pdm072@pdmstores.comWebsite: peoplesdrugmart.com

FREESmoking Cessation Aids Available

** some restrictions apply **

ASHCROFT BOTTLE DEPOTPurity Feed Building, Downtown Ashcroft

Please remember: Caps off - Labels on!We now accept milk cartons (please rinse � rst, no refund)TUESDAY TO SATURDAY 10 - 4 250-457-7026

NOWACCEPTING

ELECTRONICS

Ashcroft RealtyBROKERAGE

INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED

http://ashcroftrealty.ca

110 B Railway Ave.Ashcroft, B.C.

TOLL FREE 1-888-900-9880

Helping YOU is what we do!

Serving Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Clinton & Surrounding Areas

HEDDA HALLBroker/Owner

Fax: 250-453-2277 • 409 Hollis Road, Ashcroft

Main office located at Ashcroft Irly Building Centre

250-453-2283Contact Stephen

Storage sizes for almost any need!

• 5’ x 10’ • 10’ x 10’ • 10’ x 20’Storage sizes for almost any need!

ASHCROFTMINI STORAGE

Call for volunteers for theMonitoring Committee for the Cache Creek Land ll

Wastech and the Village of Cache Creek invite interested community members to participate in the land ll’s Monitoring Committee with a purpose to:

• Provide a communications link between theland ll operator and the local communities,

• Contribute recommendations on operations,plans and on-going environmental monitoring,and

• Identify emerging issues and new informationrelevant to the operations of the land ll.

Three community members will be selected for the committee and appointed to a two-year term. The Monitoring Committee meets four times a year. Each committee member will receive $50 compensation per meeting for their participation and to cover transportation costs.

Selected participants will be contacted no later than February 14th, 2014.

Please send your expression of interest, including a brief outline of your background, expertise and how you would contribute to the committee, by 4 pm, Friday, January 31, 2014 by fax 250-457-6745 or:

Wastech Services Ltdc/o Monitoring Committee CoordinatorBox 399, Trans Canada HwyCache Creek, BC V0K 1H0

The eyes have it

Fetch a Friend from the SPCA today!

spca.bc.ca

Thompson CaribooMinor Hockey Association (TCMHA)is holding a “Special General Meeting”

on Wednesday January 29that 6:00 pm at the

Dryland’s Arena MezzanineAll TCMHA Parents / Guardians

are encouraged to attend tovote on recommended changes,updates and additions to our

Constitution and Bylaws

A 10 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The JournalCOMMUNITY

Creativity encouragedAnnual Women’s Celebration in Walhachin

Plans are looking good for this year’s Women’s Cele-bration in Wal-hachin. Come and enjoy a day of music, dance and workshops. See an array of cre-ative women shar-ing skills and stor-ies.

The 6th An-nual Celebration will be held on Saturday, March 8 at the Museum Hall from 11 am – 4 pm. Please bring Snacks and Goodies for a shared Potluck (veggie & meat). Admission and food are by dona-tion to go towards event costs.

Our creativity as women is one of our greatest gifts. It’s that very important and a magical part of ourselves that is the expression of our divine feminine. For more in-formation or to register for booth space please call; Val at (250) 457-6678. Encouraging men most wel-come!

WRAPS presents Switching Principals

Switching Principals is the next community theatrical produc-tion presented by the fine folks of Winding Rivers Arts and Perform-

ance Society. There was a great turn out for auditions a few weeks back and the cast and crew are al-ready busy memorizing lines and making plans for sets and cos-tumes.

The play is a fast-paced farce set at Marvin Gardens High School, which is stuck in a rut. School spirit has never been low-er, and everyone hopes that the new principal will be a breath of fresh air. What they get, however, is a pair of fast-talking con artists who sneak into the school to hide out from the police. When one of them is mistaken for the new principal, he decides to play along.

But how long can he keep everyone fooled? Can he and his partner dodge the FBI agent on their tail? And what happens when the real principal finally shows up? The farcical fun never stops in this wacky comedy!

Rehearsals will continue through January to early March, with the production scheduled to take place March 13-16 at the Ashcroft Community Hall. It is directed by Mavourneen Varcoe-Ryan. Stay tuned for more infor-mation and look for posters around town.

