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PROUDLY SERVING KIMBERLEY AND AREA SINCE 1932 | Vol. 83, Issue 178 | www.dailybulletin.ca
Reducing subsidies City looking to put more conferences in the Conference Centre C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
CAROLYN GRANT PHOTO
Kimberley City Councillor Albert Hoglund, himself a two-time cancer survivor, officially starts Kimberley’s 35th Annual Terry Fox Run on Sunday, September 20.
Reflections on unspeakable tragedy TAYLO R R O CC A
I
got into my truck, pulled out of The Townsman parking lot just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon and made my way east. I knew where I was heading but I wasn’t sure what to expect. Just two days earlier, the small mountain town of Blairmore rocked by the tragic reality of a double-murder. Two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette — taken far before the world could see the light of her electric smile shine and conquer the mountains sur-
FuN for the whole family!
rounding her — and her 27-yearold father Terry Blanchette — gone. It’s the type of reality no community should ever be challenged with. The loss of young life is always difficult to comprehend. So, what should have been a normal “day at the office” for me as the Kootenay Ice met the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Crowsnest Pass for Western Hockey League pre-season play, was going to be anything but that. This much I knew. In 2013, in the midst of my
first full-time job in journalism, living in Kindersley, Sask. — the west central hub in the Land of Living Skies — I was faced with interviewing the local highschool football team after an 18-year-old teammate, classmate and friend, was taken from the community suddenly — lost to a head-on collision just west of Rosetown and less than 80 kilometres from home. The loss of that bright and talented young man, to a tragic and completely uncontrollable event, rocked the core of a tightknit community of nearly 4,700. But that was a completely dif-
KIMBERLEY COMMUNITY
FAIR
ferent kind of loss. To intentionally snuff an innocent and pure spark hits like nothing else can. I spent as much of my 170km drive along the Crowsnest Highway trying to keep the heart-wrenching story from my mind. This was my second time visiting the Crowsnest Pass for the WHL Thunder Challenge — an annual event in its seventh year raising for funds for the local minor hockey program in the area. See SMALL TOWN, page 4
The City of Kimberley subsidizes the Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre to the tune of $140,000 per year. That’s a pretty substantial amount of money, says Mayor Don McCormick, although municipal subsidies of conference centres are the norm. “Conference centres do not make money,” he said. “They are there to drive people into accommodations and bring people to town, and keep them there for a few days.” However there are certain types of bookings that are more desirable than others. For instance, a wedding is a booking for an evening but a conference for several days brings far more revenue into town. “We are looking for conferences with groups of at least 250 staying at least four days,” McCormick said. “250 people in town visit restaurants, spend money. These type of events spend more than weddings.” Just that type of conference will be in Kimberley this week, when the BC Community Futures Annual Meeting will be held at the conference centre. The meeting is expected to bring upwards of 250 people to town for several days, and time has been blocked off for guests to enjoy Kimberley’s golf courses and tourist amenities. To seek out that type of business, an independent sales contractor has been hired by the Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre. Remuneration for the contractor will come directly out of the City’s contribution to Tourism Kimberley, not the conference centre budget. See SUBSIDIES, page 4
Just a few BOOTHS LEFT- $150.00 same price for 5 years. We still have some booths left inside and outside – will sell right till the end!! High attendance numbers, fun for the whole family!
Call Bev MARYSVILLE ARENA 250-427-7876 or email Saturday Sept. 26, 10:00 - 5:30 tom.tan@telus.net Sunday Sept. 27, 11:00 - 4:00