EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
New medical marijuana facility planned Page 2
Funny business continues at local library Page 6
Wednesday, July 30, 2014 PM40008236
Vol. 59 No. 31 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Five injured during severe rainstorm
Aftermath: Funds being raised for man who lost his home to fallen tree. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Fundraising efforts are underway for a man whose residence and leg were damaged in last week’s storm. The Bottle Shop confirmed Monday that they’ve been raising money to help Al Robert, whose home was damaged during the severe storm that ripped through the Shuswap Wednesday evening. Sicamous RCMP said Robert was in the bedroom of his Sicamous Creek Mobile Home Park residence when a tree fell through the roof and into the bedroom, injuring his leg. Robert was still able to crawl through the damaged portion to get outside and call for help. Police and paramedics were also called out to a Swansea Point residence where a tree fell on the house and injured a woman inside. She was treated for minor injuries. At about 5 p.m., police and Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station #106 members had to brave the choppy waters of Shuswap Lake in response to a 911 call relating to a houseboat near Neilsen Beach. Const. Dusty Miller said it was reported the boat had been caught up in the storm and one of its crew had gone overboard. “Basically, it was pushed up against the rocks and it was swamped so it couldn’t run anymore,” said Miller of the vessel. Upon arrival, rescuers learned the missing person was still on the boat below deck. However, Miller said three of the houseboat’s occupants suffered minor injuries as the houseboat was being tossed around by the waves. They were taken to hospital for treatment, and the houseboat was eventually docked at the Shark Shack. A fallen tree also hit power lines along Highway 97A near Gillis Avenue, resulting in a temporary highway closure. Meanwhile, east of Sicamous, the storm knocked down power lines at Craigellachie, resulting in the highway being shut down for a couple of hours. The combination of wind, rain and falling trees resulted in power outages throughout the Shuswap, including Sicamous where 3,900 properties were left without power until the following afternoon.
Classic cruiser: Tom and Janet Cathcart show off their 22-foot mahogany 1953 Shepherd inboard boat on display at the fourth Annual Sicamous Antique and Classic Boat Show held Saturday at the Main Street Landing dock. Photo by James Murray
Bridge construction to begin in August
By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
The replacement of the Malakwa Bridge is expected to begin in August and be complete by the summer of 2016. Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo and Okanagan Shuswap MP Colin Mayes were in Malakwa Friday to formally update the public on the proposed project that would see the existing 60-year-old, two-lane bridge along the Trans-Canada Highway replaced with a four-lane structure, so as to improve highway safety and traffic flow. The project, some 30 kilometres east of Sicamous, will also involve widening 2.3 ki-
lometres of the adjacent highway to four lanes and would include a paved median with a 2.6-metre-wide barrier. Tybo Contracting Ltd. of Langley B.C. was awarded the job with a successful bid of $16.4 million. “Replacement of the old, narrow bridge will eliminate this pinch point for traffic and provide increased clearances for commercial vehicles,” said Kyllo in a July 25 Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure release. “The upgrade to four lanes will also provide all motorists with safer opportunities to pass on this stretch of Highway 1.” See Intersection on page 3
Fatal crossing: Police and emergency services tend to the debris left from an April 2011 collision between two semis on the Malakwa Bridge that left one man dead. File photo