How recovery can be a ball
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ok, now How do we sell tHe tower?
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Is It tIme for onlIne votIng?
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wednesday
AUGUST 15 2012 www.newwestnewsleader.com
dragondiva returns to new west for a trip into the golden age of radio. See Page A2
Hockey parents ‘stunned’ STANLEy COMES TO TOWN curtis Heath, of the new westminster Police department, photographs the panel on the stanley cup containing the name of his grandfather, who played for the toronto maple leafs when they won the nHl championship in 1967. the cup was on display at Queen’s Park arena on monday thanks to bill ranford, who got to spend the day with the chalice as the goaltending coach with this year’s champions, the los angeles kings.
MARIO BARTEL NEWSLEADER
Igniting young women in firefighting Mario Bartel
photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Sixty feet above the hard pavement, Kevan Bonn throws one leg over the steel balcony railing, then the other. Luckily, New Westminster firefighter Don Grossman is there to guide the rope securing her to the training tower at the Queensborough fire hall, gently easing her to the ground. “It was so fun,” says Bonn, unclipping from her blue safety harness and peeling off her coveralls.
“I wanted to jump off the building.” Bonn is one of 17 young women from around Metro Vancouver participating in Camp Ignite, a mentorship program to expose them to the challenges and opportunities of a career in the fire services. Over the course of four days they learn how to properly unroll and roll up hoses, safely enter confined spaces, operate heavy firefighting equipment like the Jaws of Life, as well as the fitness and nutritional regimes required to handle the job. Saturday, the camp spent the
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morning learning high-angle rescue techniques. For Bonn, a 17 year-old New Westminster resident, dangling from the high tower off the end of a rope sealed the deal. Her uncle is a firefighter, so she knew about the job from listening to his stories. But until she signed up for Camp Ignite, she didn’t know if she had physical and mental capabilities to launch herself in his footsteps. “I’ve learned I really want to focus on this as a career,” says Bonn. “I learned I can do it as long as I have faith in myself.”
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Which is more than half the battle for prospective young firefighters, especially women, says Kathy Ius, a New Westminster firefighter for 12 years and one of the camp’s organizers. When she broke into the fire service, there were only a half dozen female fighters in Metro Vancouver. She had no one to guide her through the grueling physical requirements of the job or the mental and emotional wear it can inflict.
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Please see CAMP, A3
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FRESH SOCKEYE SALMON
Coach banned for fighting, then elected league VP Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
A coach suspended a year for fighting with another coach is on the 2012-13 New Westminster Minor Hockey Association (NWMHA) executive, a situation which has upset some parents. During a bantam level playoff game in March, Kevin O’Quinn fought with an opposing coach in front of players from both teams. Both coaches received one-year suspensions, but later in the spring at the association’s annual general meeting, O’Quinn was elected first vicepresident. Temple Anderson, parent of a nine-yearold son who plays hockey, said at the AGM there was a report on discipline mentioning two coaches had been suspended, but no names were given. Later in the meeting, she said, O’Quinn was nominated but few who were there knew he had been one of those being banned from being a bench boss for a year. Eventually, word leaked out in the minor hockey community. Please see ‘ThEy’, A5