TUESDAY OCTOBER 2, 2012
GLOOMY GREENS
Elizabeth May speaks at conference in Parksville
A5
www.pqbnews.com
Official newspaper of the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals
GENERALS PREZ HAPPY SO FAR
Giroux says local junior B team improving every week
A36
FOREST FIRE THREAT
Crews remain ready
Unusual for fire season to stretch into October NEIL HORNER
news@pqbnews.com
When mid-Island residents take to the woods this Thanksgiving Day long weekend, Donna MacPherson says she is hoping they will govern their activities not by the calendar, but by the conditions at hand. The fire information officer said the little bit of rain experienced in the area last week wasn’t nearly enough to make a real difference in the forest fire situation. “I would love to say it was, but that’s just not so,” she said. “Our fire danger rating around Parksville area and Courtenay south is still high. The little showers that came in were pretty scattered. It wasn’t soaking and solid enough to turn it around.” She said a second system approaching from the north isn’t expected to deliver much more in the way o moisture either. “The weather forecaster is not seeing more than scattered showers,” she said. “Unfortunately, along with it is coming a lot of wind. Then we’re looking at a return to warmer and dryer weather towards the end of the week.” The unusual run of dry weather, she said, has led to as many as two fires a day being reported within the boundaries of the Coastal Fire Centre. The dry conditions on the ground, she added, also mean the fires are particularly stubborn. See DRY WEATHER, page A7
NEIL HORNER PHOTO
BUBBLE FUN: Martin Dean blows a huge bubble that headed directly for our photographer as Dean’s son Ethan looks on during Children’s Day at the Qualicum Beach Museum on Saturday. For more, please see pages A25, A26.
NEW TOURISM GUIDE COMING IN EARLY 2013
NEWS, OTA combine forces
125,000 copies of new product will be available locally and worldwide Business people who use tourism guides to market their businesses in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area will have an exciting, new product starting in February 2013 . The Parksville Qualicum Beach News and Oceanside Tourism are announcing today they have merged their separate guides to form one product with superior reach. “It’s a win-win-win for Oceanside Tourism, The NEWS, and the entire area,” says Blain Sepos, the Executive Director of the Oceanside Tourism Association. “The Parksville Qualicum Beach News produces an annual visitor’s guide of 25,000 copies that offers mostly local circula-
tion throughout District 69,” says Peter McCully, NEWS Publisher. “Combine our local strength with Oceanside Tourism’s 100,000 copies that are distributed to visitors externally, and you have the best of both guides.” The 2013 guide will offer many features, including accommodation and dining directories, road maps, hiking trails, business directories as well as festival and event listings. Says Sepos: “We use every avenue possible to get our guides into visitors’ hands, including B.C. and Port Angeles Ferries, Visitor Centres throughout B.C., consumer shows in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and much more.” See DEMAND, page A7
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