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Trail Times Year in Review: September

Looking back at September 2017
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September 25 – Dan Tweed shared this photo of the grizzly that wandered into his Warfield backyard. The grizzly was eventually tranquilized and relocated. Dan Tweed photo

September

1 - Shaun Venturini, 30, of Trail was sentenced to 30 days in jail following a rash of thefts from vehicles earlier in the summer.

1 – Joel Anderson, 25, of Trail was formally charged with arson, assault and other violent crimes following a crime spree on Aug. 22.

5 – The lingering smoke-filled skies is having an impact on air travel. With the East Kootenay blanketed with smoke, Pacific Coastal flights were re-routed to the Trail Regional Airport. Planes were unable Cranbrook, forcing them to use the Trail airport and bus the passengers to Cranbrook.

8 – Liberty Foods celebrates 60 years of service in Fruitvale.

10 – The Trail Chamber of Commerce is reporting strong tourism numbers despite the extensive wildfire season. From May to August, the Visitor Centre welcomed 2,200 visitors, which matched the total number of visitors for the entire year in 2015.

11 – A vacant downtown lot, formerly Esso, in a prime location in Trail is finally up for sale after being dormant for over six years.

13 – A Fruitvale man was forced to shoot a bear that had broken into his Webster Road home in the early hours of Sept. 13. Sandy Haines described hearing a noise then seeing a black bear coming up their basement stairs. After it refused to leave through an open door and headed back into the basement, Rod Haines was forced to shoot the bear.

13 – Statistics Canada released more data from the 2016 census and it showed Trail’s average income was $58,992. Other communities noted included Fruitvale at $73,370; Warfield at $79,360; Rossland at $81,897; and Montrose the highest locally at $83,136.

16 – At the 2017 National and International Communities in Bloom (CiB) Awards in Ottawa, the City of Trail is recognized with the Scotts Youth Involvement Award that involved students and young people helping with the CiB programs. The city was also noted for the work beautifying the area around the Columbia River Skywalk.

16 – The Greater Trail community was on alert after a grizzly was spotted in Warfield and Tadanac. After numerous sightings over the next week, the beer was finally tranquilized and relocated to an undisclosed area.

21 – The seven regional credit unions are exploring potential amalgamation. Those involved in talks are Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Columbia Valley Credit Union, Creston Credit Union, the East Kootenay Community Credit Union, the Grand Forks Credit Union, the Heritage Credit Union and the Nelson and District Credit Union. A business plan was expected to be completed by the end of 2017 with a vote in 2018 should it proceed.

23 – Community Futures Greater Trail was recognized for its outstanding business load program with the Investment Fund Award at the annual BC Community Futures AGM. The local organization has loaned over $3.5 million for local investment in 2016/17.

27 – The Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue successfully pulled an 18-year-old Castlegar woman from the Columbia River in the middle of the night. Getting the call at 12:30 a.m., the crew quickly launched its boat to search for the woman, who was reportedly suffering from mental health issues. Thanks to quick reaction and powerful LED lights, the search boat located the woman, who had entered the water by the Trail boat launch, near the end of Glenmerry.