Up front: Holding hands to support Somenos Marsh On stage: Chemainus Theatre’s Dracula lacks bite
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Say hello to Tim You’ve got to have Faith: Long SunFest wait results in country superstar McGraw Ashley Degraaf
News Leader Pictorial
S North Cowichan South End fire crews prepare to leave the scene following an accident outside the school district offices that sent a flagger to hospital clinging to her life.
Andrew Leong
Dumptruck tragedy rocks Duncan neighbourhood
Run over on the job: Community stunned after worksite accident sends flagger to hospital clinging to her life Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
W
hen a horrified Bonnie Thibault saw a young flagwoman pinned under a dumptruck wheel Monday, she instinctively acted to help her. “I went to try and comfort her, but her body was engulfed under the tire,” she said of the flagger from Duncan who remained in critical condition Tuesday in Victoria. A shaken Thibault told her Beverly Arms tenants to dial 911, and all other medical services after the 10:30 a.m. accident. “I can’t explain it in words, when you’re helpless to help someone,” she said.
Her husband, Bill, ran to get paramedic Martin Paterson, an Arms tenant. The unconscious woman — whose name has not been released — was dressed in bright-yellow safety clothing when she somehow ended under the right-rear wheel of a gravel-loaded Stone Pacific Contracting rig towing a trailer at a construction zone near the Cowichan Valley School District offices. The wheel sat on her head and torso, explained Ken Wright of Duncan Asphalt Paving. Paterson attended the injured woman while North Cowichan’s south-end firefighters arrived. At first, Paterson noticed the flagger wasn’t breathing, but found a pulse in her ankle area, he told CHEK news Monday.
Firefighters hoisted a blue tarp to shield the tense scene from onlookers, Bill explained. While WorkSafeBC investigates exactly how the flagger — an lsland Traffic Services’ employee, listed as experienced by WorkSafe — came be under the 25-ton truck, Wright believed loosened road gravel helped cushion the woman. Firefighters inflated special safety balloons to lift the truck. Wright said the rig was moved forward, and the injured woman was moved to safety with only a scratch visible. Her internal injuries were still being tended at Victoria hospital where she was airlifted Monday. more on page 10
unFest organizers say all the flack they took about a prolonged wait for their 2014 headliner announcement was well worth it. Because it’s Tim McGraw. “It’s pretty much through the roof,” Cowichan’s biggest festival spokeswoman Charlotte Fisher said Tuesday of reaction to McGraw’s scheduled appearance. “What it comes down to is the wait until when Tim McGraw you’re allowed to release the information from his management. We’ve been verbally committed with McGraw since August. And if anyone wanted to the put the word out, it was us. “It was a real tongue biter,” she said. “I was sitting patiently listening to JRfm online, and waiting for the 7:40 a.m. announcement,” said Cowichan’s Rachel Pugh. “I was pretty surprised as he’s a big name in country, and having him in Duncan isn’t something I ever thought possible.” McGraw fan Megan Lowery agreed. “Seriously, who would have thought Tim McGraw would be coming to Duncan,” she said. “I didn’t even think he would have been an option.” Country fans were getting a tad annoyed, to say the least, with the delay of the 2014 headliner announcement. Organizers had published several teasers on Facebook, and had to renege on a promise the news was to be delivered Friday, Sept. 13. more on page 4 bchonda.com
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