Thursday, February 11, 2010 S e r v i n g t h e S o u t h C o u n t r y , F e r n i e , S p a r w o o d , E l k f o r d s i n c e 1 8 9 8 $1 ( includes GST)

Oil, gas and coal mining and drilling will be banned in the FlatheadValley, the province announced this week.

Photo by Garth Lenz/iLCP

Throne speech

Flathead mining banBy Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

Mining and drilling for oil, gas, coal and min-erals will be banned

in the Flathead River drainage, under a provincial regulation announced in Tuesday’s throne speech in Victoria.

MLA Bill Bennett told The Free Press that an order in council will be made this week by the B.C. cabinet ministers to remove mining or drilling of any kind from the allowed land uses of B.C’s Flathead River drainage basin, effective immediately.

“We will put a strict mora-torium over the whole valley, there will be no coal, oil or gas,” he said.

“We will be facing an issue of compensation for the mining claims that are in there – we know that and we know we have to deal with that.

“The victory here is two-fold – we will be able to manage the

valley the way it has been man-aged over the last 70 years.

“The second part is that we are not going to get a national park. One of the main reasons people didn’t want the park is they believe that we have done a good job managing the val-ley to this point – and I think they’re right.

“I think this is a victory for the people who want to take a middle way. It’s true they don’t support mining in the Flathead but they also don’t support put-ting it into a park – they want to continue using it the way their parents did, they want continued outfitting and log-ging jobs.”

The ban on oil, gas and coal bed methane will be imple-mented under the Southern Rockies Management Plan, which controls use of Crown Lands, and will be effective immediately.

The throne speech also pledged to forge a partnership

with Montana to sustain cur-rent forestry and recreational activities.

Bennett said he has spent two years working for this result and credited premier Gordon Campbell for backing a “dif-ficult” proposal for the Liberal government.

He admitted he once believed mining in the Flathead was sup-ported, but changed his mind after consulting a group of local loggers, hunters, anglers and guides.

“In 2005 before the election I called a meeting of a group of locals at Sparwood Library.

“I told them I thought the Flathead was going to become my most controversial issue and asked what do you want your MLA to say on this.

“They all said they didn’t want mines in the Flathead, they want to keep it the same.

“I believe the vast majority of people in the riding feel the same.”

No oil, gas, coal or mineral extraction

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Thursday, August 26,2010 S e r v i n g t h e S o u t h C o u n t r y , F e r n i e , S p a r w o o d , E l k f o r d s i n c e 1 8 9 8 $1.10 ( includes HST)

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Hit-and-run driver found guiltyBy Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

A former Fernie chef has been found guilty of driving

away after hitting a 19-year-old skier who was ‘play-ing chicken’ with cars on Highway 3.

Skier Travis Steeger of Nelson had been celebrat-ing his 19th birthday on February 22, 2009, after com-peting in a Fernie Alpine Resort freeskiing competi-tion.

He died just before 3 a.m. after being hit by Adam Lund’s van.

Witnesses said Steeger was very drunk that night and had been playing chick-en on Highway 3, stepping or jumping in front of at least four cars before he was hit by Lund’s van near Park Place Lodge.

The court heard that at 9 p.m. - six hours before the crash - Steeger was so drunk he jumped off the day lodge deck onto a roof at Fernie Alpine Resort and was seen staggering into a cab. He carried on drinking at a downtown bar and then at a house party.

Lund, who was then res-taurant manager at A Bar Named Sue at the Central Hotel in Fernie, admitted drinking one beer and seven shots of liquor that night and was driving to 7-Eleven for cigarettes when the colli-sion happened.

Lund’s windshield was smashed and his hood and front lights damaged in the impact, but he did not stop, turned at the next block and drove home.

He made no attempt to contact authorities and was arrested the following day after police found his dam-aged van, which he had tried to conceal with a black garbage bag.

Lund, 35, was this week found guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal accident after a two-day trial at Fernie Provincial Court.

