TUESDAY September 2, 2014 Vol. 29 • No. 70 ••• $1.25 inc. G.S.T.
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ALS Challenge sweeping the Comox Valley
Mack Laing Nature Tree School proposed Plan includes renting Baybrook for $500 a month Erin Haluschak
Scott Stanfield
Record Staff
Record Staff
Haley Jaquemot does not have a personal connection with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. After watching a video on YouTube, the Chatters Salon manager was inspired to organize an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Monday, Aug. 25. Willing participants agree to have a bucket of ice water dumped over their head, in exchange for a donation to the ALS Association. Jaquemot started organizing at work the previous Friday. Come Monday morning, about 60 people showed up at the parking lot outside the Courtenay salon, raising $1,251 for the cause. “I was happy,” Jaquemot said. “The video and the fact that the government won’t support it was one of the biggest things that was bugging me, so I decided I would do my part.” Ice Bucket Challenges are sweeping the Comox Valley. From individuals, to businesses, to larger corporate challenges, such as the one held at the Chatters parking lot, the fundraising fad does not appear to be losing any momentum, more than a month after the first “challenge” was proposed. The Home Medical Shop at 1070 Cliffe Ave. is planning another corporate challenge Friday in their parking lot. “I have that huge parking lot out back,” said HMS owner Paula Granger. “Our best friend’s father died of ALS, so we have been put up for this challenge by them.” To get involved in that challenge, call Granger at 250-338-0903. The challenge has raised in excess of $11 million for ALS Canada (www.als.ca) and more than $100 million in the U.S. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to control muscle movement, which often leads to paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com –With files from Terry Farrell
Jarrett Krentzel believes he has found the ideal location to bring the classroom outdoors. Krentzel represents the Mack Laing Nature ‘Tree’ School — an outdoor educational program which is designed to offer a unique early childhood learning experience for children
aged three to five years of age. He proposed to Comox council at the most recent meeting that the preschool be held at Mack Laing Park and Macdonald Woods, in conjunction with the potential opening of the Baybrook House. “Because the school will primarily be outside, I want to have access to the Baybrook House just in case of extreme weather,” he explained, adding he would pay $500 a month for use of the house.
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Denman, Hornby Island ferry service improvements Scott Stanfield Record Staff
PHOTOS BY ERICA FARRELL
From left; Comox Valley Record sales manager Liz Royer, publisher Zena Williams, editor Terry Farrell and salesperson Elizabeth Tribe complete the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Special thanks to Whistle Stop Pub for supplying the ice.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 2, ferry users will notice refinements to the fall, winter and spring schedules that should provide better connections on the Buckley Bay-Denman Island and Hornby Island-Denman routes. Working with members of the DenmanHornby Ferry Advisory Committee, BC Ferries was able to address issues around sailing and waiting times with schedules that had come into effect April 28.
“We heard feedback that there were some inefficiencies, some things people didn’t like about the schedule,” said Darin Guenette of BC Ferries. “Long wait times or some really tight connection times is the crux of what we were hearing the most.” At times, people were racing across Denman or waiting longer than normal to connect to Hornby. “On Friday nights, the reduced schedule had taken away some late sailings.
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