The Chilliwack 19
Progress Thursday
3
30
Music
Treasure
Triathlon
Chilliwack’s Inez Jasper is getting set to release her new album.
Hobbyists test their mettle.
Local athletes face interior challenge.
Scene
News
Sports
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T H U R S D AY, J U LY 2 5 , 2 0 1 3
Chilliwack mom hopes to help families like hers Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
Chilliwack mom Susi Vanderwyk remembers being in tears. She was both shocked and humbled by the glowing nomination for the contest submitted by her niece Katrina Clow. Vanderwyk is now one of candidates in the Walmart Canada’s Mom of the Year contest vying for their charities, with online voting on until Aug.1. “While my first instinct is to hide behind someone’s skirts,” she wrote on her Mom of the Year Facebook page headlined ‘Meet Fun Mom Extraordinaire Susi Vanderwyk’. “I desperately love that my nomination can bring substantial funds to Families of SMA Canada, a charity that so many families rely on as a lifeline, for not only hope of a cure, but desperately needed support today.” She and her husband Bruce have three kids: Dexter, Holli and Amy. When Holli was just two she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2, or SMA. After a year of struggling blindly, Susi started a support group for parents called EPIC, for families dealing with a range of disabilities. There were charity dinners and dances to raise funds, says her niece, and her aunt run a summer camp for the past 13 years, inviting families who have children with SMA from across the globe to join them. If she makes it into the Top 8, it’s $10,000 for the charity, if she wins, it’s $100,000. Continued: VOTE/ p15
Retail 85¢ PLUS PST Box $1.00
7-13H CS25
Susi Vander Wyk, seen here with daughter Holli, is a candidate for Walmart Mom of the Year. SUBMITTED PHOTO
After four years of longboarding down Chilliwack’s roads, Nick Hurley now teaches younger riders to follow road rules. “We always try to keep it safe,” he said. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Education key to longboard safety: City Outright ban from city streets rejected Alina Konevski The Progress
The city of Chilliwack is keeping a close eye on longboarding following more than five serious collisions between riders and vehicles in other municipalities. The fast adrenaline-fueled sport brings participants careening down steep, windy roads at speeds estimated at 50 km/hr. The city’s public safety advisory committee advised council last week to roll out a mass education campaign. The committee wants everyone involved — longboarders, residents, and motorists — to promote safe practices, such as
wearing a helmet, yielding to cars, and having spotters at dangerous turns. The committee also urged the city to consider banning the sport on certain roads, such as those that are particularly steep and curved. Another option, to ban longboarding within city limits outright, was rejected by the committee, in recognition that longboarding is a sport like any other. “It’s kids getting out — healthy, fresh air — and (being) active. We want to encourage that. It is a sport, much like kids doing crazy things on bicycles and on skateboards and inline skates,” said
Chuck Stam, city councilor and chair of the public safety advisory committee. There are currently no city bylaws regarding longboarding, nor does the Motor Vehicle Act mention the sport, according to Cpl. Len vanNieuwenhuizen at the RCMP. Unlike in West and North Vancouver, where serious accidents from longboarding are frequently in the news, the sport has not posed significant problems in Chilliwack. The RCMP has received only nine related complaints in 2012 and 2013, all of them from residents concerned about risky practices. All were related to longboarders in Promontory, on Sylvan, Prest,
Weedon, Elkview, and Chartwell streets. “Nine complaints over 18 months reflects that it is a sporadic issue that has not required our ongoing attention,” said vanNieuwenhuizen. “Our municipal traffic unit is aware of and monitors the issue.” The RCMP only has one record of a collision involving a longboarder in Chilliwack. On May 25 this year, a 25-year-old man on a longboard cut in front of a car at the Evans roundabout, disrespecting traffic regulations, according to vanNieuwenhuizen. He was hit, and suffered minor injuries from which he has since recovered. There has never been Continued: EDUCATION/ p5