Williams Lake's friendly, social & entertaining online news source!

Will McMartin, contributing writer to The Tyee news, said yesterday that the recently announced 2010/11 BC budget shows that the Liberal government is fiscally clueless, citing two examples to prove his point. 

He said that the first questionable Campbell government policy decision regards taxes paid to the provincial treasury by Canada's big banks and other large financial institutions, and that the second puzzling decision involves B.C.'s new Harmonized Sales Tax. 

By LeRae Haynes 

I’m the first one to say that your health is your own business. Whether you’re a hypochondriac running to the doctor for a displaced nose hair, or a terminal self-diagnostic who will only go to a doctor if a recognizable internal organ has fallen out on the sidewalk, I figure that, for the most part, what you do about your health is up to you. 

I fall into the self-diagnostic category, myself. I grew up in a religious culture that ranked health right up there with the piousness of the Old Testament prophets. There was almost a cheerful snobbery inherent in the belief that if you adhered to stringent, healthy-living practices, you would be healthy. And there was even scientific research to prove it. As a child, I grew up hearing in church that, once again, medical statistics showed that the chosen ones were the healthy ones. 

By Suzanne Whittingham
Reporter to the “Got News Network” 

The face of mental illness is everywhere - both in our present reality and in the annals of history. Thankfully, the historical reality of placing the bulk of mentally ill persons into asylums has long passed. Unfortunately, the present reality of many who have a mental illness can still be wrought with difficulties and shades of discrimination. Perhaps it is one of the last frontiers for humankind to conquer. We understand the reality of outer space better than the inner one of the intricacies of mind. 

By Suzanne Whittingham
Independent writer for the “Got News Network” 

Less than a week ago, I was watching an infomercial by Kevin Trudeau marketing his book 'Natural Cures'. He was captivating and drew me right in to the conspiratorial perspective of 'them' (the drug companies) vs. 'us' (the hapless and controlled sick folk). The infomercial almost got me in its grip, until I took it upon myself to get a clearer picture of Kevin Trudeau's past. What emerged was a picture of someone who was preying upon people's fears. Oh, there were many things said I totally agreed with. I have experienced many alternative health practices in my lifetime. His was yet another bandwagon to jump upon. After hundreds of bandwagons roll by and flash their stuff, you do think twice. Ultimately, it boils down to one thing- not believing automatically what people say to you, but trusting your own instincts and experiences. The other trick is to step back and not get drawn into the dramas of either side. Taking sides is polarizing. Truth usually does not reside in either place. 

By LeRae Haynes

Well, he did it. US President Barack Obama has accomplished what Clinton failed to do and what many said was impossible, improbable and impractical. He has taken a step to ensure that citizens of the US can have real access to health care: insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, and if people can’t afford health care, help will be available for them to get it anyway. 

The health care reform bill was passed on December 24---what a great Christmas present to the 40 million people living in the US without any health care at all. 

By LeRae Haynes

 Many people have wondered over the years about the significance of the gifts that the three Wise Men presented to the infant Jesus and his humble, blue-collar earthly parents. It’s not that gold, frankincense and myrrh would have been completely unknown commodities to the probably bewildered little family—gold is gold, after all, and myrrh was commonly used in the embalming of rich people and frankincense was a really expensive fragrance.

 Bottom line, they were really rare, pricey, precious gifts. And even though Joseph might have faced a couple of challenges getting his carpenter friends to help fence them on the Hebrew black market to buy groceries and cover travel expenses for his small family and their donkey, he still must have been deeply appreciative.

By Bev Boyle

It's been over a month now since Got News Network added Welcome to 100 Mile House.ca to its first online news site, Welcome to Williams Lake.ca.

A month of re-establishing contacts and tears and frustrations of dealing with high-tech wizardry, and yet, a month of uncontrolled excitement and glee at doing something I have never approached before. This is it! Photos in colour, stories as short or long as they need to be – and as many pictures as the story needs – and most important of all, news that goes up as soon as we get it. This may be a small town – but this is big-time when it gets to people being able to access news as it happens.

Our site is growing every day. It is so satisfying to watch this happen and to hear from people that I see, how much they enjoy it. There is nothing not to like about this job. Wonderful and supportive bosses, working in pajamas if I feel like it (no, not for interviews and events!), being in touch with what is going on, not just in 100 Mile but things that affect or interest us all over BC, and knowing that the only place to go from here is up!

By LeRae Haynes

When I saw the news footage about the children who were infected by E-Coli bacteria at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) petting zoo in Vancouver, I probably had a similar reaction to a lot of other people—dismay that something as innocent as a petting zoo could pose such serious health hazard to kids. 

And if I had tried to predict what petting zoo health hazards might have been, I certainly wouldn’t have picked bacteria. I would have guessed a hazard like being head-butted by a greedy little goat the size of a basketball, for example, or being flung into the parking lot by a small assertive deer who thought you were taking entirely too long opening the little bag to dispense the food pellets. 

By LeRae Haynes

There’s nothing like a body bag to make a statement. It has a connotation of finality, tidying up after an unfortunate incident and zipping things away out of sight. I can only imagine what residents in remote Manitoba First Nations communities thought when up to 30 body bags arrived at their nursing stations, along with their flu kits and regular medical supplies.

In fact, approximately 200 body bags were shipped to northern reserves and now everybody’s scrambling to apologize. Jim Wolfe, director of First Nations and Inuit Health for Manitoba is sorry, Health Canada is sorry and Stephen Harper is sounding off like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland: ‘Heads are going to ROLL for this!’

By Ryan Brink 

As a young adult in Williams Lake I am very excited to be working on  this website. Finally, a news source that is keeping up with  technology. And not just a news source that keeps up with the latest  gossip in pop culture, but one that reports LOCAL news as it is happening. I think that young adults in Williams Lake have been losing exposure to relevant news sources over the years. This website has the  power to give awareness back through a convenient avenue we youth  especially are very comfortable with.