Man killed in on the job incident
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Fantasies won’t keep Ferries aFloat
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critics ousted by cuMMins
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wednesday
OctOber 17 2012 www.burnabynewsleader.com
bc ndp leader welcomed jane shin as the party’s official candidate to run in burnaby-lougheed, at a weekend nomination meeting. See Page A4
Support still firm for Lennikov Remains in church sanctuary to avoid deportation Wanda chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MArIO bArteL/NeWSLeADer
jim ervin is the founder of the automotive Model builders club, which has been putting together their car models at lochdale community school for 30 years, but the school district now wants to charge them a monthly fee to use the space.
Club questions loss of free space May be result of new district automated booking system Wanda chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
A North Burnaby man is questioning the “community” aspect of his local community school after his club was told it was losing its free space rentals there. Jim Ervin, founder of the Automotive Model Builders Club, said his group has been meeting at Lochdale Community School for 30
years at no charge. But on Sept. 7, the club’s secretary heard there was a possibility of a rental fee and a cancellation of its first meeting on Sept. 13, Ervin said. While some members would be willing to pay a small fee, Ervin said they were later told the fee would be $56 per meeting, which he considers “totally out of the question.” The club only has about 20 members, many of them seniors on fixed income, who pay a nominal membership fee of $12 per year.
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When the rental at the school for their September meeting was cancelled, they managed to find space at Cameron Recreation Centre, which only charged them $26 for two hours. That’s more doable but only on a temporary basis, said Ervin, who noted the group is having to dip into its savings. Ervin, 65, has no children and feels personally the free space at the school was a benefit for the school taxes he pays. “If you don’t have a child in
school, then what value do you get from school taxes which we’re already paying?” Greg Frank, Burnaby school district secretary-treasurer, said he has no details on what happened with the club and district staff have been asked to look into the case. There has been no general increase in rental rates. However, he thought it might have something to do with an automated booking system the district started implementing in September.
October 6 – 31 During Mall Hours
please see DIStrIct, A5
SpookyBOO -Tique
A a SPOOKTACULAR HOUSE OF HORRORS
October 6-31
During mall hOurs
Austin Ave. & North Rd., Burnaby
Entry by same-day Lougheed Town Centre store receipt or by donation to Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society
After more than three years in church sanctuary, Mikhail Lennikov continues to receive the support of many in the community, says Peter Julian, NDP MP for BurnabyNew Westminster. Julian, along with fellow New Democrat MP Don Davies (VancouverKingsway), co-hosted a Thanksgiving dinner with the Lennikov family at First Lutheran Church in Vancouver where Mikhail has been living since June 2009. For years, the former South Burnaby residents fought deportation to their native Russia. His wife Irina and then-18-yearold son Dmitri were eventually given conditional approval to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. But Lennikov was ordered deported, just days after Dmitri’s graduation from Byrne Creek secondary. see LeNNIkOv, A3