Comox Valley Echo - August 1, 2014

2145 Cliffe Ave. Courtenay 250.334.2425

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All Aboard!

By Philip RoundEcho Staff

All Aboard! That was the loud and clear announce-ment from Comox Valley Regional District on Tuesday with a unanimous vote to sign up to the Vancouver Island rail restoration project.

As reported in Tuesday’s Echo, the CVRD was the last of the five regional districts along the Courtenay-Victoria line to vote on whether to release its share of the money towards bridge and structure repairs.

There had been last-minute doubts about which way the vote would go, even though the $392,000 contribu-tion from the Valley is already in the bank.

That’s because concerns had been voiced over whether the total amount being offered by various lev-els of government might not fund works as far north as Courtenay, so jeopardizing the planned restoration of passenger train services.

But written as well as verbal assurances from the line’s not-for-profit owners, the Island Corridor Foundation (ICF), supported by documents from Southern Railway of Vancouver Island (SVI), the train operator, were enough to free up the Comox Valley cash, which was collected with last year’s property tax payments.

In fact, two regional district board members who had raised doubts - Comox’s Tom Grant and Courtenay’s Jon Ambler - were at the forefront of suggesting the legal agreement to release the money should now be signed.

The united vote followed a statement from the ICF’s executive director, Graham Bruce, that it was a condi-tion of a $15 million contribution for track restoration from the federal and provincial governments that it was an “all or nothing” project.

(Continued on page 2)

Comox Valley agrees to sign Island rail restoration agreement

Campfire ban starts at noon today asconditions get dryBy Michael BrionesEcho Staff

This BC Day long-weekend is expected to be hot, humid and really dry. It’s definitely welcome weather for many, especially for those who like to go camping.

However, the Coastal Fire Centre is treading on the safe side and has implemented a campfire ban that takes effect at noon today.

The prohibition, which also includes open fires in an outdoor stove, will apply to all areas of the Coastal Fire Centre, with the exception of Haida Gwaii and the coastal area known as the “fog zone”.

Media relations officer Marg Drysdale said they’re doing this due to increasing temperatures and no pre-cipitation in the forecast. This is the second strong drying period of the summer, with lightning in the forecast through the long weekend.

The fire warning rating north and south of Courtenay is currently high with some areas further north and mid-coast at extreme level.

“It is drying out and it is getting to the point where these areas of a high are going to expand,” said Drysdale.

Dry conditions have sparked some wildfires in the region. On Wednesday, Coastal Fire Centre crews bat-tled a wildfire, 16 hectares in size, near Nimpkish Lake, approximately 32 km south of Port McNeill. It was a difficult task because the blaze was burning on a slope in a heavily-treed area. Attempts to douse the blaze from the air were executed.



It takes real commitment to give up a regular job and paycheck and devote a big part of your life to researching and memorializing the lives of people you have never previously known.

But that’s what Lewis Bartholomew did after spotting a painting of HMCS Alberni as he trav-eled on a ferry from the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island 14 years ago.

As he passed the time on the Queen of Alberni ferry, he read the wording on a plaque beneath the painting and learned that 59 men lost their lives when a Canadian Navy vessel was torpe-doed by a U-boat in the English Channel on August 21 1944, sinking within 30 seconds.

“I was so moved by the painting and the explanation, I felt compelled to find out more - and I’m still finding out more today,” he told the Echo.

At the time he was living and working in Seattle, from where he set up a basic website on the topic and started posting information as he found it from various sources.

It became almost an obsession, with each extra piece of the jigsaw creating a clearer pic-ture of the people involved and an encourage-ment to find out more.

In 2002, Bartholomew immigrated from the States and moved to the Comox Valley, and three years later he mounted a simple exhibit about his project at the Canada Day celebrations in Courtenay.

That resulted in more pieces of the jigsaw falling in to place, and eventually he had enough information and sufficient artifacts to set up a mobile unit that he took to various locations and events on the Island.


The Alberni Project’s founder and director, Lewis Bartholomew, pictured beside a scale model of HMCS Alberni, the ship sunk 70 years ago with the loss of 59 lives.

Ferry painting inspired museum dedicated to a wartime tragedy

A series of curved display panels lead people through a maze of both permanent and temporary displays, surprising many people who drop by, since many of the exhibits are not immediately obvious when viewed from the entrance in Comox Centre Mall.

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(Continued from page A1)

If the tenders for the work did not allow for all the 225-km of track to be restored, none of the money would be released.

“This is an entire project,” he said. “The tenders will have to come in at or under budget- no work will commence unless we are convinced the whole proj-ect can be completed.”

And he noted the passenger train oper-ating and subsidy agreements, slated to go before the SVI board on August 15 and the VIA Rail board on August 27, also made clear passenger trains would oper-ate along the whole route.

In fact, Bruce added, in addition to scheduled services, plans were already being made by SVI for special excursion trains along the line, and for the develop-ment of the Courtenay train station as a transportation hub with bus links to

Campbell River and to BC Ferries’ Comox-Powell River route.

Ambler commented that if the CVRD didn’t agree the deal, the whole project would be “doomed.” He had been reas-sured that the Comox Valley section of the line to Courtenay was integral to the restoration.

Courtenay Mayor Larry Jangula - the regional district’s representative on the ICF board - said the revival of the railway would be a win-win for the community and the economy, through both passen-ger and freight development.

He noted that people who had called for a hiking and biking trail along the route to boost recreation and tourism could pursue that too, as it has always been the intention to encourage the development of such a route alongside the train tracks. It was not ‘either/or’ but both - “They can have their cake and eat it,” he commented.

But despite Tuesday’s vote, it’s not yet full steam ahead for the restoration. The regional district vote in favour was cru-cial, for if it had been a ‘no’ to signing the agreement, the whole project would have hit the buffers.

All five local governments had to be on board to fund the bridge and trestle repairs to ensure senior government money is made available for track upgrades, including tie replacement and re-ballasting.

Now the regional districts are united, the focus switches to the August board meetings aimed at sealing the passenger train agreement, and eventually the Treasury Board in Ottawa to sign off the federal and provincial grant deal.

But, Bruce told the CVRD board, if everything went to plan they hoped to seek the first tenders in September to get the restoration underway.

[email protected]

(Continued from page A1)

Drysdale said so far at this time, wild-fires are down in the Coastal Centre region. There have been 95 fires to date. The centre’s 10-year average is 121 but that includes 2009 which was a record breaking year. The person-caused fires are 72 and those caused by lightning are 23.

“The human-caused fires are down slightly from our 10-year average,” said Drysdale. “We’ve been very lucky on the Island that we haven’t seen a lot of fires. It’s been eerily quiet. So we really appre-ciate that people have been very smart and very cooperative with our campfire bans. They’ve been very careful. We always say that human-caused fires are entirely preventable and we just hope that people will continue to be very care-ful.”

Drysdale said campfire bans can damp-en the spirits of many who enjoy eve-nings around a blazing fire pit, but with the hot temperatures expected this week-end hovering at around 27 to 28 C, they might not be necessary.

“If the temperature is around 32

degrees, really, do you need a campfire,” said Drysdale. “It’s nice for atmosphere but quite honestly in those kinds of tem-peratures and how hot it’s been late in the evenings, sit around and have a card game with the family and enjoy each other rather than a campfire.”

The recent prohibition does not apply to CSA-rated or ULC-rated cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to a portable campfire apparatus that uses briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, so long as the height of the flame is less than 15 centimetres.

The use of tiki torches, fireworks or sky lanterns is also prohibited.

It applies to all BC Parks, Crown lands and private lands, but does not apply within the boundaries of local govern-ments that have forest fire prevention bylaws and are serviced by fire depart-ments. Please check with local govern-ments for any other restrictions before lighting a fire.

Category 3 open fires continue to be restricted throughout the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction. Small backyard burning piles (Category 2 fires) remain prohibited within the Coastal Fire Centre,

except in Haida Gwaii and the “fog zone”.

Category 2 burning includes:• the burning of any material in piles

larger than a half-metre high by ahalf-metre wide, up to two metres high

by three metres wide• the burning of stubble or grass up to

0.2 hectares in size• fireworks and burning barrels of any

size and descriptionAnyone found in violation of an open

burning prohibition may be issued a ticket of up to $345 or, if convicted in court, may be fined up to $100,000 and sentenced to one year in jail. If the con-travention causes a wildfire, the person may be subject to a penalty of up to $10,000 and ordered to pay all firefight-ing and associated costs.

To report a wildfire or unattended campfire, call 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on a cell phone. The latest information is also available at bcwildfire.ca, on Twitter @BCGovFireInfo and on Facebook at facebook.com/BCForestFireInfo

- See more at: http://www.cowichan-v a l l e y c i t i z e n . c o m / n e w s / c a m p -fire-ban-temporarily-

Campfire ban back on again at noon today

Valley will sign rail restoration agreement

By Drew A. PennerEcho Staff

When the Conservatives began to finalize a new plan to introduce gun rules that quell some of the unrest among staunch supporters due to what many within party ranks char-acterized as meddling on the part of Canadian Firearm Program bureau-crats, Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan took special notice. After all he holds a Possession and Acquisition Licence himself - a card which allows him to carry guns and will be merged with the Possession Only Licence under the new plan.

“I look forward to seeing the bill probably as much as anyone,” he said, noting many in Comox Valley will be affected by the planned legis-lation.

“We have a significant firearms community.”

The Conservatives hope their bid to streamline licencing and eliminate red tape will resonate with gun own-ers, many of whom were angry when RCMP officials unilaterally reclassi-fied a number of firearms, notably the Swiss Army family of guns and the CZ858.

Canada’s National Firearms Association even threatened to con-vince firearm owners to vote against the Conservatives in the next elec-

tion.The gun community is still on alert

in the wake of police seizing lawful-ly-owned firearms in High River, Alberta, citing safety concerns, after floods forced people from their homes.

Conservatives rely on support from many gun owners and are trying to signal they are willing to stand behind this community.

“We do not want a repeat of what happened in High River,” Duncan said, stressing arbitrary reclassifica-tions must come to an end. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened with the Swiss Arms case.”

There’s no point in making crimi-nals out of law-abiding citizens, he added.

“We’re trying to ensure that the vast majority of firearms owners know that we care about looking after their ability to legally own and responsibly use firearms,” he said. “We’re not interested in putting artifi-cial impediments in the way.”

While the government plans to table legislation in the fall and touts the benefits of simplifying the rules, some gun owners think it could go further.

Adrien Kroetsch of Gone Fishin’ in Courtenay said at least it’s a step in

the right direction and notes the announcement has sparked a lot of chatter among gun owners.

“It’s promising,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

The problem with the Swiss Arms guns wasn’t that they were more deadly, just an aesthetic component that made them seem more intimidat-ing, he said.

“It would be like blaming a car accident on the rubberized knob on the gear shifter,” he said, blasting firearms officials. “It’s like they have no understanding of the firearms themselves.”

He draws a straight line from the unsuccessful policy resolution pro-moted by the Young Liberals of Canada (meant to appeal to “urban and suburban” voter by working on “reducing the number of firearms in Canada”) to the Swiss Arms reclassi-fication.

The Conservatives worked long and hard to get rid of the long gun registry and don’t want to loose out on the political capital created in those efforts.

“There’s still an awful lot of good will towards government and a lot of mistrust of other parties who would reinstitute some form of registration,” Duncan said.

“We spent 15+ years removing a ridiculous registration process that

was burdensome, impractical and created no net benefit.”

Terry O’Toole, Courtenay Fish & Game Club range chairman, admitted there was little chance any unabashed gun nut would ever vote anything but Conservative, but says the new law would be a welcome develop-ment.

“It’s a good start,” he said. “It’s not doing any harm.”

He’d like to see a provision make it into the final version of the bill that prevents those who let their firearms permits lapse instantly rendered criminals.

Recently he became the proud owner of a Walther PPK pocket pistol after the original owner didn’t renew his licence.

Arriving in this situation can be as simple as forgetting to put a check in the mail, he noted.

“Everything’s going great,’ he said “All the sudden you’re not allowed to keep it.”

Duncan says the new bill, called the Common Sense Firearms Licencing Act, will include additional features that are still being worked out.

Already cabinet got to look-over the plan and government bureaucrats have reviewed it too.

“It’s on track,” he said. “We’re just playing with details at this point.”

Conservatives seek to woo back gun lovers with new bill

A woman fires a handgun at a Courtenay Fish & Game Club range.

By Michael BrionesEcho Staff

The presence of the Comox Valley RCMP will be widespread this weekend during the 56th Annual Nautical Days Festival.

It’s their way of making sure that during the BC Day festivities people will behave and not engage in any action or activities that might spoil their weekend cele-brations.

“We will have extra members out there during Nautical Days, the parade and the fireworks,” said media relations officer, Don Sinclair. “The highway patrol will be beefed up along the highway. We might also have boat patrols in Hornby. We have three guys coming in. So the police are going to be everywhere.”

This weekend will be extremely busy in the Comox Valley with several events happening concurrently. They include the four-day Filberg Festival, Nautical Days, BC Day Parade and many more.

“This is one of our busiest long-weekends of the year,” said Sinclair. “We will be out there to keep every-one safe.”

Sinclair said for those who are thinking of indulging in spirits and libations, they better not get behind the wheel.

“If you’re going to drink, don’t drive,” said Sinclair. “It’s a fair warning to everyone.”

The RCMP have been extra vigilant this summer when it comes to driving under the influence. Just last week four drivers got immediate roadside 90-day driv-ing prohibitions plus their vehicles impounded for 30-days.

Sinclair advises every one to be safe this weekend.

RCMP want everyone to be safe this holiday weekend

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Final approval has been given to a five-year program of annual grants to eight key arts and cultural facilities in the Comox Valley.

The grants are being funded by rural area taxpayers in Comox Valley Regional District as an acknowledgement that rural residents make use of the facilities that are mainly located in the municipalities, which in turn provide much of their funding. In the first year the grants will total $35,000, but will rise to just

over $70,000 by 2018. The decision to sign the eight agreements was made at Tuesday’s CVRD board meeting. The beneficiaries will be The Sid Williams Theatre, Courtenay; Comox Valley Art Gallery, Courtenay; Courtenay and District Museum; Comox Museum and Archives; the Pearl Ellis Art Gallery, Comox; Cumberland Museum and Archives; the Comox Valley Community Arts Council; and the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market.