Spring Choral ConcertThe Sage Sound Singers & The

Desert Bells Bell Choir have begun their Spring sessions in prepara-tion for another beautiful celebra-tion of harmonies which will be co-presented again with Winding Riv-ers Arts & Performance Society on March 29 at St Albans Hall.

This will be an evening per-formance and is by donation. Stayed tuned for more information and look for posters around town.

Karla Cummins and Theresa Takacs sing and dance at last year’s Women’s Celebration in Walhachin

Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal Thursday, January 23, 2014 www.ash-cache-journal.com A11

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITYOFFICE ASSISTANT

The Village of Clinton is seeking a full time position or part time positions for an f e ssistant ho is a ounta le to the Chief

ministrati e f er CThe su essful an i ate shall ha e omplete gra e or e ui alent prefera l ith e tra ourses in of e or usiness a ministration in lu ing nan ial o al go ernment kno le ge an e perien e oul e an asset n i ate our familiarit ith i rosoft

f e e ages an o ial e ia an nan ial e perien e in our o er letter

Team pla er a ilit to get along ith others an pu li is a must uali e an i ates are in ite to su mit an appli ation in on

en e in lu ing a o ering letter referen es ill e re uire shoul ou e shortliste

nl an i ates ho ha e een sele te for an inter ie ill e onta te lease sen resume ia email fa or mail anuar

Tom all C a o mail t all illage linton a

Clinton C V or a omplete o es ription please onta t the Village f e

Help Wanted

Announcements

Coming EventsQUALITY ASSURANCE course for Health Canada’s commercial marijuana pro-gram. February 22 & 23 Best Western Hotel, Kelowna, BC. Tickets: 1-855-860-8611 or 250-870-1882 or online at: www.greenlineacademy.com

Information

ADVERTISE in the LARGEST OUTDOOR PUBLICATION IN BC

The 2014-2016 BC Hunting Regulations

SynopsisThe most effective way to

reach an incredible number of BC Sportsmen & women.

Two year edition- terrifi c presence for your business.Please call Annemarie

1.800.661.6335 email:

fi sh@blackpress.ca

AL-ANON ASHCROFT: Does someone’s drinking bother you? Meets Tuesdays, 8:00pm at St. Alban’s Church, 501 Brink. Val 250.453.9206

If you want to drink, that’s your business. If you want to stop, that’s ours. PH 250.457.0786

Travel

TimeshareCANCEL YOUR Timeshare. No risk program. Stop mort-gage and maintenance Pay-ments today. 100% money back guarantee. Free consul-tation. Call us now. We can help! 1-888-356-5248.

Travel

CENTURY PLAZA HOTELBest Rates. 1.800.663.1818

Employment

Business Opportunities

ANTI-AGING BUSINESS Goldmine! #1 Baby Boomer Market in US. Prime Turn-key locations available. $12K(min. Invest)=$50K+ Yearly! Call to-day: 1-888-900-8276. 24/7.

EXCITING NEW Canadian Business Opportunity. Available in your area! Min in-vestment req’d. For more info, call 1-866-945-6409.

GET FREE vending machines. Can earn $100,000.00 + per year. All cash-retire in just 3 years. Protected territories. Full details call now 1-866-668-6629. Or visit our website at: www.tcvend.com.

TRAIN TO be an apart-ment/condominium Manager online! Graduates get access to all jobs posted with us. 33 years of success! Government certifi ed. www.RMTI.ca or 1-800-665-8339, 604-681-5456.

Employment

Career Opportunities

LEARN FROM home. Earn from home. Huge is a demand for Medical Transcriptionists. Start your online learning to-day with CanScribe Career College. www.canscribe.com 1.800.466.1535 or send an email to: info@canscribe.com

THERE IS a critical need for Medical Transcriptionists across Canada. Work from home. CanScribe graduates welcome and encouraged to apply. Apply through MTR at www.hds-mt.com/jobs

Education/Trade Schools

Centre for Arts & Technologywww.digitalartschool.com

INTERIOR HEAVY EQUIP-MENT OPERATOR SCHOOL.NO Simulators. In-the-seat training. Real world tasks.Weekly start dates. Job board! Funding options.SignUp online! iheschool.com 1-866-399-3853

Help WantedF/T farm workers req for Bona-parte Bend Winery in Cache Creek, starting end of April to mid October 50+ hours per week $10.25/hr Must be re-liable, physically fi t. Pls email resumes to gjarm@telus.net, or phone: 250.457.6667 or mail to: Bonaparte Bend Win-ery, Box 47, Cache Creek,BC V0K 1H0

