WEDNESDAY,MAY 7, 2014
Award winning library right here in Lake Cowichan PAGE 11
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VOL. 18, NO. 19 | $1 + GST
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www.lakecowichangazette.com
LCFD firefighter Knowles: She’s fastest female firefighter in B.C. PAGE 2
Lake Days: Planning ensures fun for all, updates PAGE 6 and 15
Wilderness search continues for missing Lake Cowichan man Ashley Degraaf LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE
S
Ross Armour
Left to Right: Dale Winters (Cowardly Lion), Brandon De Pol (Tin Man), McKenzie Paterson (Guard), Lynnea Bruce (Dorothy Gale) and Colin Wylie (Scarecrow) all star in the Kaatza Lakeside Players’ production of the Wizard of Oz showing all this week at Centennial Hall in Lake Cowichan.
> see page 10
Lake Cowichan School achieves 100% pass rate in provincial exams Science 10, English 10, Social Studies 11 and English 12 exam writers all pass the provincial Ross Armour
LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE
Lake Cowichan School recently achieved a 100 per cent exam pass rate in its provincial examinations. The stat is a first time thing for the school and proud principal Nicole Boucher deemed it a particularly exciting feat. “All students who wrote the provincial exams passed,” said Boucher. “Our students wrote provincial exams
GS SAVIN
$
UP TO
5000!
for Science 10, English 10, Social Studies 11 and English 12, and that was the first semester students. I don’t recall that happening before so it’s very exciting for the students, the teachers and for me.” Boucher predicted a total of “70 to 80” students had passed the provincials exams held in Lake Cowichan. Every year in the spring, the school receives a report from the Fraser Institute outlining a study of the school’s achievements and performance rates.
Although the latest exam success wasn’t processed in time to be on the most recent report, Boucher and staff can seemingly look forward to a very fruitful version next time round. “The report looks at a few things,” said Boucher. “It looks at transition rates for students from grade to grade and also informs us about exam pass rates and graduation rates as well.” The news comes after a recent presentation from Island Health stalwart Dr Paul Hasselback who determined that children just entering school in the town “aren’t as well prepared to start” as they have been in the past.
2013 MODEL YEAR CLEAROUT HURRY IN! ONLY 8 REMAINING!
earch and Rescue efforts are still ongoing for a Lake Cowichan man missing since Thursday, confirmed a family friend. Saldana Bauman Skramstad confirmed search crews were scouring the woods near Lake Cowichan in an attempt to locate Rodney MacKinnon, a 35-year-old area resident. Search efforts have been concentrated in an area where family found MacKinnon’s pickup truck Sunday, after becoming concerned for his whereabouts. The truck was found in a vast network of logging roads called “fair Coutresy RCMP service” that can Rodney MacKinnon be accessed by a gate near the Lakeview provincial campground between Lake Cowichan and Mesachie Lake. “What we do know now is his truck was out of gas, so he would have walked out,” Bauman Skramstad said Tuesday. “He did have blankets and a pillow.” Bauman Skramstad, the wife of the missing man’s cousin Tim Skramstad, said MacKinnon was an experienced outdoorsman and often likes to camp. The situation does concern them as he’s never left for more than a couple days, and his jacket and shoes were also left in the truck. Bauman Skramstad said search crews were out [Tuesday], with Cowichan SAR being helped by members from Juan de Fuca to Victoria. Retired SAR members, even as far as from Port Alberni, joined the search party, as well as members of the Cowichan ATV club and many family members and local volunteers.
> continued MISSING page 3
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