Five-year program for arts and culture grants agreed


There are big things happening at the Comox Valley Salvation Army

Today it’s opening a thrift store on 1671 Ryan Road, Courtenay, replac-ing the store it closed down on Fourth Street.

As well, the local Sally Ann has a new pastor, Kevin Elsasser, who arrived last week with wife Michelle and their two young children Janna, 12 and Caleb, 10, from Peace River, Alberta.

This is Elsasser’s second posting. He’s excited to be in the Comox Valley just in time to introduce the bigger thrift store that is located near the Comox Valley SPCA and not too far from Costco.

It’s a distance away and harder to access by foot but Elsasser said the new location is one of the areas in the city that’s going to be expanding in the next few years.

As well, the size of the building, which is around 8,000 square feet, will allow the thrift store to accom-modate big items as well as imple-ment efficient and effective recy-cling.

“It’s a big store now and it’s beau-tiful inside,” said Elsasser. “The ceilings are really tall and there’s lots of room. There’s going to be new items every day.”

The relocated thrift store will have lots of parking as well as house its family services, which are being moved there from the 2966 Kilpatrick Ave. location.

One of the many services Sally Ann will be offering at the Ryan

Road store is the ability to assist homeless people. It will be provid-ing them a place to shower and also offer them vouchers for clothes and shoes and food hampers.

“They can get cleaned up there and we can work with them in order to integrate them back into society and see if we can find hous-ing and long-term employment,” said Elsasser.

Down the road, they also plan to provide laundry facilities for the homeless to use.

“That’s a pretty exciting thing,” said Elsasser. “When you think of a person, that is homeless, you need to have the proper hygiene in order for you to go and get yourself a job. We are going to work with them to address some of the issues that have led to their homelessness.”

Elsasser took over the local Sally Ann from Darryl Burry, who took a new posting in the Okanagan.

“We’re still settling in the valley and looking forward to visiting a lot of the places here this weekend,” said Elsasser. “We come from Northern Alberta, in Peace River where there’s not a lot of fish and stuff. So I am excited to be here where you have a huge opportunity to fish. I do love fishing.”

If there’s one thing I’d really like to do here, it’s fishing. There’s not much fishing in Peace River.”

Elsassser inherited the thrift store relocation from his predecessor. He intends to maintain the high quality of services that Sally Ann has been providing the community. Along the way he plans to put an emphasis on the youth here as well as looking at bringing in a motivational media presentation on a wide screen televi-sion featuring a 45 minute video of people like Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

“It’s high energy that’s basically

telling kids to set your goals, to be the best person you can be, that has themes like anti-bullying,” said Elsasser. “We’re looking at bringing that in once the strike is done.

“There’s so many things that are already running that are being done so well. We’re just going to try and offer the same high quality services that our predecessors have made. Some of the goals and visions they’ve made, like getting the thrift store up and renovating them. That was their baby. We got the privilege to open it up and benefit from that.”

The new thrift store on Ryan Road will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting today and also tomorrow.

You’re invited to ride BC Transit for a loonie on Monday, August 4, 2014. The Route 3 Nautical Days Express runs every thirty minutes starting at 8 a.m. Customers can expect detours on Route #3 and #4 on the statutory holiday.

The Comox Valley is celebrating Nautical Days with a free family festival from August 2 to 4, 2014. BC Transit and the Comox Valley Regional District hope to encourage everyone to join in the fun of the long weekend activities with reduced rates on transit trips.

If you need a little beach time during Nautical Days, check out the Goose Spit Beach Bus. The beach Bus runs every 20 minutes from Stewart and Comox Avenue starting at noon. The last return bus from Goose Spit is at 4:45 p.m.

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Salvation Army opens big thrift store on Ryan Road today

The new Salvation Army pastor Kevin Elsasser and wife Michelle, are looking forward to working in the Comox Valley.

New Pastor arrives fromAlberta; looking forwardto going fishing here

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(Continued from page 1)

In 2010 he was interviewed for a CBC TV story, which was broadcast on Remembrance Day prior to the national wreath laying and march-past in Ottawa. “I was the warm-up act for Peter Mansbridge,” he quipped.

That national exposure led to a surge of interest in the story of one small ship and its role in one large battle - the Battle of the Atlantic - in an even greater world war.

A year ago he had amassed enough material to set up a perma-nent display, and rented a unit at Comox Centre Mall to create what has now become a memorial muse-um in its own right.

“It’s not so much a war museum as a story museum,” he explained. “Stories of people, of love, of trage-dy, of survival - even stories of han-ky-panky.”

At the heart of the display is, nat-urally, the story of HMCS Alberni, its crew and their families.

There is social as well as military history on show, some of it deeply personal with the approval of the families who have donated or loaned letters, telegrams, photographs, medals and other mementoes to enhance the exhibition and expand the story.

And all of it is displayed in the wider frame of the Second World War and the role of Canadian Forces through the years.

With the help of Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian Forces today, along with associations repre-senting Canadian and BC Museums, he has also been able to mount a series of temporary exhibitions alongside the permanent displays.

One currently running until August 9 features the war service and sacrifices of Chinese Canadians; and from August 1-16 a popular exhibit will return - ‘Creature Comforts’ was created by CFB Esquimalt Military Museum to high-light the role of animals on ships.

Entry to The Alberni Project exhi-bition is free, but donations are encouraged to help towards the cost of rent and utilities, and money is also raised through the sale of mementoes, and some other funds come from sponsors.

Costs are kept down by volunteers with The Alberni Project Society, who help Bartholomew keep the ensign flying high at the mall five days a week from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

For this BC Day weekend only, the exhibition will also be open on Sunday and Monday, too, from 12 noon-4 p.m.

More volunteers are always wel-come, especially as the society still keeps a mobile unit on the road when it can.

For more information, drop by the mall or check out the now very detailed website at www.alberni-project.org

On August 21, it will be exactly 70 years since HMCS Alberni was sunk with the loss of 59 lives.

At the end of that day, the Canadian flag flying from the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa will be lowered and prepared for presentation to The Alberni Project Society to commemorate the anni-versary.

The 15ft-long flag will arrive in the Comox Valley at a later date for ongoing display as part of the exhi-bition in Comox Centre Mall, or for touring with the mobile display unit when appropriate.

The society’s founder and project director, Lewis Bartholomew, said he was honoured to learn through local MP John Duncan’s office that the Parliamentary authorities had decid-ed that day’s flag should be present-ed in honour of those who served on the ship.

HMCS Alberni was built and com-missioned on Vancouver Island at the Yarrow’s Shipyard in Esquimalt in 1941. It was a Canadian version of a Corvette, and on completion was immediately pressed into convoy escort duty on the vital supply lines between North America and Europe.

There she served in the Battle of the Atlantic - the longest campaign of the war - during which she expe-rienced several close shaves, and was part of the massive invasion force to the Normandy beaches on D-Day, June 6 1944.

In August of that year she was

commanded by 26-year-old Ian Hunter Bell, at the time the youngest Commander in the Royal Canadian Navy.

At 11:45 a.m. on August 21, she was steaming south in the English Channel about 25 miles southeast of the Isle of Wight, with many of the crew taking lunch in the mess.

Four minutes later, she was hit on her port side, just aft of the engine room, by a torpedo fired from German submarine U-480. In less than ten seconds she was awash from the funnel aft, listing to port and sinking fast.

Only 20 seconds later she was gone, sinking stern first. Most of the off-watch hands were trapped in their mess decks, and only one stok-er escaped from deep within the engine and boiler rooms.

For 45 minutes the dazed survi-vors, including Bell, struggled to keep from drowning in heavy seas. Two Allied boats saw the initial explosion and altered course to investigate. They came across the survivors and rescued three officers and 28 men of the ship’s company of 90, and took them to the naval base at Portsmouth.

Fifty-nine were dead. Their names are now recorded and many of their stories recalled - along with those of some survivors - in The Alberni Project (TAP) exhibition and memo-rial at Comox Centre Mall.

[email protected]

Peace Tower flag coming to museum

Museum remembers ship

Exhibition visitor Judy Nichol checks out a facsimile love letter written by Bernice Williams, whose husband had proposed to her while serving on HMCS Aberni, now displayed alongside her acceptance telegram.

Lewis Bartholomew has gathered together an ever-growing number of exhibits to put the HMCS Alberni’s service in the con-text of the Second World War and the wider history of Canadian Forces. Here he is seen with some of the newspaper front pages that broke news of major events from 1939-45.

Left, for those seeking a memento of their visit, Bartholomew has assembled a range of items, from simple lapel pins to remem-brance poppy-themed apparel.

Social as well as military history is showcased in the per-manent exhibition, and there are also continuously-running film clips from the war and a small reference library

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A rezoning bylaw to allow more surface oyster rafts in Baynes Sound stumbled at the last hurdle on Tuesday.

Comox Valley Regional District directors were due to give final reading to an application by Shao Ping Kang that would have allowed 30 additional rafts in a 2.01 hectare Crown land licensed tenure between Union Bay and Buckley Bay.

But at the request of rural Area A director Bruce Jolliffe, the issue was referred back for further con-sideration at the electoral areas services committee meeting on August 11.

And that referral has been strongly criticized by the execu-tive director of the BC Shellfish Growers’ Association, Roberta Stevenson, in an email to Jolliffe and others.

“Having experienced the nega-tive comments of a few vocal res-idents at the public hearing in May - ‘ugly rafts in front of my B&B decreasing my $1 million dollar property value’ - versus the international growing support for ocean protein sources, we ask that the regional directors think glob-ally and act locally, supporting this application,” she wrote.

Jolliffe had explained his stance at the meeting by noting that fur-ther information had been brought forward by staff about a 2002 Baynes Sound Coastal Plan, and he felt that needed to be taken into account - especially in view of concerns that had been expressed at the public hearing.

He also successfully proposed staff research how to update the 2002 plan to create a “shared vision” to lessen tensions between the shellfish industry and others in the area.

Stevenson said the decision not to give final reading to the rezon-ing came as a shock to her and the applicants.

“The BCSGA supports the update of the 2002 Baynes Sound Coastal Plan document, which is now seven years expired,” she commented.

“This document was to be a fluid working planning process but was never actually imple-mented. For example, it called for an increase in shellfish farms on Denman Island in an area with little impact on upland residents, but the moratorium and the Islands Trust never allowed any expansions in the area.”

She noted the 2002 plan was a work commissioned by the BC government, but now use of the water has been changed to a fed-erally-regulated fishing activity, making much of the decision-mak-ing obsolete.

If the Province wanted to get involved in updating the plan, the BCSGA was willing to participate “to the fullest extent possible.”

But given the complexity of multiple users, that process might take many years to complete, she suggested, and in the meantime Shao Ping Kang’s zoning applica-tion should be progressed.

And she added: “Further we wish to remind the regional dis-trict that the tenure will operate under the Fisheries Act, using a fishing licence to fish the area.

“The Department of Fisheries and Oceans determines what type of fishing gear can be used on our fishing licenses; it is inappropriate for the regional district to dictate which type of activity can or can-not be implemented. We have contacted the department today and asked them to intervene and clarify this position.”

Stevenson added with a 9% unemployment rate in the Comox Valley and a proposal before them for a sustainable shellfish farm that would support four families, it was a sad reflection on direc-tors’ priorities if it was not sup-ported.

[email protected]

Shellfish chief hits out as oyster raft rezoning bid stumbles at CVRD

The Classic Cruisers annual Graffiti Bash show and shine Sunday in downtown Courtenay once again drew great weather and great crowds, There were hot rods, antique and collectors’ cars galore along with trucks, drag cars and motorcycles. For more photos please see the photo galleries at www.comoxvalleyecho.com


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The Comox Valley board of education trustees has joined other school boards in the province in raising their concerns about the ongoing labour dispute that has caused so much upheaval in BC’s public school system.

With contract negotiations stalled with neither side working for a settlement, the local board said that stu-dents, families, staff and communities are increasingly anxious about how the education system can continue to thrive and support learners when “year after year we find ourselves in protracted labour relations battles,” the vice-chair of the local trustees, Janice Caton wrote in a letter addressed to the education minister Peter Fassbender, Michael Marchbank, public administrator of the BC Public School Employers’ Association and Jim Iker, pres-ident of the BC Teachers’ Federation.

“The current situation is undermining confidence in public education and we are concerned as morale is at an all-time low and anxiety levels are at an all-time high,” said Caton.

School boards in the province want to see both side resume bargaining this summer and not stretch it out to September when the new school year starts.

To move ahead, Caton said, it is clear that both parties must work towards a resolution that:

• Acknowledges a reasonable wage increase for teach-ers, fully funded by government;

• Provides supportive learning environments for all students which allow for local input into resources directed towards vulnerable learners; and,

• Embeds a model for future bargaining that will avoid the acrimony and protraction of the model government/BCTF currently engages in.

“Our board believes that it is simply not enough for both parties to shrug their shoulders and assume that this negative situation should continue into September,” said Caton. “Our children and their families deserve to believe that schools will open as scheduled for September and that the rebuilding of stretched relationships can begin with a focus on our students.”

The board urges the government and the BCTF to work with a mediator to open the gridlock and to extend their efforts to resolve their differences.

The former president of the Comox Valley District Teachers’ association, Steve Stanley, said they’re very happy with the board’s letter.

Local school board expresses concern about stalled negotiations


A $200,000 project is underway to improve the condi-tion of a popular road that was not built to be a public highway at all.

The work involves a one-kilometre stretch of Huband Road, just north of Courtenay, that is well used by driv-ers as it completes a convenient east-west link between the old Island Highway and Waveland Road.

Comox Valley MLA Don McRae says he is excited to see the project getting started because he knows how

important it is to the community. “Resurfacing this section of the road

will improve safety and driving condi-tions for local residents traveling between the Seal Bay area and Highway 19A,” he commented.

The stretch of road involved was cut through the bush for a specific pur-pose years ago - to provide a route so contractors could lay a major natural gas pipeline that is still operational, maintained by Fortis BC.

The rough road was not intended to remain open for public use, but as it was not immediately decommis-sioned, local drivers saw the value of the ‘missing link’ and started using it.

