MAY
Power pole falls on new garbage truck
On May 6 just before noon a power pole fell on top of Ashcroft’s new garbage truck while staff were collecting garbage.
Driver Joe Paulos had to remain inside the truck for two hours and 20 minutes while BC Hydro crews came from Kamloops to cut power to the attached lines.
Village administrator Michelle Allen said the pole had been marked for replacement by contractors who were checking all of the Hydro poles in town. She said the truck didn’t touch the pole or wires when it suddenly came down.
The pole had three transformers on it, weighting 900 pounds each. Hazardous Materials specialists, BC HAZMAT attended to clean up the leak from the transformers.
BCTF begins rotating strikes
Gold Trail teachers took part in province-wide rotating strikes on May 26.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation began one-day rotating strikes at schools around the province, rejecting the offer of a $1,200 signing bonus for an agreement by the end of the school year.
BCTF president Jim Iker said the bonus doesn’t make up for the government’s wage offer of 6.5 per cent over six years. A simultaneous threat to cut teacher wages five per cent or more because of strike action is “just so disrespectful, so unnecessary, and we’ll be dealing with it at the Labour Relations Board,” Iker said.
Clinton Ball hosts Lt. Governor
Clinton Mayor Jim Rivett welcomed Her Honour Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of BC to the 147th Clinton Annual Ball on Saturday, May 17.
Also attending were Cathy McLeod, MP Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo and MLAs, Jackie Tegart and Eric Foster.
The dignitaries arrived at the Ball in the Hat Creek Ranch stagecoach to the sound of bag pipes and with an RCMP and Rocky Mountain Ranger escort.
Latest phase of AT complete
Contractors, shippers, politicians, executives, bureaucrats and many others gathered at the Ashcroft Terminal on May 21 to witness the ribbon cutting that signified the completion of a $7 million expansion project that added 1,500 metres of railroad track with switches at either end which will allow CP and CN to leave their cars behind to be loaded or unloaded.
The federal government contributed over $3.57 million from the Mountain Pine Beetle Program within the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Transportation Infrastructure Fund, while Ashcroft Terminal provided matching funds.
Construction of the Ashcroft Terminal expansion project began in February 2013.
Coldwell Ranch a Century Farm
The BC Government honoured the Coldwell Ranch in Jesmond on Friday, May 23 with the presentation of a Century Farm Award.
In a small ceremony in the Clinton Memorial Hall Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart presented the award to current owner Charlie Coldwell, his mother, Joyce Freeman and Charlie’s Aunt Evelyn Demptster who had actually been born in the Coldwell house.
Coldwell is the grandson of the first owner and has approximately 100 cattle and 250 horses on 480 acres of land. He continues the family tradition of ranching, guiding and trapping and is involved with the Clinton Agriculture Society and the Clinton Rodeo.
Ashcroft K-12 plans approved
A special meeting of SD 74 approved the Ashcroft K-12 Implementation Committee’s drawings on May 27, even though it increased the proposed budget from $1.5 to $2.4 million. The renovations will be completed by September 2016.