May 30th and 31 will see the local game club host an archery weekend.
The shoot is billed as a 3D event and is at the club 7.2 kilometers up Aberdeen Road in Lower Nicola BC ( off highway 8 ).The Club rate is 75 dollars for a family, 35 a person, 20 dollars for a youth There is no Saturday dinner, however camping included.
info: Brian.Moore@gov.bc.ca
On this day: April 15th 1892
The General Electric Company is formed.
Category: Arts and Culture
The local lawn bowling association will be open for the season May 1st.Joe Geil from the group says the 7 o’clock evening activity is on Sundays , Tuesdays and Thursdays,at the grounds on Merritt ave behind the Desert Inn. The first three times are free two and a half dollars a time after that.
The facility also has overhead lights and a lounging area.
On this day: April 10th 1970
Paul Macartney leaves the Beetles.
Good luck to all the artisans of Merritt.
The annual community art show is on again this year with an artists reception on April 10th,5-7 pm at he Old Court House Gallery here in Merritt.
The exhibition will run from April 10th to May 2, 2015. Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday 10AM-4PM
On this Day: April 9th 1967 The first Boeing 737-100 goes into service.
1917 diploma from NVGH , Nurse training
Photo KDG
The calendar has brought to light a number of items from history in the Nicola Valley, 100 year anniversaries of the drill hall, and the center piece of the the town ” the Coldwater Hotel” indicate a great effort by a small population. The approximate 700 people of Merritt at the twentieth century produced a lot of “golden age ” construction on the coin of three coal mines but may have often suffered from a sense of abandonment from time to time with the draw of events like World War 1 .
An accounting of 2000 men working on the Kettle Valley Rail Way, resulting after construction in a local Doctor becoming an engineer,brakeman and passenger may be a personality quirk of those that wanted a future here or real abandonment. One of the signatures of the local doctors on the nurses qualification went on to be the local MLA after antics like ” riding a boxcar” down from the Kettle Valley as a mode of transportation.
At this writing a electric co gen plant is under construction on in the area of the ruins of ” Merritt Light and Power” a progressive project of the people of the era at the turn of the twentieth century as well. That activity certainly suffered from abandonment more then once in its completion. According to John Chase, a local official the present plant is a huge partnership with two other similar projects in BC, (one at Fort Saint John). They are too big to suffer abandonment.
Editors Note: The recent 500 KV lower mainland transmission project and its completion as well as Teck corporations mine expansion projects in the billions give a sense of security . However kudos to those who have found the joy of risk in a reasonable way that have resulted in expression and spiritual joy. For those that found themselves in frontier with or without abandonment or even risked modern travel or invention, the trying of something new, good on you and we hope some of it spills over on us.
On this Day: April 7th 1890
The completion of the Lake Biwa Canal:
hose
Leaf has direct connection to 500 volt quick charger in Merritt.
Photo KDG
The charging station at the arena parking lot off Voght Street in Merritt saw some use on the weekend. A Nissan leaf from Kamloops ued the quick charger for about 20 minutes and produced an 85 percent charge. A further 18 minutes would have produced a full charge however” It may be hard on the battery” was the concern that made the driver continue to the 70 amp charger that Sun country installed at the local truck stop and bus station near the junction of highway 5A to Kamloops. The charge will be slower but we have confidence in the topping up and want to see the charger on the outskirts of town. There six chargers in the City and they are on sites available by smart phone. The 500 volt quick charger ( 20 minutes 85 percent ) was placed by BC Hydro. The charge was without fee on Sunday. On this Day: April 2nd 2011 India wins the world cricket cup.
Richard Nixon found in historical record.
Photo submitted
Richard Nixon is found in this picture of Merritt Toastmasters, Merritt British Columbia. Published author and WW 2 Canadian air force veteran (deceased) is seen with Nixon subtlety upbraiding Nixon about him spoiling the Christmas in Vietnam. You must be careful of your choice in direction.
Nixon is said to have hidden out here making a modest existence panning for gold (only in standard time) and moonlight plumbing.
On this Day: April 1st 1911
The City of Merritt British Columbia is incorporated
All presentations are on at 6 pm except for health services. which is at 1PM.
- The importance of Bees: April 9th
- Mars and Black holes: April 23d
- Go with the flow, waste water, Go with the flow: May 7th
- Health Services in Merritt: May 21 st
- Wills and estates May 28th.
The Merritt Public library is at 1691 Garcia Street, sign up sheet at counter.
On this day: March 27th 1975
The Trans Alaskan pipeline is begun.
Snow at the 2500 ft level of the Coquihalla hyw, Sunday March 15th Photo KDG
Hamilton hill snow on March 15th/15
Shelia’ bluff visited Merritt on Sunday. Usally an eastern Canada phenomenon, Sheli’s bluff is a winter storm or snowfall just before St Patrick Day that makes you think winter is back.
On this day: March 17th 2013
Th largest asteroid to hit the moon since NASA’s scrutiny began in 2005.
book sale,
file photo KDG
The 10,000 item book sale ends on Saturday, prices remain at 2 dollars for hard cover a dollar for paperback. Proceeds to childrens programs.
On this Day: March 13th 1991:
Exon agrees with the US Dept. of Justice to pay a billion dollars in clean up costs for the Valdeze incident.
A happy job stewart talks to us at the start of the 3rd 500 KV line near Merritt. Photo KDG
You may be miffed that the BC government takes a dividend from hydro when its supposed to be a non profit and delivering power at a rate that reflects your equal standing as a citizen in British Columbia now that dividend may be more attractive when a low snow pack creates less generating capsity then in other year. Putting pressure on that dividend against a reasonable rate. Is it a tax? It is against the mixed economy concept that is supposed to undergird our free system of profit driven business. Here’s what hydro is saying about the snow pack:
Lower-level snowpack is way below normal in many areas across province
No snow on the North Shore mountains. Mount Washington closed to skiing for the season. A record high temperature of 14°C at Vancouver airport a month after Christmas. What’s going on here? And what does it mean to 2015 water levels in B.C., including BC Hydro’s reservoirs? To answer those questions, and to take a deeper dive into the effects of climate change, we sat down with BC Hydro meteorologist Tim Ashman, author of a popular in-house weather blog that goes out to more than 1,000 BC Hydro employees. A member of BC Hydro’s hydrology and technical services team, Ashman agrees that this has been a weird winter in B.C. “It’s been unusual in B.C. and in much of Western North America,” he says. “It’s been warm quite consistently, pretty much all winter, with only a couple exceptions.” What makes the winter of 2014-2015 so unusual is just how warm and wet it has been compared to other so-called El Nino years. We had one in 2009-2010 during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but that winter was largely dry. Not this time around, because this El Nino year is different. “All of our storm cycles have been warm,” he says. “And that’s had a significant effect on our snowpacks. We’ve had to deal with water runoff instead of storage into the snowpack. At elevations where we’re generally storing snow at this time of year, we’ve seen runoff.” That runoff was significant enough that BC Hydro was forced to spill water at several dams, notably in the Campbell River system. Meanwhile, a rainy October in the north recharged ground water and increased streamflows into BC Hydro’s largest reservoir, Williston, in what amounted to an unusual, but welcome, pre-winter influx of water heading into the peak season for electricity demand.
Maybe rain will come maybe taxs will go up. What ever comes we still have a lot of good people and an enduring community to increase our quality of life come what may. You may take this serous enough to do that solar project you have put off. On this day: March 5th 1975 The first meeting of the home brew computer club.
For more from hydro visit the newsletter: http://www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2015/decreased-snowpack-impacts-bc.html?WT.mc_id=c-15-03_snowpack
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
