Now that it’s fall, and this year already some cold nights, it’s time to start thinking about making your elderberry tincture. It’s perfect timing, since it seems like the first round of flu has happened with the kids going back to school.   Elderberry trees are thin, mid-sized trees that look almost like tall bushes that...

 New Democrat Agriculture Critic, Alex Atamanenko (BC Southern Interior) is fed up with the partisan antics that Conservative Members of Parliament are using to obstruct the work of the Standing Committee on Agriculture. According to Atamanenko, all they had to do at last week’s meeting was vote on a motion to request a 30-day extension to complete […]

Dear Editor,   In mid September I came into brief but intense contact with a rather wonderful human being by the name of – well, let’s call him Roy. Roy wandered, or rather hobbled into our place – The United Church Food Bank - one Tuesday morning. Swollen feet clad in too-small sandals, swollen legs wrapped in gauze bandages...

Dear editor,   As residents of this area, we believe everyone deserves to be protected from the health effects of pesticides, which have been linked to a multitude of illnesses including both adult and childhood cancers. It appears most residents of BC agree with us. A public consultation, conducted by the Government of British...

Are you a saver, or are you a spender? The recent discussions at the Regional Hospital Board have sounded somewhat like a bank commercial. The question at hand however is a serious one and the board has recently opened the discussion on perhaps the most significant question healthcare in our region will face over the next...

 A resident complaint had Castlegar RCMP fearing the worst  Wednesday, when a 9-1-1 call indicated a motor home was surrounded by a huge pool of blood. Police attended the scene, which was in front of a motor home parked in the Complex parking lot, where they did, indeed, find a huge quantity of blood, according […]

One of the drawbacks of living in Rossland is that there is absolutely no heavy metal scene around here. Oh, what I would do to be able to attend the gigs of some of my favourite Euro-metal bands without having to travel to Vancouver and Calgary! And even then the stuff I want to see is so obscure they don’t often come to...

The proposed revitalization tax exemption bylaw passed third reading before council this past Monday night and will be up for adoption on October 18th at the next regular council meeting. Discussion around the council table as well as around the community lately, however, has shown that there are still a number of questions...

 Wow – newsflash – the City of Castlegar is actually considering enforcing its own bylaws. Stop the presses, she says sardonically.   That shouldn’t be news at all, if you ask me … it should just be a given ….but the sad part is, I guarantee a hue and cry when residents start having to […]

There are a lot of benefits to living in a small-town, not the least of which is presumed commonality and familiarity with others who have also chosen to settle, remain or relocate here. I love this place for that sense of belonging, and for still challenging me on a daily basis with the contrast of often feeling the part of...