At this time, we present our annual year in review, looking back at the events of 2011 as recorded in the pages of the Creston Valley Advance.
MAY
5 — Sparwood Mayor David Wilks romped to victory in the Kootenay-Columbia riding, maintaining the Conservative Party stranglehold in B.C.’s southeast corner. The retired RCMP officer was named on 56 per cent of the ballots, for a total of 23,886 votes.
NDP candidate Mark Shmigelsky, a former Invermere mayor, captured 14,161 ballots for a 33 per cent share of the total. Green Party representative Bill Green (2,532, six per cent), Liberal Betty Aitchison (1,492, 3.5 per cent) and Independent Brent Bush (643, 1.5 per cent) finished well back, sharing the remaining tenth of the votes cast.
• Two of the children of Creston’s Leonard Laliberte took the first steps in reuniting with their natural father, who gave them up for adoption in 1971, hoping they would have better lives than he could provide.
Laliberte drove to Calgary a week earlier, expecting to meet his eldest son, Albert Tychynski, only weeks after they found each other on Facebook. Laliberte had an even greater surprise when Peter walked out of the airport’s secured area. At his side was his Albert’s sister, Rose Fitzgerald, who had told her long-lost father on the phone that she couldn’t get away on such short notice. The pair flew in from their respective homes in Ontario.
• Volunteers and construction workers were shocked on April 28 to discover that a window had been stolen from an addition to Gleaners Too on Eighth Avenue. The window, which had been installed, was removed between 9 p.m. April 27 and 4 a.m. April 28, then apparently hoisted over the fence on the Pine Street side of the Creston Valley Gleaners Society property. The custom window was 68 inches by 48 inches, and worth $1,200.
• After producing two well-received guitar instrumental CDs in recent years, Creston guitarist Peter Bodley turned to a children’s audience for a third. Drawing on British, French and Quebec influences, Classics for Kids isn’t the usual kids fare with bouncy melodies and lyrics with a moral or teaching lesson.
First, there is no singing — all the tunes are guitar instrumentals. Second, many of the selections will be familiar to adults. Among the two dozen tracks are Sur le pont D’Avignon, Greensleeves, Early One Morning, Scarborough Fair, When the Saints Come Marching In and That’s an Irish Lullaby, as well as pieces by Bach and Chopin.
12 — Parking in Creston’s metered spots were free in June, July and August, after a motion by Coun. Jerry Schmalz to eliminate parking charges at metered spots for a year. After some discussion, he had enough support to wipe out the need to plug meters for three months.
Coun. Judy Gadicke, who made the “friendly amendment” to reduce Schmalz’s one-year proposal to three months, added to the motion that bylaw officers would be directed to chalk tires and gather data about traffic movement on downtown streets.
• The alley behind the post office between 10th and 11th Avenues was to have a posted speed of 15 km/h and speed bumps to slow traffic. The portable speed bumps will be removed in winter to allow for snow removal, and are made from recycled tires. They will slow traffic to between two and 10 km/h as it enters the alley, which has become a shortcut for drivers wanting to avoid Canyon Street traffic lights.
• RCMP officers and dogs executed a search warrant on Riondel Road on May 6, where they found one house and one outbuilding completely converted to the purpose of growing marijuana.
Investigators seized 5,100 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, as well as a large amount of state-of-the-art equipment. The professional operation included eight self-contained hydroponic units, complete with grow lights and timers.
• Concerns that the Homelinks program would be reconfigured from kindergarten-Grade 12 to kindergarten-Grade 9 were laid to rest at the May 10 School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) board of education meeting.
Nearly three weeks after a letter from principal Dan Dalgaard informed Homelinks parents that Grade 10-12 students would be shifted to a learning centre at Prince Charles Secondary School (PCSS), Supt. Jeff Jones announced via video conference that the students would remain with Homelinks.
19 — Students at Adam Robertson Elementary School took part in the school’s 25th annual Jump Rope for Heart event on May 13. Since the project was started by Betty Martin in 1987, the school has raised more than $200,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, including $3,445.55 in 2011.
• Creston funeral director Dennis Kemle has added his voice in protesting what he says is inadequate financial help for the funerals of low-income Second World War veterans.
Rates for veteran funerals have remained unchanged for a decade. The amount issued by the Last Post Fund is $3,600, while the actual cost in 2011 is more than twice that.
26 — Creston town council passed a motion on May 24 accepting a financial report that must be forwarded to the provincial government. In that report was a summary of the salaries and expenses of non-union employees.
Salaries of 11 administrative and supervisory personnel totaled more than $1 million. Total expenses attributed to the same group was $45,465. Remuneration for the mayor ($22,315) and councilors ($11,448 to $13,248) totaled $95,255. Salaries for the remaining (unionized) employees totaled $1,403,372. Total salary costs for the Town of Creston, including elected officials, was $2,582,351.
• For over 20 years, an annual square dance festival has marked the end of the season for the Swan Valley Swingers. But the May 27-29 festival at the West Creston Hall would mark the final event for the group, which was shutting down after more than 40 years. Even as recently as 2000, there were 50 members in the Swingers, but that number dwindled to under 10 this year, and just four signed up for a class that required 16.