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Vol. 63, Issue 77
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Power outage closes Tamarack Centre Stores in the Tamarack Centre were forced to close for business on Wednesday, April 16
SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
Cranbrook’s Tamarack Centre is back in business after a power outage forced the mall to close for a day last
week. The mall was closed all day Wednesday as the whole shopping centre experienced an unexpected power outage — with the excep-
tion of Tim Hortons and Boston Pizza which are on a different power phase. The power went out at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15 and
was restored at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, said Linda Birch, manager of the Tamarack Centre. “BC Hydro spent the night troubleshooting
and then in the morning brought their locator in to help assist in what they knew was then a broken main cable from the transformer near the 12th Street bridge. They
dug up the junction box and pulled and replaced the cable and terminated at both ends and put us live again.” As the mall was built in 1976, it is likely that the cable was the original dating from that time, so its age was likely the cause for the break, Birch added. Mall management
told people about the closure using announcements on the radio, its website and its Facebook page to keep shoppers informed. “Please thank people for their patience and we certainly had a busy day (Thursday) so thank those shoppers for waiting until we were open again,” said Birch.
TEACHERS START JOB ACTION
On to Phase 1 Little impact on students as first phase of job action begins today; Education Minister speaks against work-to-rule action during a visit to Cranbrook on Tuesday SAL LY MACD ON AL D Townsman Staff
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
Nelson the cat is recovering at the East Kootenay SPCA, but traumatized after being subjected to horrific acts of violence.
Cat survives sick acts of torture Animal cruelty is widespread and common, even in the East Kootenay, SPCA says BARRY COULTER
Nelson is one tough cat. He is recovering at the East Kootenay SPCA after having survived a hideous act of animal cruelty. Today, Wednesday, April 23, is Animal Abuse Prevention Day, and Nelson’s presence is a stark reminder that acts of animal abuse are wide-
spread and commonplace everywhere, including here in the East Kootenay. “We’ve seen some crazy things,” said Brenna Baker, Manager of the East Kootenay SPCA. “We want people to be aware that things like this are happening here.” Baker said the BCSPCA started Animal Abuse Preven-
tion Day in 2012 to get people talking about the subject, in the aftermath of the Whistler sled dog incident, in which an employee of a sled dog company was ordered to shoot more than 50 healthy dogs after a downturn in the business. As for Nelson, what some human subjected him to al-
most defies belief. “Someone stopped by on Thursday,” Baker said. “They said they had seen a cat by the side of the road. One of the staff went out there three times, and finally caught him, in a net. We rushed him to the vet.”
See SPCA, Page 3
ties, the BCTF will step up the job action to one-day walkouts around the province in phase two. Phase three would be a full-scale strike, but it would require another vote by teachers to authorize. Shelley Balfour, president of the Cranbrook and Fernie Teachers Association, said that phase one job action will have little impact on students. “The teachers will be teaching the kids and doing their regular activities. There will be no curtailing of the extracurricular – that’s still going ahead,” she said. “Where the kids might notice the change will be that board office staff – the excluded staff – will be on recess supervision. That’s probably the most that the kids will notice – there will be different people supervising.”
Both sides of the negotiating table hope that a teachers’ contract can be reached before job action amps up to phase two. The BCTF announced last week that the first stage of job action for teachers will begin today, Wednesday, April 23, with teachers refusing communication with school managers, arriving no more than an hour before and leaving an hour after school hours, and refusing supervision of students outside class time. The B.C. government and the B.C. Teachers Federation are trying to agree upon a long-term contract for teachers. BCTF members voted in March to follow a three-stage strike plan. If phase one fails to result in an agreement between the two par- See EDUCATION, Page 4