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Logging Revenue

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March 21, 2011

A fellow that has driven logging truck for 45 years was parking his truck next to his beautiful home on the college heights here today. The proprietor of Blue Spruce Logging say he has a permit from the city to do so. His neighbors supported him in his bid to get a permit. And he says he does not do repairs and is sensitive to noisy start ups. He has a shop also in the industrial area of town.

He says that his fuel bill is ten thousand dollars a month and he pays 26 Cents a liter in municipal taxes. He estimates there are 70 tucks working here in town for the sawmills. And a big part of his expenses go to consumer taxes. The HST  he says he gets back except for the amount over expenses.something he implies helps his business.

He also says that the scuttle but is that this towns mills are selling more to the off shore Asian market now.

The resourse industry has always been a cash cow to pay for services the government offers.

Today in History, March 21,1963

Alcatraz United States penitentiary on an island closes.

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Week in pictures,19/3/11

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March 19, 2011
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Citizens Patrol

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March 18, 2011

Merritt has an active citizens on patrol as well as  a community policing office downtown with jacketed volunteers that go out and walk to be a presence. Not much trouble over this, and it gives formal sanction,to that, we all as citizens have. An ability and duty to respond to distress. In this case by reporting to the regular police.

In England there was at one time  a whistle call that engaged the hue and the cry or a number of people that would come running at the request of a constables blow. And there was vigilantism.

I n many places  both activities were considered  stop gap, and ad hoc. It was a way of the government and rule of law to gain control of justice away from the less professional.

These have gone into the past.

There is also speed watch here and a radar gun and board will tell you how fast you are going from a volunteers position.We do not know how busybodies and the like are dealt with in the program and serious crime is not their mandate.

The real remedy is for the people to have the ability and be without barriers to their own self -actualization of responsible behavior.

We reserve judgment on the value of such programs, however as an educational tool the CPO is in our view somewhat redeeming.

Today in History: March 18, 1938

Mexico moves to  nationalize its oil industry.

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Bralorne Gold mine

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March 17, 2011

Way up in the British Columbia South Central Interior is a  early 20th century town site and mining site called Bralorne. After leaving Lillooet and going past Gold Bridge the town site remains with its deep underground workings that from time to time and gold price to gold price are reworked.The mine was noted as being a hot one and part of the reason given for abandonment where working temperatures in the lower levels of 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

A  man named Jack Johnson  left yesterday  to start the mill up they have by 2 unconfirmed sources 30,000 tons of stockpiled ore at 1/2 an once per. That should come to 15 thousand ounces of gold at 1400 dollars an once . Jack pours the gold into bricks and places a J on it as well as the initials BGM.

 There are two other residents of Merritt employed at the mine. A mine car from the workings of other years restored on tracks at a residence on Coldwater Avenue.The women’s dad worked at another historic mine: Britannia Beach,  the home of the current mining museum .

We think that that’s good as there are many commercial and social uses for gold these days above the old Kings Treasury that always had strings on its disbursement to pull it back.

Bravo free enterprise and we hope you recover some of your prestige taken by frauds in recent years.

Today in History: March 17th 1987

Patrick Griffiths born.

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Big rigs

Filed under: Recreational Vehicles, Tourists, Vegtable soup by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 16, 2011

Large trucks are a concern when driving, a smashed haul truck behind a tow truck yesterday was a reminder of the force and kinetic energy involved when things go  wrong between trucks and others. Drivers have a class one license to run these things and are considered professional drivers. Have medical requirements to pass to keep their license and are very concerned about their driving record as it is a livelihood.

A source tells me that 2 months ago a haul truck tangled with a 50 foot trailer at the Coldwater interchange here, much damage was done and fortunately the accident was survivable.  It’s a great loss of time and effort and a real upset to life’s. We recommend that you keep to the divided freeways and when using the routes that are not remember to keep vigilant and stop to  do your tourist browsing where it is safe to do so. Keep your holiday safe and memorable without calamity.

Today in History, March 16,1968

General Motors produces its 100 millionth vehicle.

