TUESDAY
S I N C E
OCTOBER 29, 2013
1 8 9 5 Scary weekend in Trail
Vol. 118, Issue 170
105
$
INCLUDING G.S.T.
Follow us online
Page 2
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Another bloomin’ success for Trail No title but city earns coveted five-bloom rating from judges BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
A five-bloom rating and an overall increase in score wasn’t enough for the Home of Champions to win gold in this year’s international Communities in Bloom (CiB) competition. Bill Garnett, CiB head horticulturist, attended the awards ceremony in Ottawa last week, which had Trail pitted against neighbouring Castlegar; Pembroke, Ont; Citta di Savigliano, Cueno (Italy); and Sidmouth, Deven (UK) in the international division. “We did maintain our five-bloom rating,” confirmed Garnett by phone from Vancouver. “But we lost out to the winning city of Pembroke and the runner up from a town in Italy.” Garnett was stranded at the Vancouver airport due to flight cancellations, and said he hadn’t yet studied the full CiB judging report and could not elaborate with further details. For the first time, Castlegar faced off against the Silver City in the international competition for a population under 10,000 and was elated to receive a five-bloom rating, said Lisa Lesy on behalf of CiB volunteer Darlene Kalawsky. This was Trail’s last chance to compete at the international level in the competition that fosters civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement. A city can enter internationally for three years, then must drop back into the competition at the provincial and national level and climb its way back up, according to CiB rules. SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Trail princess Emily Dawson kicked off the Legion’s annual poppy fundraiser by pinning the first poppy on her grandfather Cliff Dawson at the Cenotaph last week. Poppy pins will be distributed throughout Greater Trail Friday and Saturday.
Poppy campaign begins this week BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
Emily Dawson was bestowed the honour of pinning the first poppy of the local Royal Canadian Legion’s 2013 campaign on her hero, WWII veteran Cliff Dawson, the Trail princess’s grandfather. “This year, my grandpa’s experiences are especially poignant to me,” said Dawson. “Because he decided to enlist at the age of 17 and I turned that age this summer. “I don’t know if that is something I would have the courage to do. It reminds me just how lucky I am today.” The elder Dawson is a spry 88-year-
old with gracious spirit and a sense of humour that belies his history as a prisoner of war at the tender age of 19. Dawson was sent overseas in the fall of 1944, landing by boat in Belgium and from there, ensconced in battle on the Leopold Canal in the northern region of the country. In October of that year, Dawson’s entire platoon, led by a young Trail man raised in the Gulch, Sergeant Armando Gri, was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a stalag under harrowing conditions very few could endure. The platoon was taken via train boxcars to the camp, and although Gri and
From 1978 to 2013
a handful of prisoners escaped by cutting an opening in the side of the boxcar, Dawson remained behind. During this time, it was mid-winter, and the only reprieve the young soldiers had from the unrelenting cold was a thin blanket and wooden bunk with straw. Lice was rampant and food was scarce, leading to emaciation, dysentery and frost bite. After six months of starvation and forced labour in the German stalag, Dawson was released on April 16, 1945 and transferred to a Canadian hospital in London. See SALES, Page 5
Waneta Plaza, part of our community for over years
35
ay! Come and discover us tod
No movement on Fortis BC lockout BY ART HARRISON Times Staff
There are no talks scheduled and no end in sight at the four-month mark of the Fortis BC lockout of 230 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) employed by the company in electrical generation, transmission, and distribution. “We don’t have any talks planned right now,” said local bargaining committee member, Albert Bortolussi from Oliver. “We’re trying to get the company back to talk about the (mediator’s) recommendations to see if we can’t find some kind of common ground but so far there’s none of that.” See PROPOSAL, Page 3
Late Night Shopping
Thurs. & Fri. to 9pm Free kids playroom and ball pit
www.wanetaplaza.com
5 min. east of Trail on Hwy 3B
Contact the Times: Phone: FineLine250-368-8551 Technologies 62937 Index 9 Fax:JN250-368-8550 80% 1.5 BWR NU Newsroom: 250-364-1242 Canada Post, Contract number 42068012