There have been questions, rumours and not a lot of answers to the proposed private health facility on native land in West Kelowna.

The Westbank First Nations hasn’t said a lot about the development. Chief Robert Louis has been in touch for quite a long period of time, with Johns Hopkins Medical organization about management of such a facility and that would bring this world famous organization into Canada for the first time.

The rumour is that the building alone is going to cost in the neighborhood of $120 million - and then of course all the equipment needed to operate such a facility would be added to that cost, so it really is a large project.

Chief Robert Louie is carefully making planning of this development a major priority. Under his leadership, over the years they have made some very positive changes in this very successful business operation. 
 
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Rumours and Things….
 
·             Heard yesterday that there were Australian investors looking a buying a winery in the Okanagan.
·             Is Dennis Graham moving his Pheasant & Quail liquor store across the street to the old Rogers Video Bldg?  That is one large building next to the Save-On Food store.
·             Racing is coming back to Kin Park in Vernon July 8th, 15th, 29th  and Aug. 5, with live Para mutual betting.  Admission $5 with a program being $3. This sounds like fun; when we came here thirty-four years ago there was also racing at Desert Park in Osoyoos. I believe it is used for training now by a number of farms.
·             Kelowna Cycle went through a fire in December that damaged everything at their Pandosy store. They in turn moved their operation into the old Reimer’s Meat market location on Sutherland Ave. That proved to be a very successful move. So now the owner Pat Rosen is going to keep the remodeled store and Sutherland Ave. open because the public responded to the two-store operation. Good reputation, good service. The company is a Kelowna institution; it's been around for 63 years. Pat Rosen has owned Kelowna Cycle since 2008, but he's been a part of its operations for almost 20 years.
 
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For all my friends from Manitoba here is a look back at icon in the fast food business when I lived there, and every time I went back for business reasons I have to go to The Salisbury House.

They have made the best breakfasts from their beginning in 1931. It has a little Red Roof now but back then I am sure it was black. A big counter and stools at the counter it was terrific.

The menu came from a major commissary facility in Winnipeg that supplied the stores fresh daily with their special Chili and Beef Stew. Their hamburgers were made fresh and they were called Nips. I could eat a Nip right now.
 
I think back them there were seven stores and now understand there are twenty.

I know the chain was bought in the 90s by the Steinberg family of Montreal the large retail food merchant, who also owned Smithy’s in Phoenix.  I don’t know who owns it now.

I may just plan a trip to Winnipeg.
 
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The U.S.A. is reporting that falling gas prices have stopped inflation dead in its tracks. Falling gas prices? What the hell is going on here? Their gas prices at the pumps continues to go down and wherever you stop to fill up here is the same or up five cents. We do have one gas chain that raises their prices higher all the time, ahead of the other stations.

The first argument I hear is that south of the border there is an election underway and that has caused gasoline prices to stabilize. Does the present government have that kind of power?  Why don’t they use it more?

The real bugbear here is that we are all getting are gasoline from the crude being refined in Alberta. 
 
The price of crude goes down and the U.S. takes advantage of it. The price of crude goes up and so does the price at our pumps; it just doesn’t come down when there is a drop in crude prices.  
 
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There is no question that Tiger Woods is still the draw on television when it comes to golf. With his lead on Friday after play in the U.S. PGA Open the TV sets were lit up on the weekend to see how Tiger was doing. I’m sure it dropped off on Sunday.  But the numbers for ratings and sets tuned was high. The audience was, according to Nielson, the fifth largest TV golf telecast ever.
 
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The Zellers in Penticton turned the keys over to Superstore at the end of day yesterday.  The store has spent the last two weeks cleaning out the remaining fixtures and getting the store ready for the new tenants.  On the last day of business they started off selling everything for $1.00 as the day progressed the discounts moved down to $.75 and then $.50 and at the very end of the day they sold the last items for a penny.  



The closure of the Zellers Family Restaurant in Kelowna at Orchard Plaza is next.  I am not sure that the general public realizes just how busy this restaurant is and how important it is to the seniors of Kelowna.  The last day of operation for the restaurant will be July 7th, a little over two weeks from now. 

The restaurant is planning some sort of appreciation event on the weekend of the 30th of June and 1st of July.  This Zellers Family Restaurant is traditionally one of the top 10 in the country in terms of sales volume.  They also sell the most seniors value breakfast than any store in the entire chain.  There are a number of long term employees that work there including one of the servers who has been there since day one, 20 years ago.  The restaurant manager has been with the company for 15 years and another one of the servers has been there 17 years.  

The Restaurant is running reduced hours leading up to their closure, which is 8am - 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 9am - 3pm on Sunday. 

They are also using a reduced menu as they try and use up their remaining food inventory.  Once the restaurant closes they will be selling off all the restaurant equipment and furniture.  So those that are true fans can even own a piece of the restaurant to take home.  A table, or some chairs even the decor on the walls will be sold off.

  

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I wrote an article last week in my column about these Safe-Step Tubs and got this reply from someone in the business.
 
I read your article on Castanet and I thought I would help you out with some information.

The Canadian Safe Step Tub company has a showroom in Burnaby. They do  not give prices over the phone, you need to make an appointment with a consultant. Their website says the tubs are made in America. They have an A- rating with the BBB - 14 complaints, but they resolved them. I don't know much about their company, but they say that they install in 
the Okanagan. If you call in, you get an answering service who tries to setup an appointment. Their website is http://www.safesteptub.com/

I work for a competitor, Aquassure Accessible Baths, www.aquassure.com. 


We have a full line of accessible bathtubs, including walkin and slidein  tubs. We have a showroom in Kelowna at 1048 Richter Street where  you can see floor models of our tubs and showers. Our retail list prices for our tubs range from around $4000-$10000 plus installation, and HST. Installation is usually under $2000 for our tubs. Most people purchase an installed tub from us for under $10,000. Our tubs are manufactured in Boise, Idaho by a company called Best Bath Systems Inc. 
www.best-bath.com. Our slidein tub, the ADL Spa was designed in Kelowna  by Matthew Longman, but we licensed it to Best Bath Systems in January of this year, so now it is manufactured in Boise.

For walk in tubs/accessible tubs, there are things that people should 
look out for:
  - No published pricing or technical specs. They should be able to give 
you a price range on the phone and on their website. Without this, 
sometimes companies use high-pressure sales tactics.
 

- If it is a jetted tub, are the water jets/air blower heated? (tub 
can cool off quickly if it isn't)
  - How much water does it hold and do you have a big enough hot water 
tank.
  - What is the seat height, depth and width (affects comfort, hip space 
and the ability to sit and stand up easily).
  - Some tubs fill and drain faster, due to type of fixtures and how 
much water they hold. Fill time can range from 3 min- 15 min depending 
on the manufacturer and the model. Ask.
  - Warranty (not the guarantee) not just on the tub door, but on the 
fixtures, pumps and tub finish.
  - Does the tub meet plumbing certification standards? It should have a 
drain in the door track to meet certification standards.
  - What is the company's Better Business Bureau rating?
  - Will it fit through their door, hallways and bathroom? Door 
clearances range from 24-36" depending on the manufacturer and model. 


The ADL Spa will fit through the narrowest doorway at 24" on its side.