He claimed that he did not realize he had hit a person, telling police after he was arrested that the collision happened out of the blue.

Speaking to Cst Steve Genereaux about the crash, Lund said: “I was driving then all of a sudden [claps] bang – I hit something.

“I looked down, there was glass everywhere. I was like, what? What’s happened? What’s happened? Oh my God.”

He added: “I didn’t want to think it was a person. I wanted to think it was a shopping cart or something.Fear took over my body and I just wanted to go home. I just didn’t want to believe.”

The next morning at 9 a.m. Lund returned to the crash scene and saw police investigators examining Steeger’s toque and shoes,

which had flown off in the force of the crash.

After that, he said he made up his mind to go to the police, but he was still at his home at noon when Cst Stuart Hert approached him after finding his concealed vehicle.

Giving evidence in court, Lund said he did not stop because he had heard stor-ies of people being beaten up in Fernie at that time and believed someone was try-ing to cause him harm. He did not mention this to the police at the time.

He told the court: “There was a lot of swarming

around the area and I was afraid that someone threw something at the vehicle and I could get hurt, so I drove around so I didn’t get hurt.”

Before finding Lund guilty, Judge Elaine Ferbey described this story as “a clumsy attempt to explain leaving the scene.”

She ruled Lund had been deceptive to the court and police and must have known by the force of impact that he had been in a serious col-lision with a person.

Lund - who now lives in P.E.I. - apologized to around 20 family and friends of Steeger who attended the trial, saying: “My deepest condolences, I can’t express into words how sorry I am.

“It has been very rough on me and I’m sure it is very rough on them too.”

Lund will be sen-tenced today (Thursday) at Cranbrook Provincial Court.

Prosecutor Andrew Mayes is recommending a jail sen-tence of six to nine months and a driving ban of two to three years.

Lund’s lawyer Greg Sawchuk is asking for a conditional sentence that would not involve prison as long as Lund committed no crimes in that period.

‘He was a free spirit - I hope he still is’

The mother of hit-and-run victim Travis Steeger

turned to face defend-ent Adam Lund as she read an emotional vic-tim impact statement on behalf of herself and her 17-year-old son, Dustin.

Marlene Machmer, of Ymir near Nelson, was in tears as she described Travis as “the sunshine of my life.”

She added: “He was an extremely gregarious and happy person who made the most of every day. Best of all he was a free spirit and I hope he still is.”

Machmer said her marriage with Travis’ father, Chris Steeger, broke down last year because of the different ways they handled their grief.

On the weekend of his death, Travis called to say he had arrived safely in Fernie but had left his cell phone in Nelson, so they never got to speak to him on his birthday.

One thousand people attended his memorial service in Nelson.

Speaking of her younger son Dustin, she said: “Dustin’s absolute favourite thing to do was to ski with his brother.

“Travis would ski up ahead scouting out new challenges and his brother followed close behind without having to worry about cliffs and gullies.

“For me watching those two boys ski together was a metaphor for how I expected them to move through life together – Travis breaking trail and Dustin benefiting from his mentoring.”

Machmer added: “A part of me died with Travis. Often I have the sense of not being engaged in the here and now. I have to keep reminding myself that life is worth living.”

Lund showed no reaction to the emotional state-ment, read aloud by Machmer who was standing around three metres away from him.

Travis’ father Chris Steeger did not speak in court but prosecutor Andrew Mayes said Lund had agreed to a face-to-face meeting with him after the trial.

Fernie Alpine Resort now gives the Travis Steeger Award to the skier with the most style at the resort’s annual Freeski competition. R.E.

