Went to Likely Saturday to the Quesnel River Research Centre‘s presentation on the work it is doing regarding the Mount Polley spill.
The information was well worth the trip, and the fall colours along the way plus the barbecue on site were bonuses. A side trip to the Likely Bridge and looking down at the cloudy water running by below was not. The centre is a UNBC program. I wonder how many Caribooites know it exists?
On the subject of the spill, there is every reason to believe everything possible is being done to “fix” things. There are boats, machines, a variety of people ranging from scientists to road crews working on it, but they are charting new territory. There are no guidelines. It’s a massive job and as one person commented, it’s like filling a bathtub with water, one teaspoonful at a time.
MLAs Donna Barnett, and cabinet Ministers Coralee Oakes and Mary Polak met with citizens of Likely last week (where is Mines Minister Bill Bennett?) and they gave the Likely Chamber of Commerce $50,000 to help mitigate economic hardships resulting from the spill. That seems a mingy amount, barely enough to hire a consultant. They also met with local politicians. I hope the folks at city hall got the message that the mine really does impact Williams Lake.
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Our family grew by one last week with the arrival of Deakin Lee, born to granddaughter Jenni and husband Brock Hoyer.
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The month of October is National Senior’s Week. The community is encouraged to honour and celebrate seniors for their valuable contributions to society as leading mentors and role models. There wasn’t any local proclamation as far as I know. Sunday was International Teacher’s Day, an opportunity to appreciate teachers for their contributions. Not much publicity about that either.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.