Despite clouds of dust thrown up by traffic on the move, and the countless potholes that frequently appeared after rain, more and more people dis-covered the connection and transport ministry staff decided it was better to leave it open than shut it down.

Ever since, the province has arranged with its highway contractors to grade the gravel from time to time to try to keep it safe.

But now work has started on a major upgrade that in its first phase is seeing the road corridor widened between Mitchell Road and Stevedor Road.

Trees on the Seal Bay Park side - but within the ministry’s existing road allowance - are being felled following consultation with Comox Valley Regional District parks staff.

A 200-metre slice of land over which part of the gravel road currently runs is also being bought from a pri-vate owner, a move that will also allow a slight realignment of the route.

A spokesperson for the ministry of transportation and infrastructure told the Echo that once the road corridor

had been cleared, a new road base and surface would be laid, topped with what is known as ‘sealcoat.’

That is not regular heavy-duty asphalt pave-ment, but a similar surface to the current continuation of Huband Road on the Waveland side. It is intended to give a more solid surface for drivers, with better run-off drainage, and remove the frequent problems with potholing and the need for grading.

“The community has long advocated to have the gravel section of the road resurfaced because of the increase in traffic,” said the spokesperson. “Motorists will benefit from a more comfortable and smoother road surface and safer driving conditions.”

The ministry’s maintenance contractor,

Emcon, is carrying out the work, which it hopes to have complete by the end of September.

While many in the area will welcome the improvements, there are some concerns they may have a downside. Access on to Highway 19A from Huband Road can be difficult, espe-cially on school days when the uncontrolled junction carries additional traffic to and from Huband Park Elementary School.

The completion of a higher quality east-west link might encourage many more drivers from rural areas north-east of Courtenay to use the route as a way to town, instead of driving all along Waveland and Anderton before head-ing back to downtown via Ryan Road.

[email protected]

Improvements start on the road that was never meant to be

Trees are being felled and stumps uprooted to pave the way for big improvements to the gravel section of Huband Road - a road that was never built to be a public highway in the first place.

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Robert JamesLAXDAL

DOB:1992-10-31180cms, 84 kgs, Blonde hair, Green eyesWarrants: Assault, Uttering threatsMischief under $5000Comox Valley file #2014-2758

Bronson ChadPETTERSON

DOB: 1985-02-22183 cms, 80 kgs, Brown hair, Blue eyesWarrants: FraudSeveral warrants in other juris-dictionsComox Valley file # 2014-2217

If you have any information about the whereabouts of either of these two people, call the Comox Valley RCMP Detachment at 338-1321, or Comox Valley Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (1-800-222-8477). You don’t have to give your name and you could be eligible for a cash reward.

WANTED

www.comoxvalleycrimestoppers.bc.ca

Comox Valley RCMP responded to the following incidents between July 22 and 28:

On July 22nd police were called to a report of a break, enter and theft that had taken place at a shed on a property on the 200 block of Muschamp Road in Union Bay. The thief stole two guitars, a 1971 Strat and a Kramer Bass, from the unlocked shed. (2014-8770)

Police attended to a report of a stolen motor bike from a residence on the 2500 block of Endall Road in Black Creek on July 22nd. The motor bike tracks were followed to another residence in the area and recovered. This investigation is continu-ing. (2014-8773)

On July 23rd police were attending to a report of a domestic dispute where the male suspect had left the area of the 2100 block of Stadacona Drive in Comox. The vehicle was located and the man taken into custody. The man was found to have been consuming alcohol and failed the roadside screening test and given a 90-day immediate road-side prohibition and his vehicle was impounded for 30 days. The man was also found in possession of a quantity of marijuana and will also be facing drug charges. (2014-8829)

On July 25th police received a report of a theft of a drum set from a residence on the 2000 block of Murphy Avenue in Comox. The owner of the residence stated that he was away for a period of time and upon his return found that his Rosewood colored Head drum set was stolen and estimated the value between $5000 and $6000. (2014-8972)

Police took a report of a theft from an unlocked shed at a property on the 7000 block of Island Highway North. The owner stated that two Stihl chainsaws and two hand lines for fishing were taken. (2014-9113)

Over the weekend 4 more Courtenay drivers were found driving after consuming alcohol and were issued with 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions and had their vehicles towed and impounded.

POLICE BLOTTERClaims police involved in deleting audio recordings being investigatedBy Drew A. PennerEcho Staff

Comox Valley RCMP are in the “early stages” of investigating claims made by a 57-year-old man that two officers were involved in rifling through his belongings and deleting hours of personal audio files about his medical condition in a 2011 inci-dent at the Courtenay Courthouse. Gary Chamberlain says he only managed to salvage an audio clip from his video cam-era that appears to show court and police officials attempting to delete his files.

“Lets see what’s in there,” one man says.

“And then you can just erase ‘em off of there,” another chimes in.

On Jan. 25, 2011 Chamberlain, who has been involved in many complaints to police in recent years, went to the Courtenay Courthouse loaded up with a still camera, an audio recorder and a video camera, he said. Though the recording, which has not been independently authenticat-ed, clearly shows officials were uncertain about the nature of the recordings, officers later claimed he had been illegally recording court proceedings.

“You should be able to wipe those,” the recording continues.

“Too bad it wouldn’t play back,” a man says.

Chamberlain says he had more than 80 files on the voice record-er, many of which related to important health documentation. He says he struggles with mental challenges due to past working conditions.

After a disagreement at the Courtenay Courthouse causing police to attend the 420 Cumberland Road address, Chamberlain had returned to the Sheriff’s office to get his belong-ings. He discovered they had been gone through, with the audio files nowhere to be found.

He denies he had been attempt-ing to record court proceedings.

On April 3, 2014, Chamberlain received a letter from Eric Petit, an enquiries and complaints ana-

Gary Chamberlain says he is hopeful the truth will come out in an investigation of RCMP officer behaviour.

lyst with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP letting him know his con-cerns would be looked into.

In an interview with the Echo, Sgt. Tim Desaulniers of the Comox Valley RCMP detachment confirmed that an investigator had interviewed Chamberlain about the matter the week of July 20.

He declined to comment on the specifics of the case or the cur-rent employment status of the officers involved.

“It’s in the early stages of investigation,” he said. “There’s not a lot of information that’s going to be released right now.”

Commenting at this stage would be premature, he added.

“We’re not at liberty to discuss the circumstances at this point,” he said. “We take all complaints from the public seriously.”

Chamberlain says he doesn’t want to press charges against the officers involved, he just wants the police to fess up.

“I’m not trying to be a hardball player,” he said. “I just want the truth. If I get the truth I’ll be sat-isfied with that.”


An 18-year-old construction worker was granted release during a hearing in Courtenay Provincial Court July 28.

Douglas Waterfield was allowed out from behind bars by Judge Rod Sutton following the show cause proceed-ings.

Waterfield had been charged with a Jan. 21 break and enter at a residence in Cumberland where a chainsaw and a duffle bag of tools had vanished.

Crown prosecutor Megan Dyler read out the circum-stances, which led to the charges against Waterfield, who sat in the prisoners box in a loose-fitting T-shirt with his head slightly bowed. He wasn’t arrested until July after the victim brought new evidence to police.

Court proceedings were stood down twice to find out more information about what the accused’s situation would be if released. Waterfield is also charged with breaching his terms of release July 9 and then again on July 10. Under Canadian law there is a reverse onus responsibility for bail hearings, meaning it is up to the Crown to show that the accused should not be allowed into the community.

Bail can be denied if a judge believes there is a risk the individual won’t show up for court, in order to protect the public, or to maintain confidence in the administra-tion of justice. Defence lawyer Eric Chesterley was busy during the break contacting people connected to the accused to sort out some concerns for the judge.

Ultimately Sutton decided it would be appropriate to allow Waterfield’s release.

Man accused in Cumberland B&E released


A 22-year-old man accused of dealing cocaine and MDMA was granted bail during an afternoon hearing in Courtenay Provincial Court July 28.

Wearing a blue button-up shirt Andrew Moulton stood in the prisoners box to hear Judge Rod Sutton consider the evidence and come to a decision about whether release would be appropriate or not given

the facts he had been presented during the Monday Judicial Interim Release proceed-ing.

On June 14, 2014 the Comox Valley RCMP’s drug unit executed a search war-rant on a residence at 2690 Moray Ave. in Courtenay, which they say netted a pound of MDMA, a pound of coke, two pounds of cutting agents and some marijuana.

Police claimed they also found drug par-aphernalia.

Moulton was charged with multiple

counts of possession for the purpose of traf-ficking.

At more than one point during the hear-ing supporters were brought to tears by the proceedings.

Federal Crown Kate Morrison went over material contained in the disclosure pack-age in the hearing.

“It’s clear a bail hearing does not confer guilt,” Sutton noted.

“I’m satisfied here that he can be released on conditions.”

Bail granted for suspected cocaine, MDMA drug dealer

OpinionsECHO

THE COMOX VALLEY ECHOAn independently owned and operated

newspaper published by Echo Publications at

407-D Fifth Street, Courtenay, B.C. V9N 1J7

All material herein is protected by copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part is not permitted without written

authorization from the publisher.

Publisher Dave MacDonaldEditor Debra MartinAdvertising Manager Keith CurrieOffice Administrator Deb FowlerCirculation Manager Hedi MacDonaldProduction Manager Ryan GetzPhone 250-334-4722 Fax 250-334-3172Classifieds 250- 334-4215 Circulation 250-334-4734E-mail: [email protected]

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Letters to the Editor

Well-priced housing would benefit all


I read with great interest that there is “vociferous” opposition to a heritage style triplex at the corner of Fifth and Menzies in Courtenay.

It seems that renters are viewed as noisy and cause hassle. I was a renter once and now I am an owner, but I don’t think I make less noise now or cause less hassle.

It is unfair to paint all renters with the same brush or deny reasonable housing

to those wishing to rent or buy smaller or less expensing accommodations.

Moreover, I like to think I live in one of the most naturally blessed communi-ties in the world and one of the ways we can preserve it, while welcoming those wishing to join us, is to increase density in our cores to minimize the paving of our surroundings. Also, I wonder if hav-ing more people close to our town cen-tres could increase economic trade in

those areas. I live just three blocks fur-ther than Menzies from Downtown and I do 90% of my shopping Downtown because it’s close. I imagine this would be of great interest to the Downtown Business Improvement Association and its merchants.

Could more well priced housing bene-fit all of us?

David FrischCourtenay

Letter

Early Sunday morning a friend of mine was driving along the Dyke Road when he noticed a boil of about 6-8 seals tearing into summer run chinook salmon that were in deeper water, wait-ing to go up the river. While driving home in the evening at high tide, he noticed another boil of a similar number of seals in the same section of the estuary again feasting on chinook salmon.

I don’t know whether the river level is too low for these salmon to go up the river, or whether they were waiting for the fullness of the tide to advance.

However, I do wonder why seals enjoy such a protective status. Brigitte Bardot’s publicity cam-paign against the harvest of fur seal pups on the East Coast. One thing is certain: the seal has reached “untouchable” status. We allow the cull-ing of deer and Canada geese in some of our communities and waters, but don’t touch them seals.

Two years ago it was reported that seals took an estimated one-third of the restored chinook run of 7,000 salmon holding for higher water at the mouth of the Cowichan River. Recently waters around the lighthouse and at the south end of Cape Mudge were closed to protect the endan-gered Cowichan River fish which rear in those water.

Why? So the seals can eat them when they reach the mouth of the river.

Perhaps, we need more “rocket scientists” at the decision-level in DFO to accept the fact that it doesn’t make sense to enhance salmon with pub-lic dollars. at one end of the scale to feed seals at the other end of the scale.

Maybe we should just raise the white flag of surrender. One week the newspapers report that DFO requests that people do not fish in the Puntledge River in order to protect the small sum-mer chinook. The next thing my friend witnesses this senseless slaughter of the resource at the mouth of the river.

I guess my friend and I just don’t possess the mental capability to understand this nonsense. Perhaps I need counselling from the DFO and other protectors of the seals to understand my errant thinking.

Ken MacLeodCourtenay

A sealedsituation

A DOZEN RED ROSES to the AIDS Vancouver Island team who spent Friday, July 25 at the Lewis Centre, testing the curious for HIV and Hep C. What a valuable thing knowledge is and what better way to celebrate World Hepatitis Day than by getting a simple test. No fees, no lineups, no privacy invasion. Just a friendly informative atmosphere that left visitors feeling a lot more at ease about their health. If you didn’t participate this year, make sure you drop by next time. It only takes a few minutes and may make you feel a lot more comfortable about that margarita you drank down Mexico way. Great job, gang!

BC HYDRO EMPLOYEES deserve a bouquet for keeping the electricity flowing. They do a great job. Hydro Management has been roasted for smart meters, Comox Lake Reservoir man-agement and rate increases. The rate increase are somewhat understandable - the BC Government is broke and borrowing $1.9 bil-lions a year to provide services and service $60 billion of growing debt. CVRD employees do a great job of supplying Comox Lake treated water to 40,000 customers. CVRD Management are in an entirely different financial position - they do do not need to surcharge their rural customers to water gardens - they have a $67 million cash surplus which is growing - they deserve to be very well roasted, along with CVRD directors.

JUST WANTED TO SAY thank-you to Pedal Your World in Campbell River. Had a bike sto-len that was bought from that store and they were very helpful in providing the serial num-ber during a busy time for them. Great custom-er service and very pleasant service.

LIFE IS TO0 SHORT, this is to the woman that apparently owns the riverwalk. My wife and I were riding our bikes on the riverwalk near the Locals Restaurant. Two women and their small dog were in front of us using the trail so nobody could pass them. Ignoring my wife’s bell and only after I used my bike bell repeatedly did they let us pass. My wife was able to pass, however their loose dog was now blocking the trail making it very hard even at walking speed to pass without hitting some-body. I asked her if she possible could put her small dog on a leash, because you have to, she yelled at me LIFE IS TOO SHORT. As I rode away all I could hear in the background was LIFE IS TOO SHORT, LIFE IS TOO SHORT!!! So I guess if you’re of certain age and don’t feel like obeying the rules all you have to yell is LIFE IS TOO SHORT. PS: wake up before you create an accident, and put your dog on a leash like everybody else.

