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SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2013
NANAIMO
VOL. 25, NO. 11
Energy upgrade paying off for school district By Jenn McgarrigLe The NewS bULLeTiN
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Signal corps
Kevin Eppele, signalman, left, drills holes into a rail for electrical conductors as Dave Griswold, track maintenance worker, tightens joint plate bolts during work on the E&N Rail line near the Waddington Road crossing Thursday. The work was being done in preparation for crossing signal upgrades that will be carried out by Southern Railway of Vancouver Island in June.
Accused murderer faces preliminary hearing By Jenn McgarrigLe The NewS bULLeTiN
A man charged following Nanaimo’s first murder of 2013 will be in court next January so a judge can decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial. Gabriel Peter Stinson was charged with second degree murder following an incident at a Harewood townhouse complex on Jan. 13. Responding to reports of a man
in distress, police arrived at King Arthur’s Court at the corner of Fifth Street and Georgia Avenue to find a man with life-threatening injuries lying on the ground. Police found Stinson performing CPR on the victim when they arrived on scene. An RCMP officer took over and continued CPR until paramedics arrived. The victim was taken to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital where he was pronounced dead as a result of
stab wounds. At the request of the family, the RCMP did not release the identity of the 35-year-old victim. Stinson, who remains in custody, is scheduled to re-appear in court Nov. 19 for a trial conference hearing and return to court Jan. 20-24 for a preliminary inquiry, the purpose of which is to determine if the Crown has enough evidence to justify a trial. reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
Lighting upgrades, an electric vehicle, a thermal heating project and a boiler upgrade are some upcoming initiatives that will help Nanaimo school district reduce energy consumption. Heating and lighting the district’s more than 40 active facilities comes with a hefty price tag – the district spends more than $1 million annually on natural gas and about $900,000 per year on electricity. Chad Dalrymple, energy and capital projects manager, said the district has focused in recent years on energy savings and estimates that over the past decade, lighting and boiler upgrades have saved the district about $5 million in electricity and fuel costs. This year, almost a dozen district facilities had lighting upgrades and about 16 sites are scheduled for upgrades between now and March. Dalrymple said once this work is complete, every school should have the most energy efficient lighting available. The district is participating in B.C. Hydro’s continuous optimization program, through which real-time meters were installed at Dover Bay and Cedar secondary schools – the schools that use the most power – allowing staff to look at energy usage as it’s consumed. The meters were installed in August and staff are required to watch the results for a year without changing anything and then make changes that have a two-year payback in terms of dollars spent on electricity. “The program really is to look at the heating and lighting systems and ensure they are optimized,” said Dalrymple. As for fossil fuels, the district gets its first electric car at the end of this month or beginning of next. u See ‘PLANS /4
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