the Cariboo Advisor Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A1
February 1, 2012
Kim Hance wins Cataline's 5th Annual Spelling Bee Page 10
Volume 15, Issue 5
Victoria Byer and Chantelle Beadman-Rolph are off to the BC Winter Games Page 17
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Seeing beyond blindness
Angie Mindus Photo
Constant Companion: Colin Rolston struggled with life as a degenerative eye disease slowly robbed him of his sight until he found help and hope in a four-pound package named Tex, a Papillon breed trained as a service dog. With Tex by his side, Rolston says he has the confidence to re-enter society.
WLIB inks historic mining and land use deals
Angie Mindus Cariboo Advisor The Williams Lake Indian Band (WLIB) is becoming a political force to be reckoned with, making historic announcements this week in both the mining sector and land use management. Firstly, the local band struck a participation agreement with Mount Polley Mining Corp.,
which will allow the mine to go ahead with a planned expansion while addressing the educational, training, employment and environmental management needs of the local First Nations community. WLIB Chief Anne Louie and Imperial Metals President and CEO Brian Kynoch have both said the agreement marks a new, collaborative page in their rela-
Angie Mindus Cariboo Advisor As we file into Ardis Bennett’s tidy little apartment at Glen Arbor, there is a gentleness in how everyone moves around. Bennett, who is blind and living on her own, reacts happily to having the company as she greets other members of the Cariboo White Cane Chapter last week to raise awareness about being blind or visually impaired in Williams Lake. Sharing his own challenges of living independently with visual impairment, 54-yearold Colin Rolston opens the conversation with Bennett by recounting a day recently where he set off the sensitive fire alarms at his independentliving apartment building while trying to make lunch. “It was 33 below outside, and everyone had to get bun-
tionship, one they expect will last for the life the mine. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, is the announcement by the Harper Government that the WLIB will be one of eight B.C. bands who will begin a process to opt out of sections of the Indian Act and assume greater control over reserve lands and resources through the First Nations
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dled up and in wheelchairs to get out,” he said, shaking his head. “I was so embarrassed.” Living with visual impairment is hard and touches more people than you’d think, says Rolston, citing a recent statistic, which states that agerelated macular degeneration affects the sight of an estimated 10 million people in North America. “It’s a major concern to the health of seniors.” He also notes an important clinic trial is just underway using stem cells to try to reverse the disease. “It is of the highest need.” Rolston knows all to well what some seniors experience after he himself was diagnosed with a similar ailment, macular dystrophy (MD), at just 43 years old. Rolston said MD is where the sight is lost in the
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