SO THE BC LIBERAL Government have just inked a deal with China to bring in foreign workers to build the new BC liquefied natural gas industry. How disappointing, but not unex-pected. For over a decade, the Province has predicted skills shortages in trades and done little to meet the need. It seems that this could be part of a business plan to employ cheaper foreign skills when few Canadians have been

trained for these good jobs. This seems to be a great deal for offshore investors who will con-trol our resources and, now their workforce - the HD coal mining model. Even many of the entry level jobs are being filled in BC, by off-shore skills. 70,000 at last count. It is a cash desperate BC Government that is making these short term deals, with long term consequences. Continuing to support shipping out raw logs, raw gas, raw bitumen and BC jobs. As usual, Opposition Parties in BC are silent.

SO YOU THINK your house needs a new roof? I did and called Steve and Joe at Comox Roofing. They came by as scheduled and did a thorough inspection of my roof and surprisingly said it’s in pretty good shape for an old one. They also gave me a tip or two for prolonging the life of my roof. When the time comes, guess who gets the job?

A BOUQUET to the Area B letter writer who advocates for processing Tar Sands oil in Canada and exporting value added products. All BC Municipal governments need to promote the processing of oil, gas and logs in BC , creating good Jobs In B.C. It only makes sense for the Four Comox Valley Governments, where very few local jobs can support the purchase of even a modest home. The Provincial and Federal governments are missing the boat, by encourag-ing the export of raw logs and raw bitumen. So what if it’s not a local government jurisdiction - it’s support for future BC jobs. Speak for the people, local councilors! Speak with one voice on this important issue. The tanker issue will diminish with the export of refined products. It’s a win/win.

A HUGE THANK-YOU to Woofy’s for the wonderful time I spent at their Barking Lot Sale. It was great but I especially want to thank the woman with her left arm in a cast who made me laugh so hard I wet my pants. You Rock!

TO LAST WEEK’S Comox Car Wash beef. This car wash has excellent amenities, well laid out and always has everything working proper-ly. I consider this one as being the best in the Valley. I also refuse to return there as: I don’t park my vehicle in the exact middle of the wash bay, have taken too long to clean my car and I have sprayed soap suds “all over the place” and definitely can attest to the last week’s reported-ly stated “screaming tirades”. As for the “don’t” signs - they kept piling up. As a result I now also don’t send our fleet vehicles there; the staff doesn’t need the abuse either. It’s too bad an excellent facility that can be a model for the rest be ruined by someone who can’t clean up their own act.

A BIG DISH of healthy, tasty treats to Thrifty’s for your wonderful contribution to the community through the Young Chefs program. My son is having a blast and says the food is the best he’s ever tasted. He is enthusiastic about trying out his cooking skills at home. What more could a parent ask for? A free cooking camp that teaches kids how to make tasty, healthy meals along with fun, physical activity

and games. Thank you! Thank you!

CHECK OUT the CVRD Fact or Fiction page on their website. Great that there is an attempt at communication, but their “facts” are mostly “fiction.” CVRD Rural Residents (through a rare democratic vote) turned down roadside recy-cling and now most CVRD recycling centers are closed and the minimum landfill fees are up 150%. This is fact. The $67 million dollar cash reserve fund has been confirmed by auditors - it is not $18 million - this is fact. This cash reserve fund is way out of line with other local governments who fund capital assets - another fact. It is fact that most Comox Valley water system gardeners use more than 15m3 in dry summer months, which CVRD surcharges Rural customers for use in their gardens. It is fact that CVRD staff and elected officials did not respond to the majority of public input at the September 23rd meeting, on rural water rates. It is a fact that the CVRD used the Alternative approval process to approve the Art and Culture tax and the Curling club tax - a process which pretty much guarantees approval by voter apathy. Enough facts? The CVRD administration is dis-connected from their customers - the people paying the bills. Vote for change in November. Sign the Governance Review petition for change here in the Comox Valley. If really interested check out the Comoxvalleyratepayers.com site and asks some questions on the facts.

I WOULD LIKE to give a HUGE bouquet of roses to the guys at Fill It Right for their prompt and excellent service. You helped me choose the right printer for my needs, one that I can get refilled for half the price of continually buying new cartridges. Now I can print all my emails and recipes without worrying so much to my hearts content. Thanks guys.

FIRST OF ALL sweet fragrant bouquets to the awesome volunteer folk at the music fest. I have a handicapped wife in a wheelchair and the organizers and volunteers went out of the way to make us comfortable - thank you. Sorry to be beefy though, but here is our concern. The shade tents that are set up as “accessible areas” were often filled up with regular able-body folk. We had an awesome response from one couple in particular, that would pick up and offer to move to accommodate us - and this was awesome.

However on several occasions the accessible tents and the marked wheelchair areas were filled up with no one volunteering to make room for the wheelchair people. We were turned away from wheelchair areas twice and saw others re-directed elsewhere because the wheelchair areas were full of healthy people. Unfortunately we saw many people practicing the “If I don’t see you - I won’t have to move” averted stare, and worse the sideways comment that “wheelchair people shouldn’t be in the general audience anyways.” It is a kind of nasty attitude I see surfacing at times in this forum from those that write disparaging comments about those in scooters and wheelchairs. Hopefully in future fests, people can be a bit more accommodating of people that would oth-

erwise not be there if not for a more gentle experience. I don’t want to rain on an otherwise wonderful weekend. The music was fantastic, and most people were wonderful and enjoying the peaceful vibe of the weekend. Kudos to all the hardworking people that made it happen. Peace, and many more happy fests.

ANYBODY CAN MAKE a mistake. BC Hydro misjudged inflows and was forced to release water at high tides, causing Courtenay flooding a few years ago. A mostly unpredictable inflow event. Now we have a drought, predicted by CVRD consultants, in scientific studies. Surge water was released for the Puntledge Kayak festival, in May 2014, even though drought inflows existed for 8 months. Now we have a stage 2 domestic water crisis. We need a differ-ent approach to managing the Comox Valley water supply. BC Hydro seems to be out of touch with climate change.

HUGE BOUQUET - To the Mysterious Man at

Canadian Tire, Many Many thank yous for pay-ing my bill! What a sweet and genuine gesture, You can bet I will pay it forward. You have made my day, and many meals for me! Many Blessings!

WE WOULD LIKE to echo the opinion expressed recently about Creative Concrete as they have just completed a job for us of a side-walk around the side and back of our house. Darryl suggested we extend the walk at the end to make a cozy patio which turned out wonder-ful. The workers are fast and careful and com-pleted the job with very little disruption.

I HAVE JUST LEARNED that representatives from the teachers federation and the govern-ment have not met since the end of the school year and I must say I am very disappointed. Not only was the end of the last school year messed up, we can guess the beginning of next year is as well, as I am sure the strike will start up again the day class is supposed to start. But I guess July and August are paid “breaks” for both sides of the dispute. The only people los-ing out are the kids. It appears that the plan is “all about the kids” and how much of their education can be messed up. If given the class size and dynamics we hear so much about, but not the wage demands, would we see peace in September? I doubt it.

THIS WAS UNREAL .. on Tuesday we got to watch as a moron driving a dark green logging truck traveling in excess of the speed limit was swerving in an

d out of both lanes heading into Cumberland. We watched as he tailgated, passed people and cut others off just to gain one car length, then turned across oncoming traffic to go up Union road.. and your suppost to be a professsional driver you should lose your license. So after a well placed phone call to the D.O.T all you other truckers when your sitting on the side of the road losing time and money in the upcom-ing safety blitz on commercial vehicles you will know who to blame ... your buddy in the dark green logging truck.

More Beefs and Bouquets

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Beefs&Bouquets

The Comox Valley’s First and Best Readers’ Forum

This week’s winner, drawn at random from submissions received up to Tuesday, is:

Winners, you may pick up your prize certificates at the front desk of the Echo, 407-D Fifth Street, during regular business hours.

Thanks to everyone for the great submissions- keep ‘em coming!

This week’swinner Our weekly feature, Beefs and Bouquets,

is intended to be a light-hearted forum for you, our readers, to express brief views on issues and events in your lives.

It’s not intended to hurt people or make unsubstantiated and libelous comments.

Names won’t be published with the beefs and bouquets; however, we do need your full name, mailing address and tele-phone number for verification purposes.

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like to send a huge bouquet of thanks and appreciation to the very caring and helpful staff at Canadian Tire. I purchased a new kayak and didn’t have any help with me to load it onto my car. After Alson made a few calls I was told to take my car around to the loading dock and Keith the manager would be helping load it onto my car. Comng from Vancouver (where this would not happen), I was astonished that the store manager would take the time to make sure I was a satisfied customer and 20 minutes later I was on my way with my new kayak! This small gesture just reinforces to me why this valley is such an amazing place to live, still blows me away how friendly and helpful people are here. Looking forward to future opportuni-ties to send bouquets!!

OFTEN, MOSTLY WHILE enjoy-ing a cup of coffee at the CoffeeLoveBug coffee shop, I read your paper. You keep me up to date on what is happening in our commu-nity and I thank you for that. But, and sometimes there is a but, I came across an anonymous letter you pub-lished in your July 25th. Publication from what I assume is a reader who in his letter made a statement that is rather profound. A statement that I hear frequently but when repeated in a letter requires at least an explana-tion on where it is based on, or at least should be signed by the writer. I am writing here about the follow-ing statement: There is no God. As a philosopher when I see a statement like that my first reaction is, prove it to me. Most people respond to that with a circle reasoning by saying that I should prove that there is a God to them. I will not here remind your readers that even a man like Albert Einstein believed that there is a God or the physicist Stephen Hawking who declared that he can not deny that there is a possibility that a God exists because for me that is not enough as a response to the writer of that letter. Of course as a philosopher I have been confronted with this question, if there is a God or not, for a long time. As I agree with Albert Einstein that there is a God I figured that I should provide proof of why I believe that, therefore already a long time ago I set out to write an article called “Food for Thoughts” which would probably be too long to publish in your paper but can be accessed by your readers on my website www.endofchaos.ca under pages. Because dear readers, that is what we need to do when we make a profound statement like that, we have to provide proof (or at least make an honest effort trying to) and sign it with one’s name. With all due respect signed: Jacobus Bakker.

HUGE BOUQUET to Dr David McKenzie and Staff of the Comox Valley Animal Hospital on their kindness and support after losing my cat on July 28/14.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Ashleigh at Roots Salon. Every haircut I get from her is exactly what I ask for

and always styled perfectly. She is so easy to talk to and has such a won-derful personality and smile. Most importantly she is fantastic at what she does!

A BIG BIG BUNCH of flowers to the young couple at Stotan Falls. I was trying to swim in the big pool by the bridge. I was by myself (wrong). I lost my footing and was soon in trouble. The power of the river had me and pulled me into the rapids. Thank yhou to the young woman who was watching me. Thank you for taking the time to ask if I needed help. Again thank you for asking your young man to help me. And thanks you to the young man who fished me out of a bad situation. I really was afraid the river was going to sweep me away. This old fool was lucky the two of you were there. Thank you so much. Others, please don’t make my mistakes. The water is fast and strong. Signed, one grate-ful old woman.

FREE LOBOTOMY SURGERY for man who killed Campbell River hos-pital volunteer and assaulted St. Joseph’s hospital psych ward nurs-ing staff with a chair. Since he dis-likes taking meds, a lobotomy will solve that problem and ensure that no more innocent people are assault-ed and/or killed. If a lobotomy is good enough for Randall P. McMurphy, then it’s good enough for Mr. D.H. says I!

A BIG BEEF to the person or per-sons who is responsible for dumping their beer cans into my backyard. I do not appreciate finding these cans, especially the shape they were in. You might think that my backyard ends at the fence we have, but it doesn’t, it ends at the row of trees in the back. If you don’t believe me, may I suggest that you go and check with City Hall.

BEEF to whoever decides on our watering restrictions. They are some of the most draconian I’ve ever heard of and I’ve checked around some. FYI I’m not concerned about my lawn, in case you’re wondering. I’m just a single senior who has no sprinkler system and has many gar-den beds. Who decides these things anyhow???

A HUGE BOUQUET of doggie kisses to the organizers of the Filberg Festival. Volunteers from the “No Hot Dogs” campaign would like to thank you for using most of your ad in this paper to request that visitors to the Festival “Leave Fido At Home” and the reasons why. Educating the pub-lic is still necessary as some owners continue to leave their dogs in hot vehicles, endangering the health or possibly even the life of their pets. For more information about our group, check out our Facebook page “NO HOT DOGS CAMPAIGN”.

A BIG HUGE BOUQUET of roses

to the driver of the Comox Valley Connector bus who helped me on Wednesday July 16th when my son-

in-law’s truck broke down at Oyster River. I made it! Thank you so much.

MANY BOUQUETS of brightly coloured flowers to the Comox Valley Chamber, all of the sponsors and local businesses in Comox, Courtenay and Cumberland for hosting and participating in the Great Valley Rally! It was amazing to see so many people out running around the streets laughing and smiling while supporting so many local businesses. Our team will surely be back again next year maybe even in brighter shirts and surely to defend our ‘spir-it’ - thanks again, it was great!

THE CEO of Powerex, a BC Hydro subsidiary, made $1 million in pay and benefits last year. Would he be concerned about Comox Lake levels, or his pay check? Stage 2 and 3 water restrictions have little impact on Comox Lake water levels.

WE WERE DELIGHTED to have been asked to attend a wedding reception held at Yiamas Greek Taverna. They have always served us great food with superior service and this event was no exception. All of the guests, bride and groom said the food was amazing - and they were right. A very special ‘thank you’ to Hristos and his staff from a couple of Yiamas regulars. And if you have never tried Greek food or Yiamas: go! You will not be disappointed.

A BIG HUGE BEEF to the CITY OF COURTENAY or whomever (proba-bly owners), that are responsible for the upkeep of vacant lots in the city. There are a few that we see on our daily walks - one in particular is the empty Chinese takeout across from the Lewis Centre, there is even gar-bage thrown at the side of the build-ing & it’s up for sale! The other ones are the vacant lot next to this & the one downtown where the cinema used to be, also a vacant building & lot at the end of Puntledge Road, where the old Re-Store used to be. It seems to me that someone should be responsible for the general upkeep of these properties, when you have vis-itors coming here & also for the local people.

