• Sicamous resident Brian Black is hopping mad following another serious collision involving a pickup truck and semi-trailer.
For two years Black said he has been meaning to speak up about the condition and maintenance of the Trans-Canada Highway between Sicamous and Salmon Arm. It was Friday morning’s motor-vehicle collision west of Sicamous that finally brought him in to see the news.
“They are not maintaining the roads,” said the exasperated Sicamous resident, after the crash resulted in a 71-year-old Salmon Arm man being air-lifted to hospital in Kamloops. Police determined slippery roads were a factor in the early morning collision on Friday, Jan. 6.
• CP Rail and two others were charged in connection to an incident where a train was allegedly ordered to be parked without the brakes properly applied near Revelstoke. The company, along with former Mountain Division superintendent Mark Jackson and Tim McLelland, were charged with two counts of contravening an emergency directive made by the federal Minister of Transport.
A search warrent from May 2015 alleges the accused violated the Railway Safety Act by ordering 57 railway cars, some of which were carrying dangerous goods, be left unattended without the hand brakes properly applied on the tracks near Greeley, 10 kilometres east and uphill from Revelstoke. They are scheduled to appear in Revelstoke court Feb. 1.
• Sicamous earned bragging rights for being the number-one sledding area in Western Canada.
Pitted against 63 other snowmobile destinations, from Beausejour, Manitoba to Kelowna, B.C., Sicamous was voted the winner of snowriderwest.com’s Sledtown Showdown.
Around 15,000 votes were cast in the 12-week competition that saw Sicamous win best sledding destination in B.C., and then Western Canada.
• Public opinion is in favour of the Summer Stomp and Burnout continuing in Sicamous.
The District of Sicamous recently conducted a survey on the 2016 motorcycle-oriented event, the results of which indicate there is strong support of the event. A total of 432 completed surveys were received by the District and the majority of respondents (333, or 77 per cent) were in favour of the Stomp continuing while 88 (20 per cent) were opposed.
• Sicamous council was given three options for future hours and staffing of the local library. Two of the options involve the District of Sicamous further supplementing the operation of the Sicamous branch of the Okanagan Regional Libarary (ORL), with a third option being a reduction of service hours and staffing. Council will consider the options during budget deliberations.
• Sicamous’ Shea Weber continued to have one of the fastest slap shots in the NHL. At the 2017 NHL All-Star Competition, held on Jan. 28 in Los Angeles, the Montreal Canadians defenseman had the fastest shot in the Oscar Mayer NHL Hardest Shot event, clocking 102.8 miles per hour (160 km/hr). This is the third year in a row Weber clocked in with the fastest shot.