Advance editor Brian Lawrence compiled this brief review of some of the goings on in the Creston Valley found in the pages of the Advance over the last 12 months.
6 — Former Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks announced that the 43-year-old Rykerts port of entry facility would be upgraded, with construction to begin in 2017. The Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ministry planned to spend $37.5 million on B.C. border crossings, with the Rykerts portion to be announced after contracts were awarded.
•Ross Millar, severely burned April 30 after a suspected arsonist set fire to his apartment, was on the road to recovery and expected to return home. Following several skin graft operations, he was rebuilding muscle mass and regaining use of his limbs at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre.
13 — A $7 million project to run fibre optic cable to homes and businesses in Creston and Erickson was a success. Tony Geherean a Telus president and executive vice-president of broadband networks, said Creston was among 16 communities to be part of the first rollout of the project.
20 — Ninety-four per cent of business owners have a positive outlook, Kim Goodall of the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training told Creston town council at the Aug. 11 meeting. She updated council on the Business Walk program, in which she and 20 volunteers visited 68 downtown businesses, which employ 457 people, during the May 25 event.
•On Aug. 14, Creston Valley firefighters were nearly drawn into battling Idaho’s Parker Ridge fire, with high winds causing concern that the fire might spread to port of entry facilities. Creston sent its aerial truck, and Canyon-Lister firefighters arrived on the scene with a fire engine and two water tenders.
27 — Creston was one of two B.C. Interior towns selected to be a prototype for the province’s Community Paramedicine Initiative. A key objective of the program is to ensure a competent, sustainable paramedic presence to respond to medical emergencies by providing new or full- or part-time careers in rural and remote stations.
•Staff Sgt. Darryl Hammond assumed command of the Creston RCMP detachment, replacing Staff Sgt. Bob Gollan, who left in June. Hammond previously spent a total of 16 years in four Alberta detachments, then 18 years at the Lower Mainland.
•The Mount Midgley fire northwest of Creston was 80 per cent contained as of Aug. 24. Fire crews were hard at work burning out selected portions and building a guard around the fire, which grew to about 480 hectares after its discovery on Aug. 14. By early September, the blaze was contained.