LAST SUNDAY a sleepy-eyed young (to me) man, his partner and two others were sitting next to my table at the Early Bird Cafe. We joked a bit and when my friend arrived, I claimed that they’d offered to buy us breakfast. At the end of our meal, imagine our surprise when the wait-ress gave us our bill saying he’d paid $20 of it when he paid his own bill. We’ll pay it forward and cherish the savory memories of shared laughter on a sunny Sunday morning. Thanks!

TO “SORRY THERE IS NO GOD”. Why are you sorry? If you’re right you should be jubilant! You say the highest parentage of atheists are col-lage graduates. Bully! Where do you get that statistic? Can you say, in the same breath, that the highest per-centage of college graduates are

THANKS IS SUCH a small word when one wishes to express tremen-dous gratitude to special people for their kindness! I am blessed by so many wonderful friends! Thank you to all the loving, caring doctors and nurses and incredible dedicated team at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The Comox Valley is very fortunate to have such a loving staff who go above and beyond! The food is all home cooked and yummy!! Thank you to my loving Comox Pentecostal Church family and my family and friends and my incred-ible son and daughter who were at my bedside every day! Thanks to all my wonderful Home Care angels! Thank you all for your prayers and best wish-es and loving support! I am blown away and can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate you all! A humun-gous bouquet of the most fragrant roses to you all!! God Bless, with all my love.

FLOWERS FOR LIFE to Hariette C. for being so brave and making a differ-ence. You are my hero. I’ve felt the same way as you at your age and though I’m pushing 70, I’ve never even been able to tell anyone. I hope you have a carefree and wonderful life. Also kudos to your family for being so understanding.

THREE CHEERS and high fives to Tayco Paving. My daughter-in-law and her three small girls broke down in a communication dead zone on the North Island Highway. Fortunately it was in the middle of a work zone and the paving crew, flaggers and first aid attendant came to their rescue. They helped her get her car into a safe spot, ensured they were all away from the vehicle in a safe spot, and were able to radio in a message that was passed on to me by phone. I was able to retrieve them in good spirits and safety. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You folks are simply the best!

FOR THE SECOND TIME since moving to the Comox Valley I would

atheists? Didn’t think so! Evolution doesn’t negate the existence of God; it’s just a theory. Even Darwin would tell you that. Religion was dropped from the public school curriculum because it was authoritarian, accord-ing to the hippies; just like cops and teachers. Big mistake that we’re now paying for. But hey, we had to be cool, eh?Writer, before you dismiss Christianity as nonsense you have to at least give God a shot. I recommend that you attend one of our services at Comox Community Baptist Church. You won’t find any imaginary friends there!

THANKS ANELA KAHIAMOE for contributing so much to our Valley, particularly for having such a positive influence on so many Valley young people.

MARTINE’S BISTRO should be congratulated for their current “Art Show” of works done by Cara Baird. The works are outstanding! If you enjoy art that makes you “think & discuss” over dinner, this is a must stop on your dining circuit this sum-mer. Also, I was just informed all proceeds from the “Art Sale’s” go directly to Street Smart Kidz House here in Comox Valley! Great food, atmosphere, protecting kids and won-derful “shake your head art” gave us a Outstanding Family Night Out! Thanks Marcus. Thanks Cara!

SUNNY DAYS and endless travels to Deb at Packables. I recently purchased a toiletries bag that unfortunately ripped soon into my trip. Shortly after returning I revisited Packables with my torn bag and she replaced it with no hassle. Thanks for that! It’s service like that which will have me return-ing.

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It will be music to the ears of residents of Comox Valley Seniors Village and Casa Loma.

The two neighbouring facilities in Courtenay are to host a series of professional music concerts to entertain residents over the next 12 months.

The program could well include opera singers, classical quartets and professional pianists visiting the Valley as part of a wider Concerts in Care initiative run by a Vancouver-based organization called the Health Arts Society.

This week the company that owns and runs the two Comox Valley facilities on its ‘campus of care’, Retirement Concepts, announced a $75,000 sponsorship with the society to stage around 160 high-calibre concerts featuring paid performers at its 20 homes across BC.

When the final program has been drawn up, it is expected between six and ten of the concerts will be in Courtenay, starting in the early fall.

They events will complement existing programs, including perfor-mances by talented local artists, which will continue at Comox Valley Seniors Village and Casa Loma as before.

Health Arts Society is a non-profit group that was founded by David Lemon eight years ago and which has since arranged about 6,000 con-certs for audiences of BC seniors in residential care.

“This is all about providing good music to people who can’t get out,” says Lemon. Welcoming Retirement Concepts’ major sponsorship he adds: “They are embracing a social responsibility to enhance the experi-ence of our elders.”

The general manager of Comox Valley Seniors Village and Casa Loma, Blake Mooney, says he is

Sponsorship will be music to the ears of residents in careenthused by the initiative, which the company is branding as ‘Music that is so nice to come home to.’

“A lot of our residents wouldn’t be able to get out to a professional con-cert at the Sid Williams Theatre, but this program will bring talent here,” he explains.

“We want to make these concerts very special events that the family and friends of our residents can enjoy

too, and we plan to showcase other things as well - such as the opportu-nity to sample first-class cuisine from our new executive chef.”

But music will be at the heart of the initiative. “We expect to be offering a classical repertoire with incredible variety,” says Mooney. “Not as a ther-apy, but for pure enjoyment.”

- with a file from the Vancouver Sun.

This trio of staff at Comox Valley Seniors Village and Casa Loma are getting ready to host a series of professional ‘Concerts in Care’ over the next 12 months. Pictured are marketing manager Leah Hryko (at the keyboard) with recreation coordinator Cherie Baekkelund and general manager Blake Mooney.

The renewal of sections of paving to improve the road surface along a busy part of Fitzgerald Avenue in Courtenay is set to be carried out next Wednesday and Thursday (August 6 and 7)

The work, between 21st and 26th Streets, will happen if the weather is good - if not, it will start the next fine day.

During construction, the City is warning that Fitzgerald Avenue will be subject to intermittent lane closures and single-lane alternating traffic from 6 a.m-7 p.m.

Commuters are advised to consider alternative routes, but every effort will be made to maintain vehicle access to local homes - although there may be temporary restric-tions. Bus stops will remain in use, and sidewalks will

be kept open for pedestrians. However, parking will be restricted, and any vehicles

left parked on the avenue in the construction zone will be towed.

City crews will assist with garbage pick-up for resi-dents in the work zone on Wednesday if curbside pick-up occurs during the scheduled construction time.

The City is apologizing in advance for any inconve-nience caused by the works, including from the inevita-ble noise from equipment being used, such as that for grinding down the old pavement.

For further information, contact the municipality’s Public Works Department at 250-338-1525.

Disruption on Fitzgerald Avenue next week

Advisory Planning Commission born in Cumberland


Do you know a political news junkie? Do you care about what goes on in your community and want to make a difference? Is your community Cumberland?

If you answered yes to all those questions Village staff want to hear from you as they start to look for volunteers for the newly authorized Advisory Planning Commission, a formal body meant to help council create laws that are in tune with the wishes of residents.

At its July 28 regularly scheduled meeting Cumberland council passed a motion to approve fourth and final reading of the Advisory Planning Commission Bylaw, which will lead to the creation of a committed group of citizens to whom them can refer a variety of issues for consideration.

Coun. Roger Kishi said he was excited to see the bylaw pass.

“One of the big platforms that I ran on in 2011 was community engagement,” he said. “This is a more formal avenue to do that.”

Commission members will be appointed by council to four-year terms. There are no term limits.

Advisory Planning Commissions offer ordinary citizens opportuni-ties to participate in the democratic process, from consulting on poten-tial bylaws to dealing with any other issues referred by council.

In the case of the Comox Valley Regional District’s Area C, APC members raised issues with visual impact and safety of a proposed telecommunications tower.

Cumberland’s APC meetings will be open to the public, who can also make requests to be heard as dele-gations.

The draft Official Community Plan has already been altered so the ACP will fit nicely with the broader vision for the community, accord-ing to staff.

“It’s a much more formal process than just taking things to a Village Hall meeting,” Kishi said. “We’ll see how the process works.”

The APC could get up and run-ning by the fall, although substan-tive work likely won’t begin until after the November municipal elec-tions.

Beth Campbell Duke, The Career Tutor, will be reading from her recently published book, ‘Future-Proof Careers: Expert Advice To Help You Guide Your Young Adult Towards Life/Work Success’ on August 7 at 6:30 pm at the Cumberland Branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library.

The talk will also focus on the 5 career questions we all need to answer in order to move towards life/work success (and the one career question we need to ditch!).

Future-Proof Careers is available through Amazon in either paper-back or ebook formats, and print copies will be available during the evening’s presentation. Beth Campbell Duke teaches young adults how to source great work opportunities that are best suited for the strengths and skills they have today.

Citizens to get a bigger say in local government matters

AUTHOR READING AT LIBRARY

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Double Play is your band for tonight’s Evergreen Friday Night Dance.

This popular Nanaimo duo will be playing your favorite dance tunes from 7:30 ‘till 10:30 at the down-town Filberg Centre. Members and non-members are welcome.

Come out and join your friends for a great Friday evening of danc-ing.

The Merville Grand Mothers are once again asking the community to donate new fabrics, yarns, knitting wool, notions and accessories of all descriptions in preparation for their 2nd Annual Fabulous Fabric Sale.

This event was very popular last year and raised over $4000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s African Grandmothers Campaign.

This year’s sale will take place on November 1 at St George’s Church, downtown Courtenay. Fabric arti-sans take note.

Donations can be dropped off at the Potters Place,180 5th St., Courtenay between 10 am - 5 pm, Monday to Friday.

The MGMs will also pick up donations from your home. Call Judy 337-5332 or Sally 337-8328.

4R’s Education Centre (Soc.) and the VIBC business group are joining together to host a Book/Garage Sale and BBQ Fundraiser for 4R’s on Saturday, 16th August from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

In addition, VIBC members have donated a basket full of wonderful items (value $250) to be raffled off for 4R’s. Tickets ($2 ea. or 3/$5) are available now from group members or from the 4R’s office and at the event. Prize to be drawn right after the sale.

How about a bagful of good read-ing, a snack, then a treasure hunt for some fabulous items on the garage sale table? A good selection of fiction and non-fiction ensures that all ages will have plenty to choose from.

In case you’re hungry, 4R’s will be serving hotdogs and pop with all proceeds going straight back into the Society.

This is a great opportunity to sup-port a worthwhile local organiza-tion. The place to be on Sat. 16th Aug. 2014 is 581 McPhee Ave.

For more information and an opportunity to donate good quality items, call 4Rs at 250-338-4890.

Basically Brooks, Canada’s Garth Brooks Tribute, is at the Courtenay Legion Upper Hall Friday, Aug. 1, 7:30 pm. Tickets $15.00 at the legion lounge Or call Marj 250-335 -0656. Amazing after show Dance Party set.

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By Adrian Chamberlain Special to the Echo

After three decades of excelling in jazz, saxophonist Phil Dwyer just wants to give back to the little guy.

So he’s exchanging his saxophone for a barrister’s robes.

In September, the 48-year-old Qualicum Beach musician starts law school at the University of New Brunswick. Before moving with his wife to Fredericton, Dwyer will play a trio of farewell concerts, including the final one this weekend at the Filberg Festival.

“I felt like I really needed a chal-lenge. And I felt I was at the stage in my life where I could probably still have the mental energy and the capacity to take [law school] on,” he said.

Dwyer won’t abandon music. However, gigs will go on the back burner for now. After becoming a lawyer he hopes to help the under-dog, perhaps those grappling with mental health problems or people of aboriginal descent.

“I’ve had my own experiences with the mental health system,” added the musician, who, in 2001,

was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and subsequently overcame drug and alcohol problems.

The Juno-award-winning Dwyer is a big deal in Canada’s jazz scene. A largely self-taught prodigy, he was playing professionally in Vancouver at 16. He’s played with such greats as Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Kenny Wheeler and Aretha Franklin. Recently, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribu-tions to jazz as a performer, produc-er, composer and educator.

Dwyer scored top marks when he wrote the LSAT. However, his appli-cations to Canadian law schools met with a slew of rejections.

It was because he’d never fur-thered his formal education beyond high school. Once his music career took off, Dwyer never bothered with college.

He was originally rejected by the University of New Brunswick’s law school. Then Dwyer persuaded the administration to review his applica-tion.

“I don’t know if I begged. But I pleaded,” he said with a laugh.

(Continued on page B2)Phil Dwyer says after 30 years as a self-employed musician, the steady paycheque he hopes to one day make from the law will be a welcome change.

Musician trading saxophone for law booksLast chance to see Canadian jazz great this weekend at the Filberg Festival


Royal Wood can’t wait to cross the Strait of Georgia on his way to play the Filberg Festival in Comox. As an award-winning artist he can’t help but be awed by the creative energy present on the shores of Vancouver Island.

“There’s an every there that’s dif-ferent than anything else in Canada,” he said, admitting he’s played the West Coast more times than he can remember since he became a profes-sional musician in 2007. “Going to the Island is the best ferry ride - any-where.”

He reflects on the Left Coast maj-esty after leaving the cell phone reception destroying elevator walls of his Liberty Village condo in downtown Toronto. From there he can see an emerging forest of sky-scrapers housing young urbanites and businessmen and women.

While his location is convenient for making strides in the music busi-ness, he’s much more comfortable away from the hustle and bustle.

“I know I have to be in a rural setting to create something,” he said. “To truly capture something I need the quiet and still.”

That’s not to say the multi-Juno nominated artist doesn’t appreciate the urban essence. After all, he’s moved around to dip his toes into the pulse of cities like Dublin and Paris.

But when it came time to gather the pieces for his latest oeuvre, he chose a cottage in the middle of a farmer’s field outside the Village of Slane in Ireland.

Wood had been riding a wave of critical success from his last album, We Were Born to Glory. Wood was pleased with the results, but felt like

he needed to dig deeper to hit the emotional truth necessary to pass along something even more power-ful to listeners.

He wrote forty songs and whittled that down to 28, which he recorded. From that he released just 12 in a record called The Burning Bright.

“Not everything deserves to be heard,” he said. “Just because you made it doesn’t mean it’s great.”

The real struggle for Wood was to somehow break through the layers of artifice to uncover the essence he was seeking.