Norm’s Auto Refi nishing, Terrace, BC. High production, ICBC Accredited body shop requires a LICENSED AUTO-MOTIVE PAINTER. Competi-tive wages, excellent benefi ts. fax: 250-635-3081 or email: mel@normsautorefinishing.ca Attn: Mel Rundell, ManagerPINHEADS Bowling on Silver Star Mountain is looking for a mechani-cally minded individual to work with us during the winter season as well as June and July. This is a part time position with great pay and benefi ts, training provided. This could be a great job for a retired mechanic or trades person, or a younger person who wants to live and work in a vi-brant ski resort. This position is available immediately. Please email Heather at info@pinheadsbowl-ing.ca

Trades, TechnicalJOURNEYMAN HEAVY

DUTY MECHANICSFort McMurray & Leduc AlbertaGladiator Equipment Ltd. has immediate positions for Journeyman Heavy Duty, off road Certifi ed Mechanics for work in Fort McMurray and Le-duc, Alberta. Excellent wages and benefi ts.

www.gladiatorequipment.comfax 1-780-986-7051.

hr@gladiatorequipment.com

Marine TechnicianPrimary duties include maint. troubleshooting & repair of diesel & gas marine engines. Knowledgeable in vessel electrical systems. Must have own tools and a valid drivers license.

Compensation BasedOn Experience.

Please forward resume to vancouveroutboard@

telus.net

Services

Financial ServicesDROWNING IN debt? Cut debts more than 60% & debt free in half the time! Avoid bankruptcy! Free consultation. www.mydebtsolution.com or Toll free 1-877-556-3500 BBB rated A+GET BACK ON TRACK! Bad credit? Bills? Unemployed? Need Money? We Lend! If you own your own home - you qualify. Pioneer Acceptance Corp. Member BBB.

1-877-987-1420 www.pioneerwest.com

IF YOU own a home or real estate, Alpine Credits can lend you money: It’s that simple. your credit / age / income is not an issue. 1.800.587.2161.

Legal ServicesCRIMINAL RECORD? Don’t let it block employment, travel, education, professional, certifi -cation, adoption property ren-tal opportunities. For peace of mind & a free consultation call 1-800-347-2540.

Telephone ServicesDISCONNECTED PHONE? National Teleconnect Home Phone Service. No One Re-fused! Low Monthly Rate! Call-ing Features and Unlimited Long Distance Available. Call National Teleconnect Today! 1-866-443-4408. Or online: www.nationalteleconnect.com

Merchandise for Sale

Misc. for SaleHOT TUB (SPA) COVERS. Best price. Best quality. All shapes & colours available. 1-866-652-6837 www.thecoverguy.com/newspaper?STEEL BUILDINGS/metal buildings 60% off! 20x28, 30x40, 40x62, 45x90, 50x120, 60x150, 80x100 sell for bal-ance owed! Call 1-800-457-2206 or visit us online: www.crownsteelbuildings.ca

Misc. WantedPrivate Coin Collector BuyingCollections, Estates, OlympicGold & Silver Coins, Bills etc. Confi dential 778-281-0030

Rentals

Apt/Condo for Rent

Convenient DowntownLocation across from

Beautiful Heritage Park715 Railway Avenue,

Ashcroft1 & 2 Bdrm Apts.Mature Persons

Includes heat & hot waterMOTEL UNITS

All units have fullKitchenettes,

air conditioning,Cable TV and

Internet accessNightly - Weekly - Monthly

On-site ManagersContact Carolee

250-453-9129

Ashcroft Apartment

& Motel

ASHCROFTHillside Manor

Best Apartmentsin the area!

1500 Government Street

Renovated 1 & 2 bedroomVIEW SUITES

Available immediatelyClean, quiet &

well maintained.Air conditioning

Rent includes heat, hot water & cable TV

(valued at over $100/month)

Walking distance to hospital and schools.

Please give our Resident Manager

Bill Manton a chance to impress you.

250-457-0433

Seniors Discount available.

CLINTON Bachelor suite for rent $400 per mo. includes parking, laundry. Clean, bright, quiet, renovated. Avail. now. Security deposit and referenc-es required. Email owner wkrueger@shaw.ca 604-853-3410.

