DISTRACTION THEFTS
VOLUNTEER PASSES
HOSPICE STAYS OPEN
Two Abbotsford residents facing charges
Marcellus a community supporter, author
Fraser Health says no plans to eliminate beds
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Friday, June 20, 2014
SERVING MISSION SINCE 1908
From three high schools to one Jason ROESSLE ABBOTSFORD NEWS
School trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to move to merge all three high schools into one by September 2015. Trustee chair Edie Heinrichs said there’s an “urgent problem,” as students are leaving Mission – 30 in the upcoming school year alone – for other districts because of a lack of courses. There are not enough students at each of the three high schools – Mission Secondary, Heritage Park Secondary and Hatzic Middle Secondary – to staff and offer certain courses, such as calculus. That particular course is offered online and Heinrichs said it’s “better than nothing, but not good enough. Our high schools are spread too thin.” A task force had been established to form the merge plan, but teachers’ job action stymied its progress, which prompted the board on Tuesday to approve hiring a consultant to
“expedite the process,” said Heinrichs. Trustee Carol Hamilton said she voted in favour, but doesn’t support the change in terms of its 2015 timeline. “We haven’t hired a consultant yet. What if the consultant says it can’t be done by 2015?” she said Wednesday morning. Hamilton said the merge is a good idea, “if it’s the right thing to do.” This is a decision that will have ramifications for generations of students. “We need to have a full, unabashed review that includes the public.” The board chair said it’s likely the high school would be placed at either Mission Secondary or Heritage Park, and there would be two middle schools established at the remaining locations. But all options are being considered, including redefining what grades comprise the middle school system. Currently there are 763 students at Hatzic, 725 at Heritage Park and 895 at Mission (plus 128 French Immersion).
Second-degree murder charges A 27-year-old Mission man and a Williams Lake man were arrested and charged in connection with a homicide that occurred in Blind Bay in 2011. Mission’s Jordan Larry Barnes and Williams Lake’s Jeremy Wayne Davis, 24, are each facing one count of second-degree murder, according to the BC RCMP Southeast District major crime unit, which made the announcement Monday. At a press conference in Kelowna, Insp. Terry Kohlhauser said Nicholas Cole Larsen, 24, was shot while travelling in a friend’s vehicle in what appeared to be a targeted attack. Shortly after midnight June 1, 2011, Salmon Arm RCMP members responded to a shots-fired
call in the lakeside community of Blind Bay, located about 20 kilometres west of Salmon Arm. Nearby residents heard the shots and saw two vehicles speeding away. The investigation determined there had been a dispute in Sorrento between two groups of men a couple of hours before the shooting, read a police press release. The vehicle in which Larsen was riding was forced off the road by another vehicle while travelling on Blind Bay Road. An occupant of the suspect vehicle then fired multiple bullets at the other vehicle. Larsen was hit several times and he died a short while later on a nearby friend’s CONTINUED ON 3
Celebrating heritage An Aboriginal Day celebration organized by the Mission Friendship Centre was held at Mission Central Elementary last Saturday. Above, one of the children of Takya, a fifth-generation relative of Chief Dan George, performs The Swan Song and Dance. BOB FRIESEN PHOTO
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