“You just kind of have a feeling when it comes,” he said. “It registers and it resonates.”

Finding creative space is as important as being with the right partner or escaping the wrong job.

The experiment with vulnerability has already paid off in the form of a Top 40 success for lead single “Forever and Ever.”

While Wood certainly knows what it’s like to angle for chart suc-cess, this song, he says, was more about tapping into a very powerful well of sensation.

“It just felt genuine,” he said. “That song was very much a big grandiose experiment. It was more a call for something.”

The song is filled with the anthe-mic feeling of running away with someone by your side.

“That’s a feeling all of us have felt,” he said. “That was just a feel-ing I was desiring to have again.”

Wood has played the part of trou-badour since his earliest days.

“I didn’t grab a hockey stick like my brothers,” he said. “I just wanted to be in my room playing music and if I wasn’t doing that I was draw-ing.”

(Continued on page B2)

Real depth propels Royal Wood on new album, Island trip

Toronto singer-songwriter Royal Wood plays the Filberg Festival this weekend.

B2 Comox Valley Echo Friday, August 1, 2014

What’s On

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take on the evil Wicked Witch. Catch the season 3 finale of this hit adventure show airing Sunday, May 11, on ABC and CTV.

May 9 - 15, 2014

Wicked magic

Robert Carlyle stars in “Once Upon a Time”

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(Continued from page B1)

It seems the university took Dwyer’s top-flight music resumé more seriously the second time. His record of accomplishments as a self-starter includes co-founding a saxophone company, Sea Wind Musical Instruments, and winning Juno awards in 1994 and 2012. H

e’s also an educator, having run a band camp - the Phil Dwyer Academy of Music and Culinary Arts - at Qualicum Beach for nine seasons.

It may seem a leap to go from music to law. Yet Dwyer says there’s more overlap than one might think. Becoming a jazzman means learning about the music’s history, which isn’t so different from studying law. Both fields require precision in think-ing and the ability to assimilate

information quickly.As well, Dwyer has always had a

strong interest in politics and social justice issues.

“It’s kind of a natural progres-sion,” he said.

He comes from a family of law-yers. Dwyer’s sister is a Vancouver-based lawyer specializing in First Nations issues. Two cousins - one in Australia and one in Scotland - recently retired from law careers. Another cousin just graduated from law studies at the University of British Columbia.

When he was 17, Dwyer received a Canada Council grant to study music with leading New York musi-cians. Around this time, he was introduced to drugs. In 2012, Dwyer told the Ottawa Citizen he abused drugs and alcohol from 1983 until

2008, when he finally kicked his bad habits.

Today, Dwyer admits he used to self-medicate to cope with mental health problems. Once he under-stood this, he was able to recover.

“None of what I’m doing now would be remotely possible if I hadn’t been able to deal with those issues,” he said.

As well as giving back as a lawyer, Dwyer hopes his new career will offer the kind of steady paycheque most musicians can only dream of.

“Definitely, after 30 years of being a self-employed jazz musician, any measure of financial security would be welcome.”

Note: The Phil Dwyer Trio plays the Filberg Festival on Aug. 2.

- Victoria Times Colonist

(Continued from page B1)

In many ways he’s the same man today, having learned an array of skills, including the ability to play guitar, bass guitar, drums, clarinet. Meanwhile the music business has changed fundamentally since then.

In the past musicians would turn up their nose at licensing songs for television, and album sales have seemingly disappeared as a revenue stream.

Wood notes it was the placement of his music on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice that has propelled his career internation-ally.

He’s inspired by artists like South African Gregory Allen Isakov and Brit David Gray. At the same time he loves Canadian artists like Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett.

Royal Wood is performing at this year’s Filberg Festival from 1-2 p.m. at the Comox Rotary Stage Aug. 2. He will be preceded by 2014 Juno nominee Phil Dwyer and followed by the Lion, the Bear, the Fox and then another Juno nominee David Gogo. Some of the other acts appear-ing throughout the weekend include Eric Harper, Brodie Dawson, the Contraband Swing Club and Sue Medley and the Back Road Band during the Aug. 1-4 festivities. An

impressive display of artisans and food will also be on display at the Filberg Park grounds. A festival pass costs $40. Daily admission is $15 for adults and free from children 12 and under.

The Filberg Festival is just one of many intriguing activities taking place in Comox the weekend. As part of Nautical Days the Victor Simonson Dragon Boat Races will be held.

A Festival of Lights Fireworks Extravaganza will take place Moday Aug. 4 at 10:15 p.m. And the com-petitive Fish Toss will be also be part of the fun, among many other events.

Dwyer farewell concert at Filberg

Royal Wood returns to the Island

Local guitarist and comedian Todd Butler will be in concert August 5th at the Mex Pub as featured guest of the 1st Tuesday Fundraiser Concert Series.

This is sure to be an entertaining evening with great music, laughs, and door prizes donated by Rattan Plus Home & Patio, fine artist Sue Pyper, and supporting musicians.

Admission for the show is by cash or food donation in support of the Comox Valley Food Bank Society.

A professional comedian, Todd is a well-known contributor to CBC Radio and television as guest host of “Madly Off in All Directions” and skilled provocateur on “The Debaters”.

A well-seasoned mix of sharp wit and amazing musicality, Todd deliv-ers a compelling performance of “picking and grinning”, combining his satirical views on politicians, current affairs, and global headlines with blistering guitar work.

Not only is he a funny guy, but he can also write thoughtful, intelligent songs for thinking people.

Mike Sadava of Penguin Eggs writes, “... The notes come out faster than the one-liners at a comedy club. And he can write a pretty mov-ing song, whether it’s about getting

back home to his Alberta rural roots (Home) or the craziness that’s con-suming America in A Fine Line.”

As a musician, Todd has award

winning songs and albums to his credit including his 2006 release Idle Canadian, instrumental Dobro and Guitar (with Doug Cox) in 2003

which made the top 10 list in Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and Hamburger Soup.

He has performed at the Montreal

International Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Comedy Festival on CBC TV, Vancouver Comedy Festival and the Calgary Folk Festival, to name a few.

Admission for the show is either a cash or food donation in support of the Comox Valley Food Bank Society, a local charity that has been serving the less fortunate members of the community since 1983.

While all food donations are great-ly appreciated, cash donations allow the food bank to purchase bulk quantities of food that ensure that the food hampers distributed provide a consistent variety of nutritional foods.

Each month, food bank volunteers collect, assemble and distribute an average of 667 food hampers each month. Each household receives one hamper per month which provides a 5 day supply of nutritionally bal-anced food. Of the 1200 people who receive this food each month, one third are children.

The music starts at 7:30 pm with an opening set by event organizers and hosts Judy and Bruce Wing who will be joined by violinist Blaine Dunaway, Todd Butler to follow.

You can get a preview of Butler’s antics at www.toddbutler.com

Satirist Todd Butler performs benefit concert for Food Bank

Todd Butler is one heck of a guitar player, as well as a comedian. He performs Aug. 5 at The Mex.

MCM performs Saturday, August 9, at The Waverley Hotel, Cumberland. MCM joins us to warm up for Atmosphere! $12 advance tickets available at Bop City, the Waverley Hotel or by phone (250) 336-8322. Order online at www.cumberland-villageworks.comDoors at 9:30pm. MCM (Multi-Coloured Mischief) originated on Denman Island. The band has jumped ship and are ready to take the next step into the music scene. Bursting with energy and a need to ROCK, MCM’s dynamic style and high energy music will leave you wanting more. MCM has shared stages with the

likes of The Cat Empire, Daniel Wesley, The Wilderness Crew, Aaron Nazrul and the Boom Booms among many others. The band’s undeniable musical connec-tion, due to a long history of friendship, and family-like love and support shine’s through their performances. On the road to ‘Atmosphere Gathering’ (the Comox Valley’s most innovative new summer outdoor event) MCM will be showcasing their latest original repertoire. These guys always drive the Waverley dance floor very hard some, so don’t miss out!https://www.facebook.com/musicbymcm

MCM driving the dance floor at The Wave

Wax Mannequin with Corwin Fox appears Friday, August 8, at The Waverley Hotel in Cumberland.

Wax Mannequin continues indefinitely to bring his time-less brand of strange folk and absurdist pop music to the far reaches of the western world.

$10 coverDoors at 9:00 pm Strange-folk phenomenon

Wax Mannequin is well-trav-elled. He has crossed a wide range of terrain - both sonic and physical - this decade past.

Through his catalogue of secretly renowned recordings and his riotous live perfor-mances at countless venues and festivals, Wax continues to bring his essential voice and vision to both sides of the Atlantic.

His legend grows through word-of-mouth as his music is passed from hand-to-hand - his influence trickles down from the minds of wayward kindred souls, insidiously seeping into the poetic heart of this country.

Wax Mannequin has recently released his sixth record ‘No Safe Home’, and has once again abandoned the trappings of his newly domesticated life in favour of wayward travel.

In this hauntingly spacious, sparsely produced acoustic record, Wax uses his raspy and road-broken guitar to provide a thoughtful glimpse into the psyche of our age, or at least into his own paranoid yet endearingly self-aware inter-pretation of our place and time.

While his personal idiosyn-crasies, lyrical depth and oth-er-worldly melodic sensibilities have kept Wax Mannequin safely out of mass-appeal, they also make him impossible to dismiss or forget.

With a name that is whis-pered with bewilderment and reverence in art galleries,

Strange-folk phenomenon Wax Mannequinjoins forces with Corwin Fox at The Wave

garages and rock pubs throughout Canada and Europe, Wax Mannequin continues indefinitely to bring his timeless brand of strange folk and absurdist pop music to the far reaches of the western world.

Corwin Fox is a Canadian song-writer, producer and multi-instru-mentalist who has been hailed as “a shining light in Canadian roots music” by Doug Cox (artistic direc-tor, Vancouver Island Music Festival).

Known as much for his studio expertise as his live show, Corwin has toured extensively across Canada, the U.S. and Australia per-

forming his songs on banjo, guitar and ukelele.

He has played venues and festi-vals large and small, some by him-self, some with his band Morlove, and some with such luminaries as Fred Penner, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long, Alex Cuba, Kim Barlow and Raghu Lokanathan.

Corwin continues to write, record and tour, although the bulk of his time is now gladly spent in his studio and hanging out with his kids.

http://waxmannequin.com/http://www.corwinfoxmusic.

com/

Wax Mannequin

282 Anderton Road, Comox(e) [email protected] 250-897-9189 (c)

250-339-2021 (o)

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What’s OnComox Valley Echo Friday, August 1, 2014 B3

“Check out the Filberg Festival and Nautical Days

happening this weekend in Comox, lots of fun

things to see and do!”

The 501st Legion’s Outer Rim Squad will be donning their excep-tional Star Wars costumes and vol-unteering at InCON - the Comox Valley’s Family Gaming Convention.

Organizer Courtney Pozzolo of Undiscovered Photography was thrilled to be contacted by a local member of the Outer Rim Squad who offered to be a part of the con-vention.

The 501st Legion is an all-volun-teer group of Star Wars enthusiasts who bring their unique level of enthusiasm to children and adults all over the world through appear-ances at many charity and commu-nity events.

“This seemed like a natural fit to our convention,” states Alex Greenwood of Games and Grounds Coffee House - the other local busi-ness teaming up to bring the con-vention to town.

“For our first year we actually have tons of different gaming and related genre activities and interests offered - from tournaments to ‘trin-

kets’ to buy. We are family friendly which was really important to all of us, and we wanted to provide as much to attendees as we felt we could for a quality experience. The fact that we have the Outer Rim Squad volunteering is really excit-ing!”

The 501st will have an informa-tion table where attendees can ask questions and find out more about

this exciting group of ‘Bad Guys doing Good’.

They will also be offering a free raffle for prizes that they have donated, and at Undiscovered Photography’s photo booth there will be an opportunity for people to have an official picture taken by donation, in front of the Millennium Falcon with the Outer Rim Squad themselves - with proceeds going to

YANA. YANA is a local non-profit that

provides accommodation and direct funding to Comox Valley families and pregnant mothers who need to travel for medical care for their child.

In addition, the Outer Rim Squad will volunteer for an hour at the Kids’ Fair part of the convention, held outdoors from 10am - 5pm.

There will be carnival-like games, a craft table and coloring. The 501st will also feature a Star Wars themed bean bag toss.

A donation jar for YANA will be on-site, along with a fun donation coin drop ‘tank’ with a prize for those who get their coin in the shot glass in the bottom.

InCON will be held on August 9th from 10am - 6pm, with activities at the lower Florence Filberg Centre, across the street at Riverside Park and at Games and Grounds Coffee House.

You can preregister and pay a reduced fee for the convention on-line at www.inconcv.com or at Games and Grounds Coffee House at #4, 239 Puntledge Road in Courtenay, or pay the ‘at the door’ fee the day of the convention at either venue.

Tournament fees are above the cost of convention passes. For more information contact [email protected] or call 250-871-1171.

‘Bad Guys doing Good’ at local family gaming convention

Ride into a greener future with Royal LePage; promot-ing exercise and a healthier living, while raising money for a stronger safer community.

Because we are committed to strengthening our com-munity, Royal LePage in the Comox Valley is a proud supporter of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women shelters and violence prevention pro-gram. All funds raised in the Valley stay in the Valley.

If you ride a bike a little or a lot we’d love to have you join us September 7, 2014 for the first ever Royal LePage Petite Fondo-Ride for the Shelter Foundation.

There are 3 options: Family ride, 35 easy Ks and a 75 K ride with a few challenges.

Your day will start with a coffee and treat prior to

your ride, then at the 2 rest stops there will be wine tasting at The Beaufort and Blue Moon Wineries and a post ride BBQ.

Registration will be at 8:00 am with the 75 K group heading out at 9:00 and the 35 K group leaving at 10:00 am.

You can pre-register online at www.rlpcomoxvalleyl-epetitefondorideforshelter.ca or drop into the Royal LePage office at 121-750 Comox Road in Courtenay, the cost is only $50.00.

This is a great opportunity to help out the Shelter Foundation, get some exercise and try some fantastic wines.

For more details contact Rob Nygren [email protected]

Royal LePage Realtors are training for the Royal LePage Petite Fondo - Ride for the Shelter Foundation September 7, 2014.

