THE WEDNESDAY
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
OCT. 31, 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Scary story winners
Charlotte and Jennifer
SEE LIFE, PAGE A16
SEE ARTS, PAGE A22
www.tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/A10 Letters/A11 A Good Read/A19 Sports/A26
Happy Halloween, children — oh, and Merry Christmas, too
Food & toys are back at Andres By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
JANIS WARREN/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Spider-Men and fairy princesses will have a spooky treat walking up Alexander ‘Sandy’ Olynuk’s driveway tonight (Wednesday) as the Coquitlam grandfather has tricked out his home with $10,000 worth of Halloween props, including lit miniature pumpkins, skulls with strobe lights, tombstones, severed limbs, mummies, pop-out spiders and a blow-up Frankenstein. “I do it every year and each year gets better,” said Olynuk, who lives at 2980 Cape Crt. in the Ranch Park neighbourhood. For other Halloween displays, go to www.tricitynews.com.
Breath tests legitimate? By Sarah Payne THE TRI-CITY NEWS
An investigation into roadside screening devices used by the Port Moody Police has concluded at least some of them were calibrated incorrectly, meaning people who failed a roadside breath test may not have been over the legal limit. That conclusion comes nearly a year after allegations first came to light that a PMPD officer responsible for calibrating the approved screening devices (ASD) was doing so incorrectly. And the Vancouver defence lawyer who raised the issue last October says he may pursue a classaction suit on behalf of his clients. see LAWSUIT IS CONSIDERED, page A4
Christmas has come early for Share Family and Community Services, which has been assured of warehouse space to store food and run its toy shop program. CEO Martin Wyant has confirmed Share will be able to move back into the former Andres Winery in Port Moody this fall after moving out of the free space earlier this year to make way for Evergreen Line construction. The social service agency had been looking for months for warehouse space and was paying to store goods and equipment in shipping containers and commercial storage lockers. Wyant expects Share will soon move back into the Port Moody warehouse, where it can start preparing for its holiday programs. see FOCUS ON, page A15
Seismic school work Report came just before Sat. quake
By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
School District 43 needs more money and more work to bring its schools up to the latest seismic standards, according to a recent report. As many as 11 schools in the district have been identified as high risk, which means they could have widespread damage or sustain various
TRI-CITY NEWS FILE PHOTO
The old James Park elementary wasn’t seismically safe; the new one opened last week. degrees of structural failure in an earthquake, according to a background report on school land disposition. Another 11 schools have been as-
sessed at medium risk while six are low risk. The remaining schools, approximately 50 buildings, are considered quake-proof and struc-
turally sound. The information about the district’s seismic status was presented to the public at a board meeting last week — four days before Saturday’s 7.7 magnitude quake, which rocked B.C. coastal areas, and raised concerns about the province’s quake readiness. The report notes that 11 schools are in the highrisk category, which includes three levels of risk depending on the level of damage that might occur in a severe earthquake.
But the schools and their level of risk were not named in the report. The report also notes the district has a dozen schools that score below 40% on audits of building condition, systems, functionality and safety, which typically indicate a need for replacement, and another 22 with audit scores of between 40% and 49%, which usually indicate that the facility needs major restoration or replacement. see 11 SCHOOLS, page A9