CHILLIWACK TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2013
◗ 2012 Year in Review NOVEMBER
Nov. 1 A seven-year-old Chilliwack boy was called a hero and received praise for his quick thinking for saving his grandfather’s life with a crucial 9-1-1 call. George Epp was driving with his grandson Evan Raap when he pulled his van over and began to shake violently. Evan called 9-1-1 and directed paramedics to the vehicle.
Nov. 1 The National Hockey League lockout might be costing owners and players millions of dollars, but it actually helped put money in the pocket of a Chilliwack high school student with an entrepreneurial idea. Austin McGregor, a Grade 11 student at Chilliwack senior secondary school, said he sold hundreds of writsbands touting the slogan “Lockout Bettman.” Nov. 6 Money was the wedge that came between the Chilliwack Community Arts Council and the City of Chilliwack and led to the arts council’s departure from the new cultural centre. Mayor Sharon Gaetz said the sides came to a “sad agreement” after five years of negotiations over money. CCAC executive director Rod Hudson said the sides parted ways because the city didn’t accept the council’s offer. Nov. 6 Graham Mair went to the hospital emergency room in 2004 to get stitches for a cut to his finger but suffered a brain injury in a fall while he was being treated. In November, Mair, who was 17 at the time of his visit to Chilliwack General Hospital eight years ago, was awarded $1.4 million due to a doctor’s negligence. Nov. 8 The money was supposed to help veterans, but instead a thief lined his pockets by stealing poppy collection boxes from business along Vedder Road. Six of the boxes were stolen over the course of a week from the counters of businesses along Vedder Road, according to poppy fund co-ordinator Pat Johnston. Nov. 8 Two Chilliwack high school students aimed to put the Fraser Valley on the map at an international tourism competition in Monte Carlo, Monaco, this month.
Services were to receive Awards of Valour from Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon Nov. 22.
2012
YEAR in REVIEW
Nov. 22 Once again, the message was loud and clear: drugs and alcohol are unwelcome on the Skwah First Nation. Following on the heels of last year’s successful Walk For Peace, dozens of Skwah members gathered for dinner and to craft two dozen signs touting a healthy lifestyle. The colourful signs, with slogans like “Give Hugs, Not Drugs” and “Evict Drugs,” decorated power poles around the reserve.
The Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism picked G.W. Graham secondary students Megan MacDonald and Ashley Fisher to represent Canada for their case study on “Hand-Picked in the Valley,” a tourism partnership between Abbotsford, Langley and Chilliwack.
Nov. 27 Eight-year-old Isaac Bruneski couldn’t have been happier when he found out his family trip to Saskatchewan had been called off. It’s not that he wasn’t looking forward to it; it’s just that he found out he and his whole family were jetting off to Disney World in Florida instead. The trip was a gift of the Sunshine Foundation, a charity that makes dreams come true for children with severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses.
Nov. 13 The City of Chilliwack took the next step in its long-term plan to acquire downtown properties and create a welcome mat for private developers. City hall issued a “notice of intent” Nov. 8 to expropriate the Irwin Block at Five Corners as part of the revitalization and redevelopment of the area. Nov. 13 A Chilliwack man who conscripted a 17-year-old boy to serve as his driver while he engaged in “nefarious activity” involving a loaded handgun and a high-speed chase was sentenced to nearly three more years in jail. After forcing the teenage driver to take him to a downtown apartment building, Morgan Hourie pulled out a gun and headed inside. He returned, and—as police watched—the vehicle sped away, chased by another car. Hourie was arrested, charged, and convicted of possessing a loaded gun and crack cocaine in sale-ready packages. Nov. 15 The Chilliwack school board heard from secularists, evangelical Christians, Gideons, and Muslims at a packed, standing-room-only board meeting before voting to delete a regulation that endorsed the distribution of free Bibles at local public schools. But that doesn’t mean the Bibles are gone for good. The board directed staff to draft a new policy on the distribution of all materials at schools. Nov. 15 The bald eagles were back again in huge numbers, but their return
Cornelia Naylor/TIMES
Friends and family cheered as Sunshine Bear surprised eightyear-old Isaac Bruneski with a family trip to Disney World compliments of the Sunshine Foundation Nov. 24.
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Cornelia Naylor/TIMES
Friends, family and total strangers rallied around Chilliwack single mother and grandmother Bev MacGregor after reading about the financial struggles she encountered after being diagnosed with breast cancer in September. was a mixed blessing. Thousands of the birds returned to the Harrison and Fraser rivers just in time for the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival. But biologist David Hancock said the fact that the eagles returned so early meant the salmon runs in the north had not been very successful. Nov. 20 Chilliwack golfer Brad Clapp was named the PGA of BC’s player of the year after a phenomenal season. Clapp had a breakthrough 2012, winning both the PGA of BC Assistants’ and Zone Championship titles and adding several other top-10 results. Clapp’s yearly earnings of $10,784 were the best in the province and earned him the 2012 PGA of BC Order of Merit.
Nov. 20 Downtown Chilliwack’s iconic Paramount Theatre sign could rise again despite sustaining some damage when it was taken down Nov. 19. The red, white and gold landmark that had hung over the downtown theatre since 1949 buckled in several places while it was lowered onto a flatbed trailer. Nov. 22 Several local RCMP officers were set to be honoured for their lifesaving efforts. Cpl. Scott Stoughton and Const. Bruce Johnson of the RCMP’s Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment, along with Const. Sean Hackman of the RCMP Vancouver Air Services and Const. James Moir of Fraser Valley Traffic
Ken Goudswaard/TIMES
Gamblers try their luck at Chances Chilliwack during the new gaming centre’s opening night Nov. 2.
Nov. 27 Justin Trudeau was in Chilliwack speaking to fans, curious guests and Liberal Party faithful. The Liberal leadership hopeful was here to honour long-time local party stalwart Hal Singleton, who was facing terminal colon cancer. Trudeau reiterated his focus on a new kind of politics and changing how democracy works in Ottawa. But he also apologized for controversial comments he made in 2010 that had recently come to light. Nov. 29 At least 20 Kinder Morgan representatives faced sometimes difficult questions at a public open house held in Chilliwack to discuss the proposed $4.3 billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline twinning project. About a dozen PIPE UP members set up a display outside the doors of the Best Western hotel to provide “a balanced picture of the risks associated with the project.” Nov. 29 Chilliwack finally earned its rightful place as a Guinness World Record holder. Star FM received the official certificate from Guinness confirming 592 people set the world record for “The most people husking corn” on July 6.
Paul J. Henderson/TIMES
Federal Liberal leadership hopeful Justin Trudeau and long-time party stalwart Hal Singleton share a moment after both men spoke at the Coast Hotel in Chilliwack on Nov. 22.