Royal LePage Petite Fondo helps women shelters

By Pat Carl

“You can’t discount the support that Rainbow Youth Theatre receives from the government,” according to Rosie Smith, RYT Board Treasurer and the producer of this summer’s “How To Eat Like a Child,” “but it’s the volunteers who are so necessary in making the three productions we stage every year viable.”

New to the volunteer troops for “How To Eat Like a Child” is the position of Volunteer Coordinator, aptly filled by Heather Rapin, who also is an RYT Board member. With binder in hand, Rapin enlists and organizes, tasks and reminds parent volunteers of their commit-ments. “The producers of past shows were asked to do so much that they became overwhelmed,”

says Rapin. “By simply removing volunteer

contact from the producer to-do lists, the youth production is far more organized and the producer less frustrated. I try to balance responsibilities among all volun-teers so that tasks are more evenly distributed and all the parents can support their children’s theatre experience.”

One long-time volunteer is Lisa Grant, an RYT Board member, and backstage properties guru for the youth production. “What I like about working props is that you

have to be creative and you have to learn how to recycle objects from one play to the next. And you have to work with other property manag-ers at other Valley theatres. Like this scene board right here. I bor-rowed that from Courtenay Little Theatre.”

Also making important contribu-tions to the production are Anne and Tom Clarkson, well-known Valley theatre supporters and partic-ipants on-stage, front-of-house, and - in the case of “How To Eat Like a Child” - back-stage as painter and set designer.

“This is my first time being the lead set designer for a play” claims Tom, “and I’m glad “How To Eat Like a Child” has a relatively simple set.”

Anne adds, “We even produced all the posters and t-shirts for the play right in our own garage.”

Tom adds with a impish grin, “We have our own screen printer.”

It’s volunteers like these that make

it possible for the area’s children to experience the magic of theatre.

Ten dollar tickets for the August 7-10 “How To Eat Like a Child’ are available at Laughing Oyster Bookstore in Courtenay, Red Carpet Consignment in Comox, at Mark Isfeld school from noon to 4:00 Monday through Friday and up to one hour prior to each show.

Volunteers carry a big load at Rainbow Youth Theatre

Volunteers with one of the set pieces and a couple of props. From left to right are Lisa Grant, Tom Clarkson, Anne Clarkson, Rosie Smith, and Heather Rapin.


Sports and Recreation

Transit Info 250·339·5453 • www.bctransit.com

4119

_3

Comox Valley Transit

BC Day Special Effective August 4, 2014

Ride for $1.00 on BC Day to the Nautical Days celebrations.Visit www.bctransit.com and click on Comox Valley

for schedules and maps, including route changes

due to the parade.

Volleyball players enjoyed their time at summer canp and improved their skills

Youth volleyball camp a smash hitComox Valley Volleyball Camp was a

SMASH this year.“It was a great week with an awesome

group of athletes who pushed themselves, improved their skills and team play, and had a lot of fun,” said camp co-ordinator and coach Brian Stevens.

The athletes in the Youth session of the camp, ages 11-14, always show the quickest and most gains in the week long camp - and this time was no different. These athletes were all keen, coachable, and ready to try new techniques. Smiling and working hard were definitely themes of this group for the week. By the end of the camp these athletes were playing solid volleyball and under-standing the game at a higher level.

It was nice to see a solid turn-out of ath-letes for the Elite/Older (15-17) camp this summer. With this group we were able to really break down the game play and skills, and have the athletes ‘tweak’ parts of their game to help them excel. The athletes were also able to work on specific positional play.

A strong focus on core, strength, and flex-ibility training were additional elements of

this group with a mini workout starting each session.

Due to our amazing weather, both the Youth and Elite/Older sessions had the opportunity to practice their outdoor volley-ball game on our two grass courts. The outdoor game is a great way to work on an athlete’s all round skill set. The athletes really enjoyed going outside and playing on the outdoor courts - a little variety from the indoor game is great.

Stevens said his two coaches truly did an amazing job at the camp. Michaela Roelants, going into her second year at VIU and earn-ing rookie of the year honours, is a passion-ate, energetic young lady and a great coach in training.

To show her commitment and love of the game of volleyball, the first day of camp Mickey was rushing back from a doubles tournament on Salt Spring Island where she earned first place. She got off the bus in Courtenay and came right to the camp - a true champion!

Angus Ireland, going into his third year at Douglas College and placing fifth at

Nationals this past year, is a very talented volleyball player with a lot of knowledge and experience. Angus set for many years but also played libero (defensive specialist) on his team - this demonstrates his elite skill level and ability to learn and understand the game at a very high level. Angus explains the game very succinctly and was great with the campers.

“Both Angus and Mickey attended the Comox Valley Volleyball Camp in previous years. It is always great to see local athletes excelling at the sport they love and now giving their knowledge and experiences back to the young volleyball players in the Comox Valley.”

The water balloon toss on the last day for each session was quite the hit. On such a hot day and after working hard at the camp, the athletes, parents, and of course the coaches, all had huge smiles on their faces.

A special thanks to Old Victoria Water Company for donating water to the camp and keeping the campers and coaches hydrated during such a great week - you guys rock!

Comox Valley Men’s Slo-Pitch LeagueStandings August 1

TEAMSeeco SlammersMadman McKay JaysSolo La PuntitaSmokin’ WoodysWatson & Ash GrabbersGriffin Ball BustersSteamersWest Coast GrindersMisfitsCoco Locos

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Mixed season ends, Men’s League starts. Seeco Slammers got off to a 2-0 start blasting the Coco Loco’s

28-13 and in a good defensive game that took only 45 minutes to play took down the Steamers 7-3.

Madman Mckay Jays won handily 21-3 over the Misfits and beat the West Coast Grinders 19-12.

Solo La Puntita edged the Griffin Ball Busters 8-6 & crushed the Misfits 19-2. Watson & Ash Grabbers played to a 13-13 draw with the Smokin’ Woodys & the Woodys defeated the Loco’s 18-11.

The Mixed Slopitch playoffs were played this past weekend down at Lewis Park. It was a double knockout format.

In Tier 1 only 3 teams participated & the Sunlife Slammers won over Ramrod.

Tier 2 VIIC Vikings took the playoffs over the surprising Calm Batters.

Tier 3 went to an if necessary game with the Griffin Ball Busters knocking off Komox Grind twice taking the Tier 3 play-off crown.

Tier 4 had Weavers Leather EZ Ryders going unbeaten as they knocked off the Pacers to win Tier 4 Playoffs.

Men’s Slo-Pitchleague under way

For those that have not been throwing their darts for a month or two, the Comox Legion’s Annual Ham and Pineapple tour-nament is fast approach-ing (even faster for some of us older folk).

The event takes place on Saturday August 9th. The entry fee is $5.00 per player.

It is a mixed doubles event, so bring your own partner where possible (there maybe a few look-ing for a partner, so con-tact the convener*).

Hams and pineapples go to first, second and third place, with the 1 and 2 spot getting addi-tional prizes.

There will be prizes for the guy and gal in the best Hawaiian type dress, there has been some dan-dies, so expect a fun shoot.

Light lunch will be available, toe line is 11 am.

So come get the dust off your feathers for the up coming season.

Shoot dartsfor hams,pineapples

Comox Valley Blazing Paddles Dragon Boat Team and the Comox Valley Head Injury Society, pictured above, wish to say Thank You to: The Comox Legion Branch 160, Comox Quality Foods, and the Comox Valley Regional District for supporting the Annual

Luncheon held 12 June 2014 in celebration of the Head Injury’s participation in Dragon Boating. The Head Injury Society dragon boat weekly during the spring, summer and early fall months with Blazing Paddles.

Head Injury Society enjoys dragon boat luncheon

Strathcona Nordicspicked for training

Strathcona Nordics racers Alec Stapff and Avalon Wasteneys finished a successful winter 2014 season with two additional gains.

Eighteen-year-old Stapff was accepted to the Winsport Training Academy in Canmore, BC. Sixteen-year-old Wasteneys finished second in Canada for the Junior Girls category and was named to the National Talent Squad.

Wasteneys was selected by Cross Country Canada as a top junior for the National Talent Squad program for 16- and 17-year-olds and offered extra training at National Development Centres to help prepare her for elite racing.

Wasteneys also continues to train 11 months of the year with her regional team, the Strathcona Nordics Junior Racers.

Stapff joins the Winsport Training Academy in Canmore, BC as he prepares to train and compete in 2015 at the elite Junior Mens level. Stapff, who will continue to call the Strathcona Nordics his home club, leaves his regional team to join the new team in Canmore.

At eighteen, Stapff has been racing and training on Mount Washington for more than 6 years. Moving to the training academy, where he’ll also be pursuing post-secondary studies, means Stapff has additional costs in his pursuit of excellence at the elite level.

Stapff has prepared a sponsorship package, which offers benefits to local businesses and individuals. For more details, contact Stapff at [email protected].

Both Wasteneys and Stapff are saddened by the recent loss of their beloved ski coach Dave Battison. As they move forward in their racing careers, they take with them many skills and lessons learned during the thousands of hours they spent training with Battison.

Stapff says, “Dave was an inspiration, not only to his peers and athletes but to his friends. He coached the highest level of elite athletes right down to kids of the youngest age. He will be missed all across the Island, as well as Canada and even the world. He touched so many lives and changed people for the better.”

To learn more about the Strathcona Nordic Ski Club, visit the website StrathconaNordics.com

The AGM for North Island Field Lacrosse Association is Wednesday August 6 at Salmon Point Pub at 7pm.

We cannot continue without adult volunteers. All executive positions are up for re-election.

We are also looking for coaches, managers and offi-cials. Please find the time to help out our North Island players.

It’s a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people and give back to the community.

FIELD LACROSSE AGM WEDNESDAY

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Sports and RecreationComox Valley Echo Friday, August 1, 2014 B5

No collection required. Great exercise!Call Comox Valley Echo • 250-334-4734or drop by 407-D 5th Street, Courtenay

COURTENAYRt. 8105 – 29th to 27th, Moray

Rt. 8106 – Anfield Centre (Walmart), Kilpatrick, Cliffe

COMOXRt. 1103 – Pritchard, Totem, Skeena, Orca

Rt. 1120 – Sandpines Area

Rt. 2129 – Sylvan, Parry, Aspen, Idiens

CROWN ISLERt. 3120 – Monarch, Royal

Rt. 3134 – Crown Isle Dr., Birkshire, Sussex

VALLEYVIEWRt. 3110 – Back Road, Glen Urquhart, 10th St. E.,

Hobson, 6th St. E., Aston

Rt. 3123 – Nechako, Chemainus, 5th St. E.,

Cowichan, 6th St. E.

Rt. 3132 – Inverclyde, Carstairs, Hebrides, Fife

Rt. 3135 – Hawk, Swallow, Whiskeyjack

Earn extra $$$$ for Earn extra $$$$ for all that fun stuff that all that fun stuff that mom won't buy!mom won't buy!

CARRIERS WANTED

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#1 public golf course on Vancouver Island as rated by the PGA of BC

New chef, New menu, restaurant open daily dawn to dusk

North IslandResident Rate

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Draw Prizes were given out from:Anna’s Hair Salon to Judy HughesBoston Pizza to Cora HawkinsFluids Bar & Grill to June FullerInvestors Group/Locals Restaurant

to Ardene LarisonJo Klassen’s to Louise Bustard and

Fran WrightMichaels Off Main to Erma

DerksonPanago Pizza to Monique WalkerQuality Foods-Comox to Deb

McMahonRoyston Roasting Co. to Mary

Lynn DoubininSunnydale Prize to Andrea

McInnesDonations/Glove to Maylene

Friesen.Thursday Night Ladies sign up at

5:00 pm, tee off at 5:30 pm Everyone welcome!

- Submitted by Mary Lynn Doubinin

Despite the heat, there were some good scores posted on Tuesday, July 29th from the Sunnydale Tuesday Ladies Club. Carolyn Walker, Lys McCrone & Joan Rallison all shot 91 with Carolyn winning on a count-back. Lois Westbrook and Sharon Littler both shot 93.

On the Net side, new member Monique Fawcett posted a 68, fol-lowed by Rona Lawson with a 73 and Frances Shaw and Trisha Harris with 74.

Frances Shaw and Betty Lund recorded 27 for the lowest # of putts. Longest putt on #9 was won by Magge Miller.

KP’s were won by Doris Squire (#15), Lys McCrone (2nd shot on #5 0-24 Hcp), Charlene Cebryk (25+ Hcp on 2nd shot #5), and 2nd Shot #17 over 25 Hcp was Sally Sloat. Trish Harris won the Rob Speer Pro Shop KP on #10.

Both Sally Sloat and Charlene Cebryk had a birdie.

We are very pleased with the response for the 52nd Annual Ladies Tillicum. There is still time to enter the 2 Person Best Ball which will be held Saturday, August 9th. Call the Pro Shop at 250-334-3232 for more information.

Saturday July 26th 95 players played the blue/white tees at Glacier Greens and had good weather and good scores. The results were as follows:

HCP 0-121st Low Gross Terran Berger 69,

2nd Doug McArthur 71, 3rd Jim Livingstone 73,

1st Low Net Clint Perry 66 c/b, 2nd Burt Graham 66, 3rd Willie Oliver 67.

Snips Hole #1 Terran Berger, #3 Doug McArthur, #5 Kevin Hunt, #13 Andy Blair, #16 Mike Berger, #18 Chuck Brown

HCP 13-191st Low Gross Lyle Torrie 82 c/b,

2nd Pat Renaud 82, 3rd Wally Berger 84 c/b

1st Low Net Al Waddell 66, 2nd Al Basinger 67, 3rd Ross Dowe 68

Snips Hole #2 Mike Pollock, #8 & #15 Ted Sauve, #14 Adrian Haut, #17 (POG) Mike Gibbs

HCP 20+1st Low Gross Garry MacGregor

83, 2nd Paul Schroeder 86, 3rd Art Trto 89

1st Low Net Doug Mann 62, 2nd Richard Wand 65, 3rd Dick Stuart 69 c/b

Snips Hole #7 Art Trto, #9 Paul Schroeder, #10 Philip Ball, #15 Gary MacGregor

Remember NO SATURDAY MEN’S GOLF next week; next one is on Aug 9th. Tee times and 08:30 shotgun with white tees. Till then see ya.

