Thursday May 9, 2013 (Vol. 38 No. 38)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
In the zone: Adjudicator Fran Gebhard (left) and hostess Pat McClean were on hand to give White Rock the award for best production at Theatre BC’s Zone Festival held at Coast Capital Playhouse last weekend. › see page 39
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Skateboard deterrent ‘sends wrong message,’ warns councillor
Rumble strips grind on some residents Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Inverted rumble strips scraped into White Rock’s Everall Street this week are getting mixed reaction from residents of the roadway and skateboarders who routinely ride the winding hill. Kyle Smith said he and other boarders were warned a month ago that the grooves – six sets of three, foot-wide tracks – would be
going in as part of an effort to curb the activity. But, as he advised council at their April 29 meeting, they won’t deter enthusiasts. “They’re very ineffective,” Smith said Tuesday, after learning the grooves had been cut that day. “It’s not going to stop us.” Hardie Avenue resident Ria Burgert contacted Peace Arch News about the work that morning after returning from a walk to the beach to find the route home thick with dust.
Burgert called the grooves “ridiculous” and said the city is wasting money on a problem that doesn’t exist. “They are neat people, good boys,” she said of skateboarders who frequent the hilly stretch. “The skateboarders are not a problem. “It’s always against youth in White Rock.” Mayor Wayne Baldwin confirmed at the April 29 meeting that the grooves are aimed at deterring longboarders and skateboarders
from using the road. Under the city’s current Street and Traffic Bylaw, the activity is illegal within an area bounded by Oxford Street to the west, North Bluff Road to the north, Best Street to the east and Buena Vista Avenue to the south. Coun. Larry Robinson is leading a push to see the bylaw changed, and Smith said he plans to bring a delegation in support of such changes to city council this month. › see page 4
Autopsy scheduled
Missing man found dead Aaron Orlando Black Press
Trevor Skillen, chair of the Delta Heritage Air Park, checks his map before taking off in his 1942 Boeing Stearman biplane.
Rob Newell photo
Delta flyer spreads his wings over Semiahmoo Peninsula
Vintage visitor drops in on White Rock Robert Mangelsdorf
I
Black Press
t’s an overcast day over Boundary Bay, but for Trevor Skillen, any day without rain is good for flying. His Second World War-era Boeing Stearman biplane has an open canopy, exposing him to the elements. “You’re going so fast, the windshield blows it right over top of you,” he says. “The real problem with the rain is the visibility.” That won’t be a problem on this day. Mount Baker looms in the distance as Skillen pilots his
r
yellow warbird over the Semiahmoo Peninsula. A few hundred feet above White Rock beach, he pitches the plane upwards before curling off and hurtling back towards the ground. “A wingover,” he says, his voice crackling over the radio headset. He points the plane skyward again, and then, like a roller-coaster reaching its apex, the plane evens out momentarily before plummeting towards the ocean below. Skillen pulls back on the stick once more, and the plane climbs and climbs, until finally it again submits to gravity.
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This time, however, the plane is upside-down. “An inside loop,” he says. Below, the residents of White Rock no doubt watch puzzled, as the 70-year-old biplane barnstorms above the beach on this Friday afternoon. Having thoroughly impressed the onlookers below, he points the nose for home, and touches down softly on the manicured grass strip at the Delta Heritage Air Park. Skillen hops out, a grin stretching from ear to ear. “There’s no way to describe that feeling.” › see page 11
Mother’s Day Baskets
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The search for a White Rock man reported missing in October has come to a sad conclusion. The remains of David Anthony Klammer, 39, were found by two campers Sunday afternoon on the west side of Arrow Lake, police and BC Coroners Service announced Tuesday evening. David Klammer His death is not considered suspicious; an autopsy scheduled for today (Thursday) is hoped to clarify exactly how he died. Klammer’s family reported him missing on Oct. 21, 13 days after he left his parents’ home in Saskatchewan. He was headed to White Rock, but never arrived. The window salesman’s backpack was found on a logging road on Oct. 26; his 2003 Subaru Impreza was located on Nov. 5. Extensive searches were conducted, both on the ground and by helicopter, as recently as this spring. Klammer’s parents last month appealed for the public to be on the lookout for their son. Klammer’s remains were located 60 kilometres south of Revelstoke, about 40 kilometres downstream from where his car was found.
32nd Ave. & 152nd St. 2124 - 128th Street, Ocean Park 12530 - 72nd Ave. 192nd St. at 48th Ave. www.pottersonline.ca