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KELOWNA’S Aaron Stroda has set new B.C. records for midget boys (ages 14 and 15) the last two weeks for both discus and shot put.
THERE WILL be a new general manager at the helm of the Kelowna Yacht Club as Randy Prost is about to retire, giving way to his replacement Jim Kay, the former manager of the Missionwood Retirement Resort.
WHAT STARTED as a beach volleyball tournament has morphed into an event called Centre Of Gravity, an action packed weekend of fun activities geared to the Generation Y crowd this summer.
ALISTAIR WATERS visits his damaged childhood psyche with news of Kelowna’s prestigious place on new Monopoly board .
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WEDNESDAY June 23, 2010
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Flightcraft lays off 43 employees
Soft fruit disposal worries farmers
Kathy Michaels CONTRIBUTOR
A high Canadian dollar has put 43 Flightcraft employees out of work. “We had aircraft coming in for maintenance, but they went somewhere else —where the dollar is lower— and that left a hole in our schedule,” said Grant Stevens, Flightcraft’s human resources director. Stevens said the bulk of lay-offs were in the maintenance department. The company still employs 567 locally, and managed to ride out the recession with little ado. Sustained by a number of larger, long-term projects and outstanding contract work, the expectation was that the business would continue to succeed as the economy improved. But the loss of a couple of contracts delivered a significant blow. “Aviation has been on a downward slope for a number of years, but we’ve managed to weather the storm very well,” said Stevens. “I think employees and staff had been on pins and needles over the last couple of weeks as they looked at the work schedule, in the hangars and saw
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“I THINK EMPLOYEES AND STAFF HAD BEEN ON PINS AND NEEDLES OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS… Grant Stevens
there wasn’t a lot of work for the summer. “We made the changes, to put people’s fears at bay.” That said, Stevens pointed out there’s never a good time to lay a person off, and their employees have been put on a 90day recall. The last time there was a significant lay-off was in December 2004, but changes in the administration department of the company amounted to a few more layoffs in the summer of 2008. Stevens said the company will continue to work on their operations to ensure global economic factors don’t further internal strife. “Our company is working to make sure we are one of the most effi-
Judie Steeves STAFF REPORTER
SEAN CONNOR/CAPITAL NEWS
DRAWING A CROWD…Okanagan Sun Football cheerleaders Jaide Leguilloux and Shealyn
Shul were at the Autosave gas bar on the corner of Highway 33 and Dougall Road hoping to entice drivers to come in for a car wash fundraiser. The cheerleaders were raising money to help cover the cost of their cheerleading costumes for the coming Okanagan Sun football season.
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Soft fruit that you don’t eat should be bagged, buried or frozen rather than tossed out the window, into the garbage or in the compost. That’s the message from orchardists and grape growers facing the potential loss of an entire crop of fruit to a new insect pest which enters the valley in fruit such as cherries, plums, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. The spotted wing drosophila is a vinegar fly, similar to a fruit fly, that feeds on rotting fruit but lays its eggs on ripening fruit, destroying it for market. Organic fruit grower and entomologist Linda Edwards says growers have concerns about fruit which is coming in from California now and berries coming from the Fraser Valley in the coming weeks. If you buy fruit which is bad and compost it, you could find your raspberry See Fruit A11
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