KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
kamloopsthisweek.com ka kamloopsthisweek amloops l p pssth tthi his i week k kam kamthisweek mth mt hiissw week
30 CENTS AT NEWSSTANDS
|
OCTOBER 7, 2014 | Volume 27 No. 119
REELING THEM IN TODAY’S WEATHER
Sun and cloud High 20 C, Low 11 C
STORM ROLLING
Record-setting salmon run at Adams River attracts visitors
Ian Chrystal and company were three for three in weekend action
A15
A11
SD73 ‘disappointed’ about being PLEA DEAL kept in the dark on Stuart Wood STRUCK City staff didn’t know about ‘reverter clause’ until Cavers inquired about ownership Stuart Wood,” he said. “We wanted them to make whatever decision they wanted to make. “They have a lease with the city and, as far as we were concerned, they would still be tenants had they chosen to.” City chief administrative officer David Trawin said staff only learned of the reverter clause after Coun. Donovan Cavers inquired about how long the building had been owned by the city. “Our real estate, in pulling the records, discovered the existence of the reverter clause and did some follow with our lawyers to see what exactly it meant in terms of future uses,” he said. “This all was happening around the time the school was contemplating the closure.” The Stuart Wood property was a gift from the province to be used only for educational purposes. If the property is not used for such purposes, ownership returns to the provincial government.
DALE BASS STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
T
he chairwoman of the KamloopsThompson school board is disappointed the city didn’t tell trustees it doesn’t completely own the Stuart Wood elementary property. Denise Harper said she learned two weeks ago of the document registered on the St. Paul Street property requiring it be returned to the province if it stops being used for educational purposes. Harper said she knew nothing about talks that began early this year between the City of Kamloops and Thompson Rivers University to create a downtown campus at the site. The KamloopsThompson school district plans to close the school in 2015, moving its students and staff to another school on McGill Road, now home to the elementary grades of Beattie School of the Arts. Those students are slated to join the second-
KTW FILE PHOTO SD73 board chair Denise Harper told KTW she had no idea the City of Kamloops was in talks with Thompson Rivers University about the post-secondary institution potentially using the Stuart Wood school building.
ary component of Beattie in the John Peterson campus on Ninth Avenue, adjacent to South Kamloops secondary. “I think it would have put a lot of trustees’ minds at rest and it’s disappointing because I don’t think we have held back information from the city,” Harper told KTW.
“And it wouldn’t have influenced our decision. “It just would have been nice to know this before now.” Mayor Peter Milobar told a hastily called press conference on Friday, Oct. 3, after the agreement was leaked to KTW earlier, that the city learned of the reverter covenant which was placed on the
property in 1906 when it checked the title. Milobar said the information was not provided to the KamloopsThompson board of education so it could come to its own decision on the school’s future in a transparent way. “We did not talk to the school district about the possibility of TRU using
See ‘NOTHING’, page A4
5O% OFF ANTI-REFLECTION LENS UPGRADE
Without Anti-Reflective Lenses
WITH ANTI-REFLECTIVE LENSES
FOR DRIVER IN DEADLY 2012 CRASH
Crown drops charges and accepts plea to lesser count for wreck that killed TRU student CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
The Crown has stayed charges of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death against a 28-year-old man police allege was at the wheel of a pickup that rolled and killed his best friend. Sean Tomlin is expected, instead, to plead guilty at a sentencing hearing Friday to dangerous driving in the death of TRU student Ben Kirkey. Tomlin was charged following a skeet shooting accident at Scuitto Lake east of Kamloops in May 2012. RCMP said at the time that Kirkey was hit by a shotgun blast in the wrist at a stag party. Police alleged Tomlin was driving at high speed on forestry roads with his friend on board in an attempt to meet an ambulance en route. A witness came across Kirkey and Tomlin, both ejected from a rolled Dodge pickup at the intersection of Robbins Range Road and Campbell Creek Road.
Anti Reflective Lenses reduce glare that causes eye fatigue and helps you see more clearly.
OFFER INCLUDES:
•Any Single Vision Lens •Any Bifocal Lens •Any Progressive Lens
Buy one complete pair of RX glasses (frames & lenses) at regular price of $200.00 or greater before discount and get 5O% OFF the DIFFERENCE of a Anti-Reflective lens upgrade. Hurry offer ends Oct. 31, 2014.
INTERNATIONAL
331 Victoria Street
Licensed Optician
25O-851-8992
www.eyesinternationalkamloops.ca
VISION E X A M I N AT I O N S
Free with min.purchase. Call for details! (Not an eye health exam)