Travis Steeger. Submitted photo

Forensics investigators marked evidence on Highway 3 with spray paint after the accident in February 2009. Free Press archive photo

Adam Lund was convicted of a fatal hit-and-run at Fernie Provincial Court on Tuesday. Photo by R. Edwards

Thursday, June 10, 2010 S e r v i n g t h e S o u t h C o u n t r y , F e r n i e , S p a r w o o d , E l k f o r d s i n c e 1 8 9 8 $1 ( includes GST)

SPARWOOD

Class of 2010 - Page 2

MISS ELKFORD

Miss Elkford 2010 - Page 3

SPORT

Muddy bikers at Whistler - Page 20

MINE RESCUE

Greenhills are the best in B.C. Page 12 - 13

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Early start to bear season

By Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

Wet and cold weather in May has driv-

en bears into town in search of food supplies much earlier than usual.

In the past two weeks there have been 20 reports of bears in yards throughout the Elk Valley, several months before they normally descend from the mountains.

Fernie Bear Aware coordinator Kathy Murray said the bears have not been aggressive but warned it is import-ant to keep garbage locked up and take bird feeders in to stop them getting accustomed to human food.

Hikers and bikers should carry bear spray and make plenty of noise on trails.

Murray added: “I think the reason is that we had a low snow pack and

an early start to spring so many bears emerged from the dens early.

“Since then the wet and cold weather has stopped the vegetation at altitude from greening up so they are moving closer to us.

“I have been doing Bear Aware since May 2005 and I have never seen this many reports.

“Normally at this time of year we would only have a few calls of bears passing through - never anything like this.”

Murray said a lot of bears have been attracted to bird feeders and to food left out for deer – as well as deer themselves.

She added: “These are the kind of things people would normally be think-ing about in August and September, but they need to start doing it now.

• Call in bear sightings to 1-877-952-7277 to help Bear Aware monitor the situation.

West Fernie resident Ian Bolzenius walked out of his front door and discovered this black bear eyeing up a pack of muffins in the back of his housemate Jeremy Wishart’s car two weeks ago. Photo by Ian Bolzenius

Bears in garbageFernie• Ridgemont Crescent• Coal Creek trail near Cokato Road• West Fernie: sow and cub spotted on trail between the river and Burma Road• Downtown Fernie: Park Crescent, Park Avenue, Fernie Mobile Home Park• Alpine Trails: sow and two cubs seen near homes.• Fernie Alpine Resort: base area, Timberline Crescent, Highline Crescent• Mount Fernie Provincial Park bike trails

Elkford• Grizzly bear sightings by old boneyard• Black bears throughout the community

20 sightings of bears in yards and garbage

2 THE FREE PRESS, Thursday, August 19, 2010 www.thefreepress.ca

By Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

If initial attack forest fighter Andre Chalibi does his job right, you

may never hear about the work he has done.

Chalibi leads a team of three Ministry of Forests and Range firefighters from Cranbrook whose job is to be on call to respond with-in 15 minutes of receiving news of a fire.

The team’s role is to try to extinguish the small fire quickly, before it becomes so big that the South East Fire Centre in Castlegar has to deploy a full unit of 20 fire fighters.

“We go out to a fire when it is small and assess it to try to keep it small,” Chalibi says.

“We are trying to stop it from growing into the big fires that cause evacuations and damage, so they are the fires that really don’t get picked up by the media and reported on.

“During a busy period there may be as many as 100 fires started by lightning in an hour – the fire centre is very busy so the more fires we can put out at the initial stage, the more chance we have of success.”

Chalibi, who lives in Kimberley, has worked as a ministry fire fighter for

four years. His is one of five crews based in Cranbrook who work 24/7 shifts to ensure there is a swift response to any reported fires.

The team can also be deployed across B.C. - Chalibi and his crew have just returned from fire fighting in Smithers.

Earlier this year other initial attack (IA) crews from Cranbrook went to Quebec and Manitoba to assist with fires there.

On a normal shift, Chalibi says his role is to make sure the team is ready to respond as soon as possible to any fire within the South East Fire District – which stretches from the Alberta border in Sparwood to Yahk east of Cranbrook, and the Elk Lakes park to Skookumchuk.

He adds: “We do one hour of fitness training each shift – sometimes we have to hike up to 2 km to fires, there is quite a bit of steep ground, travelling up and down in a lot of heat can be quite arduous on the body.

