EaglE VallEy
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First year a busy one for marine rescue crew Page 6
Sicamous trails tops among snowmobilers Page 8
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 PM40008236
Vol. 53 No. 49 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Tough times prompting hard choices
Call of the north: Community barber closes doors to take work on pipeline. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Dave Waugh looks tired as he sits back in his old leather and steel barber chair, resting his right shoulder that was recently dislocated while working on a pipeline. Such an injury was never really a concern for Waugh during the 16 years he stood behind the chair as the operator of Sicamous’ sole barbershop, Dave’s Barber Styling. But with bills piling up, and his son having grown up and moved away, Waugh had to abandon the barbershop for the promise of better paying work in Rocky Mountain House, Alta. “It never was so bad before because in the winter times I was coaching hockey, my son’s hockey team, so I needed the weekends off for that and I could close at four o’clock in the afternoon to get the rink on time, but it’s never been good in the winter, fall or spring,” Waugh laments. “In the late spring, early summer, to the end of August, it’s decent. And then after that… by this time, in November, I mean, just look out there. I’ve been around the shop here
Piling debt: Dave Waugh goes through a stack of bills piled up in his barber shop – something that prompted him to close the shop and take work up north. Photo by Lachlan Labere for about an hour now, just puttering back and forth, and there’s just not much going on here at all.” Regarding his injury, Waugh laughs when he says that’s what happens when you’re a 51-year-old man trying to keep up in a 20-year-old’s job. The work, he says, is good, but hard, noting the days are long
– about 14 hours – and the breaks are few. But the paycheques are good. “It’s a catch-22,” says Waugh. “When you’re here, you have a more sedentary lifestyle. You go home, you’re in your own house with your animals there, but you’re worrying about the bills and you’re always broke. You go away to work, you’ve got
money in your pocket but you don’t have time to do anything.” Earlier in the year, Waugh pursued the notion of working up north, but wound up sticking it out at the barbershop for another summer. When fall came, and business See Families on page 2
Business owner offers students an opportunity in trades Apprenticeships: TA Structures partners with School District #83 and Eagle River Secondary. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
A Sicamous business will be playing a big role in the education of local high school students keen on getting a foothold in trades. Today is the first day of class at Twin Anchors Structures (TAS) for a handful of Eagle River Secondary (ERS) students with a desire to apprentice in a trade. The program is a pilot project organized by TAS president Greg Kyllo, ERS and School District #83, and will provide students with both course credits as well as apprentice-
ship hours towards post-secondary trades training. It will also give students who put in the required 90 hours of work experience, and are willing and able to continue, a paid job in their trade of interest. Kyllo says this initiative was prompted, in part, by concerns he heard last year while running for District of Sicamous council. He said a lot of people he heard from were concerned for the future of the high school, and what might happen if enrolment continues to decline. He says he was also inspired by one of his daughters, who he says wasn’t very interested in school until she
enrolled in a hairdressing program offered through the school district. “Suddenly, it was something that she liked, she enjoyed it, straight As, did really well, got her hairdressing certificate – It helped to keep her in school,” said Kyllo. “I thought, it’s a great program, I don’t know why we can’t do some more programs with trades and things at Eagle River.” Another concern of Kyllo’s is employee retention, and he says TAS tends to have greater success with “homegrown talent.” “If we can bring them onboard and get people trained up, we get a really good re-
tention rate,” said Kyllo. “So the thought was maybe there’s an opportunity we can help the school district, help the kids, and at the same time provide a bit of training so we can help improve the retention rates for workers at the factory. All of this led to a meeting with Shuswap MLA and former education minister George Abbott, which in turn let to a meeting with school district superintendent Dave Witt. And then things snowballed to the point where they are now, much to the See Training on page 2