The Chilliwack
Progress Thursday
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Scene
News
Neighbours
Spring
Pipeline
Crime
CSO’s Grand Concert offers symphonic bouquet.
First in a series on Kinder-Morgan pipeline.
Helping police catch the bad guys.
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, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 2
Bail hearing for hang gliding pilot delayed Robert Freeman The Progress Unanswered questions swirled outside the Chilliwack courthouse where a hang gliding pilot faced a bail hearing Wednesday. But the answers will have to wait at least until Friday when court officials hope a memory card allegedly swallowed by the pilot deliver themselves up. Meanwhile, the accused, William Orders, the 50-year-old pilot, is being monitored at the Agassiz RCMP detachment. Laird Cruickshank, defence counsel for Orders, consented to the Friday adjournment, but refused further comment outside the courthouse. RCMP Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth confirmed X-rays had detected the memory card inside Orders, but could not say whether any artificial means were being used to speed up the arrival of the memory card. She also would not disclose how the RCMP came by the knowledge the memory card had been swallowed, saying that is part of the ongoing police investigation. Owens was charged with obstruction of justice after his passenger Lenami Godinez fell to her death Saturday. But exactly how Godinez slipped from her harness and why Orders apparently compounded the tragedy by swallowing the memory card is still unknown. “It’s a tragic thing at every level,” Donna Dixson said before the bail hearing started Wednesday. “I hope the justice system can find the answer.” Dixson said she met Godinez while working with her at the BC Winter Games secretariat in 2007. “I could not believe it when I saw the headlines,” she said. “It’s just beyond words to think about,” she said. “For me, the hardest part is how awful it would have been for her because she knew (she was about to fall) and she was hanging on ...” Dixson described Godinez as a “sweet” young girl. “I can’t think of anyone sweeter,” she said. “She was just a darling person.” Godinez, 27, died after falling 1,000 feet from the hang-glider piloted by Orders. Investigations by RCMP and BC Coroners Office continue to determine whether the fatal flight was caused by human error or equipment failure. Orders and Godinez launched just before noon Saturday from Mount Woodside near Agassiz. It was Godinez’ first time hang-gliding, an anniversary present from her boyfriend, who was videotaping the flight. But shortly after launch, Orders apparently realized something had gone wrong and Godinez was slipping out of her harness. He was unable to hold onto her, however, and she was unable to hold onto his legs, and tragically she fell to her death.
Reporters surround Chilliwack senior Crown Counsel Lori Stevens following the court appearance of William Orders, the pilot in a hang gliding incident near Agassiz Saturday, where 27-year-old Lenami Godinez fell to her death. The bail hearing was held over until Friday. GREG KNILL/ CHILLIWACK PROGRESS
Transit transformation starts this summer Jennifer Feinberg The Progress The Transit Future Plan for Chilliwack has been in the works for more than a year, incorporating feedback of more than 600 bus riders and non-riders alike. The public consultation phase is over and the draft plan is being circulated to stakeholders. The key change for Chilliwack ridership is a new Yale-Vedder line starting as early as next month, described as a “network spine” with buses arriving every 20 minutes along the way.
There will also be three new routes at 30- or 60-minute frequencies, and priority placed on getting a transit connector established between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. Chilliwack council received the plan at city hall on Tuesday, after getting an update from Michelle Orfield of BC Transit. “Let’s start with the positive,” she said about feedback from the public. “Many were excited to hear we were going to be improving frequencies.” But some critics also expressed frustration with
routes that were streamlined and eliminated to provide that increased “frequency” of 20 minutes, as well as the fact that buses no longer drive into the parking lots to the mall doors but rather drop riders off on Vedder Road. “We are taking all these comments very seriously,” said Orfield, adding that a report addressing the concerns would be forthcoming. Mayor Sharon Gaetz described some of the transit changes as “incremental” since there isn’t adequate fund-
ing available to make all the improvements at once. She said she didn’t want to see anyone “left in the lurch” by the bus route changes, adding that sometimes service agencies and churches can step up to help. “But I’m really excited to be getting on with it,” she said about the plans to implement faster service along Yale-Vedder. The transit plan will now be forwarded on to the transportation advisory committee for approval and comments, before Continued: TRANSIT/ p4
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