FRIDAY
S I N C E
OCTOBER 11, 2013
1 8 9 5 Our office will be closed Monday, Oct 14th to allow for Thanksgiving. We will be open again Tuesday morning.
Vol. 118, Issue 161
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A BOUNTIFUL THANKSGIVING
Shelter funding slashed for this winter BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
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Housing the homeless during the winter months will be a financial challenge this year now that BC Housing has granted a Trail shelter half its previously secured funding. La Nina Extreme Weather Emergency Shelter operated on a budget of $50,000 last year but not this time around, according to Tracy Fischer, a financial manager for Trail Association for Community Living (TACL). C a r e e r Development Services (CDS), governed by TACL, will now operate the shelter in the basement of the United Church on Pine Avenue. The facility opens Nov. 1 and welcomes people in from the cold until the end of March during the hours of 9 p.m. until 8 a.m. But to work within its tight budget, the two employees that man the warm quarters will lock it up if no one shows up by 1 a.m. Taking over the management side of the shelter from the church was a natural progression for the organization that helps individuals with barriers as it already ran a Getting to Home initiative with the help of the Greater Trail Community Skills Centre. See GROUP, Page 3
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John Abenante, owner/operator of Earthy Organics Farm in Fruitvale has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving with a bountiful harvest destined for dinner tables around the West Kootenay. Brimming with fresh organic beets, tomatillos, pattypan squash, acorn squash, carrots, potatoes, and apples, Abenate is busy loading the truck and making deliveries to markets around the area.
Quiet bear season awaken by bruins in Glenmerry BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
There have been fewer problem bears reported this season but a conservation officer isn't attributing that to people managing their attractants. Ben Beetlestone calls it the quietest season in the 13 years he's been on duty as one of the two conservation officers responsible for a vast area that includes Greater Trail. Only 10 bears have been destroyed so far when on average 60 and up to 90 are generally killed annually. A good huckleberry crop may have helped the bruins gather enough food and kept them out of neighbourhoods, but Beetlestone said there is also a lull across the province
and no one really knows why. Unfortunately, garbage continues to be the biggest issue, one that results in bears eventually being killed. Such is the case in Glenmerry right now, where a bear trap has yet to snatch up to three problem bears. “There's really no excuse for someone now in Glenmerry to have a bear in their garbage because they can just drive down their road and throw their bags into the community dumpster at the city works yard,” he said. “It's not one person causing the problem, there is enough food source in that entire Glenmerry that they don't need to go into the (baited) trap because they can just walk down the street and
get into someone else's stuff.” One of the brown bears spotted has a limp but is otherwise in good heath and mobile. The bears are causing concern because they have become habituated and have caused some property damage in the neighbourhood which houses an elementary school. “Most of the activity has been at night but there comes a time when we have to evaluate that there is too much going on in an area for the bears to leave so it's not fair for you, who've done everything right, to have to be concerned for your safety or your kid's safety because three houses down the road someone is causing the prob-
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lem with attractants,” he added. With fewer bears reported, Beetlestone said there has been more time for proactive work. Managing attractants continues to be the chorus sung by educators but should residence not comply, there are other means of dealing with irresponsible residents. Conservation officers have the ability to issue a dangerous wildlife protection order, which would order a resident or business owner to secure or eliminate an attractant. A recent update to the provincial Wildlife Act also allows them to write a ticket for $230 when an individual continues to attract See COUGARS, Page 3
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