“We have also been doing

some work with the RDEK clearing dead-standing timber that could be a fire risk.”

“In our zone we have a grass fire season so the crew members have to come in from early to mid-April. It can be fairly busy from when the snow melts to when the grass greens up.

“We usually have a rainy seasons from mid-May to June. This year we didn’t have much of a spring but the summer was late start-ing so it wasn’t as busy. After it gets hot the fire sea-son goes until the signifi-cant rainfall in September.

Chalibi said that as the Elk Valley and Cranbrook area is in a rain shadow, there aren’t as many light-ning-caused fires here as in other areas of the Kootenays. The main fires he responds to are human and industrial-caused fires. One of the first fires this season was an eight hectare fire triggered by an explo-sion at Greenhills Mine in Elkford, which set the near-by mountainside alight.

He says campers can

help prevent wildfires by following the new campfire regulations that came in on July 1, and by observing any open fire bans.

“Having campfires is great but it’s better to keep them smaller so that if they do start to spread they can be put out. Make sure they are out before you leave or go to bed.

“All it needs is for people to have some common sense and to know the regulations before you light that match.”

However, Chalibi says he

enjoys a campfire as muchas anyone else – as long asthey are done right.

“Campfires are the back-bone of being Canadian –going camping in the wil-derness, roasting hot dogsand marshmallows.

“But it can always be done in a safe way by knowingwhat the regulations are inyour area and taking somebasic prevention steps thereis no reason why you can’thave a campfire.

“Just be responsible and use common sense to keepthe fire small enough.”

Factfile

So far this year the South East Fire Centre has responded to 186 fires covering a 518 hectare area.

New campfire regulations(from July 1, 2010)

• Campfires cannot be larger than 0.5 metres by 0.5 metres.

• People must scrape down the dirt and remove flammable debris – twigs, leaves and needles – from the campfire area. We recommended the fireguard be at least one metre in diameter.

• You must have a shovel, or at least eight litres of water nearby to put out a fire.

• Failure to follow the new rules could result in a $345 fine. An additional $345 fine would be levied for campfires lit during a ban.

• Anyone who causes damage to Crown forest or grass land through arson or recklessness can be fined up to $1 million or spend up to three years in prison.

An air tanker drops fire retardant on a wildfire. In initial attack, air tankers drop fire retardant and/or foam on or near small fires to limit their spread until ground crews arrive to extinguish them. Ministry of Forest and Range photo

Poised for attack

Initial attack firefighter Andre Chalibi carries out prevention burning. Ministry of Forests and Range photo

Edition:24/11/2006 47chesterchron / Section:Chester City Chronicle / Zone:Chester Chron City /Page:1 / Proofed by:mbrennan

CHESTERF r i d a y, November 24, 2006

TheC h ro n i cl e65p

BEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER IN THE NORTH

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MEET OUR CHAMPIONSFour-page special on county’s unsung heroes – pages 30-33

H E A D L I N E S

Tory partyshowdownMeeting called to discusscandidate’s future

The hole-in-oneschoolboy

Carl’s ace bags him a trophy

The definitive pull-outguide to entertainment, artsand leisure Inside today

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Page 82

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Take a break

Win a luxury two-nightstay at fantasticCheltenham hotel

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A child’sChristmas

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How youcan helpboost ourt oyap p e a l

My ordeal at hands of gang Full story: pages 8 & 9

Beaten, bruised, but still defiant, courageous student Robyn insists:

I would standup togangagain

EXCLUSIVE by Rebecca TaylorA DEFIANT young woman beatenunconscious for confronting a gangof teenagers says she would do itagain to protect her home.

Chester University student RobynPelling, 19, was put in hospital by a gangof 20 youths she had tried to stop des-troying the fence of her Kingsway digs.

When she shouted at them, a number ofthe 15- to 16-year-olds beat her with thewooden fence posts.

