PENTICTON | 171 Main Street, Penticton, British Columbia V2A 5A9 | | Phone 250.490.2400 | Fax 250.490.2402 | www.penticton.ca

THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF

NOTICE OF A WINERY SPECIAL EVENT AREA ENDORSEMENT UPPER BENCH ESTATE WINERY

170 UPPER BENCH ROAD S., PENTICTON, BCPUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an application has beenmade for a Winery Special Event Area Endorsement applicationfor Upper Bench Winery Estate located at 170 Upper Bench RoadSouth, Penticton, B.C.The applicant has an existing winery lounge area endorsementand proposes a Special Event Area Endorsement Area with pro-posed hours of operation from Sunday to Thursday (11:00am to10:00pm) Friday to Saturday (11:00am to 11:00pm). On January 20, 2014, City Council directed staff to commencepublic notification of the proposed Winery Special Event Area(SEA) Endorsement. Any public comments as a result of the pub-lic notice process will be compiled and forwarded to Council,along with final comments from the City’s Liquor LicenceTechnical Review Committee (LLTRC) to the February 3, 2013Regular Council meeting, as per the City of Penticton LiquorLicensing Policy. At that time, a full report with final recommen-dations will be brought forward for Council’s consideration.Any person who wishes to comment on the proposed applicationmay appear in person, or by agent, at the 6:00 p.m. Council

meeting. Submissions or written comments will be received nolater than 12:00 p.m. noon on Friday, January 31, 2014 attentionto the Building & Permitting Manager. Those persons with special hearing, language or access needs should contact City Hall at 250-490-2400 prior to the meeting.The proposed application and supporting documentation may beinspected at the offices of the Building and Permitting Manager,located on the 2nd floor at 171 Main Street between 8:30 a.m.and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding holidays, up to andincluding Monday, February 3, 2014.

REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONThe City invites your companies to submit quotations for:2014-RFQ-04 Supply and Delivery of Safety Supplies for a One (1) Year TermPlease note the Closing Date & Time:Tuesday, February 11, 2014 @ 2:00 p.m.For a copy of the full Request for Quotation please visit the City of Penticton website:www.penticton.ca/purchasing or call 250-490-2500 for more information.

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Penticton Herald, Wednesday, January 29, 2014

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By JOHN MOORHOUSEPenticton Herald

Tarik Sayeed gave up ahigh-profile positionwith Valley First to pur-sue a high-tech venture

to help the hearing impaired.Sayeed, 36, a native of

Bangladesh, attended the NewJersey Institute of Technologyand later landed with theJumpTV Internet television firmin Toronto in 2007, before movingto Penticton five years ago.

Heading the information tech-nology team at Valley First andits parent, First West CreditUnion, Sayeed resigned last fallto develop a small, computerizeddevice to help the deaf communi-cate with non-hearing-impairedpeople.

The company plans to enhancea hand-held computer device pro-duced by Leap Motion so it cantranslate international sign lan-guage into computer-generatedverbal speech for those not famil-iar with sign language.

The device, to be known asBaby Taxi, will be small enoughto hang from a deaf person’s necklike a necklace.

The name was chosen largelydue to it being like a small, af-fordable and portable “taxi” forthe deaf, Sayeed explained. He isworking with two partners inBangladesh on the project.

“When the deaf populationspeak with their hand gestures,we’re capturing those gesturesand converting them to text andvoice,” he said.

Sayeed said they hope to havethe device ready for marketing be-fore the end of this year. Althoughthey face only one competitor, it isa big one — Microsoft.

“We have successfully convert-ed 10 sentences already,” he said.“However, we’re just not yetready to release it to the marketbecause the device itself hassome technological limitations.”

Their initial goal is to convertup to 20 sentences for everydaycommunications for the hearingimpaired. Sayeed noted the deafoften don’t have a sign-languageinterpreter with them when they

go to the doctor’s office or eventhe grocery store.

“What we are doing is convert-ing 20 transactional sentenceswhich will help them live a nor-mal life,” he said.

But some messages will have amore personal touch. Toppingthe list of phrases, suggested byhearing impaired residents, is: “Ilove you.”

Sayeed stumbled upon the ideafor Baby Taxi by chance twoyears ago, when he spotted a deafwoman struggling to communi-cate with a staff member at a gro-cery store.

“You could tell that she was try-ing to get something from theshelf, but she wasn’t able to ex-plain it,” he recalled. “By the endof the conversation, she walkedaway empty-handed and she wasalmost in tears.”

Last year, after the Leap

Motion device came onto themarket, Sayeed quickly jumpedon the opportunity to enhance itfor use by Baby Taxi. More de-tails are available on the websitewww.babytaxi.ca.

Baby Taxi isn’t the only thingSayeed has in the works.

Zero Plastic Bags is a proposalaimed at greatly reducing the useof plastic bags at grocery storesand other retail outlets.

Although fabric shopping bagsare currently available, manypeople forget them at home orleave them in the trunk of theircar, Sayeed said.

Working with the SnehaFoundation in Bangladesh, hehopes to produce 100 per cent cot-ton bags for pennies apiece.Revenue from sponsors — withtheir logos emblazoned on thebags — would make them just asaffordable as plastic bags.

Sayeed is also promoting theuse of digital marketing videoscreens in various stores’ wait-ing areas, which include adver-tising with short video messages.

