Tuesday August 5, 2014 (Vol. 39 No.. 62)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
Eyes to the sky: Canadian Forces Snowbirds will fly over White Rock Wednesday to raise awareness and funds for CH.I.L.D. Foundation. i see page 9
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Teacher savings to benefit parents
$40/day if strike drags on Tom Fletcher
Wingin’ it
Black Press
Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) executive director Bev Day watches as summer staff member Nigel Marimuthu releases a bald eagle during OWL’s open house last week. The female eagle was identified through its tag as having been treated by OWL 12 years ago. Boaz Joseph photo
Ryan Mooney leaves theatre group after 2009 sex-assault sentence brought to light
Players Club director resigns Alex Browne Staff Reporter
The artistic director of the White Rock Players Club has submitted his resignation to the board, following media reports published Thursday that he has a record as a sex offender. Ryan Mooney, 32 – who has directed numerous shows for the club and his own Vancouver-based theatre company, Fighting Chance Productions – received a one-year conditional sentence in 2009 after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, in an incident that took place in another community in 2006. White Rock Players Club president Angie Koropatnisky said Friday the board is to have a special meeting Aug. 4 to discuss its position on the issue and plans for its upcoming season, in which Mooney has been deeply involved. That includes discussion of the upcoming Players Club/Fighting Chance co-production, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, in which Mooney is a member of the threeman cast. Koropatnisky, who was elected a year ago, said she was not aware of Mooney’s sentence,
although she understands that some board involved in any of the club’s pantomimes. members had known about it. There have also been reports that Katherine “I was shocked and surprised, and disap- Stadel, vice-president and publicist for the pointed I was not told,” she said. club, has also resigned in the wake of the news But she rejects the implication of reports that story, although she had already been scaling have suggested the club was actively recruiting back her participation, as a new mother. young people as volunteers while Stadel would not comment on in full knowledge of Mooney’s the issue, and Koropatnisky said ❝He has never done record. she had not received her resignaanything to make me tion. “There has never been anything that has made me question question his behaviour.❞ But she said she understood anyone’s safety, whether adults that Stadel is upset that her Angie Koropatnisky or children,” she said. general call for volunteers and WRPC president “It’s a family theatre. Safety is encouragement of young peoimportant – it always has been. ple’s involvement had become part of a story “We have very strict policies in place; behav- on Mooney’s past record. iour policies we expect people to abide by. “She’s very hurt that her words were taken When we do have children involved – which out of context and used to attack somebody,” is usually the pantomime, we ask that parents Koropatnisky said. stay with them backstage. That’s not because Mooney’s sentence, handed down Feb. 16, we’re worried, it’s easier to have adult super- 2009, by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne vision, because we’re not here to supervise Silverman, stemmed from an incident that them.” occurred while he was working on a high Koropatnisky and club treasurer Gwenne school play as a choreographer. Farrell said Mooney has not been directly i see page 2 FLY FOR
If the teacher strike isn’t settled by September, the B.C. government will use the payroll savings to pay $40 per missed school day to parents of children under 13, Finance Minister Mike de Jong said Thursday. Negotiations with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation remain stalled after a two-week strike in June that cost the province’s 40,000 public school teachers $12 million a day in salary. That’s the estimated cost of the support program aimed to go to tutoring or daycare for younger children if they can’t go to school. De Jong said older children don’t require as much supervision, and have online options to maintain their studies. The amount was cho- Mike de Jong sen to compen- Finance minister sate families of 300,000 children up to age 12 at no net cost to the provincial budget. De Jong said he hopes the program won’t be needed. BCTF president Jim Iker termed the move “a blatant and divisive attempt to prolong disruption in B.C. schools.” Education Minister Peter Fassbender and school district negotiators say the BCTF’s contract demands are far out of step with other unions. De Jong reiterated that there is no plan to recall the legislature before the fall session. He said the history of imposed settlements on the BCTF may have contributed to the chronic failure to negotiate agreements with the union. NDP education critic Rob Fleming called the announcement a “trial balloon” that suggests the dispute may be months from resolution.
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