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Potable water

Filed under: Environment by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 15, 2011

There is a Ministry of environment test  water well on Garcia street in Merritt, today pumps are going for an annual test. The person testing it says that it is potable and the rusty color of the test water going through a bucket is because it is stagnate for along time , meaning it does not move. And a rust comes off the casing. The well is not perforated or have screens on the bottom. With no pumping it gets no flow.

There is ground water and surface water to consider in wells, ground water has been filtered well by actions and microbes in the ground . It has less entry of surface water into it. The city spend over two million dollars on another well a couple of years ago with 4 test wells to complement it in testing of levels of the aquifer. Merritt has always had great water, a selling point for the City.

However very little  to non left over to sell ,outside local consumption.

Today in History, March 15th 44 BC

Julius Caesar assassinated in the Roman senate.

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Under the influence

Filed under: Crime and punishment, Vegtable soup by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 14, 2011

Crumpled tickets are often found on Voght street, and often for intoxicated in a public place the allegation carries with it a one hundred and fifteen dollar fine.That can be disputed with in 30 days. Two tickets  neatly typed by the arresting officer except for the details of the offender show 34 tickets  spread issued from the same book in a one calendar day cycle. If you are from Missouri you may wonder why the tickets are found close together and within sight of the Police office. It could be that the people that are issued them are repeaters and talk, to each other.  We believe that if these tickets are not resolved by the people that throw them out, then they wind up in collections and the people are harassed into paying them.

It would seem that a reasonable course of action would be to have a designated driver to take you home as the system is ready and eager to embrace even small malfeasance.

Bye the bye if you are drunk in pubic there is no charge if there is a responsible person with you to take charge and especially a privileged person like a blood relative.

Today in history, March 14, 1943

The Krakow ghetto is exterminated by the Nazis.

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Week in pictures, 12/3/11

Filed under: Enterprize, Social Activism, Sports and Leisure by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 12, 2011
mineral exploration

Mineral exploration trenching

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Continuing education

Filed under: Workers Safety by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 11, 2011

A contractor called Valhalla safety is providing a H2S seminar in Merritt on Sunday there are many locals here that go to work in the oil fields of Alberta.

A n explosion in a gas well in Robb’s  Alberta is not related to the seminar other than the 11 injured workers would have taken similar training.

Hydrogen sulfide gas is a deadly heavier than air gas that is expelled in drilling oil wells.

Today in History, March 11,2006

Michelle Bachelet becomes the first female president of Chile

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Career fair

Filed under: Government Works by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 10, 2011

A local jobs fair is  being hosted by NVIT here this week on Wednesday at the college campus. Twelve participants including Royal Bank, RCMP, DFO, Corrections Canada and others, mainly government agencies.

Today in History, March 10th 1970

Captain Ernest Medina is charged with war crimes Vietnam war.

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Nicola Valley Explorers

Filed under: Environment, Social Activism, Sports and Leisure by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 9, 2011

A local group of naturalists and yes they hike  fully clothed. The group has been here for some years, Merritt has a lot to offer to the hiker; lots of trails Demo forests and one of the Chamber themes of some years is a lake a day as long as you stay. Abandoned rail beds connect to the old kettle valley line and in-recent years the Government of British Columbia has spent in one instance 17 million dollars to restore old train   tressel’s  in conjunction or with direction and insight  with  Explorers like non profits.

Today in History, March 9th  1796

Napoleon Bonaparte marries his first wife Josephine.

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Prospecting

Filed under: Enterprize, Politics and Politicians by Kevin Griffiths — Leave a comment
March 8, 2011

After the discovery of the rich ore body at Craigmont’s claims in the late 1950’s there was much prospecting and exploration in the area around Merritt. Trenching soil sampling , line cutting were all methods to find sign of mineralization. All through 1960s and into 1980s exploration activity thrived here. Many public-ally traded company’s sought capital to go about the risky business of exploration. Some gave good returns others wall papered dens with split stock certificates and NPL share certificates ( No personal Liability). The government gave 3 year taxation holidays for profits from mines going into production.And eventually flow through shares came along to give tax write offs guaranteed to investors in the risky business.

The scars and memories are all here. And the legacy of success as well livelihoods that were more than subsistence was the hallmark of  the happy times of production mining.

Today in History, March 8th,1817

The New York stock exchange is founded.

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