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Bee exposes sign slip-up

It might not be as visible as some, but it’s a spelling mistake just the same.
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Spot the error: This old sign on Third Street SE between Fourth and Fifth avenues contains a spelling mistake

It might not be as visible as some, but it’s a spelling mistake just the same.

At the Second Annual Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society Team Spelling Bee held May 1 in Salmon Arm, Jen Findlay, literacy outreach co-ordinator, pointed out that three signs in Salmon Arm had the word “visibility” spelled wrong.

They were missing the fourth ‘i’, which can be a tricky error to spot.

She said she emailed the city following the bee.

Rob Niewenhuizen, the city’s director of engineering and public works, told the Observer last week that the signs with erroneous spelling had been replaced.

He said ‘Limited Visibility’ had been upgraded to the new standard, ‘Vision Limited’ – removing the margin for error.

However, the searing investigative powers of an Observer reporter found three misspelled signs remained in the locations Findlay had suggested: on Third Street SE between Fourth and Fifth avenues; on 10th Avenue SE near the entrance to Little Mountain; and on 20th Avenue NE between 30th Street NE and Highway #1.

Niewenhuizen said Monday he believes the new signs have now been ordered – and noted the misspelled ones are “very old” and have been there “a long time.”

“It took a spelling bee to find the error,” he smiled.



Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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