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.
ICBC and injury law add in a phone book ( to some a nuisance)
There was a young Telus employee at the library in Merritt last week. He had a little coin box in his hand and said that he worked for the phone company and was responsible for all 8000 pay phones in the province. ” I stay in a lot of Motels ” he proclaimed with an air of economic impact! its still a good deal a dollar gets you fifteen minutes of long distance , and there is an innate privacy . “They are still in airports and rural places”
Some estimates say that there is still about 10 percent of the population that use payphones however many are rarely used and revenues are way down.
Some people can’t afford cell phones and some area have no transponder.
The Canadian Radio and Television Commission regulates and licences broadcasting and communication in Canada and in the past made note of community benefits of the minority as a reason to award. Shaw Cable has local community channels in small communities that often have a one person employee presence.
Eitors note: Good luck to that young man as he defines his life by payphones we hope he also find defininition in some community organization.
On this day: February 23 1987
A super nova is observed, 1987a is seen in the Large Magellan Cloud.
DR, Snee and company, Merritt BC 2010 File Photo: KDG eye exams may help with other conditions…*
February is Heart Month and the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation is organizing for awareness and proactive action on Heart Health Making more Survivors Together is its theme once again this year .
Dance Party:
One of the activities in Merritt is a Dance at the Merritt Seniors complex .”Dance your Heart Out” is on Thursday February 25th from 9:30 – 11:30 tickets are 5 dollars apiece for 1 and 2 guests.
The event is endorsed by Love to Dance Studios
Contact janebartle@gmail.com
*
Everything from allergies to autoimmune diseases can present with ocular symptoms first. And while red eyes, discharge, itching, light sensitivity or visual changes can be uncomfortable enough to bring patients in to see their optometrists, some symptoms, such as optic nerve or vascular changes, take place inside the eye and can go unnoticed. This is why it’s important for adults to have an eye exam every two years
Read more at http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/eye-health/what-your-eyes-can-tell-you-about-your-health#xtPQBgdmpe7ZIB0d.99
Medical is personal and second opinions are a good thing in our view.
On this day February 10th 2009
Two communications satellites collide in space, one American,named Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 a Russian are destroyed in low earth orbit.
Where are they now! The city had this store front for feral cats some years ago this time of year would be hard on these creatures . An activist group later stared a sanctuary for feral animals on a piece of property in an unincorporated area west of Merritt. They called the the place Angels. Angel’s Animal Rescue – Merritt, BC. They have a Facebook page:
The price of gasoline is down again in Merritt BC to 92.9 cents per liter at the down town Petro Canada, corner of Nicola and Voght.
A check on Gas Buddy shows that it is a full 5 cents a liter less money here then 5 BC outlets are selling gas for. The BC average is 96.9 a liter national is 10 cents a liter less and prices are trending down.
The City of Merritt has just received delivery on two replacement 21 passenger Chevrolet buses, they are replacing two diesel units and are gasoline. Reasonably there can be no connection to this with gas price however we don’t have a gasoline levi for transit in the City such as Vancouver’s.
A referendum over transit tax was defeated in the lower mainland last year. That tax would have been a increase to the Provincial Sales tax like US cities Seattle and Los Angeles.
Merritt is part of the provincial transit system.
British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority (BCTFA)
The dedicated tax for the British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority on clear gasoline and clear diesel fuel sold anywhere in the province is 6.75¢ per liter.
Trans Link:Vancouver area.
The dedicated tax on clear gasoline and clear diesel fuel sold inside the South Coast British Columbia transportation service region (SCTA) is 17¢ per litre.
Frank Trenholm installs new license plates to new buses delivered to Merritt, Feb 3/ 16
Victoria Area:
The dedicated tax on clear gasoline and clear diesel fuel sold inside the Victoria regional transit service area (VRTA) is 3.5¢ per liter.
Total BC taxes including 7 (6.5) cent carbon tax is 21.17 cents for us here in Merritt. Most expensive is Vancouver @ 31.17 a liter.
