S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 26 NO. 13
Scam targets local seniors By Margaret speirs A scam in which a man calls up and gets people to send him money to enter a lottery has hit several local seniors. At least one local senior has sent more than $1,000 in cash by mail every month for the past few months to the address in Salt Lake City, Utah until noticed by the manager of the Shoppers Drug Mart post office. Linda Nelson said another three or four seniors, that she knows of, have sent money, sometimes in express packages so it gets to its destination quicker. “When I see stuff like that, I warn them because part of my job is to protect them,” she said. “They really think it’s a legitimate lottery.” The woman who had sent money several times said the man who had called her told her he administered the lottery. Nelson said she called the local RCMP, who told her the police don’t deal with fraud and to call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
She called several times and kept getting voice mail that would say staff was in a meeting or was having technical difficulties. At the end of last week, she still had not been able to get through to the anti-fraud centre. “Lottery scam is a wellknown one,” said Terrace RCMP Const. Angela Rabut, media relations and community policing officer. “The RCMP does continue to investigate frauds and scams.” Nelson said a lot of seniors put cash in an envelope and pop it in the mail slot and she can’t catch if they’re mailing money to a phoney lottery. “There’s only so much you can do,” said Nelson. The anti-fraud centre’s online tips to avoid getting caught up in a lottery scam include: “you cannot win without first buying a lottery ticket” and “They (a legitimate lottery) will never ask a winner to pay any fees up front, like taxes or a security deposit, to receive a prize, lottery or sweepstake.”
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Margaret speirs PHOTO
■■ Standing tall megan alexander, left, and Renya Brouwer show off their skills on stilts as Buskers in Brolley Square during the second annual Summer Arts Festival last week. Along with the variety of arts events for all ages, festival goers could enjoy different musicians during lunch hour in the square and the girls finished off the week. For more photos from the 10-day event, see page 15.
Grad rates lower here than rest of province By AMARA JANSSENS Coast Mountain School District (CMSD) is showing a lower high school graduation rate than the provincial average, despite seeing an overall increase in graduation rates during the last decade. The provincial graduation rate is 81 per cent, while the CMSD is 70 per cent, according to the Ministry of Education. And the graduation rate for aboriginal students in the CMSD is 50.1 per cent, also below the provincial average of 54 per cent, but a jump from years previous. “I think there are a lot of
challenges in our area,” said Nancy Wells, superintendent with CMSD. Such challenges include keeping students motivated to stay in school until graduation, Wells said. But a focus on aboriginal learning has translated into the aboriginal graduation rate seeing the biggest improvement during the last few years. Between the 2011 to 2012 school year, aboriginal graduation rates jumped from 45.8 per cent to 50.1 per cent. “Absolute credit to Cheryl (Cheryl Sebastian, Director of Instruction of Aboriginal Education in CMSD),”
Wells said. On June 19, 2013 the CMSD passed their Achievement Contract for the 2013/2014 school year. In this four-part contract, increasing secondary school completion rates for all students is identified. The school district expects to achieve higher completion rates through strategies that increase attendance and decrease suspensions and school withdrawals, and introducing alternate programs in the Hazeltons where attendance rates are generally poor for secondary school students. But a number of efforts
have already been adopted in the push to increase graduation rates for all students, she said, noting that the middle school system was adopted for this reason. CMSD also piloted a trades program this year which is expected to increase graduation rates. Beginning in Grade 10, (or year one of the graduation program), students sample all trades offered through Northwest Community College in order to get a better sense of what they’d like to study in post secondary and plan their time tables accordingly. “The opportunities are
here for them to walk into really good jobs,” Wells said. Wells emphasized the importance of completing high school, even in a region where jobs are available to young people without their dogwood diploma. The days of not finishing high school and getting a job at the mill are over, she explained. “My belief is that every child deserves to finish school with dignity and with the skills to either go to postsecondary or work and to become a contributing member of society,” Wells said. “The school district’s role is to help families un-
derstand the importance of graduating with the ability to attend post-secondary.” According to a report by the BC Teachers’ Federation, completing a high school diploma increases a persons employability by double, and has been shown to increase life expectancy by 9.2 years. As for other northwest districts, the Stikine saw a 52 per cent graduation rate for all students, and a 37 per cent graduation rate for aboriginal students. And in Prince Rupert there is an overall 70 per cent graduation rate with a 48 per cent graduation rate for aboriginal students.
More music
Power line woes
Trail trials
Terrace Community Band celebrates its 30 years of entertaining community \COMMUNITY A11
Costs and timing for the Northwest Transmission Line don’t add up: NDP \NEWS A8
Work on Terrace’s trail network keeps on thanks to local volunteers \SPORTS A22