South Okanagan mosquitoes appear to be responsible for the first known cases of West Nile virus in British Columbia. “Thursday, (Interior Health) was made aware of a possible human case of West Nile Virus,” said Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical health officer for Interior Health, in an email sent to local politicians on Saturday, Aug. 22. “That case has yet to be confirmed through national laboratory testing.” [...more]
The abuse of a severely injured Western rattlesnake in the Osoyoos area at the hands of a group of young men is a “deplorable” act, said a staff member from the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre. The act was filmed and posted on YouTube, a video sharing website. The video, which has since been removed from the website, shows at least two young men who have come across a rattlesnake on the road that has been injured, likely by a car or truck. [...more]
The chair of the Osoyoos Irrigation District (East Bench) is confident that a well drilled last week at the end of 66th Avenue near the foot of Anarchist Mountain may solve the district’s water woes. The district has been looking for a way to meet Interior Health drinking water standards introduced in 2004. [...more]
Of the roughly two dozen people who spoke at a public meeting hosted by the Okanogan Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD) in Oroville on the evening of Aug. 24, not one was in favour of a high dam concept being considered for the Similkameen River in Washington state. About 130 people, including a number of Canadians, packed into the Oroville Depot Museum to hear about the Similkameen River Appraisal Level Study, which is looking at three possible dam concepts— high, medium and low— at an area known as Shanker’s Bend, roughly eight kilometres southwest of Osoyoos. [...more]
Editor: If one could ask the question NO TAX or YES TAX, one would simply select the first option because it sounds easier to explain. Digging deeper to explore the real benefits of HST, one would be surprised how HST would benefit the majority of British Columbians. We already benefit from the lowest personal income tax in the [...] [...more]
A sea of orange T-shirts greeted four runners carrying an eagle’s feather down Hwy. 3 from the Richter Pass on the afternoon of Aug. 13. Cheers went up from the crowd of young members of the Okanagan Nation Alliance as they welcomed the runners into the Osoyoos Visitor Centre as the foursome completed yet another leg of a two-day long relay meant to bring attention to violence and suicide within local First Nations communities. [...more]
He might look like a mild-mannered real estate agent but beneath that everyday exterior, Luke Pierlet is one of more than a dozen Osoyoos residents working to keep communities safe during fire season. “I hate sitting around doing nothing and real estate has been a bit on the slow side,” Pierlet said about his recent work fighting forest fires. [...more]
The Town of Osoyoos will allow septic waste from rural areas to be dumped at the Osoyoos Landfill for a little while longer. At its Aug. 17 meeting, Osoyoos town council unanimously agreed to extend the deadline for closing the landfill to rural waste from the beginning of September to the end of March, 2010. [...more]
The single largest contribution made to a political candidate in the Boundary-Similkameen electoral district for last spring’s election was $3,000 – and that was made to B.C. Liberal candidate John Slater. Candidates are required to file financial reports after an election and they have 90 days to do so. Then, they are reviewed by Elections B.C. and posted on its website. [...more]
Editor: To characterize unrealized revenues as ‘losses’ (‘Local cherry growers facing losses due to cheap, plentiful international cherries’ Osoyoos Times, Aug.5, 2009), although fashionable in business circles is at best misleading, if not deceitful. Though sympathetic to their cause, being a grower myself, agriculture is nothing if not an ongoing game of chance. Forecasts and hoped-for revenues are [...] [...more]
