You are presumed to be honest and responsible without evidence to the contrary beyond a reasonable doubt… on the balance of probablilties you are justified by 51 % likelyhood.
Life at 600 Meters
700 rivers/ creeks on the trans mountain, expansion., consultation was made to address them.
KDG
Merritt has a walk of stars walk and a hall of fame. File Photo KDG
The Chamber is completing its silent auction with a live auction at 5 PM tonight at the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame building 2025 Quilchena Avenue. Two of the fourteen trees decorated for the parade on Friday will be sold by the parade committee.
The Hall of Fame is a progression from the activities around the Walk of Stars and the years of country music festivals in Merritt.:
Art displayed at the Baillie House,art follows life then who,what,where, when and why. File Photo. KDG
The press is a 20th century phenomenon in its present form. Oral communications and book publishing flourished for antiquity and through the middle ages but only since modern constitutions guaranteed a free press has it been so proactive and investigative. In times when things published were usually the dictates of authorities a separate press and library system ensures democracy.
Edwardian Era press ribbon at the Baillie House File Photo: KDG
On this Day: September 24th 1968
Sixty Minutes debuts on CBS
Driven in part by eco footprint a couple starts life a little different. photo KDG
A young couple were on their way home to north central BC on Monday they had just bought a new home. The home was off the grid on a wheeled Vin numbered tow trailer. For $50,000.00 the two hundred odd square foot home included a sleeping loft The home was meant to be parked off the grid. A Japanese stand up bath tub and a shower were the only thing in the small second room in the rear of the home. The appeal is no taxes and its paid for. The area of the province they live in probably still supports squatting, however acquiring land would certainly lead to an attractive future. The couple said they just want to be free and not trapped by debt.
The unit was built in the Untied States , ordered and paid for 2 years ago when the dollar was at par. They took it complete except for finishing paint as ” we are not sure of the colour we want yet.”
Editors note: staying with the program can lead to success but taking risk can add a flavor to life that is unique. Both are acceptable and considered rights in Canada. The ability to arrange your life to your advantage may cause someone else difficulty as well as your self. Forest cutting rights as well as road usage and private land are a restraint and if you were to do something like build a tree house you may be surprised. Permission while not always required is still desirable.
The local fall fair building brings the farming community together at the end of summer every year. KDG file photo.
Freedom of association was alive and well in Merritt BC, the provincial cattlemen association met here over the weekend. Douglas lake cattle company is about 40 minutes away from downtown and many smaller cattle operations are in the area.
In response to booming demand for beef in rapidly growing Vancouver, the Interior stock industry went into high gear in the wake of the railway’s opening, spurring on something of a golden age in BC ranching. In 1907 the Nicola branch line of the CPR was built into the Nicola Valley to serve the booming stock operation at Douglas Lake, which was already one of the country’s largest and for many years second only to the sprawling Gang Ranch on the west side of the Fraser, which has since shrunk in scale, leaving the Douglas Lake as the largest. The ranch includes leased grazing land as well as directly leased or titled lands, and extends to the edge of metropolitan Kamloops and towards Shuswap Lake, spanning most of the high country of the northeastern Thompson Plateau.
The Douglas Lake Cattle Company has faced many controversies. It has been claimed that early on, the ranch’s land holdings were expanded by pressing large amounts of cattle into the pastures of smaller neighbours. While the cattle would later be removed the damage was done. With their feed for the year consumed by Douglas Lake’s herd, the homesteaders would be forced to sell. Douglas Lake Cattle Company has also aggressively restricted access to both private and public lands. By buying up thin strips of land along major arteries they are able to control wide tracts of public range. In many cases locked gates were placed where Douglas Lake has no legal claim to the property.[citation needed] While this is claimed to preserve grasslands, some say it appears to be a business maneuver. Douglas Lake Cattle Company charges up to $100.00 a day to fly fish their private lakes (that they maintain by stocking, cleaning, aerating, etc.). There are public lakes that you can access for free (Douglas Lake is public) or pay an access fee (Salmon Lake).
Source Wikipedia.
The ranch has expanded by buying the Quilchena Cattle company for a said thirty five million dollars, and now operates the Quilchena hotel on highway 5A at Nicola Lake as well as its livestock operations.
On this Day: May 27th 1933
The century of progress worlds fair opens in Chicago.
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Hail surrounds the bloom outside the United Church in Merritt Photo KDG
On Saturday there was a hail storm here followed by a 4 hour power outage. The hail was soft and smaller then the storm in the 1990s here that caused millions of dollars in damage to roofs and cars.
