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MARCH 19, 2012
Page 4
Vol. 117, Issue 55
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Trail council opens up education dialogue in wake of Bill 22 BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
Trail council is making its voice heard on the future of education. Mayor Dieter Bogs says the city is working on re-establishing a liaison with School District 20’s board of trustees to encourage regular dialogue. This after Bill 22 passed last week. The back-to-work legislation outlaws any further job action
by teachers until Aug. 31 and calls for the appointment of a mediator, though wage demands will not be dealt with during mediation. “We’re in a situation now where the school boards really can’t do their jobs and the union representatives really can’t do their jobs because we have the government imposing a contract,” said councillor Robert Cacchioni, city advisory of education and
a former teacher for 40 years. “What kind of a process have we deteriorated to in Western democracy when we have a mediator coming in who has predetermined conditions?” The province is standing firm on a net-zero wage mandate but Cacchioni considers the nine years of net-zero in the last 17 as an approximate 26 per cent cut. He said the disparity between neigh-
bouring provinces like Alberta is demoralizing to teachers in this province. “What you have now are aspiring young teachers fully eager and they get discouraged very rapidly and then they quit,” he said, noting that 50 per cent of graduates quit after three years of teaching. Councillor Gord DeRosa said Greater Trail residents don’t have to look much further then Charles
Bailey Theatre, which used to be a junior high school auditorium, to see how much was invested in education at one point. “When you walk in that facility it instills upon you an effort to succeed and to think now that we’re putting children in trailers,” he said. “We’ve lost our focus here somewhere. If you don’t educate children, don’t look to the future for any kind of development.”
TREASURE IN TRAIL
VALERIE ROSSI PHOTO
A rainbow blanketed Trail Saturday afternoon, which may have sent some residents searching for the Irish leprechaun’s gold secret hiding place on St. Patrick’s Day.
Backcountry skiers lost in blizzard found by SARs BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
Two lost backcountry skiers were found Friday morning at Red Mountain after spending the night heading back toward the resort in a blizzard. Rossland Search and Rescue (SAR) activated a search Thursday night when the 46-year-old man and his 15-year-old son from Boston, MA, failed to return by an
expected time of 4:30 p.m. The two skiers, familiar with the area, followed an incorrect path when the weather closed in while they were on the back of Gray Mountain and wound up in one of the drainages leading to Esling Creek. White out conditions capped Rossland’s search off until Friday morning when the South Columbia and Castlegar SAR units pitched in. Eight South Columbia members
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and, for the first time, a CARDA (Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association) assisted with the search. “They knew where they were going, they’ve done it before so it wasn’t just like somebody just wandering off aimlessly,” explained Ron Medland, manager of South Columbia SAR. “They actually knew what they were doing but like so many times, the weather comes in and even if you know
where you are, everything disappears.” The teams came across fresh tracks and managed to locate the parched pair, who was otherwise in fine condition, at nearly 11 a.m. Friday. “This is one of the good ones,” said Medland. “It was done early, everybody is fine – the subjects are well – and you’re not out two or three days looking for people.”
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