FRIDAY MARCH 16, 2012
www.pqbnews.com
DELAYS, DELAYS
GIANT KILLERS
A7
A36
Gold medals for Oceanside’s Los Diablos in their year-end playdowns
Work on Parksville’s McMillan Street continues
MUNICIPAL POLITICS
Town OCP revisited Qualicum Beach council puts parts of plan into the hands of developers STEVEN HEYWOOD editor@pqbnews.com
Discussions among councilors on the Town of Qualicum Beach’s 2012 strategic plan — specifically to do with the official community plan (OCP) — erupted into the public during Monday night’s regular council meeting. In its 2012 strategic focus areas update, the council asked staff to review and identify OCP issues that ‘hinder economic recovery and possible new project opportunities.’ While the council had approved the document prior to it coming to the fore Monday, it was clear that the decision to do so was not unanimous. “I think this has to be a complete aberration of the democratic process,” said councilor SCOTT TANNER Scott Tanner. “It disenfranchises the public who did participate in the OCP process.” He said a new council has come in and wants to review many OCP issues that were decided upon. Coun. Dave Willie, who ran in last November’s municipal election on a platform of process review — and had done the same in a previous bid for the mayor’s chair — said what a majority of council decided to do was have staff identify issues in the OCP that the development community might have a problem with. See NEW COUNCIL, page A6
STEVEN HEYWOOD PHOTO
FINE DAY FOR FRIENDS: Lani Houkes and her pal Lobo (left) share a laugh on a sunny day in Parksville’s Community Park with friends Judy Barton and Mr. Brown.
Woman assaulted by flasher
Police looking for man who exposed himself, turned violent
QUALICUM BEACH — Oceanside RCMP are on the lookout for a suspected flasher who assaulted a woman in Qualicum Beach Saturday, March 10. Corporal Jesse Foreman said the incident occurred at 9 p.m. in the Valdez and Primrose area. He said a man was seen standing near the hedge of a property in the area and appeared to be acting suspiciously. “The property owner yelled at him, questioning what he was doing there,” Foreman said. “A 54-year-old neighbour
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who thought she had previously seen the same man, confronted him.” That’s when the incident turned violent. The man pushed the woman, who fell, injuring her wrist as she attempted to break her fall. “It was later reported, that the same male was observed exposing himself in the street nearby,” Foreman said. “The male fled the area on foot and was not located by police.” See INDECENT EXPOSURE, page A6
blue door Audio/Video
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w w w. b l u e d o o r a v. c o m 124-C Middleton Avenue, Parksville (behind Shoppers)