A Cry For Assistance
Like many people, I came to this wonderful town and was thrilled to see there was a Music Festival (East Kootenay Festival of Performing Arts) and a Symphony (the Symphony of the Kootenays). I thought I should be involved, so joined both the the Festival and Symphony boards of directors. What an eye-opener.
Mostly we were searching for funds to run these events, and volunteers to help with the organizational aspects. Luckily for us, for the next number of years we are being sponsored monetarily by Summit 107. Also, we are thankful for being sponsored, for many years, through a grant from the Columbia Basin Trust.
Now we need volunteers to take some of the work load off the Board members who have worked very hard for many years and are burning out, so new helpers would be welcomed and trained.
At the moment five people are doing all the work for the Festival, so I would implore you to see if you could spare two hours a month for meetings, starting in September, to help us out and continue to support the amazing talent in this community. If you only have the time to help at the Festival, as a secretary or at the front door, please let us know so we can put you on a volunteer list.
We are also looking for someone to organize the Speech Arts Section. Our previous co-ordinator has agreed to train the new person. Many thanks to Ursula Boy who has been running this for a number of years, but is stepping down because of other commitments. If we can’t find someone, we will not have the Speech Arts Segment in the Festival.
We would like to thank Ellen Bailey, who has been on the Board forever, but is now the Administrator for the Symphony, a huge job which takes all of her time. We were so lucky to have Ellen and Ursula, and know their thoughts are still with us.
Please email our President Amy Miller at amyjmiller06@gmail.com, or Lorraine Butler at lorrainefrancisbutler@gmail.com, if you feel you could share a little of your time with us.
Lorraine Butler
Cranbrook
Marysville Bench Lands
You are right, Mr. McCormick, we have hundreds of kilometres of trail networks spread throughout the City and the Marysville bench network is one of them. I completely agree with Councillor Bev Middlebrook that this trail, in particular, is one we want to protect and as such should be zoned ‘Recreational’. This network of trails is a continuation of the original Volksmarch Trail, as marked by the original Teck signs, and is a deep routed and integral trail system for Kimberley residents.
I have been using this trail network recreationally since relocating to Marysville over 12 years ago. As Mike Fox may recall I was one of the residents responsible for the installation of the garbage container at the south entrance. The bench section is used extensively by walkers/dog walkers, bikers, runners, yogis, the disabled, sight seers, and wildlife, to name a few. You are right; the views here are nothing short of spectacular and should continue to be enjoyed by the residents of Marysville and Kimberley. Despite having “no intention to do away with the trails” it is hard to believe the existing trail network will not be disturbed by rezoning this land ‘Light Industrial’.
You say it will take “many years” to use the old Teck lands on Jim Ogilvie Way; however, I would be interested to know how much progress has been made on this? This Teck land is set back on the other side of Jim Ogilvie Way and is a far more desirable space for Industrial land in Kimberley (and is already zoned ‘Industrial’!) Yes, this land is considered brown field; however, as you stated, so are the bench lands in question. On a different note: Has anyone contacted Tyee to discuss their 12 acre parcel of land?
Noise does not echo? Ask the original Marysville folks about the noise echoing from Teck Cominco or the dump when they used Cats to bury everything. Ask the people that live on 301st street how many conversations have echoed into the valley from Rails to Trails. These conversations, laughing, talking, kids playing, skateboards, bikes – these are the sounds we enjoy hearing from up above on the bench. I can assure you we will not feel the same about noises echoing from a tire or small machine shop, which I believe would be considered ‘Light Industrial’.
This land should be zoned as ‘Recreational’ for our residents to use today and for future generations to use tomorrow.
Neil Kennedy
Kimberley
Huckleberry yogurt
I read with amusement the recent scary tales of huckleberrying at Yahk. Made me wonder who is in my picking patch.
The article by Wildsight’s Lars Sander Green claims a thousand pounds of huckleberries per day are crossing the border at Kingsgate. This is not so. When you export into the US, the border crossing is Eastport, Idaho. U.S. Customs are not in the practice of weighing shipments and certainly would not share any information gained from a shipper with strangers from a foreign country. Who is weighing this 1000 pounds per day? Canadians for decades have been holidaying in North Idaho and bringing huckleberries back through Kingsgate and never had their berries weighed.
We have yet to address the huge mushroom harvest, which is really commercial yet totally escapes taxation. We don’t need government agencies and regulations for a tiny bit of commercialization.
William G. Hills
Cranbrook
