Langley Times, July 02, 2013

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NLL’s Stealth land at LEC GARY AHUJA Times Sports

and “never made it home.” They ended up on the side of a mountain. “Terry Blair now flies 747s, or he used to fly 747s out of Hong Kong, and I became a teacher,” Fox said. Councillor Steve Ferguson recalls “the shortest flight” he’s ever been on with another former Township mayor, John Beales, one afternoon. “When we were up in the air there, John had this funny look on his face,” Ferguson said. “And I don’t know for sure, but I think the engine stopped. He said, ‘we’re going to land.’ John wheeled that right into Don’s repair shop right after the flight.” MP Mark Warawa will always remember flying in a vintage Waco hand crank plane with his longtime friend, Arne Olson. As Olson would crank the plane and jump inside, it was Warawa’s job to pull the little blocks out from the wheel before he would climb inside. “It was frightening,” Warawa recalled.

The Stealth have landed in Langley. Following a nine-year absence, professional lacrosse makes its return to the Lower Mainland as the Vancouver Stealth will call the Langley Events Centre home. The announcement came on Thursday morning following a unanimous vote from the National Lacrosse League’s board of governors. The team will be relocating from Everett, Wash. for the 2014 NLL season. “From an Everett standpoint, we had four very successful years on the floor, and reasonable years of fan support but the growth didn’t seem to be at a level that we expected and would have really needed to sustain the team,” said Doug Locker, the Stealth’s president and general manager, who will continue that role in Langley. “We looked at what was the next logical move for the franchise and it was kind of a natural looking at the Lower Mainland,” he added. Locker cited the knowledgable fan base in the area as well as the desire to get a team back in the Lower Mainland. The Vancouver Ravens played in the NLL from 2002 to 2004 before folding. The team played out of General Motors Arena (which is now Rogers Arena). The NLL has been looking at returning to the Lower Mainland for a number of years. In 2011, the LEC hosted a preseason game between the Stealth and Toronto Rock, which filled the 5,200-seat facility to capacity. Another preseason game was held in 2012, this time with 4,100 fans on hand. And back in May, the Stealth needed a different venue to host the NLL Champion’s Cup with their home arena, Comcast Arena, booked that weekend. The game was held at the LEC with just a few weeks notice, and it once again sold out. “I can’t tell you how excited we are ,” Locker said.

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Miranda GATHERCOLE/Langley Times

Father and son team George and Guy Miller pose in front of a 1931 Waco INF airplane during Langley Regional Airport’s 75th anniversary celebrations, held last Saturday.

Flying high at 75 Langley airport supporters celebrate milestone anniversary MIRANDA GATHERCOLE Times Reporter

George Miller will never forget the night he took off from Langley Regional Airport during an earthquake. It was 1994 and Miller was taking a special flight with former Township mayor John Scholtens, in a ceremony to open the runway lights. “I had all the lights off in the airport and I drove the aircraft up in complete blackness with just the taxi lights on,” Miller, former manager of the airport, recalled. There were 150 people watching as Miller handed the mic to Scholtens, who said, “Tower, let there be light.” “All of a sudden everything was all lit up and it was beautiful,” Miller said.

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“But here was the amazing thing, halfway down the runway there was an earthquake, and we didn’t even feel it. “Everyone said to us, ‘you realize that right as you were taking off, there was a real ground tremor here?’ But we didn’t know that, we just flew the circuit and landed. “It was so funny, I will never forget that. It is one of my great memories.” Since the airport first opened in 1938, there have been many more stories like that told. Several Langley politicians shared their favourite memories during the airport’s 75th anniversary ceremony on June 22. Township Mayor Jack Froese says he once took pilot lessons at the airport many years ago before his business started taking up most of his time. Councillor Charlie Fox remembers in 1973 when he came to the Langley Airport to train for his commercial pilot license. He and good friend Terry Blair took off in a Piper Cherokee to go to some logging roads at Harrison Lake

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