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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
LEST WE FORGET Hundreds gathered at the Merritt Civic Centre and cenotaph on Monday for the annual November 11 Remembrance Day ceremonies honouring those who have lost their lives in war and peacekeeping duties, and those who have served to defend their country. Royal Canadian Legion members (from left) Bob Huston, Ralph Hack, Nick Tollerton, Darcy Schmidt, Kevin Norman, Larry Hintz, Stewart Pratt and piper Ross Lamont take part in the indoor service. In addition to many members of the general public, the ceremonies on Monday morning were attended by retired service veterans and current members of the Canadian Armed Forces, along with representatives of the local army and navy cadets, RCMP, fire and ambulance departments, guides and scouts and Merritt Centennials hockey team. Ian Webster/Herald
Local Sensible BC canvassers hit the streets By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Local canvassers for the Sensible BC campaign to decriminalize possession of marijuana have been pounding the pavement as the deadline to collect signatures looms. As of Nov. 8, the local Sensible BC campaign had collected about 900 signatures from people in Merritt. There are 35 registered canvassers looking for people to sign the petition in the area. As of Nov. 13, canvassers
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in Fraser-Nicola had collected about 1,200 signatures. According to Elections BC, there were 22,187 registered voters in Fraser-Nicola in May of this year. The campaign hit a bump when many of the signatures were rejected by Elections BC, head organizer for Fraser-Nicola Leo Bice said. “A large portion of the numbers we did have weren’t actually eligible for Elections BC,” Bice said. Some of the signatures belonged to people who are not registered voters, while
others improperly filled out the information required on their forms, Bice said. Many of the signatures gathered across the FraserNicola riding had to be discarded as a result. “It was quite disappointing,” Bice said, noting a few weeks ago organizers had counted about 700 signatures and afterwards came back with about 340. Bice said most of the issues came from the Princeton area. Bice said they need about 3,000 eligible signatures in
Fraser-Nicola to meet the 10 per cent requirement. Another issue they’ve had is not getting feedback from Sensible BC very quickly after signing up local canvassers, Bice said. Two Princeton-based canvassers are still waiting to hear back from head campaign organizers in Vancouver, three weeks after they sent their paperwork in. The initiative in Merritt has been heavily focused on going door to door to get Merrittonians’ endorsements, but canvassers also had a table location set up
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outside Davis Leathers for a few weeks at the start, Sensible BC second contact for the Fraser-Nicola riding Ryan Chypyha said. The Merritt canvassers have been going to every area of town to seek out signatures, Chypyha said. “We’ve been all over the place,” Chypyha said, noting canvassers have manned a table at Centennials games as well. Chypyha said the Sensible BC canvassers in Merritt represent a wide variety of people, noting canvassers range from
people in their 20s and 30s to the elderly. “It’s totally varied, and because this is kind of pointed toward the taxpayer – why are we spending all this money enforcing the current cannabis laws – it’s attracting a lot of people,” Chypyha said. “Doctors and teachers and respectable people in the community are signing this for that reason because it’s not like, ‘Oh, I just want to smoke pot,’ it’s a little bit more than that,” Chypyha said.
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