She said: ‘I would do it again – this ismy first house and it is a lovely house soif someone damages it I want to knowwhy they have done it.

‘Apparently they had been going up anddown the streets damaging things thatnight, so I am glad I stood up to them –somebody had to.’

The second year archaeology student, a

member of Chester University MartialArts Society, was hospitalised for fivedays after the Bonfire Night incident.

She said: ‘The bone above and belowmy eye is fractured and my eyebrow andeyelid were basically hanging off.

‘I need to have eye surgery because theretina has become loose so I find it hard tofocus in one eye and have a blind spot.

‘I had a deep cut in my head that neededfive stitches and it has damaged a nerveso I can’t feel anything on one side of myskull. My thumb is also fractured.’

DC Andy Kevan said: ‘We would en-courage anyone worried about damageto their property to call the emergencyservices out. Keep an eye on what ishappening, take descriptions of offend-ers, but don’t put yourself at risk.’! Call DC Kevan on 01244 613134 orCrimestoppers on 0800 555111.

HORRIFIC INJURIES: a police photograph of assault victim Robyn Pelling reveals thesavagery of the attack. T C 2 111 0 6 r o b - 0 0 3

Thursday, January 21, 2010 S e r v i n g t h e S o u t h C o u n t r y , F e r n i e , S p a r w o o d , E l k f o r d s i n c e 1 8 9 8 $1 ( includes GST)

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Ice diver killed

By Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

A diver died after becoming separated from his diving partner under 17 inches

of ice in Grave Lake between Sparwood and Elkford.

Ryan Turner, 23, of Elkford, died on Sunday after going missing at around 12:30 p.m.

His body was recovered hours later after members of the public joined the search and rescue team in drilling 67 holes in the ice to locate him.

He went diving with his friend but soon after they both entered the water the rope linking Ryan to

the surface came loose.His friend, also from Elkford,

made a search of the water but was unable to find him and called 911.

Elkford Search and Rescue mem-bers were joined by members of the public who were ice fishing nearby and brought ice drills to help the search.

Elk Valley RCMP Staff Sgt Lorne Craig said: “A series of 67 holes were drilled in the 17 inch thick ice cover with a power ice drill in an attempt to locate the missing diver.

“An underwater ‘fish’ camera was also used to assist in the res-cue attempt.

“The missing diver was located

some time after and removed from the lake through a hole cut in the ice with a chainsaw.”

Ryan’s father Robert told The Free Press this week that he and his wife JoAnn are coping.

He thanked the community for their “overwhelming” support since the tragedy.

He added: “We really do appre-ciate the effort that was put into bringing our son home, we thank everybody for what they did, espe-cially his buddy and the search and rescue people for doing that for us.

“We understand how much they do in this valley and how much they have helped so many

people.”Robert said Ryan was “outgoing

and adventurous.”He added: “He was one of those

guys that lived life, he had a mech-anical mind, a sportsman’s mind.

“I don’t blame anyone for what happened – it was an accident.”

The 23-year-old was about to start his third year as a Fording River heavy duty mechan-ic apprentice through the mine apprentice program at the College of the Rockies.

• Ryan’s funeral will be held at Elkford Rec. Centre at 2 p.m. on Friday.

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Ryan Turner was described as “outgoing and adventurous” by his father Robert. Photo courtesy of the Turner family

Grave Lake near Elkford where search teams cut through 17-inch thick ice to recover diver Ryan Turner’s body. Submitted photo

Thursday, September 17, 2009 S e r v i n g t h e S o u t h C o u n t r y , F e r n i e , S p a r w o o d , E l k f o r d s i n c e 1 8 9 8 $1 ( includes GST)

Parents of crash victimthank people who offered them supportBy Rebecca EdwardsFree Press Staff

Dawson Kormilo was laid to rest last Saturday at Sand Creek Cemetery,

Jaffray, in the clothes he had picked out for his first day in Grade 4.

His pallbearers were the vol-untary fire fighters who lifted a car off him then helped his nana give him CPR.

