Bill Metcalfe

1 week ago | nelsonstar.com | Bill Metcalfe

The Village of Salmo will hold a byelection this summer, following the recent resignation of Councillor Melanie Cox. The date of the byelection is still to be decided. "Staff is working through to determine the appropriate timeline as we head into summer and having reduced staff due to holiday," Mayor Diana Lockwood told the Nelson Star in an email.

1 week ago | vernonmorningstar.com | Bill Metcalfe

The B.C. Supreme Court has decided in favour of the Ministry of Forests in a dispute between the ministry and two houseboat owners on Kootenay Lake near Nelson. Justice Lindsay Lyster, in her June 4 decision in Chessman v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests), said the ministry acted lawfully when it issued trespass notices to Kyley Gagnon and Hannah Chessman in 2022 and 2023, and seizure notices in 2024.

2 weeks ago | nelsonstar.com | Bill Metcalfe

Nelson Fire and Rescue will be contracting out its dispatch work to an outside organization. Nelson City Council voted at its June 3 meeting to pursue a contract with the Fraser Fort George Regional District (RDFFG), which has chosen after research by city staff into potential vendors. The discussion and decision were closed to the public because the subject was the negotiation of a contract, but a document summarizing the issue was posted with the agenda.

2 weeks ago | nelsonstar.com | Bill Metcalfe

In Glade and Harrop-Procter, the recent Kootenay Lake ferry strike created a strong sense of community solidarity. "Sometimes an external threat is a very powerful unifier, and that has been true here," said Ina Pockrass, the chair of the Harrop-Procter Ferry Society. Anne Mowat, who heads the Glade Ferry Society, echoes this. "Our folks have come together, really, with great spirit and great commitment," she said.

3 weeks ago | nelsonstar.com | Bill Metcalfe

One day when Nelson filmmaker Carlo Alcos was a child growing up in Langley, B.C., he scrubbed his skin very hard in the shower, trying to make it more white. He did this despite the fact that he seemed to fit in at his school and in his community. He fit in even though he was one of the few non-white kids. "No one was bullying me. I had lots of friends, I wasn't ostracized, I didn't feel like an outsider ... no one was making me feel this way, but I still was.