I hate to admit this, but the biggest thing I’ve learned so far about the candidates in the upcoming by-election is that Natasha’s last name is Dougherty.
When I saw the name listed as one of the four candidates, I thought “who is this person running for council whom I don’t know?”
But then I went and tracked her down on Facebook, and it was just Tasha. I see her all over the place (though usually at the Community Centre). Her kid has been in the paper probably half a dozen times in the last couple years. She’s at every event held in this town; if you’re one of those who keeps one eye at public events to see which councillors could be bothered to show up and which ones couldn’t, you know she’ll be there.
Oddly enough, I never knew her last name.
That’s part of the trouble with living in a small town; you typically get one chance to learn everything about a person, and if you fail to catch everything, good luck getting another chance to do so.
Which is, I suppose, a bit of an apology to those of you who I should know, but totally don’t. There’s a bunch of you. “Hey, Trent,” you call out as you see me walking down the street. And I’ll just wave, because that’s part of my kooky, crazy, offbeat personality and because I have no idea who you are.
I was less stymied by David Thompson’s name.
“David Thompson,” I says to myself. “That’s…Dave, right?”
Yes, it is. Dave is the current president of the Wolverine Nordic and Mountain Society and a passionate disc golfer. He’s helping spearhead the WNMS’ foray into setting up a serious disc golf course down by the saddle club, but has also been spearheading many of the trail work bees on the local trails.
The last two names on the list will be obvious, to old-timers of course. Both Kieth Bertrand and Don MacPherson are former mayors of the town.
I’ve often wondered if people who were once President or Prime Minister or Premier feel like they’re taking a step backwards when they continue on in politics at a lower level. Perhaps that’s why so few of them do. I can only think of one off the top of my head, and that’s my favourite BC premier, Amor de Cosmos, who resigned as premier after getting caught up in a land speculation scheme on Texada Island. He went on to be elected as a Member of Parliament, though, which some might see as a step up from provincial politics.
Anyway. Both Don and Kieth served as mayor, and Don also sat on council before becoming mayor.
Why are they running for council this time? Not sure. That’s for the next issue, when we shall have in-depth question and answer sessions with all four candidates.
I mention this because a) I don’t have contact information for all of them, other than tracking them down on Facebook, and in case they miss my message saying “hey, can you answer these questions…?” and b) because I’m going to be asking the candidates questions leading up to the by-election. If you have a question you’d love to see asked, send it to me at
publisher@tumblerridgelines.com.
I also feel a little guilty that there’s so much happening right now and I can’t get to it all, so I wanted to let y’all know that I’m not ignoring the local elections, just saving it for next issue.
Of course, there are other things afoot in the community. For instance, windows and doors have started to be removed over at Chamberlain Place. I’ll probably go get another image for next issue or the one after, possibly when the walls, as the song goes, come tumblin’ down.
I also wanted to mention here that was in town for WinterFest (WinterFest! I went and took pictures of that, which I couldnt shoehorn into this issue, either; look for pictures on the website) to present Joline Couture with the King’s Coronation medal, and on International Women’s Day to book. Couture is heavily involved in the community—WNMS, TRORA, the Rangers, just to name a few—and we fully support her being recognized for her contributions. Alas, I was over at the arena taking pictures of the skating carnival, so wasn’t able to get any photos of the presentation.
The same day that happened was the Inland Sea Beach Party over at the Museum, which I was also going to go get pictures of, but fell asleep and missed it. I was looking forward to all the fossils in their micro-kinis, or whatever the hip are wearing to the beach these days.
Finally, I’d like to say something about Margaret Stastny, who really didn’t want anyone making a fuss after she passed away. (Nobody tell Vince that I’m doing this, okay?)
While she never officially worked for the newspaper, Margaret was as much a part of the TR News family as her husband Vince (Vaclav) was. Vince was hired to distribute the papers, but more often than not, they did the work together. And, while the job only took a day a week, Vince and Margaret were frequently in the offices of the Tumbler Ridge News, back when the Tumbler Ridge News had an office, and the town had a paper called the TR News.
It was with great sorrow that I read of her passing on Facebook shortly after the paper went to press the last issue. She was always a bundle of energy and opinions and her motherly features hid a wicked sense of humour.
Margaret and Vince celebrated 50 years of marriage back in December of this year. I last saw her a couple months ago. I volunteer to drive for TR Cares, taking people in for medical appointments to Dawson Creek and sometimes Fort St. John. She was accompanying Vince on a trip to the hospital, and we spent the drive in (and back) catching up and just shooting the breeze.
She was a homemaker and a tailor, a mother and a grandmother, a wife and a friend, a neighbour and a member of this community.
She will be missed.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