Help Wanted

Rentals

Duplex / 4 PlexCache Creek: 55+ 3bdrm re-no’d duplex garage, F/S A/C N/S D/D & Ref Req 1 year lease. Pls Call 250.457.9553

Homes for Rent2 Bedroom 1100 SF rancher house on 1/4 acres fenced lot in downtown Clinton. Large covered deck, interior recently updated with newer furnace & pellet stove. Close to all amenities. $600 per month. 250-376-1377

Ashcroft: 2 bdrm in Villa Fron-terra (55+) W/D F/S D/W,C/V, Gas F/P garage & parking. $1000/mo + util Ref Req. Avail Imm. Call 250.453.9918

Ashcroft: 3bdrm reno’d hse & shop. F/S A/C fenced yard.N/S Avl Feb 1/14 Ref/DD 1 year lease $1000/mo + util. 780.478.7398

Transportation

Auto FinancingNeed A Vehicle! Guaranteed Auto Loan. Apply Now, 1.877.680.1231 www.UapplyUdrive.ca

Transportation

Auto Financing

autocredit 911

Auto Financing - Dream Catcher, Apply Today! Drive T o d a y ! 1.800.910.6402

Cars - DomesticAshcroft: 1998 Ford ContourExcellent cond. 6 cyl, 5 sp, auto trans, cruise, AM/FM cas-sette, satellite radio. Good Winter tires & Summer Tires on rims. $2000 fi rm. Call 250.453.9383 or 250.457.1205

Your community. Your classifi eds.

250.453.2261

fax 250.453.9625 email production@accjournal.ca

ADVERTISINGDEADLINESWORD CLASSIFIEDS

Friday - 3:00 pmthe preceding issue

DISPLAY ADVERTISINGFriday - 3:00 pm

the preceding issue

INDEX IN BRIEFFamily Announcements

Community AnnouncementsEmployment

Business ServicesPets & Livestock

Merchandise for SaleReal Estate

RentalsAutomotive

Legals

AGREEMENTIt is agreed by any display or classified advertised requesting space that the liability of the paper in the event to failure to publish an advertisement shall be limited to the amount paid by the advertiser for the portion of the advertising space occupied by the incorrect item only, and that there shall be no liability in any event beyond the amount paid for such advertisement. The publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement.

bcclassifieds.comcannot be responsible for errors after the first day of publication of any advertisement. Notice of errors after the first day of publication any advertisement. Notice or errors on the first day should immediately be called to the attention on the classified department to be corrected for the following edition.

bcclassifieds.comreserves the right to revise, edit, classify or reject any advertisement and to retain any answers directed to the bcclassified.com Box Replay Service and to repay the customer the sum paid for the advertisement and box rental.

DISCRIMINATORYLEGISLATION

Advertisers are reminded that Provincial legislation forbids the publication of any advertisement which discriminates against any person because of race, religion, sex, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin, or age, unless the condition is justified by a bona fide requirement for the work involved.

COPYRIGHTCopyright and/or properties subsist in all advertisements and in all other material appearing in this edition of bcclassified.com. Permission to reproduce wholly or in part and in any form whatsoever, particularly by a photographic or offset process in a publication must be obtained in writing from the publisher. Any unauthorized reproduction will be subject to recourse in law.

Ph: 250-453-2261Fax: 250-453-9625

Sales: sales@accjournal.caEditorial: editorial@accjournal.ca

Production: production@accjournal.cawww.ash-cache-journal.com

402-4th StreetP.O. Box 190, Ashcroft, B.C.

www.blackpress.ca

Breathe through a straw for 60 seconds. That’s what breathing is like with cystic fibrosis.

No wonder so many people with CF stop breathing

in their early 30s.

Please help us.

Have your Say

WIN $1,000!two $1,000 cash prizes!

Complete the survey for your chance to…

Enter at www.pulseresearch.com/bcnorth

• Win one of 10 $50.00

Grocery Cards• Early Bird Draws

Have your SayHave your Say

WIN

• Win one of 10

Grocery Cards• Early Bird Draws

A 12 www.ash-cache-journal.com Thursday, January 23, 2014 The JournalCOMMUNITY

Pt. I: The Play’s the Thing

Tired of winter? Can’t wait to get outside and sink your fingers into the dirt?

The Cache Creek Beautification Society is holding its first Seedy Saturday on Feb. 1 from 10 am to 3 pm in the Cache Creek Commun-ity Hall.

