TUESDAY APRIL 28, 2015
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Silver 2013 General Excellence
A SERIOUS REMINDER
GATHERING TO REMEMBER
Recent shakes put some focus on emergency preparedness
Battle of the Atlantic’s 70 anniversary is the focus of event Sunday in Lantzville
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Phoenix to move Closed in Parksville; looking at communities close by CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
Phoenix Pain Management Society — Parksville’s medical pot dispensary that was raided and shut down by Mounties earlier this month — may be moving to a neighbouring community. “We’re going to try to be welcomed into a community close by Parksville,” confirmed the dispensary’s managing director Akil Pessoa Friday morning from Nanaimo. While he declined to say what neighbouring community he intends to set up shop in, Pessoa offered “we want to make sure everything is hammered down, that we’ve dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s” before making a presentation to a local council. He said North Nanaimo and locations surrounding Parksville are options for the dispensary’s new site, noting Parksville isn’t out of the question either. This comes after Oceanside RCMP raided Phoenix’s dispensary at the end of Middleton Avenue April 2, seizing dried marijuana, marijuana derivatives and cash. Police arrested Karl Mitchell, one of the dispensary’s volunteer staff members, who was later released on a promise to appear in Nanaimo Provincial Court. The building remains empty with a bright red city bylaw notice on the front door stating: “this property has been used in respect of the manufacture, ingestion, use, sharing, sale, trade, or barter of a controlled substance.” Last week, the City of Vancouver made headlines with city staff ’s proposal to enact regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries, of which the city has approximately 80. See MAYOR, page A9
JESSICA SKELTON PHOTO
RETURN OF THE RIDES: Layla Charlie, centre, was all smiles while on a ride called The Himalaya at the Western Weekend in Coombs this past Saturday. Aside from the midway hosted by West Coast Amusements, the weekend also featured barrel racing, cattle sorting competitions and a dance on Saturday night.
FOOD TRUCKS IN PARKSVILLE COMMUNITY PARK
Chamber has rotation plan JOHN HARDING
pads built by the city to replace the old concession. “We are ready to go the day after they (city council) approve,” said Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce executive director Kim Burden. “We expect to be successful.” The city decided last year to close the concession in Community Park, using the space to expand the wash-
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Food trucks replacing the concession in Parksville Community Park, an idea that looked like it was going to fail, may be rescued through a plan developed by the local chamber of commerce. The chamber says it has five food trucks ready to rotate through the two
room/changeroom facilities at a cost of more than $300,000. That left the park — home to one of Canada’s most expansive and popular beaches — without any food options. The city decided to build two pads serviced with water and power and call for bids from companies wanting to rent those pads.
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