FRIDAY OCT 25, 2013 VOL. 40, NO. 21
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Humpback Comeback
Mystery and Longing
Still life with story
Giant mammal enjoys local waters
Upcoming events in theatre and books
Playful sculptures on display
Little boat forges on through fog MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
This kitty waits patiently ready to greet all the trick- or- treater on Halloween night! Debra Stringfello photo
Waste Management Committee scraps plans to compost food-waste on-Island MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
E
very Wednesday, Bowen’s food and garden scraps get hauled off the island to the North Shore Transfer Station. For the past year Bowen’s Solid Waste Resource Management Committee has spent the past year looking into ways to save the trip off island, but after extensive research, they’ve decided to scrap plans to compost food waste locally. They are still hoping that garden waste will be processed on-island. “The big composting facilities that deal with this kind of [food] waste are very smelly, and there have been major complications in other municipalities trying to set them up,” says Don Marshall,
the chair of the Bowen Island Solid Waste Resource Management Committee (SWRMC). Residents living nearby the municipal composting facility in Richmond, the final destination for Bowen’s organic waste, described the facility’s smell as “nauseating,” to the Vancouver Sun. Residents living near a composting facility in the district of Saanich, on Vancouver Island, have taken their municipality to court because of the overwhelming odour in their rural neighbourhood. Marshall says that if plans go forward to process yard scraps on island, the municipality will save money on transportation and will have a valuable product created here to supplement local gardens. continued, PAGE 3
Many Bowen Island residents have spent the past week waking up to the sound of fog horns. For commuters, that’s the sound of delays. On Tuesday of this week, the Queen of Capilano departed Snug Cove at 8:30am, then again at 9:50am, and BC Ferries cancelled the boat’s 10am sailing. For commuters who travel to the mainland on the English Bay Launch, heavy fog can signal the need for a change of plans. So far, though, there’s only been one cancellation due to fog. “Coming out of False Creek last Friday I had zero visibility,” says skipper Dominic Frei. “But I just needed to get a little more accustomed to the boat to run in that weather. The High Flyer is very smooth and stable, and it has fantastic navigation equipment which makes it possible to run in through fog like that.” Frei’s been working with English Bay Launch for a month. He lives on Granville Island, but due to the fog spent
several nights this week sleeping in the High Flyer’s tiny berth. “It’s draining running the boat in those conditions, and with zero visibility I need to keep the speed down to 10, maybe 12 knots,” he says. “That way if I do hit anything, it won’t do any damage.” In May, the High Flyer hit a log and as a result, didn’t run again until mid-August. “We normally have two boats running during the summer, and we know we can fill them,” says Shannon. “This helps us build up a cushion that helps us run through the winter, so we didn’t have that this year.” Originally, Shannon didn’t think they’d be able to keep running past Labour Day, but ridership on the launch was strong through the summer and Shannon has found a way to offer regular commuters a slightly cheaper way to travel. “We’re now offering monthly passes, for $500 per month. Which is still expensive for a lot of people,” says Shannon. continued, PAGE 2