The Chilliwack
Progress Thursday
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EyeSite
News
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Good Earth
Powwow
Theatre
Chilliwack Plowing match through the lens.
Traditional powwow returns to Chilliwack.
Chicago comes to G.W. Graham.
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 1 9 , 2 0 1 2
City readies for melting snowpack Freshet update for 2012 Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Chilliwack properties outside city dike protection could be affected if there’s a sudden heat wave or heavy rainfall during the 2012 spring freshet. That was the message at city hall Tuesday in the wake of news from B.C. River Forecast Centre that the overall snowpack is higher than normal in Fraser River watersheds. The high snowpack is looking comparable to the 2007 situation, when many homes and businesses were sandbagged against the threat of flooding. The overall Fraser basin snowpack is at 131 per cent, according to a 2012 freshet update presented by staffer Tara Friesen at the council meeting. Runoff volumes and peak flows of melted snow water will actually depend on how the weather plays out in the coming weeks. “What we don’t want to see is a long, cool spring, and then all of a sudden a hot period with temperatures of more than 25 degrees for more than a week, or heavy rains,” Friesen said. Either of those scenarios would cause water levels to rise quickly. What happens in the Upper Fraser and Thompson is of critical importance to Lower Mainland communities. “They tend to influence the peaks we see down here,” said Friesen. But despite those facts, Chilliwack and other cities on the Fraser will get plenty of advance notice, as it takes a few days travel time for the Continued: FLOOD/ p16
Election results online It’s election day for eligible voters in the riding of Chilliwack-Hope. Polls opened at 8 a.m. this morning and will remain open until 8 p.m. tonight. For full election coverage, go to www. theprogress.com. We’ll have results, photos and video starting after the polls close.
$1.25 1-11F CS28
A vase of flowers and three hand-written notes make for a memorial for Darcy Garnot who was the victim of a hit-and-run on First Avenue east of Nowell Street on Sunday evening. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Hit-and-run victim ‘amazing man and father’ Suspected driver arrested, charged Robert Freeman The Progress A 60-year-old Chilliwack man — who just moved here from Alberta — has been arrested in connection with the fatal hit-and-run Sunday on First Avenue. Gary Allain was arrested by police the next morning and charged with criminal negligence causing death and failure to stop at the scene of an accident. Police said the 37-year-old victim and 60-year-old suspect did not know each other.
But the two men had reportedly gotten into a dispute over a dog just before the 7 p.m. incident. RCMP Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth said Wednesday that she could not comment on the reported argument because the matter is now before the courts. However, a resident near the scene of the hit-and-run said he had seen a man pushing an older man over a cement barrier near the Mac’s convenience store at the corner of First Avenue and Young Road
“and kicking his poodle.” The resident said he did not actually see the hit-and-run, but a few minutes after the altercation a driver in a pickup truck came down First Avenue, briefly honked its horn and struck the victim apparently without hitting the brakes. Hollingsworth said “Darcy Garnot was walking with his girlfriend on the sidewalk east along First Avenue near Nowell Street when a vehicle drove up and struck him from behind.” Garnot was taken by ambulance to the Chilliwack General Hospital where he later died as a result of his injuries, she
said. Garnot’s long-time commonlaw wife Amy told The Progress that although the two had separated about five months ago, she and her two children remained close to Garnot and are “devastated” by the loss. She said Garnot had called her just 40 minutes before the hit-and-run “and wanted to start working toward a better relationship.” “He was crying about how he had treated us, how he was hurting and in pain ... and he said, ‘I love you and I’m sorry for all my bad choices.’” Continued: RCMP/ p6