The Chilliwack
Progress Thursday
38
3
23
Sports
News
Scene
Rugby
Campaign
Music
Crusaders crush Bruins.
Premier Christy Clark pitches job creation.
Classic Canadian rock comes to Chilliwack.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T H U R S D AY, A P R I L 5 , 2 0 1 2
Residents rattled by FVRD gravel meeting Robert Freeman The Progress Fraser Valley Regional District directors are meeting behind closed doors with B.C. mining and gravel industry officials next week to discuss the future of the Aggregate Pilot Project. But some rural area residents fear FVRD directors at the April 10 meeting will approve the APP just when a court case in Peachland may rule whether municipal and regional government bylaws can trump the B.C. Mines Act and limit gravel mining operations. “Ironically, the industry-friendly (APP) could leave the FVRD as the least powerful region in the province, in controlling Conflict Gravel disputes,” Glen Thompson, spokesman for the Friends of the Chilliwack River Valley, said. “If the APP passes, the FVRD will abolish bylaws that limit and regulate gravel extraction,” he said. However, Peachland Mayor Keith Fielding said even if the courts rule in the municipality’s favour, an agreement with the gravel industry similar to the Fraser Valley pilot program would be a “valuable” tool, “provided it’s respected and the results are enforceable.” “Without (such a program) it’s even worse,” he said. Fielding said a pilot program in the Central Okanagan Regional District has “essentially stalled” due to a lack of B.C. government funding for mapping gravel resources in the region. FVRD chair Sharon Gaetz said there are no plans for a final vote on the APP at the April 10 meeting, although the three-colour mapping designations it proposes will be discussed by electoral area directors and gravel industry officials. “I think what Glen has assumed is we’re going to charge on ahead (of the court ruling) and put the APP in place and lock ourselves in,” she said. “It’s not in our best interests to do that, quite frankly.” Continued: GRAVEL/ p7
$1.25 1-11F CS28
Nellie Marchuk collects Ukrainian Easter eggs. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Continuing a colourful Easter tradition Katie Bartel The Progress Nellie Marchuk didn’t have the hand for pysanky, but she did have the eye. A “true” Ukrainian, the 88-year-old has held strong to her roots for all her years. She has religiously prepared the traditional 12-course Ukrainian Christmas Eve feast; is a member of the Ukrainian Women’s Association and the Fraser Valley Ukrainian Senior Citizen’s Association; and every Easter she gets a basket filled with the evening’s feast – ham, sausage, horseradish relish, babka and paska – blessed by the Ukrainian church. In that basket is always
a beautifully decorated Ukrainian egg. “I love the colours,” Marchuk said as she gently cradled an egg gifted to her from one of her students in 1947 that still has the dried yolk inside – made d when h iit wasn’t required to blow out the contents. The history of Ukrainian eggs, also known as pysanky, dates back more than 2,000 years when Ukrainians worshipped a sun god, and believed a great power was
embodied e in i the egg. Every spring E peasants decop rated the eggs r with w nature symbols to s celebrate and c honour the h sun s before planting their p crops. c With the rise Christianity, i off Ch i i i the decorated eggs soon became Easter symbols, likening them to the tomb from which Jesus arose. It’s a tradition that continues strong today for Ukrainians, like Marchuk, around the globe. Twenty five years ago,
Marchuk first tried her hand at the unique art form. “I figured I knew everything else Ukrainian, why shouldn’t I learn how to write an Easter egg,” she said. “We do not paint Easter eggs, we write, colour and decorate.” With a step-by-step guidebook, a metal stylus, called kistka, beeswax and coloured dye, it took Marchuk just a day to design her first pysanka. The red, black and white dyed egg, which she still holds dear today, features a prominent rose, along with smaller flowers resembling poppies and geometric designs like squares and diamonds. Continued: EGG/ p5