Up front: Are you up to taking North Cowichan’s climate challenge page 3 On stage: Ballet Victoria leaps at ambitious season finale page 15
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Friday, May 2, 2014
Cowichan WFP mills closed in wake of Nanaimo shooting
Lake school remains top SD79 priority
Property options: School board still investigating sale options for four unused sites
Two dead: Local workers trying to come to grips with workplace murders at sister mill John McKinley
Ross Armour
News Leader Pictorial
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News Leader Pictorial
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new elementary school for Lake Cowichan remains one of the main goals for School District 79. At a recent Lake Cowichan public consultation meeting focused on property disposal, SD79 treasurer Bob Harper confirmed the goal to be a top priority for the board. “A new elementary school at the Lake still sits as our number one priority,” said Harper. “The former Yount site (in Youbou) is not the proposed site for the new elementary school. The preferred site still on the books is the A.B. Greenwell site, but it’s entirely the provincial government’s call although we can influence that. “The A.B. Greenwell site is on Crown land so if the board’s decision is that it’s no longer required for public education, that reverts back to the Crown. Stanley Gordon is also on Crown land. So there’s no money to be gained there, it’s just costing us money to keep it standing.” SD79 has identified four potential buildings for disposal as it looks to give capital funding a boost. more on page 9
Andrew Leong
Artist Ewa Sniatycka hangs a ceramic mobile depicting mature salmon over a glass representation of eggs on a riverbottom at the front entrance of Alexander Elementary School on Earth Day. Sniatycka led students through this project, Streams Converge, which combined art and the environment in a representation of the salmon life cycle. Students also spear fished and sketched flora and fauna during field trips to the Cowichan River to prepare for the artistic portion of the project, which was funded by Artists in the Classroom and the Alexander School PAC.
estern Forest Products mills in Cowichan shut down Wednesday in the wake of a horrific shooting in Nanaimo. And they may stay down for a few days according to a company spokesperson. The company — formerly Duncan-based Doman Industries — has temporarily halted all operations after an incident at its Nanaimo mill killed two men and sent two more to hospital. “Our Timberlands operations are expected to be back up today (May 1), and our mills will be back up in the coming days,” WFP spokeswoman Jennifer Davies explained Thursday. She said firm officials and workers were still coming to grips with the tragedy that has affected its daily operations. “We have shut down all operations out of respect,” WFP President Don Demens said during a media conference held in Nanaimo a few hours after the incident — one of the worst cases of workplace violence in Canadian history. Police confirmed the dead men are Michael John Lunn, 61, and Fred James McEachern, 53, of Nanaimo. CTV reported Thursday afternoon on Twitter that one of the injured men, Tony Sudar, had
been released from hospital, while the other, Earl Kelly, remains in care. A former mill employee, Kevin Douglas Addison, 47, of Nanaimo is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting. Nanaimo RCMP superintendent Mark Fisher said the incident began in the mill parking lot at about 7 a.m. and continued into the mill office. The suspect was apprehended by an emergency response team member without incident and a shotgun was seized from the scene. Fisher refused to speculate about what led to the shooting. Several media outlets have reported the operation has been the subject of a longstanding dispute over severance packages. Demens said grief counselling is being made available to employees. “I would like to express our deepest concerns and condolences to the families, friends and co-workers and to those whose lives were lost this morning and those who were wounded,” he said in a statement. “We will do whatever we can for our injured colleagues and for those who have been affected by this tragic event.” WFP — which moved its head office from Duncan to Nanaimo in 2011 — operates two mills in Nanaimo, two in Port Alberni, three in Chemainus, two in Ladysmith and one in Cowichan Bay.
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