By Phil Melnychuk
the wilderness.” In the last few years, there have been some memorable searches in which Ridge Meadows has joined other Lower Mainland teams on larger missions. Last year, despite an intensive search, they never did find Tyler Wright who went missing a year ago near Squamish.
Search and rescue manager likes giving back because it’s such a rush. They did however find an elderly lady who went looking for fiddlehead ferns a few years ago in the trails near the Rock Ridge area of Maple Ridge. They found her body three days later, likely the victim of a fall. It’s difficult enough to find someone when they are mobile and able to hear and respond to calls. But when a person can’t do that, the task is even more difficult. Someone can literally be at a searcher’s feet and unless he or she looks exactly there, they’ll never see.
“You can walk right by them, and sometimes if you’re head is turned the wrong way, you can miss them.” Another search that turned up empty last year was near Whistler. A couple just disappeared, without a trace. Laing’s advice to anyone who gets lost. “Stay put. Wait for help to arrive.” Moving around at night in the mountains of the West Coast can get you in a lot of trouble, such as the SFU students who wanted to take a short cut down the mountain, at night. One followed the other to their deaths into the black abyss after stepping off a cliff. “It’s easy to walk off the edge of a cliff.” He’s not a big follower of the TV series Survivorman but agrees with the main advice from that show. You panic, you die. “If you panic, you can certainly get yourself in trouble.” Just stay put, he says. Make some kind of a shelter and wait. “We’ll be coming out at night – and you’ll hear us coming.”
Volunteers Make it Happen – Donors Make it Possible
Cythera Thrift Store
Net proceeds from our Thrift Store support women and children from our communities who have experienced violence and/or abuse. Our 24-hour support line is 604-467-9966. Don’t miss our huge annual Fall Sale – Bargains Galore! Saturday, September 17th at 22255 Dewdney Trunk Rd, Maple Ridge
Donations welcome 7 days a week Not sure what we accept? – Call 604-467-4671.
CELEBRATING 56TH YEAR Community Has Rich Baseball History erving as President of the Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball Association for the last six years has been a true honour and a privilege. As we complete our 56th year in operation as the RMMBA we have had many accomplishments to be proud of and many great people have served our community in this way.
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We have had the benefit of many outstanding partnerships; RM Parks & Leisure Services, BC Minor Baseball, our Local Sponsors, the School District, and all of the other wonderful Sporting Associations we share our community with. We are blessed to have had the support of these partners and look forward to building our community with them.
The Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball Association began formerly operating in 1955 however there was a rich history of baseball in the community from as early as the turn of the century. Hammond Stadium in its former glory could entertain crowds of up to 2500 people to see our home town teams take on opponents from up and down the Fraser River.
The RMMBA has some unfinished business; our dream is to see a Signature Stadium built in our community that would celebrate our athletes and provide a destination for National and World Class Events. Because of the commitment and dedication of tremendous volunteers we are positioned to be successful for another 56 years in the community. If British Columbia is the ‘Best Place on Earth’ then we truly believe that Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows is the ‘Best Community’ to live and to raise a family in. The RMMBA is proud to be part of our wonderful community!
The Vision for the Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball Association was to continue to provide a costeffective, development based program that could be enjoyed by all families in our community. We rolled out our Four Pillars Philosophy which focused on strength in the following areas; Development, Sustainability, Accountability and Transparency.
www.rmbaseball.bc.ca
One our primary goals were to foster relationships and become a ‘great partner’ in the community.
Mark Kauhane President, RMMBA
29 | Our Community. Our People. | Supplement to the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows News | August 2011