Harvest Moon
The spirits of witches and goblins populate the valley and disguise themselves in the mists rising from the lake. The full moon just past coincided with clear skies at night and gave us the pleasure of enjoying the large moon reflected on the lake and lighting up the forest. The end of October brings with it the last passing flock of geese, the flight of the great blue heron and the annual conference of mule deer held in the local hay fields. Fortunate animals – they do not need to deal with local elections or ever be asked to stand as a candidate for this or that.
Community Association
October has been a very tumultuous month for the Loon Lake Road Community Association with issues and debates surrounding the needs of property owners on the south side of the lake for access and parking on the road side of the lake, the wishes of summer home owners to have meetings of the association during summer months and the request for clarification about voting on increase in taxes for fire dept., and for more information and openness about the operations of the volunteer fire department. Some property owners are concerned that the property tax for the fire dept. is increasing by five percent every year and yet they are not told how the money is used. Right now there are more questions swirling in the autumn mist than answers. Hopefully, reason will prevail and answers will be forthcoming. At the Annual General Meeting on Oct. 20, elections were held, resulting in the Board for 2011/12 made up of president Barbara Hendricks, vice president Frank Borri, secretary Faye Morrison, and treasurer Cathie Johnstone with directors Sandra Dowding and Ken Dowding, Susan Graham, Denice Hart and Louise Hanson. The annual Hallowe’en party attended by all sorts of witches, goblins and masked creatures was held on Oct. 29 with a shared potluck meal and traditional fireworks.
Transfer Station
The transfer station will be switching over to winter hours on Nov. 1. During the winter it will be open Sundays and Wednesdays from 9 to 5. The openings on the two long weekends – Labour Day and Thanksgiving - were very welcome and many residents took advantage of the convenience of additional open hours. Staff of the TNRD’s Environmental Services Dept. has informed that the wood waste pile will be chipped and, if the chipping goes as planned, there will be an announcement that residents can drop by and pick up wood chips on the day the chipper is there. This will be happening several times each year to keep the wood waste pile at a manageable size. Compounds for holding scrap metal and the wood waste will be established sometime in the near future.
Local Government elections
Once again the residents and property owners at Loon Lake will have an opportunity to cast a vote in the coming local election for a representative on the TNRD Board. The two candidates in our region (Bonaparte Plateau, Area E) are Sally Watson (incumbent) and Roland Stanke. Sally Watson has worked hard for Loon Lake and without her assistance this past year we would find ourselves today without a transfer station and be driving our waste to Clinton. At the time of writing this there are efforts underway to organize an all-candidates meeting at Loon Lake – watch for further information. There will be a polling booth at the community hall on voting day, Nov 19, watch for details on voting in the paper or find the details on the TNRD website.
Bookmobile
With the coming of winter the Bookmobile once again becomes popular. It will be at the hall parking lot on Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 2:30-3:15. The hall will also be open that day from 1:30 for coffee, refreshments and games.
Christmas market
There will be a special craft/flea and Christmas market held in the hall on Saturday, Nov. 12 from 10 to 2 to raise funds for a clinic for premature babies in a hospital near Antiqua, Guatemala. One of our residents, Joan Gellner, is going to work there as a volunteer once again this winter and we want to help support the clinic and provide funds for badly needed supplies and materials. If you have any donations of items or wish to book a table to sell crafts or home based business products please call Barbara at 250-459-2406. Everyone from Ashcroft, Cache Creek and Clinton and area are welcome. Come and learn more about the work of the clinic and what are the needs.
--
Barbara Hendricks is a long-time resident of Loon Lake and president of the Loon Lake Road Community Association.