Admission is free. You can either participate or browse. There will be a seed exchange, door prizes, local speakers talking about growing and using culinary herbs, attracting birds and butterflies to your yard, and more, free tables for groups and vendors (must be yard/garden-relat-ed). Displays, demonstrations, seed sales, kids activities and a concession provided by the Par-ents Advisory Committee.

Or just come and talk to other gardeners and outdoor enthusiasts like yourself.

The Beautification Society is also mak-ing plans for this year’s farmer and flea market which opens in May, supporting the formation of a new Cache Creek Garden Club, and help-ing the Communities in Bloom committee plan its 2014 activities. Come on out and share your thoughts with us. Contact Wendy at 457-9587 for a table, to help out, or just for information.

“Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!” It’s a phrase that has inspired many, many movies over the years – Mickey Roon-ey and Judy Garland did particularly well with the format – but I don’t know how often it’s heard in real life. Every now and then, however, someone in the Winding Rivers Arts and Performance Society says it; and the result is that a huge group of dedicated volunteers come together to make magic.

It’s happened again, and in March WRAPS will be unveiling its produc-tion of Switching Principals, a fast-paced farce about mistaken identity and con artists on the run. Before open-ing night rolls around, however, a lot of work needs to be done; and this occa-sional series will follow the progress of a theatre production, from the moment someone decides we need to put on a show to the final curtain call on closing night.

Jan. 14: It’s audition day, and close to two dozen would-be thespians have turned out. According to a friend who’s a professional actor, auditions de-serve their own circle of hell: between the competition, the pressure, and the nerves they’re a form of torture. Here, though, it’s all very low-key. No one has to stand up and present a mono-logue, or explain why he or she is per-fect for a certain part. Instead we’re all handed scripts and take turns reading sections of the play, each time as a dif-ferent character.

It’s an odd experience: since no one

has read the play, we don’t know who any of the characters are, how they re-late to each other, or where the plot is headed. Still, we give it our best, and it’s fun to listen to five different people read the same lines, each one giving a different interpretation. The only per-son who appears to be a lock on a role is Leith McLean, one of the young-est people present; everyone seems in agreement that he’ll be perfect as Dut-ton, a student who takes a rather free and easy approach to the school’s sci-ence equipment. Leith is one of sever-al students auditioning, and it’s great to see so many young people here.

There is also some discussion as to which roles can be gender-swapped if need be. It’s finally decided that Jake, the dim-witted but well-meaning se-curity guard, could become Jackie. We all depart, waiting to hear from direc-tor Mavourneen Varcoe-Ryan if we’ve been cast, and which part we’ve got.

Jan. 15: The e-mail arrives: you have a part! In my case it’s Constance, an overbearing, long-winded, nitpicky School Board member. This throws me into a panic for a moment: how on earth will I find out what School Board mem-bers are like? I’ll have to see if I know anyone who can fill me in. And over-bearing, long-winded, and nitpicky? Well, it’s always fun to play someone

very different to your real self. I can have some fun with this.

Jan. 17: There’s a meeting of the production crew: the “behind the scenes” people who will make sure there are lights, sound, props, costumes, scenery, make-up, and everything else that goes into making a stage produc-tion real. I can’t help thinking that this is a wonderful way to be involved in all the fun of the theatre, without having to act. I have no problem making a fool of myself on stage, but for anyone who’d rather not stand in the spotlight, a back-stage role is ideal.

After this meeting there’s the first read-through of the script, with most of the cast members present. There are a number of familiar faces, and a few newcomers, and we all introduce our-selves. Leith McLean has indeed been cast as Dutton, and yes, Jake has be-come Jackie, with Nancy Duchaine cast as the clueless guard. We all settle in to read the play aloud, not worried about characterization, or doing much in the way of acting; it’s more a chance to read the script through together and start to feel how everything will hang together. There are ripples of laughter as the plot unfolds, and at the end we give ourselves a spontaneous round of applause.

There’s not much time for self-con-gratulation, though. Beginning next week things will start to get intense; Mavourneen reminds us that “It’s never too soon to have all your lines memor-ized.” We have eight weeks to go from nervous newbies to accomplished pros. Can we do it? Watch and see. . . .

THEATRE DIARIESBarbara Roden

Start your gardensGrowing carrots this year? Come get your seeds