FRIDAY
S I N C E
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FEBRUARY 24, 2012 Vol. 117, Issue 39
110
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Hospice delivers new column Page 11
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
SCHOOL DISTRICT 20
Illness absentees create unhealthy projected deficit BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
VALERIE ROSSI PHOTO
Opposites attract when Elizabeth Bennet (Allison Cherry) and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Chuck Cram) fall in love in The Rossland Light Opera Players’ performance of “Pride and Prejudice.”
RLOP presents classic play BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
The oldest amateur musical theatre troupe in B.C. is celebrating 60 years with a nod to a classic. The Rossland Light Opera Players (RLOP) are ready to take the stage at the Charles Bailey Theatre in Trail tonight with their performance of “Pride and Prejudice.” The story, originally a novel by Jane Austen
that was first published in 1813, follows lead character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in early 19th-century England. Her mother (Mrs. Bennet, played by producer Dawn Graham) has set out to marry off at least one of her five daughters to keep her estate once her husband passes on.
See TROUPE, Page 5
A rash of extra sick days being coughed up by school district staff could infect the district’s already feverish $1.4 million budget deficit, according to projections from SD20 administration. With the teachers contract labour dispute still unresolved, School District 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) is feeling some pressure with the replacement budget that covers teachers on call (TOC) and other staffing substitutes. SD20 secretary treasurer Natalie Verigin told the board of trustees recently only 31 per cent ($317,024) of the district’s $1.02 million total budget remains for substitute expenditures, money the district has to pay to cover the cost of hiring substitute teachers for absentees. She said the budget should have approximately 50 per cent of its budget left at the mid point. “If this trend continues, and we have five more months of school to go . . . we could be looking at a $350,000 shortfall,” she said. The statement caused concern with the board trustees, who already
face the prospect of tightening the district belt to absorb a $1.4 million budgetary shortfall discovered last month. “Is that over and above the $1.4 million (shortfall) we are expecting for next year?” asked trustee Jo-Ann Bursey of Castlegar. Verigin said she had built in a $200,000 “lift” for replacement labour costs into the replacement budget earlier this year when the shortfall was first detected. However, there would be an extra $150,000 overrun — pushing the deficit to $1.55 million — if the sick day inclination continued. Claims for family illness leave has cost the district $42,126, as has bereavement leave by $21,524, and substitutes for charters at $4,730 — all with no initial budget amount. TOC illness has used up 61 per cent of its $665,313 budget ($408,432), while subs for aides used up 74 per cent of its $94,679 budget ($69,911). Trustee Jenn Carter wondered if a trend had been done to see if there was heavier use in the winter months than during the spring.
See PAST, Page 2
‘Canadian Pickers’ to air local stop Monday’s episode on the History Channel includes Ross Spur mining collector BY VALERIE ROSSI Times Staff
A man who’s turned his Ross Spur property into a museum to show off his finds wouldn’t budge for big-time professional pickers who visited his home last summer. Don Endersby will now relive his experience when “Canadian Pickers” (Sheldon Smithens and Scott Cozens) came calling at his home near Fruitvale in the
“Mining for Gold,” episode on the History Channel Monday. “I’ve been involved in mining and construction all of my life and I started collecting about 30 or so years ago,” said Endersby. “I should have started long before then.” The 79-year-old has quite the collection of mining and farming equipment and treasures on his approximately 200-acre property that houses about 10 old structures that make up his place known locally as the “Valley Historical Museum.” The pickers thought they struck gold when they came across his collection but only managed to
squeak a deal on an advertisement sign. “They wanted to buy old bicycles and signs and that but I wouldn’t sell it to them,” Endersby laughed. “They wanted to offer me $500 to $600 on the bicycles but I told them I’d sell them the bicycles for a million bucks and throw in my whole place.” History is worth more to Endersby, who plans on handing his property down to kids one day to carry on the tradition. Endersby said mining is in his blood, adding that his father searched for gold well before he began looking in Sheep Creek.
See TIP, Page 5
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Sheldon Smithens (left) and Scott Cozens, hosts of “Canadian Pickers,” chat on camera with Don Endersby (right) last summer.
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