The storm followed the BC cattleman’s convention and the power outage disrupted their dinner.
On this Day: May 26th 1897
Dracula, is published by Bram Stoker.
The dome of the Coldwater Hotel in Merritt. Photo KDG
The Coldwater hotel built in 1908, is said to have been the sometimes abode of the gentleman bandit Bill Miner. Miner was credited in the 1907 Pinkerton s Detective convention as coining the term “Hands up”, he hid 300 thousand dollars of possibly useless Australian and American, CPR Railway securities, behind the dome of the Coldwater Hotel while he toured Europe spending the 7000 dollars take from a Mission train robbery.
The CBC made a movie of the thief, Miner, decades ago making for a persona like the title ” The Grey Fox”.
The Robin Hooding of outlaws is a long time dynamic resisted by authorities, although Miner an American had no murderous nature ( something to been regarded as good )he was still just a clever outlaw.He had what it took to be one , nothing worth losing,
The local communities of Princeton BC, Aspen Grove and Douglas Lake when embracing him as a local tourist draw,it has been an exercise in mixed metaphor The authorities like to own the legend even though he was a crook they give him grudging credit as a gentleman and claim that getting their man and giving him process established the peace officer persona of the North West Mounted Police. The Canadian sense of justice without gun play a value worth talking about.
Taking on the job of storytelling about this event always gets the teller in an awkward tedious position that may turn on him at any time for being aligned with either side in the ghostly story.There has only been one truly successful Robin Hood.
The Nicola Naturalist Society is having Bill Merilees on Thursday the 16thy of April.Bill will present on Wildflowers.
Few people are as well qualified to talk about BC’s wildflowers as Bill Merilees. Along with the legendary C. P. Lyons he is the co-author of the popular plant guide: Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in Washington and British Columbia (Lone Pine Press). Bill is a retired professional biologist with a long history of nature writing, hands-on interpretation and nature photography. A great speaker and just in time for the spring flowers.
The program is at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology starting at 7PM, free parking and no food or drinks in the theater. Membership or donation is requested, all welcome.
On this day: April 14th 1935
Black Sunday storm worst storm of the US Dust Bowl.
A couple of locks and a chain left hanging on a gate to a ranchers property signals responsible invitation Photo KDG
The hunting season has brought up issues of land access and the need for private property owners in rural areas to keep a check on damage and vandalism.
Locked gates can be the result especially for private e drives and areas that have more than one public road going through them Civic election time also causes people here that wish better access to speak up.
The pictures of an unlocked gate is beside a helicopter companies hanger the ditch with a culvert is filled with copper ore to stabilize the banks. Perhaps a message signaling responsible use or a coincidence.
Today in history: November 21 1953
Piltdown Man Skull determined a hoax
2000 Block Quilchena Ave building to be repaired Photo KDG
The building owned by the local Masons bunch and damaged in a late June fire next door is being repaired. A source on site says it needs to be made safe with replacement wall material on the east side,before undertaking the appearance of the building.
Today in History: November 20th 1982
The General Union of Ecuadorian workers is established.
Demolition of the 2000 block Quilchena avenue building: underway Poto KDG
The Excavator came back, tarps and traffic cones with warning tapes for asbestos in place demolition of the old pool hall started at 2PM the 23rd of September/14.
Today in history: September 25th 1912
The Columbia Graduate school of journalism is founded.
The Nicola Valley has a marginal climate for growing anything other than grass and alfalfa, however the new owners of the river ranch ( the ranch on the Nicola River in the center of town) have a field of cow corn
The ranch is being leased by its local owners to diary interests from the lower mainland and have a number of feedlots. The feedlots confine and feed dairy cows for their first two years and then are taken to the coast for milk production.
Today in history, September 23,1999
The National , Aeronautics and Space Administration says that it lost communication with its Martian climate orbiter.
The Nicola Valley Fall Fair has a deadline for entries to its 2014 fair. The deadline is the 27th at 5 PM. Entries with the correct fees must be dropped of at Blacks Pharmacy or
Pharmasave by that time. Catalogues with Entries are available at the Merritt herald for the exhibition on August 30 and 31st at the Merritt exhibition grounds #319 Lindley Creek Road. There are two forms in the catalogue each section must have its own form and there are 17 sections of items for entry. there are also 5 sections of Members choice. entries fees are 75 cents an item for a possible 3 dollar first, 2 dollar second and 1 dollar third cash prize. there are also lots of prizes from manufactures and sponsor’s.
The Dance is on August 31st 8:30- 1AM with the live Country music of The Randy Chillhitza Band
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 