TUESDAY
S I N C E
FEBRUARY 4, 2014
1 8 9 5
Vol. 119, Issue 19
105
$
INCLUDING G.S.T.
Smokies sunk in shootout Page 11
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Revamped liquor laws have wideranging impact
SUPER SEAHAWK SUPPORTERS
BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
Daniel Beell (left) and Tony Bloom from Olympia, Wash., carried their allegiance to the Seattle Seahawks to the top of Granite Mountain on Sunday. The Seattle football fans, nicknamed “the 12th man,” and why Bloom was waving his flag, cheered their team to victory in Sunday’s Super Bowl. See story Page 12.
Teck spill remains under investigation Blue dye spotted in river helps district with flow testing BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
Teck Trail Operations has launched an investigation following a large volume of chemical solution spilling into Trail's domestic sewer line last week. An incident on Jan. 28 at the smelter resulted in up to 25,000 litres of a sodium hydroxide solution flowing into a sewer line, which leads to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary's sewer treatment plant before discharging into Bear Creek and then downstream to the Columbia River. “This solution would normally be routed to our Effluent Treatment Plant
for treatment prior to discharge via our permitted outfall,” explained Richard Deane, Teck's manager of environment health and safety and public affairs. The company is now conducting a full investigation to determine exactly what occurred and additional operational safeguards have already been implemented. “The piping that resulted in this incident has been removed and all connections to domestic sewer piping at Trail Operations are being checked,” added Deane. Regulatory authorities including the Provincial Emergency Program, Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada were notified of the incident immediately. Locally, the
spill was quite evident for employees working at the treatment plant that day. “It was kind of like a dark brown substance that was coming into our plant for about a two-hour period,” explained Bryan Teasdale, the regional district's manager of infrastructure and sustainability. “The pH was super high, which is not normal for our operations, so we notified Ministry of Environment and I asked whether there was a spill reported in the area and that's when we got in touch with Teck.” Prior to a meeting with Teck Friday, the regional district did its own flow testing to help better understand how quickly a foreign substance can enter its system and reach the treatment plant. See DYE, Page 3
Family Day Shopping at Waneta Plaza
Feb. 10 11am-4pm
An update to B.C.’s liquor laws has one local event organizer sitting on the fence about what the changes might mean to the younger generation. Last week, the province announced its support of 73 recommendations to modernize rules around liquor licensing that MLA and Parlimentary Secretary John Yap served up for review in December. Right out of the gate, special events will have less red tape attached to liquor licence applications and venues such as sports tournaments and music festivals will no longer have to worry about keeping children out of the beer gardens. The recommendation states that “... I guess only minors, if accomtime will tell panied by a parent how harmful this or guardian, should be permitted in cermight be for kids tain liquor-primary whose parents establishments choose to until a reasonable time. overindulge.” “It took some MARJORIE KIDD fancy footwork to obtain our liquor licence because they don’t normally give one to children’s events,” said Marjorie Kidd, a Rosslander who spearheaded the city’s Children Festival and Benefit concert last fall. “It was tricky so as an event organizer it’s awesome to make the process easier.” As a parent, Kidd gave a mixed review on the new rule that beer gardens no longer need to be cordoned off and kids will be around to roam freely within areas that alcohol is openly served. “I don’t see that it is much different than having a drink in a family restaurant with your kids beside you,” she said. “But there is heavy drinking in beer gardens and things can get quite rowdy and I’m not so sure that is a good thing for kids to be around,” continued Kidd. “There seems to be a lot of hoopla about a law that was already working well. But I guess time will tell how harmful this might be for kids whose parents choose to overindulge.” To date, the venues could only serve beer, wine or coolers, but new liquor regulations allow mixed-spirit drink choices to be served in all public areas including arenas and stadiums. How this will affect hockey games and tournaments or Silver City Days celebrations in the Trail Memorial Centre is not certain, but one Trail councillor does toast the changes. See HAPPY, 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
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