A member of the PentictonOkanagan Rotary Club, Sayeed isalso involved in a non-profit in-ternational development projectin Bangladesh. He and his wifeare helping with Rotary efforts toprovide access to clean water fortwo rural villages.

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Kim Carter to stop inPenticton during tourof Okanagan-Nicolaregion next week

By JOHN MOORHOUSEPenticton Herald

Kim Carter wants to get an earfulfrom South Okanagan residents.

The provincial ombudspersonvisits Penticton next Tuesday dur-ing a four-day swing through theOkanagan-Nicola region. She’salso stopping in Merritt, Vernon

and Kelowna.This will be Carter’s first

visit to Penticton sinceabout five years ago as shegets an opportunity to talkdirectly to people who feelfrustrated in their deal-ings with the provincialgovernment.

“I try and go out threetimes a year, if I can, to differentparts of the province and we openthe ombudsperson office for theday in the communities,” she ex-plained in an interview from herVictoria office.

“If people have not beensuccessful in resolvingtheir problems with thepublic agency and still feelthey have not been treatedfairly and reasonably,they can come to us.”

The ombudsperson caninvestigate complaintsabout all provincial min-

istries and boards, includingCrown corporations, colleges,universities and school boards.Last year, the office responded tonearly 7,500 inquiries and completed some 1,900 early

resolutions or investigations.All appointments to speak with

the ombudsperson in Pentictonnext week must be made in ad-vance by calling 1-800-567-3247. Nodrop-in appointments will be ac-cepted and, in fact, her office isnot publicly revealing where itwill hold local interviews on Feb. 4.

Those unable to book an appoint-ment can still talk by phone to om-budsperson office staff about theirproblems with the B.C. govern-ment. The office has no jurisdic-tion over federal issues.

Paul Rodgers paystribute to artists likeOtis Redding, AlbertKing on 32nd album

By JAMES MILLERPenticton Herald

Paul Rodgers, who lives inSummerland with wife CynthiaKereluk, released an album of oldblues and jazz standards titled The

Royal Sessions onTuesday.

The former leadsinger of Free,Bad Companyand The Firmrecorded his 32ndalbum inMemphis.

“It has takenme 46 years to get fromMiddlesbrough, England, toMemphis, Tennessee, to record theStax songs that inspired me in myyouth and really laid the founda-tion for my singing and songwrit-ing career,” Rodgers said in a pressrelease.

Inspired by his old 45 records,Rodgers pays homage to OtisRedding, Albert King and AnnPeebles, among others.

All proceeds from the album willbe donated to Memphis musical ed-ucation programs.

Among the songs on the albumis a remake of I’ve Been LovingYou Too Long (To Stop Now) byOtis Redding. Rodgers had neversung the song before, but he wasable to lay down the track in onetake.

Musicians on the CD are Rev.Charles Hodges (Hammond B3),Michael Tolls (guitar), LeRoyHodges Jr. (bass), Hubby Turner(Wurlitzer) and two drummers,Steve Potts and James RobertsonSr. Many are related to legendaryblues artists or have been sidemenfor other greats.

Prior to the recording session, themusicians were unaware ofRodgers’ past musical history.

After the first song, Hodges said,“You could have a future as asinger.”

The album’s lead single, a re-working of Peebles’ I Can’t Standthe Rain (once picked by JohnLennon as his “favourite songever”) is jetting up the Canadianadult contemporary charts.

“I really felt I had to get deeperinside myself than I ever had inmy life,” Rodgers said. “The endresult is that recording thesesongs left me recharged as asinger and also as a songwriter.

“My favourite part was the lovewe could feel in the room through-out all the sessions. We all spokethe same language.”

The album was released inCanada on Tuesday, one week pri-or to the U.S. launch, and is avail-able online at www.amazon.ca orwww.bestbuy.ca.

VALLEYINBRIEFPolice seek tips in ATV theft

OSOYOOS — Police are asking for public assistance intracking down an ATV stolen from an Osoyoos businessthis week.

Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morn-ing, thieves broke into Jones Boys Automotive on 72ndAvenue and stole a bright-green 2014 Kawasaki side-by-side ATV, along with several tools and batteries.

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to con-tact the Osoyoos RCMP at 250-495-7236 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Alarm boxThe Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen fire

dispatch centre received the following 911 calls:Tuesday• 12:20 a.m. Taylor Mill Road, Princeton. Chimney fire.• 12:37 a.m. Lakeshore Drive, Penticton. Medical first

response.Monday• 9:23 a.m. Van Horne Street, Penticton. Medical first

response.• 11:21 a.m. Westminster Avenue, Penticton. Medical

first response.• 12:00 p.m. Main Street, Penticton. Medical first

response.• 12:38 p.m. Power Street, Penticton. Medical first

response.— Penticton Herald

B.C. ombudsperson invites complaints

Carter

ENTERTAINMENT

Singerrecordssongs fromhis youth

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Entrepreneur aims to make life easier for hearing impaired

Rodgers

Penticton Herald

Tarik Sayeed of Penticton has his hands full these days developing a tiny computerized device to help thedeaf communicate with non-hearing-impaired people, while at the same time promoting a plan to produceinexpensive cotton shopping bags to replace plastic bags at stores.