His best friends were made honorary pallbearers, dressed in their dirt biking gear.

Dawson, eight, died on Saturday, September 5, two days after he was pinned beneath a car as he cycled on the Jaffray-Baynes

Lake Road with his friends and sisters Savanah, 11, and Kaylee, 14, to a swimming hole.

In an interview at their Jaffray home this week his parents Stacey and Dwayne said this week they will remember his energy and enthusiasm.

“He brought so much spir-it to everything,” said Stacey. “We went with some friends to Callaway Park this summer and was so excited about going, he kept saying ‘These are going to be the best two days of my life.’

“Our hotel had a water slide and he came out just hooting and hollering. He was just pedal to the metal all the time.”

“He was a kid that was game for everything,” said Dwayne. “He was never sitting on the couch – he had a jump for his dirt bike that he would hit all day, again and again. We had spent a lot of time boating this summer and he loved that.”

It was the first time Stacey had let Dawson go riding to the swimming hole with his friends.

She was out walking with her sister when her daughter Kaylee

called to say Dawson had been hit by a car.

“We started to run and a man drove past – I don’t know who he was – we waved him over and begged him for a ride.

“We got round the corner and there were a bunch of cars - when I got there they were just flipping the car off Dawson. He wasn’t breathing, he had no heart beat but I was calling to him.

“The fire department arrived shortly after and my mom arrived right away. He wasn’t breathing, he didn’t have a heartbeat but she cleaned the dirt and blood out of his mouth and started giv-ing him mouth-to-mouth with Shane Sheller giving chest com-pressions and he got his pulse back.”

Dwayne was on his way to work at Line Creek Mine when Stacey called, and he began driv-ing to Cranbrook hospital, where Stacey met the air ambulance that carried Dawson from the scene and heard he had started breathing on his own.

Within an hour a specialist team from Vancouver Children’s

Hospital arrived to transfer Dawson and Stacey by special medical jet plane across the prov-ince – the journey took just 40 minutes.

The only space in the jet for Stacey was for her to lie on a stretcher and Dwayne faced an agonizing wait until the first flight out of Cranbrook the next morning.

Doctors weren’t sure Dawson would survive until his dad arrived.

By the time Dwayne got to Vancouver on Friday, CT scans showed there was no hope of Dawson recovering and doc-tors told them to get their daughters and family to fly over to say goodbye.

Dawson passed away at 12.01 p.m. Pacific Time on Saturday, September 5 with his parents, sisters, grandparents, aunt and uncle and godmother at his bed-side.

Stacey and Dwayne said they have been touched by the kind-ness shown by everyone towards their family, from the nurses at the hospital who cleared out an office for Dawson’s relatives to rest in, to the people who have brought food and flowers.

Stacey added: “People have

been so compassionate. We met Dawson at the airport and they let us follow him to Fernie.

“The driver from Cherished Memories, Brian, asked us if we tooted the horn through the tun-nel when Dawson was little.

“So when they brought him through for the last time he toot-ed through.”

The couple had so many people to thank they were worried about

missing anyone, so they asked for a message of thanks to be passed on to everyone who has helped them.

Of the voluntary fire fighters who helped Dawson make it to hospital,

Stacey added: “You always know they are important but you don’t realize just how important they are until you really need them.

“They have known me for years and when they pulled up and saw who it was they were so professional, they all did what they were supposed to do, they did a phenomenal job – there is nothing they could have done differently.”

• A bursary is being set up in Dawson’s memory by his family.

Donations can be made to TD Bank trust account number 6271440, branch 9083.

‘He brought so much spirit to everything’

Dawson with his parents Stacey and Dwayne and sisters Kaylee and Savanah. Submitted photo

Dawson’s school photo. He would have been going into MrsThompson’s Grade 4 class at Jaffray Elementary Junior SecondarySchool last week. Submitted photo

“You always know they are important,

but you don’t realize just how important

until you really need them.

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