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2016 Community highlights: January - March

Here's the start of our annual review of notable moments in the community. This batch covers the first three months of 2016.
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Bill McRae celebrates his 92nd birthday with his daughter Cathy McRae

Here's the start of our annual review of notable moments in the community. This batch covers the first three months of 2016. More to come.

January

Terrace’s New Year’s baby will always have the force with him: Jedi Phillip Angelo was born at 8:26 p.m. Jan. 2, weighing 8 lbs 14 oz to parents Phyllis Wells and Justin Squires. His two older brothers’ names also begin with the letter “J.”

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The Canadian Cancer Society office starts the new year in a new space with new furniture and improved access, moving from sharing an office with the hospice society in the former Terrace and District Credit Union building to its own office upstairs in the Tourist Information Building.

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A study on bat behaviour in winter to understand how a deadly fungus affects them expands into Dease Lake, Telegraph Creek and Fraser Lake. The study began in 2009 in the Kootenays and has expanded around the province, with monitors being installed in Terrace and the Nass Valley for the first time last winter.

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After a successful and busy first year, Kimmunity Angels Society, whose mission is to help seriously ill individuals and their families with financial assistance for medical treatment, medical expenses and equipment or supplies, becomes a registered charity.

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The Terrace Regional Historical Society asks for help from the city to get the cenotaph on Heritage BC’s Get on the Map: War Monuments and Memorials in British Columbia, an interactive online map.

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A new book “Cedar Poles and Iron Peevees: Pole Logging in the Kitsumkalum Valley” recounts a lesser known part of the local logging industry.

“Our society’s hope with this book was that it would encourage more people to write down and publish the history of the forest industry in this area,” says Norma Kerby, who researched, wrote and put the book together.

February

Terrace singer Landon Andrei, who signed a deal to be lead singer with Alberta gospel group The Banksons, prepares to record an album with the group.

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Jennifer Ling Coosemans wins the Miss Chinese International 2016 pageant in Hong Kong against 13 other competitors. Coosemans was named Miss Chinese Vancouver at a pageant the previous December.

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The city loses veteran Widar (Sandy) Sandhals, 93. In 2014, he received the French government’s highest honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour for his involvement in the battles and military operations of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy to commemorate the 70th anniversary of those events between June 6 and August 31, 1944.

March

Hugh Ormerod and Holly Harris receive Silver Medals for Bravery from the Lifesaving Society for saving three lives when a car’s brakes failed near Kitwanga last year. Ormerod, a dental therapist at the Gitwangak Health Centre, and Harris, a home care nurse, reacted after a car’s brakes failed in the centre’s parking lot, sending it over the edge of an embankment. They found the Ford Explorer SUV had slammed front end first into the rocks and flipped over onto its roof in the Skeena River.

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Caledonia Senior Secondary’s two one-act plays bring home six awards from the Northwest Zone High School Drama Festival in Smithers. Dominick Koncek and Mikala Snyder win awards for acting in a supporting role in Sorry, Wrong Number, directed by Graham Wojdak. Cameron Peal and Grace Stewart win for their lead roles in Circuits, directed by Robin MacLeod. Circuits also receives the award for set design and for outstanding play of the festival.

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The city’s tradition and policy of naming streets after prominent people continues: an existing, but undeveloped, portion of Straume Ave. on the bench that doesn’t connect with Straume to the east is being renamed McLaren Ave.

A new street on the bench, north of Mountain Vista has been named Smith Ave. after old-timer Fred Smith, who was instrumental in bringing in the first supermarket, Super Valu, where Total Pet is now located. The avenue joins Campbell St. to Floyd St. and runs through what will be the College Heights subdivision.