ROTHENBURGER – Planting a memorial tree shouldn’t be nearly this difficult
Left, the Armchair Mayor with Ald. Nora Stocks in the 1970s; Right, Donna Stocks and her dad Don with banned hawthorn.
THE NARROW STREET that winds through 1950 Braeview Place is lined with trees and bushes. In front of each townhouse, a Saskatoon, hawthorn, cedar or red crabapple lends shade and colour.
But not at Don Stocks’ unit. There, a few marigolds grow where a young hawthorn was removed a couple of weeks ago on orders from the strata council.
There’s quite a story to that tree, which now stands in a pot on his front step.
Don’s wife, Nora, was a community pillar in Kamloops for many years. As Kamloops entered the 1970s, it was booming, and new municipalities were springing up everywhere. One of them was the district of Brocklehurst; when it was incorporated, she was elected to the council.
That’s how I first met her — me, a young reporter new to town and she, the first woman to be elected to a local council. She helped me navigate the complicated and volatile waters of politics in Kamloops.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Sad excuses from one end to the other. Granted the right tree in the right location is a good rule to follow and granted proper soil and proper ongoing maintenance are also the ideal premises anything mentioned in this op-piece is far from ideal and good as I am very well aware of the people and properties mentioned.