- Submitted by Ron Carter

On just another gorgeous day in the Comox Valley, Crown Isle ladies club had a PIN DAY.

AND THE WINNERS ARE: 1st low net - Raelene Robertson 65, 2nd low net - Barb Parker 67, who just celebrated her 58th anniversary with the love of her life, Roy.

1st low gross-May Mitchell 82, 2nd low gross-Rosemary Smith and Val Dingwall 83

KP’S - #7 Sheila van Gisbergen, #12 Marilyn McCusker.

PAR 5- Margaret ForgeronHot weather brought out lots of

ladies scoring birdies so I am sure lots of birdie juice was consumed!

Kudos to Sandy Linhart who has organized our Crown Isle ladies to play Interclub with Storey Creek, Sunnydale, Myrtle Point, Comox and Glacier Greens. Even in the pouring rain last Wednesday we held our 3rd position. Well done ladies!

Our Crown Isle “High Rollers Anonymous” with lots of bling rep-resented us well at Pheasant Glen. Raelene was 2nd low gross!

A lively group of 20 ladies ven-tured to the Storey Creek Crystal Golf Tournament and had lots of laughs (that’s a given with these ladies!) and won lots of prizes and raffles. Notably, Val Dingwall won a low gross prize and Anne Sands won a low net prize. Wherever there is fun and laughter there are Crown Isle ladies!!

PENGUINS IN AUGUST? You bet! The Crown Isle ladies NINE AND WINE will have a penguin theme on August 27th. Hope all the ladies with wear black and white and bring their best penguin jokes and penguin walks! The evening includes nine holes of golf, appys, wine or beer, and lots of prizes. To register as a team or individual, call the Crown Isle proshop at 250703-5031. It will sell out so get your name in quickly.

- Submitted by Donna Cunliffe

Pin day today at Glacier Greens brought out some sizzling scores to match the current heat wave.

Liz van Boeschoten with the low net of 65 took home the coveted pin.

2nd low net Rikki Farrell 673rd Low net Leslie Hauser 681st Low gross Gene Renaud 832nd Low gross Brenda Livingstone

91Low Putts Irene Marshall and Liz

van Boeschoten tied with 29. KP’s #4 Leslie Hauser, #12 Ann

JohnstonLooking forward to a great turn

out next Tuesday for International Chocolate Day!

- Submitted by Lori Cameron

Sunnydale Thursday Night Ladies July 24th had only one rain shower and lots of golfers.

Prizes were given out for: Longest Drive on #1 to Deb

McMahon Closest to the tree on right on #2

to Judy MannClosest to pin 2nd shot on #3 to

Fran WrightIn the sand trap on #4 to Monique

WalkerClosest to the 3rd shot on #5 to

Andrea McInnesBarb Dixson had the longest putt

on #7 and the lowest putts!Most Honest Golfer was Judy

Huges and last week she had a chip in for lowest putts!

CROWN ISLE HAPPENINGS

PIN DAY AT GLACIER GREENS

A LITTLE RAIN, LOTS OF LADIES

BEATING THE HEAT AT SUNNYDALE

GOOD WEATHER, GOOD SCORES

GOLF NEWS

Comox Valley Duplicate Bridge Club Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! The

weather has certainly been cooperating with sunshine and loads of heat. If you want to cool off on a Thursday afternoon, remember that the Lion’s Den is air condi-tioned!

Results for the Monday, July 21st, 2014 game were:1. Richard Grant - Milos Hajsky2. Jack Bradshaw - Carole Bradshaw3. Arnold Thomsen - Betty Thomsen4. Sharon Hysert - Darryl PippinThe Thursday, July 4th, 2014 game had these results:1. Warren Burd - Cynthia Tree2. W Allen Hopwood - Lorraine Gargan3. Pete Marinus - Sharon Feduniak4. John Godfrey - Jack BradshawOur club is located on Nordin Street across from the

Comox Mall under the newly renovated Museum and Art Gallery.

We offer guaranteed partnerships, so if you’re visiting or your regular partner is away, make sure you come out to play anyway! If you don’t have a regular partner, I’m sure you’ll meet one.

Our Website is www.cvdbc.com and our email is [email protected]

For more information, please contact Linda Marinus at (250) 338-2544.

D’Esterre Duplicate BridgeResults for Tuesday, July 22 (26 pairs):N/S - 1. Joan and Jim Boase; 2. Lorraine Ramesbottom

and Barb McCrindle; 3. Lynne and John Godfrey; 4. Jim Lucas and Clark Graham; 5. Judy and Ron Morrison.

E/W - 1. Carole and Jack Bradshaw; 2. Irene Pearl and Pat Ailles; 3. Maggie Wynde and Joan Lord; 4. Lynn and Dick Sangster; 5. Gayle Cousins and Danny White.

Results for Saturday, July 26 (19 pairs):N/S - 1. Carole and Jack Bradshaw; 2. Jean Tait and

Mavis Olson; 3. Lynne and John Godfrey; 5. Penny and Doug Poole.

E/W - 1. Ann Cook and Harvey Piercy; 2. Betty and Tom Thomsen; 3. Lynn and Dick Sangster; 4. Sheila Lockhart and Joan Erickson.

Friday Night Bridge Results for July 25 (10 tables):N/S - 1. Diane McKinnon and Ruby Paulson; 2. Hrvey

Piercy and Judy Morrison; 3. Keith Ware and Roy Hagg; 4. Gary and Farn Priestman.

E/W - 1. Evelyn Ware and Betty Fountain; 2. Dick and Lynn Sangster; 3. Grace Whetter and Wendy Peddie; 4. Maggie Miller and Irene Pearl.

COMOX VALLEY BRIDGE NEWS


Comox Valley athletes shone at the 2014 BC Summer Games held in Nanaimo last month.

They brought home a dozen med-als, which helped catapult the Vancouver Island-Central Coast team to a second place finish in the overall standings, garnering a total of 182 medals. Topping the standings was Fraser Valley with 206 medals.

Leading the way for the local com-petitors was Gabrielle Wolfe who bagged two silver medals in swim-ming.

She placed second in the 400m

individual medley and 800m free-style.

Another dual medalist from the Comox Valley was Claudie DeMuylder who placed third in the 64kg girls wrestling. Her bronze medal helped the Vancouver Island-Central Coast wrestling team finish first to earn the overall gold medal.

Track and field athlete Torin Halvorson also brought back two medals - a silver medal in the 1500m steeplechase and a bronze medal in the 2000 metres.

In the boys 4x100m relay, Daniel Beaule ran one leg and contributed towards the Vancouver Island-Central Coast team’s gold medal finish.

Earning a silver medal in the girls 4x100m relay was Elizabeth Gummer, whose team just got edged for the gold.

Curtis Camryn fell short of the gold in the girls javelin, settling for the silver medal with still a good throw of 34.35 metres.

In swimming Amelia Elder com-peted well to place third in the girls 1500m freestyle.

In the team events, Nate Doleman helped Vancouver Island-Central Coast finish third for the bronze medal while Georgia Bellamy, Lauren Sargent and Madi Gold were mem-bers of the rugby team that took home the silver medal.

Comox Valley athletes thrive at BC Games

Registration is ON NOW for the 10th anniversary of the Perseverance Trail Run on Sunday, October 26th.

This year’s race will once again feature two classic Cumberland courses: a 3k Cross Country Romp and a 10k Mountain Run. Only 350 spots are available and they will go fast so don’t wait to sign up if you plan on joining the fun. But, there is much bigger news this year ...

For the 10th anniversary, race orga-nizers are taking their fundraising efforts for the Cumberland Community Forest Society to an entirely new level. This year, an anonymous donor will be matching 100% of all donations raised through the Perseverance Trail Run! That’s right: for every dollar the race raises, two dollars will be donated to the CCFS.

More of the Cumberland Forest is slated to be logged in 2016 and the CCFS is working hard to raise enough to purchase and protect the land, for-est and trails for the community and future generations.

Over the past 10 years the Perseverance Trail Race has raised over $20,000 for the CCFS. The focus of the 10th anniversary race is to ramp up fundraising efforts and, with community support, literally ‘buy a

forest’. Race organizers have launched a

special fundraising drive for the 2014 event and it is not limited to racers.

Anyone can donate to the cause sim-ply by visiting the Perseverance web-site and choosing from one of three options:

1. Create your own Giving Page - an online pledge sheet. Create your own page, share it with your friends and family and see how much you can raise together.

2. Print off a paper Pledge Sheet - go door to door, collect pledges at your workplace, running group or school.

3. Make a one time, personal dona-tion- with a few clicks of the mouse or in person at Extreme Runners, 436 5th st.

*All donations are eligible for Charitable receipts

*Non racers are encouraged to sup-port the cause

*All donations will be matched 100%

*Check out our Fundraising Page on the Perseverance website for all of the details.

This is a very special opportunity to ‘double your donations’ for the CCFS this year.

Let’s work together and see how much we can raise ... let’s ‘buy a forest’ in 2014! Go to www.persever-ancetrailrun to donate and register for this year’s event.

DOUBLE FUND-RAISING AT ANNUAL TRAIL RUN

Lo Lanning at last year’s event


Comox Valley Echo Friday, August 1, 2014 B7

CARRIERS WANTEDEARN $$$$$$$$

No Collection RequiredCall COMOX VALLEY ECHO

250−334−4734or drop by 407−D 5th Street, Courtenay

COURTENAYRt. 8105 – 29th to 27th, MorayRt. 8106 – Anfi eld Centre (Walmart), Kilpatrick,

Cliffe

COMOXRt. 1103 – Pritchard, Totem, Skeena, OrcaRt. 1120 – Sandpines AreaRt. 2129 – Sylvan, Parry, Aspen, Idiens

CROWN ISLERt. 3120 – Monarch, RoyalRt. 3134 – Crown Isle Dr., Birkshire, Sussex

VALLEYVIEWRt. 3110 – Back Road, Glen Urquhart, 10th St.

E., Hobson, 6th St. E., AstonRt. 3123 – Nechako, Chemainus, 5th St. E.,

Cowichan, 6th St. E.Rt. 3132 – Inverclyde, Carstairs, Hebrides, FifeRt. 3135 – Hawk, Swallow, Whiskeyjack


Sports and Recreation

Come cheer them on! Bring a chair, a hat, slap on some sunscreen and bring your family out to the pier at Comox Marina to watch this fun annual drag-on boat event! Starting at 9am on August 3rd, the dragon boat races encourages team work, fun, sweat and how to get the ideal tan. We have teams from all over the island coming this year, and if you’re interested in joining a team, or just have questions, look for the information tent with the Comox Recreation banner.

The Annual Victor Simonson Dragon Boat Races August 3rdWith summer at its peak,

Strathcona Wilderness Institute Society has an expanded series of programs in several areas of Strathcona Park.

The Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre, managed by SWI, at the Paradise Meadows trailhead adja-cent to Mt. Washington’s Raven Lodge, is the centre for SWI pro-grams and is open every day for Park and trail information.

On August 1st and 2nd, SWI is hosting a series of Interpretive Nature walks in the Buttle Lake area of Strathcona Park. Visit www.strathconapark.org/programs/but-tle-lake-programs for more informa-tion on this new series of programs.

Closer to the Comox Valley at Paradise Meadows and Forbidden Plateau, the first August program is a hike to Mt Becher on Saturday August 9.

Contact [email protected] to register for this moder-ately strenuous 10 km hike which gains 650m elevation.

On Sunday August 10, join an easy Nature Walk focusing on Seeds & Berries, starting from the Wilderness Centre at 1 p.m.

There will be two hikes on Saturday August 16, one in the Buttle Lake area and one at Paradise Meadows.

To register for the 7 km Upper Myra Falls Hike in the Buttle area, contact [email protected]

On the same day at Paradise Meadows, join another in a popular series of dog-friendly walks around the Lake Helen Mackenzie Loop. Leashes are required for pets in this area, and well-behaved dogs on leash are welcome on this 8.5 km, 3-4 hr hike. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Wilderness Centre.

On Sunday August 17 there is another choice of two activities.

For hikers, Julian Brooks will guide an outing to Panther Lake. Pre-register at [email protected] for this 20 km, 8 hr. hike. Space is limited to 16 partici-pants, no pets please.

For bird lovers, Mountainaire Avian Rescue returns with their charismatic ambassadors for a pre-sentation at 1 p.m. at the Wilderness Centre.

For all SWI activities, dress for the weather, wear proper footwear, bring lunch or snacks, water, bug spray and sun protection. All SWI activities are by donation, $5-10 sug-gested.

Visit the SWI website at www.strathconapark.org for more infor-

Learn about the park’s plants

mation on all the programs in Strathcona Park. Up-to-date information on trail conditions is also on the website, as well as the schedule of guided nature walks, talks & hikes; and the dates that the Centre is open for Park information.

Donations are appreciated to help with the delivery of the programs & the staff-ing of the Centre.

This year, several expanded initiatives & activities have been made possible thanks to support from Mountain Equipment Cooperative.

Panther Lake

August programsat Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre

The Comox Valley Cardinals “A” Rep Team wrapped up their exhibition games with 4 big wins on the weekend.

Game one saw the boys come up with a 17-3 victory over the All Star team from Victoria - with Jacob Volkers crushing the ball and going 3-3 with 3 rbi.

Game two saw a lot of the same and the boys came out hot again and picked up a big win 13-2 with Jordan Dennis getting on base 3 times and going 2-3 with 2 rbi.

Then Sunday the boys had a road trip to Saltspring Island where they battled the heat and came up with two more big wins.

Game one saw some great pitching and we came away with a 21-2 win. Fantastic hitting by Brier Pilon going 4-4 with 3 rbi and Matthias Smith 3-3 with 2 rbi.

Second game saw the boys being a bit more challenged and the game was closer until late and the team rallied in the second half of game coming up with a strong 15-2 win. Great pitching again!

A great hitting effort by Gabe Schovanek 2-3 and Logan Nijhoff with 2 doubles and 3 rbi.

The team has their upcoming Zones Playoffs this weekend in Campbell River with the attempts of qualifying for the BC Provincials. We will keep the updates coming. GO CARDS!!

FOUR BIG WINSFOR CARDINALS‘A’ REP TEAM

Documents

Comox Valley Echo - August 1, 2014