A House with History PAGE 23
THURSDAY November 13, 2014 • www.langleytimes.com NEWS Kettle Campaign Begins Today
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BUSINESS One Big McHappy Family
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Marching in Remembrance
SPORTS Fundy, LCS Rule at Districts
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Dog walker pleads guilty to charge of animal cruelty EMMA PAULSEN TO BE SENTENCED IN JANUARY MONIQUE TA MMING A Time s Re po rte r
DAN FER GUS ON L an gley Tim es
Cadets marched to the cenotaph in Langley City on Tuesday morning to participate in one of three Remembrance Day ceremonies which took place in Langley. Story and more photos on page 24.
In front of a packed courtroom, Delta dog walker Emma Paulsen pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty and one count of falsely reporting an offense on Wednesday morning. Paulsen initially reported the dogs stolen from the Brookswood off-leash dog park in Langley on May 13, sparking a widespread community search for the missing animals.
But nearly a week later she admitted that the dogs had died of heat exhaustion after she left them in her vehicle on that hot day. She then led Langley RCMP to a ditch in Abbotsford where all six pooches were found dead. Among the deceased dogs was a border collie owned by her ex-husband and children. Paulsen will be sentenced Jan. 21. Files from Black Press reporter Sheila Reynolds
Firefighter’s legacy lives on in foundation MEMORIAL SOCIETY FORMED IN RON DUNKLEY’S NAME WILL SUPPORT SEVERAL CHARITIES
B REN D A AN D E R SO N Ti m e s Re po r t e r
In the four years since his death in a Seattle hospital, the tragic story of Langley City firefighter Ron Dunkley has become a familiar one to many local residents And four years later, it is a story that, for his family, finally comes the closest they will likely ever get to a happy ending. Dunkley was in the U.S. city in November, 2010 to attend a Seahawks game when, on his way back to his hotel, he stepped between the cars of a stationary train and into the path of a moving locomotive. He was taken to hospital with catastrophic injuries and died 60 days later, on Jan. 4, 2011.
During the weeks Sandy Dunkley sat at her son’s bedside at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Centre, the songwriter who was then living in Nashville, with her husband Gene, struggled to make sense of it all. After two long months of ups and downs, of surgeries, amputations and a litany of treatments, of visitors welcomed and songs sung around his bed, her son who fought so hard to live, had passed away. Sandy still recalls her conversation with Gene as they walked along the hospital corridor that winter day, knowing already that while Ron was gone, his legacy had to live on in one form or another. “I said, ‘This can’t be the end. He’s only 34, it can’t be over,’” Dunkley recalled.
A Vote that Counts on November 15th! Re-elect Charlie Fox (independent) Re-elect
Charlie (independent)
✔ Community Minded ✔ Independent ✔ Resident for 41 Years ✔ Proven Leadership ✔ Supporter of local agriculture and business
Check the box for Charlie Fox! Platform Details at: www.reelectcharliefox.ca
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“We’ve got to do something good. Something good has to come out of this.” Last August the Ron Dunkley Memorial Society was officially established. Its motto — One life touches many. A registered charitable foundation, the RDMS will raise funds for a number of causes — the B.C. Professional Firefighters Burn Fund, Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, Canadian Blood Services (a blood drive has been held in Ron’s name each year since 2011) and University of Washington Medicine among them. Although the foundation will focus for the most part on charitable causes in B.C., it was important to the Dunkleys to include the UW Foundation because, al-
though they can’t be certain, they believe they have a huge debt to repay. In 2011, still reeling from the loss of their son, the couple was hit with another blow — this one, financial. During the two months he spent in hospital, Ron’s medical bills had climbed to US $2.7 million. The doctors, the hospital, the university, the anesthesiologist, all had to be paid. Dunkley recalls opening a single notice in the amount of $173,000 — due immediately. Blue Cross would cover the first $1 million, they learned, but had the Dunkleys sold everything they owned, they still couldn’t have covered the balance.
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