Be safe and plan a ride to and from grad - ahead of time. That is the message the Province wants graduating students to hear as they get ready to celebrate graduation and start their futures after high school.

Students are encouraged to add transportation planning to the top of their pre-grad to-do lists, so that "picking a ride" to and from grad is given the same importance as "picking a party outfit". Research shows young drivers are overrepresented in motor vehicle collisions, even when compared to other new drivers in older age groups.

Thirty-eight competitors formed nine squads made up of members from Williams Lake RCMP, RCMP Emergency Response Team, Conservation Service, Sherriff Service, Army and local (civilian) members of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and took part in an inter-agency shooting competition at the Williams Lake Sportsmen's Association gun range on Sunday.

This is the second year in a row that this event has taken place and is unique to Williams Lake. This year’s event grew autonomously, attracting several of the Sherriff Department competitors up from the Lower Mainland to participate and visit with their Williams Lake counterparts. This was also the first time that the Department of National Defence has participated in the event. The competitors had team names like the ‘Outcasts’ and ‘Girls With Guns’.

 

In April, the Cariboo Regional District’s Central Cariboo Search and Rescue team in conjunction with Got News Network Inc. held a fundraising auction to raise funds to purchase a Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC).

The auction had 65 items donated by local businesses and drew hundreds of bids from the public who wished to show support for this group of volunteers. The bidding was brisk for the first 2 days, then settled into a steady pace until the final day where it became fast and furious right up until auction closing as people upped their bids in an effort to win the items.

 

The KidSport™ Classic ½ Marathon, Relay and 10km Walk and Run is scheduled for Sunday, June 23, 2013. The event starts and finishes in Boitanio Park in downtown Williams Lake. CN Rail has graciously allowed the City of Williams Lake a permit to use the roadway between the lake and the railroad tracks for this event.

The KidSport™ Classic raises money for the Williams Lake and Area KidSport™ chapter. KidSport™ provides funds to cover the costs of sport registration for kids who might not otherwise get the chance to play sports. The statistics are clear; a child involved in sport is likely to be a better student, is less likely to be a burden to the social justice system and will develop lifelong physical activity habits which reduce health care costs. The benefits to the child are immeasurable.

My name is Lynette. I am sending this letter today as a present - not a tangible gift, but the gift of knowledge. What I'd like to say is something very serious, something I hope you will take to heart and think about very carefully. I hope that my words and actions will aid you in making a decision - a decision that could very well save your life one day. Even if just one of you heeds what I have to say, that will make my speech worthwhile.

Back in August of 2000 I made a very stupid mistake, a mistake that changed my entire life. I chose to drink and drive and as you can see by the photos here, have been paying for that mistake ever since.

‘Coco’ is safe and sound on the ground. The fluffy black cat was rescued just hours after Got News Network Inc. posted the story this afternoon of his nine day ordeal in an 80 foot tall tree.

Someone read about the kitty being stuck in a tree and alerted Arles Tippie, who has only been back in Williams Lake for two weeks. Arles teaches a free fitness class each weekday at 6:30pm, but cancelled the class today in order to rescue Coco.

“Having grown up in Bella Coola, playing in the woods and that sort of thing, I’m no stranger to climbing trees,” said Arles. He has rescued his own cats from trees in the past, and even climbed a mango tree to rescue his pet coati while living in South America – earning him the nickname ‘The Big Monkey’.

(Coco at his place of residence-for-the-night.  Photo by Arles Tippie.)

Sheila Finnie has a birds-eye view of the beach at Scout Island Nature Centre, and has been keeping tabs on the success of the plastic swans installed as a ploy to keep the geese off the beach.

“This was a great idea and it was really working,” said Sheila. Until today, because the last of the 12 swans were stolen sometime overnight.

 

There have been three lightning-caused wildfires in the Cariboo in the past week.

The Cariboo’s first lightning-caused wildfire of the season was June 5 near 141 Mile House and Enterprise Road. An Initial Attack (IA) crew from the Cariboo Fire Centre/Wildfire Management Branch in Williams Lake actioned this fire, a single Douglas fir tree was quickly put out.

The Williams Lake Stampede royalty contestants took part in the last leg of their journey last Thursday at the Stampede grounds.

Throughout the pageant, the contestants are judged through personal interviews, local knowledge and rodeo history, speech finals, modelling and finally horsemanship. The evening includes a grand entrance, a reining pattern, and rail work worth approximately 25 percent of their overall scores. Heading into the event, there is a lot of pressure, according to the existing royalty who were present to help the contestants.

 

101 - Karina Sukert, Miss Williams Lake Rotary Club
103 – Rachel Abrahamse, Miss Daybreak Rotary
105 – Kyra Stuart, Miss M.H. King Excavating