Big blow Storm leaves thousands without power, cancels ferry sailings. PAGE 7 In limbo Fate of Lantzville heritage church/museum in hands of council. PAGE 23 On the move Teen competes in festival, sets sights on dancing career. PAGE 3
Clippers call it a season PAGE 31
Judged the the Judged Judg community aper bbest newsp best newspaper in B.C.in B.C. TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012
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VOL. 23, NO. 136
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Federal grant paves way for airport plow BY NIOMI PEARSON BLACK PRESS
GREG SAKAKI/THE NEWS BULLETIN
VIU Mariners players Shenise Power, left, Tamara Rosenlund, Dani Smith, Marlie Temple and Alyssa Wolf celebrate match point in the CCAA national championship final against Mount Royal on Saturday night at the Vancouver Island University gym.
Mariners capture national title The Vancouver Island University Mariners achieved all their goals and won gold. VIU’s women’s volleyball team won the national championship on Saturday night in its home gym, defeating the Mount Royal Cougars 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 26-24. “Unbelievable,” said Tamara Rosenlund, VIU player. “I couldn’t ask for anything better than this, ever.”
The gold-medal match was played in front of a packed gymnasium, with the most enthusiastic fans sporting blue body paint and sounding vuvezelas. That crowd was treated to the finest volleyball the Canadian Colleges’ Athletic Association has to offer, as the country’s top-seeded teams faced each other in the national final for a second straight year.
The Cougars were the team that ended up with gold last March in New Brunswick when the Mariners had a championship point controversially overturned. “We felt this last year and then it was taken away. I really felt bad for the girls,” said Shane Hyde, VIU coach. “Now it’s ours, and no one can take it away.” For the full story, please see page 31.
Old man winter will have a harder time landing at Nanaimo Airport, thanks to a $135,700 federal government funding grant for the purchase of a snow plow. The purchase will mean self-sufficiency for runway maintenance staff and improved reliability for passengers during the winter months, said Mike Hooper, Nanaimo Airport Commission president and CEO. “Reliability is critical for our passengers and in order to maintain reliability under snow and ice conditions, we need to remove the snow and eliminate the ice. This equipment will allow us to do that consistently and sooner,” he said. “By having this additional equipment ... if we have a break down, we can keep going and keep the airport open under most weather conditions.” The funding comes from the Airports Capital Assistance Program, which also helped Nanaimo Airport with the purchase of snow removal equipment about two years ago. Currently, during adverse conditions, the unit is used alongside contractors that are brought in to help deal with the workload. The new plow, expected to arrive within the next 12 months, is larger, and should eliminate the need for contracting out those services. “By going to two pieces of equipment, we’re starting the fleet here to clear the runway a lot quicker,” said NanaimoAlberni Conservative MP James Lunney, who made the funding announcement at the Nanaimo Airport Friday. ◆ See ‘RELIABILITY’ ‘ /6
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