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Diving in: Kamloops’ Riptech club gets Olympic coach Page A21
TUESDAY
Tuesday, September 10, 2013 X Volume 26 No. 72
Kamloops, B.C., Canada X 30 cents at Newsstands
THIS WEEK
Western Canada Theatre is ready to open its season Page B1 Thompson River Publications Partnership Ltd.
City’s new top cop arrives By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
Public tours of the Tranquille tunnels began on Friday, Sept. 7. They run hourly on weekends from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is $18.50 for those 12 and older, $15.50 for children and seniors 65 and older and $48.50 for a family of four. Tickets are available at the Kamloops Live Box Office, 1025 Lorne St., 250-374-5483, kamloopslive.ca. The tour is not handicap-accessible. General manager Tim McLeod said the project is a work in progress and will grow, not only as they reveal more of the tunnels, but through a partnership with the B.C. Wildlife Park, which is providing its expertise in special effects.There are also some plans to up the spooky quotient closer to Halloween. Andrea Klassen/KTW
TUNNELLING AT TRANQUILLE By Dale Bass STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
M
INNIE KNEW TRANQUILLE WELL. As a young nurse, barely 19, she had transferred to the sanatorium from a similar position in New Westminster. She met her husband there, tended patients there and — well, the end of her story at the former institution should remain in the mist of time. But, the people who are now managing the development on Kamloops Lake,
The underground passageways at the old sanatorium are now open to the public — if you dare to venture down there . . . past Kamloops Airport, could think of no one better than Minnie to conduct tours of some of the tunnels under the buildings. Minnie greeted the first group to head down into the darkness, which, in years past, had been busy with laundry staff collecting the dirty and returning the clean to the rooms, and with cafeteria staff moving food to the
many buildings housing patients. Minnie stopped along the way to point out the many enlarged photographs of the tunnels as they were when Tim McLeod, manager at the property, and others first made their way into them. Elevator shafts littered with bedding, furniture and other debris. Vandalism everywhere, some of it graf-
fiti, some of it holes in the walls where invaders tried to salvage copper. Minnie talked of her life there as she led the group along — how, at one time, there were upwards of 500 employees with a payroll in the millions, all providing care to patients. She talked of the history of the site, opening in November
1907 to treat people with tuberculosis. As one of the nurses, it was her job to implement the treatment prescribed by Dr. Charles Fagan, one based on exposure to cold air, nutritious food and no exercise. Minnie spoke with some pride that the place where she worked was once featured in a television show, episode five in the second season of Fear, in which, she whispered ominously, it was declared the institution had “the spookiest building in B.C.” X See GET READY A2
The Tournament Capital’s new top cop says he won’t dwell on the well-documented issues that have plagued the Kamloops detachment in recent years. RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller began his term as Kamloops’ detachment commander on Monday, Sept. 9. “For me, I think it’s important that we know the past and understand the past as we move forward,” said Mueller, who spent a half-hour of his first day on the job taking questions from reporters. “I’m new in the chair here and I don’t plan on really moving backwards. “That said, if there’s some issues we need to look at, we will.” The Kamloops RCMP detachment has received its share of unwanted limelight going back to 2010, with incidents including a controversial police-involved shooting, the so-called cellblock sex scandal and a number of cases of local officers being charged criminally with offences including assault and impaired driving. X See NEW CHIEF A4
‘For me, I think it’s important that we know the past and understand the past as we move forward. I’m new in the chair here and I don’t plan on really moving backwards. That said, if there’s some issues we need to look at, we will.’ — Kamloops RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller
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