Budget opposed Residents rally against widespread cuts in Bill C-38. PAGE 19 Beatles reimagined Tribute show recreates legendary rock band. PAGE 25 Mud race Motocross Nationals series draws thousands of fans to Nanaimo. PAGE 3
Playground revitalized PAGE 7
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TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 16
Puppet show key to program I
STUDENTS MAKE stage debut for show as part of Navigate arts academy.
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Bomb scare shuts down ferry sailings, forces evacuation
BY CHRIS BUSH
BY CHRIS HAMLYN and CHRIS BUSH
THE NEWS BULLETIN
THE NEWS BULLETIN
Students in Nanaimo made their stage debut with a black light puppet show Friday. The show, held at Beban Park Social Centre, was the premiere performance by the 20 K-7 students in Nanaimo taking courses through the Navigate Fine Arts Academy. Navigate is a fully funded and accredited B.C. school, which operates as a division of the North Island Distance Education School. “I’m teaching kids how to take concepts and use puppetry to communicate,” said Kevin Flesher, instructor. The students created the paper puppets from their imaginations and developed the dialogue and music for the production, which was based on the Chinese version of Stone Soup. The folk tale is about three travelling monks who arrive in a village of unwelcoming people who are, at first, unwilling to share their food. The monks announce they will simply make stone soup, which tastes wonderful, and toss rocks into a pot of boiling water. The monks then convince curious villagers into giving them ingredients to complete the soup. Before long they’ve cooked up a big feast enjoyed by everyone in the village. The performance is similar to a shadow play or silhouette puppet show, but performed under ultra-violet lighting. The puppeteers, dressed in black in a darkened room, cannot be seen by the audience, but the puppets coloured with paints that glow under UV light shine brightly.
A weekend bomb scare aboard a B.C. Ferries vessel forced passengers to abandon ship Saturday. B.C. Ferries received a call from an anonymous caller shortly after 3 p.m. saying there was a bomb aboard the M.V. Queen of Coquitlam, which was about to set sail from the Departure Bay terminal. The vessel’s passengers were evacuated and the aerodrome at Brechin Point was also shut down. Bomb sniffing dogs, from the RCMP and from B.C. Ferries, were brought aboard to search for explosives. Nanaimo RCMP Marine Unit and Nanaimo Harbour Commission vessels kept the waters around the ferry terminal clear of boaters while the search was carried out. The RCMP’s Explosives Disposal Unit was kept on standby in case a bomb was found. Police also ordered several regional transit buses to shuttle passengers to Beban Park Social Cetnre, where city employees and volunteers with the Nanaimo Emergency Program had set up a reception centre. Karen Lindsay, Nanaimo Emergency Program coordinator, said the centre received about 500 passengers plus 50 dogs that were aboard the ferry. “It’s essentially like a comfort centre or an area where they could congregate everybody,” Lindsay said. “They were without vehicles – we had walk-ons – and it wasn’t as if they had access to their cars.” Lindsay said the reception centre, which provided coffee, water and seating for the passengers, was set up within about 30 minutes after emergency program staff received the call at about 3:30 p.m. “Nanaimo RCMP asked that we take the passengers off-premises so they went to the rec centre,” said Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries spokeswoman. “The police brought in one dog and we have a contract with a company to do sniffing at the terminal and they brought in two more dogs to search the ship.” ◆ See ‘NO BOMB’ /4
CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Bryant Mclean, 9, who is hearing impaired and learning-delayed because of a rare genetic disorder, shows off his puppet Fisherman Dude Bob, following a performance at Beban Park Social Centre Friday. April Gogo, his mother, said Mclean’s participation in the production represents a huge leap forward in his development.
Flesher, 39, is a professional educator and children’s entertainer who moved to Comox from Alberta, where he developed educational conferences. “It’s really good for kids, no matter how shy they are or how uncomfortable they are with performing, to
perform without feeling like they’re putting themselves out there too far,” he said. “You’ve always got those kids who are really out there and want to perform and those who would rather die and this, everybody can do it.” ◆ See ‘PERFORMANCE’ /4
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