The Chilliwack
Progress Wednesday
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Sports
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News
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Chiefs
Fuel
Spain
Chilliwack and Coquitlam clash in Round 1.
Price at the pump takes a jump.
Take a musical trip to Spain with the CMO.
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Emphasis shifts to staffing in city budget Proposed tax increase whittled to 1.49% Jennifer Feinberg The Progress A tax rate increase of 1.49 per cent proposed for Chilliwack this year would make it the lowest in the entire Lower Mainland. “It’s the lowest rate we’ve had in 19 years,” said Mayor Sharon Gaetz. It was only lower 1996, iin when the It’s all about tax rate continuing i n c r e a s e was set at on a path zero. e of restraint l o“ o W k e d through ~ Mayor our budget and thought Sharon this is the Gaetz year people could use a break. We are keeping things as lean and trim as we can.” There are hiring plans for extra police officers, with additions over several years, and additional firefighters in the whittled down 2015 budget. Introduction and first readings of 2015 financial plan were scheduled for Tuesday’s council meeting, with an information hearing set for March 17 in council chambers. “It’s all about continuing on a path of restraint,” said Gaetz. “We have excellent amenities and we didn’t create any debt.” The city’s leaner budget also reflects the shift in emphasis from
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JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Crash survivor urges teens to drive with care Jessica Peters The Progress Nobody starts up their car believing they’re going to hurt someone that day. But every year, there are about 90 deaths directly caused by distracted driving. And for every one of those distracted driving deaths, there are family members, bystanders, emergency responders and medical staff who are left to pick up the pieces of a life cut short. Left to try to make sense of it. Heidi Cave is one of those people. Her best friend was killed when their vehicle was hit by a car traveling more than 100 km/ hr in a 60 km/hr zone. They were
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l I was trapped, I was alive, and I was on fire ~ Heidi Cave pushed into a ravine, killing Betty on impact and trapping both girls in their seat belts, upside down. Witnesses scrambled to help, but the steep hill kept help from reaching the car. One man climbed down and sat with Cave, and even as the car became engulfed in flames and his boots began to melt, he held her hand. “I was trapped, I was alive, and
I was on fire,” Cave said, speaking to the grad class at Sardis secondary on Monday afternoon. And she was in that position just because another driver made a choice to race through the streets of Abbotsford. That was 16 years ago, on June 12, 1998. It was easily the worst moment of the young woman’s life. She was saved from the burning car, but lost both her legs
in the devastating crash. While she was in a coma, her parents had to sign papers for the doctors to amputate one leg, which was beyond repair. When Cave had regained consciousness, and learned of her accident, she had to say goodbye to the second leg. “I was devastated,” she said. “This was permanent. I would never wiggle my toes again, or feel my feet on the ground, or even walk normally.” Burns covered 52 per cent of her body — mostly from her torso down, down to the bone in some places — and skin transplants from her upper body to lower body were difficult and tiring. She’s had to learn how to Continued: CHOICE/ p5
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Heidi Cave, who is a car crash and burn survivor, speaks to more than 500 Grade 12 students at Sardis secondary on Monday afternoon.