Up front: Man bequeaths Cowichan hospital nearly a quarter-million page 4 On stage: This Woodstock still special after all these years page 17
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Friday, August 16, 2013
Man barred from Duncan
Micah McClure: declared a prolific offender after multiple offences in a short time Ashley Degraaf
News Leader Pictorial
I
THAT’S A WRAP!
Spooksville: TV crews end Cowichan’s longest film project ever full of warm feelings and hopes crews will be back Ashley Degraaf
News Leader Pictorial
“I
think you’ve been discovered.” These words straight from the lips of former Fox Kids Network CEO, Hallmark Channel creator, and current head of United States-based Hub Network’s Margaret Loesch. She’s referring to Cowichan as a prime location for television series producers who work for networks like hers, which is set to air the TV action-adventure series Spooksville come fall. While many crews have shot films in the Warm Land, Spooksville boasts the longest run, spanning four months. It wraps up filming today. If ratings go well once the show hits the small screen, there’s a good chance more episodes will be filmed in Cowichan, hinted Loesch. “(Producer Harvey Kahn) first suggested Vancouver Island to us and at first I was skeptical,” the Los Angeles-based long-time television producer said in an interview Wednesday
Andrew Leong
James Head directs one of the final scenes of Spooksville’s first season of filing. at Duncan’s curling club, an important location holding three of the show’s main standing sets for the past four months. “This was a complete mystery to me. (Producer Jane Startz) and the location crew took photos here last winter and not only did the photos take our breath away with the beauty here, but the diversity was amazing. I was
instantly smitten,” she said. But Cowichan folks — and Cowichan bank accounts — also have Spooksville’s production designer — a man known simply as Tink — to thank. “I was interviewed for the position about a year ago and started scouting on Vancouver Island,” he explained. After a scouting trip to Duncan, he was also a tad skeptical there wasn’t enough of the pieces to put together the Spooksville town puzzle. But on a second trip to the valley he came across Chemainus. “The second time back I saw Chemainus and it was just this quaint, very cool seaside community and I knew it could work here.” He, like many of the folks on the 100-strong Spooksville crew, fell in love with the Warm Land. In fact, Tink fell head over heals so much he now has a Canadian residence at Cherry Point. Production manager Michelle Samuels shared the same love. more on page 3
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t’s not very often folks are ordered to stay at least 40 kilometres away from their hometown. But it happened to Duncan’s Micah Jair McClure. North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP announced yesterday that a three-month investigation resulted in McClure’s Aug. 6 guilty plea for four of the 13 breaking-and-entering related charges he was facing. He was sentenced to two years less a day followed by two years of probation, including the 40-kilometre order. In addition, McClure has also been officially identified by cops and community partners as a prolific offender. According to Cpl. Jon Stuart, the designation is made in collaboration between the police and a variety of other public officials. An officially designated prolific offender is immediately offered assistance in helping them stop their life of crime. “These persons are identified when they have come to the attention of the police, usually once they have been the subject of numerous files in a short period of time,” he said. “Those who take advantage of this have been very successful in ceasing criminal behaviour. Those who choose not to seek change are faced with enhanced police attention, which always results in criminal charges and incarceration.” McClure’s charges were in relation to a series of crimes that took place during a span of three weeks late this winter: a Feb. 18 break-in at the Chuck Wagon general store in North Oyster, and a Feb. 27 incident at the Save On gas at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Bench Road, said Stuart. Related to McClure’s charges, Duncan’s Margaret Conrad has been convicted of assault (involving one of the witnesses) and obstruction of justice. And Duncan’s Laurie Marshall is charged with two counts of unlawfully and with intent to provoke a state of fear, obstructing a court participant by threats and obstructing justice.
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