Williams Lake BC's trusted daily news source.

By Bev Boyle

150 Mile Volunteer Fire Department Chief, Stan McCarthy, was visiting his brother Jack on the coast over 30 years ago when he got a call telling him his house in 150 Mile had burned to the ground. There was no Fire Department.

Stan rebuilt his house and started a fire department 32 years ago and has been the Chief there for 25 years. That fire department now has four fire trucks, a Chief, three Deputy Chiefs, three Captains, two Lieutenants, and over 36 volunteer firefighters. The crew is dedicated to protecting their area and, rightfully, proud of the work they do as volunteers.

The Kamloops/Cariboo office of the Heart and Stroke Foundation is recruiting teams to participate in Williams Lake’s annual Big Bike event, presented by Dairy Farmers of Canada, which is taking place at The Recreation Center 525 Proctor Street on June 11. Local organizations are invited to help take a seat to extend a life by getting a team of 29 together to ride a 2km route in their community on Canada’s only 30 seat bike.

“This fun, team-building event is a great opportunity to increase employee morale and your organization’s visibility in the community and all for a good cause” says Lianna Jansen, Area Coordinator of the Kamloops/Cariboo office of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Well known community volunteer and local musician ‘Tuba John’ Sykes passed away in Williams Lake on March 29, 2013.

John participated in just about anything musical in Williams Lake, taking part in musicals, playing with the Williams Lake Community Band, a local dance band, at the church and he even entertained shoppers at Christmas time by playing his tuba during his Salvation Army kettle shift. He played alongside elementary and high school students, lending his thirty plus years of tuba playing and general musical experience. “I will step in at any time and volunteer my services anywhere,” said John in a recent interview with CBC radio. “I think it’s very important for kids to have a good (musical) background.”

With Easter just days away, and a tradition of gift giving around this time of year, the BC SPCA urges the public to not buy bunnies as Easter gifts.

Craig Naherniak, general manager of humane education for the BC SPCA, says it may come as a surprise that rabbits and children are not a great match.

"Rabbits are great companions for adults, but are not appropriate pets for small children despite the pervasive media images of children with rabbits," he says. “They don’t like to be picked up, as they are prey animals and picking them up distresses them. Like any pet, they require proper care and can live up to 12 years.”

The annual Learn to Run program hosted by Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, is designed for beginner runners and will give you the basics of establishing your own sustainable running program that you will carry on beyond the 12-week program, theoretically the rest of your life. It will provide you with adequate base training to enter the local Kidsport Classic on Sunday, June 23rd either in the 5 km (team) or 10 km (individual or team) categories.

The program is designed to gently increase your running distance. It starts with 30 seconds of running and 4 minutes of walking and slowly increases the endurance so that you are able to participate in a 5km Kidsport Classic Run at the end of the program.

The Williams Lake Indian Band (WLIB) conducted a ceremony today at the Little Chiefs Preschool to acknowledge and honour Mount Polley Mining Corporation (MPMC) for its generous contribution to WLIB education programs.

As part of the historic WLIB/MPMC Participation agreement, which formalizes the working relationship between the parties with respect to the Mount Polley Mine, MPMC contributes $30,000 annually toward scholarships for WLIB students for post secondary education and training, or other purposes related to the education and development of WLIB Members. On hand at the ceremony were WLIB Councillor and Education Manager, Heather McKenzie, WLIB Councillor and Special Project Coordinator, Willie Sellars, and Mount Polley Mine General Manager, Tim Fisch.

(Photo: Councillor Heather McKenzie, Mount Polley General Manager, Tim Fisch, Councillor Willie Sellars.  Photo and info provided by teh Williams Lake Indian Band.)

By Michael Toay

Karen Chabot of Williams Lake is one of 100 finalists in a contest Kraft Canada is holding that will award $1 million to hockey associations across the country. The grand prize is $100,000, and there are twenty $20,000 prizes.

“As exciting as this was for me to be nominated,” Chabot says, “this is about the kids of Williams Lake, Minor Hockey and all of us banding together to vote this coming weekend, March 23rd and 24th to gather enough votes to grab one of these great prizes. Twenty–one prizes for 100 finalists ... the odds are pretty good!”

Exposed Expressions Tattoo Studio is providing butterflies -- the ink kind, not the flying kind -- in support of The Great Room for their April 24 fundraiser and open house.

The Great Room is a group of women who deal in physical, emotional and sexual abuse in a safe and confidential environment. Their meetings are described in their promotional materials as a sacred space where women deepen their relationships and continue their healing journeys, where women gather to share, encourage and be encouraged.

By Michael Toay

The travel experts at Equitrekking have named Siwash Lake Ranch a 'Top 20 Ranch' on their new website, Top20Ranches.com.

According to their web site, the Equitrekking team “crisscrosses the globe to find the best dude ranches, guest ranches, equestrian resorts and horseback riding travel destinations and films them for the Emmy Award-winning TV show Equitrekking and the popular companion website Equitrekking.com.”

In addition to Siwash Lake Ranch in the Cariboo, top dude ranches include geographically diverse picks from Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Georgia and Idaho.

This afternoon, workers began removing the signage for the now-closed Zellers store in Boitanio Mall.

Mall manager Jeanette Tuerlings says the owner is talking to potential tenants and once a deal is signed, there will be an announcement.

Meanwhile, the mall will host the Rose Lake/Miocene 4-H Club’s ever-popular Easter petting zoo and Loonie cake walk on March 30. The annual event is a fundraiser for the club, and it gives the community an opportunity to see the kinds of projects the 4-H kids are doing and find out more about the club.