Rocky road
Hobby keeps couple working together Page A3
NEWS: Chamber of Commerce does major overhaul /A5 HOMEFINDER: Taking the stress out of moving time /A17 DRIVEWAY: Car safety kits trump earthquake kits /B11
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Actress comes to life
Artist Paul Archer poses with a giant mural he is airbrushpainting of late actress Marilyn Monroe, to be installed in a downtown restaurant. Archer’s home work area on Charmar Crescent faces Millstream Road and Veteran’s Memorial Parkway and he says drivers have been waving and honking as he has worked on the four-panel piece. Archer’s painting of film star Dan Aykroyd, who was in Langford last weekend for a promotional visit and charitable motorcycle ride, was auctioned off as part of a benefit for teen cancer patient Zack Downey. Don Descoteau/News staff
Youth fear for future of skatepark Last-minute efforts being made to buy time for well-used facility Kyle Wells News staff
West Shore skateboarders may soon have to find a new place to ollie and grind, with the sale of the Belmont secondary property threatening the future of the area’s only
publicly funded and maintained skatepark. The sale of the property by School District 62 is expected to be finalized by the end of this month and West Shore Parks and Recreation’s lease with the district for the skatepark land expires March 27. At present there is no plan in place to renew the lease. The district is leasing back the land until at least June 2015. Parks and recreation board chair Rob Martin said either a new deal will have to be met or the park will have to be ripped out. The two sides are working with the buyer to find a way to
leave the skatepark where it is for now. “It could work out, but by the same token, if the new owners choose not to renew the lease, even from a temporary standpoint, we’ll have to remove the park,” Martin said. “Once the deal goes through, we have to either get a new lease immediately or we have to shut the park down.” Sidestep Skate School owner Debbie Qayum said the loss of the skateboard park would be devastating to the community which has grown around it. Sidestep hosts a number of events at the park and teaches
lessons there in the summer. “We need something out here. Myself, I’ve had over 800 people through my facility, so there is a huge demand,” she said. “It is very well used.” Qayum is encouraging those who use the park to stand up for it and approach the school board and the City of Langford to ask that it remain where it is, at least for this summer. PlEASE SEE: Parks and Rec., Page A5