The carbon tax element is supposed to be a neutral tax and is used to reduce personal and corporate income tax:
The tax puts a price on carbon to:
Encourage individuals, businesses, industry and others to use less fossil fuel and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions;
send a consistent price signal;
ensure those who produce emissions pay for them; and
make clean energy alternatives more attractive.
There is also federal excise tax of 10 cents and a 5 percent GST, there are no taxes dedicated to transit or road maintenance or construction on alternate energies. This in our view can make carbon tax regressive.
Tax on diesel fuel is slightly higher for BC but federal taxes are less then half that of gasoline.
Merritt’s total minimum tax on gasoline is 32.73 cents a liter,Vancouver is 44.28 cents. As taxes move toward 50 percent of the pump price it raises the specter and possibility of regulation and world market Alberta oil less attractive.
KDG.
On this day February 5th 1958
A hydrogen device is lost by the US Air force off the coast of Georgia never to be recovered.
The library has produced a schedule for its programs here in Merritt, The Newshound, Thompson Nicola Region. Here are some of the highlights:
Thursday, February 11, 4-6 launch of the new local news app. ( 1000’s of local news articles published over the years. Local historian Murphy Shewchuck, will be the guest of honour, presenting an App for the News Hound with a bone cloud.
Learn to Knit with Louisa Robertson Thursday, February 18, 6-8 PM
Mediation for beginners with Roslyn Ducios four Thursdays in March,6-7 PM
Fly tying, Wednesdays, 6-8 PM all welcome ,materials supplied.
Photography, Wednesdays 6-8
Get help with technology, ongoing sign up with Anne Pang
Please register at the front desk or call 250-378-4737
On this Day: February 3rd 1908
The Panathinaikos Athletic Club is formed.
Urban living: this marmot takes advantage of a concrete pad for shelter. Photo KDG
Groundhog Day (Canadian French: Jour de la Marmotte; Pennsylvania German: Grundsaudaag, Murmeltiertag) is a traditional holiday celebrated on February 2. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six more weeks.[1]
Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.
Source Wikipedia
Be up early: There is a story going round that the Ground Hog ran off with the pardoned Thanksgiving Turkey to South America: heard in a murmur as departing:” Dam climate activists. ”
On this Day: February 2nd 1988
Auntie Anne’s restaurant chain is established.
TV news Kamloops BC reports on a death in Voght Park, Merritt. File Photo KDG
Congratulations to Rick Arnish on his retirement after 46 years with the Pattison Group finish up as a chair. Good luck in your continued contributions to the community post retirement. (as reported by CFJC on Wednesday)
Channel Seven CFJC has transmitters in 8 communities in the BC interior including Merritt. It is also available as channel 25 on the Bell system.
On this Day: January 21 1915
The service organization Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit Michigan.
Saddle Maker festival era Corner of Nicola And Garcia, Merritt BC File photo: KDG
Al Clarke retired from local radio ran a small business for a time away from the mike. The import from Powel River BC to Merritt had a promotion company called media Management.
Well before social media and smart technologies Al had an office in the corner building at Nicola and Garcia avenue, Across from the Grand hotel in Merritt.
Customers included Sanders and Company and forest concerns. We remember a conversation back when the Hedley Blast, music festival, in Hedley BC was failing under the watch of the organizer (locals and noise). Al had a keen appreciation serving an enthusiasm to see possibilities that could bring a festival to Merritt in what was to become the successful Merritt Mountain Music Festival. ( defunct in2010) :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Mountain_Music_Festival
Al is retired now and is a fluent social media friend. Kudos to him for his insights and all the years of watching council and broadcast at Radio NL Merritt and Q101 FM Merritt. https://www.facebook.com/al.clarke.3910?fref=ts
Happy retirement Al you sure were an asset and still are! Al was bringing us up to speed on Blue Monday at his writing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedley
Voght Street office of a local mine benefiting from new Hydro infrastructure. File Photo KDG
Robin a worker for Shaw Cable was pulling fiber through a pipe on Voght street here in Merritt Thursday. The laid off hydro worker said he had to change jobs when Hydro laid off a lot of people to accommodate apprentice trained workers.
