Governments love ‘sin’ taxes. They fill up the coffers while creating the illusion that government is the high-minded protector of society’s moral well-being. But should government be running ‘sin’ businesses? If the performance of the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is any indication, the answer is no – it creates far too much risk for players […]

The market for building space and property, particularly downtown, hasn’t seen much demand in recent years. Some feel there is a Catch 22 holding back growth or renovations. In an effort to promote development in Rossland, City staff have been working on the beginnings of a new bylaw designed to jump start the process. Arguably,...

 In the wake of the regional recreation deal's collapse, the remaining loose pieces of the puzzle started to reassemble themselves this week with arts at the core of the progress.Facing a looming deadline of December 31st, 2010 for a new cost sharing/funding arrangement to be in place for the Trail and Community Arts Centre,...

 It’s still impaired driving if you’re driving a boat. That’s a message local police are failing to get through to residents, as road stops continue to net inordinately high numbers of impaired drivers leaving local lakes, campgrounds and beaches.   This past weekend saw two impaired charges and four suspensions, while the weekend of July […]

In an attempt to retain and display a piece of Rossland heritage, a debate has arisen among City Council that has some questioning the dividing line between Church and State. The heritage piece in question is the old cement cross from Mater Misercordae Hospital. During renovations, as the hospital transformed into Redmount ...

A flood of community support and assistance has washed over the Community Harvest Food Bank, after manager Deb McIntosh told local media the resource was in jeopardy.   McIntosh announced last week that the food bank was seeing increased demand and only had weeks left before having to close its doors, if more donations didn’t […]

 This past weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to spend some time with friends of ours, and during the day the discussion turned to wrongful death laws in B.C. Terry Napora (Terry Napora Law Offices) and Derek Miura (Derek Miura Law Corporation) informed me of the gross injustice families face in B.C .when […]

 This week I spent a whole bunch of time trying to help someone whose hard drive had crashed.  Her laptop got dropped, after which she wasn’t able to turn it on.  When I plugged it into another machine, the computer couldn’t even see that there was a hard drive there.  I phoned her to let […]

Open Letter: To begin, our family would like to thank the community of Grand Forks, Constable Bell and our Victim Service Worker Catherine Riddle for their overwhelming support and kindness. Words cannot express the loss our family has suffered, nor the horror of having to do it in such a public way. We have heard repeatedly that the mental health […]

 Kimberly Ruth Noyes has been found ‘not criminally responsible for reason of mental disorder’ in the killing of 12-year-old John Fulton of Grand Forks.  Rossland B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan handed down his ruling on the case that wrapped up testimony on Wednesday. McEwan’s lengthy verdict recounted evidence from the trial and case law […]