The cable came from Parker Drive,Telus has lines on the poles above as well as Hydro lines in the top position on the poles.
When asked about site C he thought that that may be the reason for the lay off. He was aware of some of hydro’s activities in alternate energy including replacing some oil burning generators in small communities , working with distilling algae from sewage as well as some windmills.
BC Hydro’s Power Smart program encourages energy conservation among its residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The program also aims to promote energy saving retail products and building construction, and includes a “Sustainable Communities Program”. Its in-house Resource Smart program is used to identify and implement efficiency gains at existing BC Hydro facilities. BC Hydro also practices energy conservation at its generating facilities through the continuous monitoring and efficient use of the water resources used to power its generators.
BC Hydro is committed by the BC government’s Energy Plan to achieve electric power self-sufficiency in the province by 2016, with all new generation plants having zero net greenhouse gas emissions by the same year.[28] In 2013, BC Hydro released an Integrated Resource Plan which includes meeting at least 66 percent of the expected increase in electricity demand through increased energy efficiency.
BC Hydro has also entered into energy purchase contracts with a new category of company created by special legislation, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to buy electricity generated from intermittent renewable sources, mainly from small capacity run of river hydro and more recently, wind power, wood residue energy, and energy from organic municipal waste. There has been some criticism of this policy on the basis that it will result in Hydro paying significantly higher rates to private producers than it would have if the power were self-generated.
BC has a policy not to develop nuclear power.
: source Wikipedia
BC Hydro operates 31 hydroelectric facilities and three natural gas-fueled thermal power plants. As of 2014, 95 per cent of the province’s electricity was produced by hydroelectric generating stations, which consist mostly of large hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Peace Rivers. BC Hydro’s various facilities generate between 43,000 and 54,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, depending on prevailing water levels. BC Hydro’s capacity is about 11,000 megawatts.
To be continued.
On this Day: January 15th 1892
James Naismith publishes the rules to Basketball.
A visitor to the Nicola Valley ran a program with youth in 2015 Photo KDG
A member of the Nicola Naturalists is sharing a slide presentation at the Merritt Public Library on Thursday the 28th of January from 6-8 PM.
Billed as a travel-loque ” Armchair traveling through Cambodia and Vietnam”. Bob Scafe will share some pictures of flora and fauna from a trip to the near east.
Bob also was keen enough about butterflies to be involved in the Royal BC Museums program earlier this year.
There is a sign up sheet at the public library front desk at 1691 Garcia street in Merritt.
On this day: January 14th 1938
Norway claims part of Antarctica as sovereign territory.
Soap stone carvings by Ed Hendrix of Ponderosa Sports a big supporter of local lake fishing. file Photo KDG
The local fish and game group is sponsoring an Ice fishing derby on the coming weekend at Mammete lake. The time of the completion is from 8Am to 2PM on Sunday the 17th. there is free hot chocolate and coffee and hotdogs will be available. The entry fee is Fifteen Dollars a person and a max of 30 dollars a family.
Various prizes are offered.
FMI: http://www.nvfishandgameclub.ca
Editors note: Ice conditions may vary when recreating be safe carry a rope.
On this Day: January 13th 1942
Henry Ford introduces a plastic car 30 percent lighter then metal. The Soybean Car developed in part with George Washington Carver.
With all deference to the the the Christmas bird count and all the environmental action we hold dear and should always continue, this bird was probably killed by a cat. Tracks around it and its proximity to cats and a feeding station conspire to an exercise in instinct.
It was probably a fat cat as well,as instinct didn’t lead to consumption.
On this day January 8th 1982
Break up of the Ma Bell system leads to 22 subdivisions shed by AT&T
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 