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AIDS Vancouver Island programs and services. PAGE 10
www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015
VOL. 26, NO. 101
Kenmore Air will end service to airport I HARBOUR FLIGHTS and charters continue under U.S. company.
Police investigate the scene of a fire set under the porch of a house near downtown Nanaimo Thursday. Police arrested a man suspected of setting several fires.
BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Fire suspect faces nine charges from incidents BY CHRIS BUSH & KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
Police in Nanaimo have a man in custody who is suspected of setting several fires and threatening people with a knife Thursday morning. Nanaimo Fire Rescue responded to the first of a series of small fires set in some construction debris on the 600 block of Nicol Street shortly before 7 a.m. “A passerby had already put that out with an extinguisher by the time crews got there,” said Capt. Ennis Mond, Nanaimo Fire Rescue fire prevention officer. But in the immediate area firefighters also discovered debris in a shopping cart had been set alight in an empty lot and pine shrubbery was
burned on city property near the Nicol and Robins streets intersection and near the Days Inn about a block away. Two other fires, one also near the Days Inn, reported shortly after 8 a.m., and a fire under the porch of a house at the corner of Finlayson Street and Victoria Road at about 9:30 a.m. were also investigated to determine if they were maliciously set or if they were intended as fires for warmth set by homeless people. Three of the seven fires were set underneath the same dwelling in the 700 block of Nicol Street, but were extinguished by firefighters before significant damage was caused. Firefighters were wrapping up after the Finlayson fire when the same suspect ran into a commercial building
at 55 Victoria Rd. and threatened employees with a knife, but apparently was not targeting anyone or any business, according to a Nanaimo RCMP press release. Police already near the scene rushed into the building, but the suspect fled and ran down Victoria Road toward downtown. He was arrested shortly after 10 a.m. in Port Place Shopping Centre. Martin Arthur Taylor, 54, has been charged with three counts of arson damaging property, three counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, one count of possessing a weapon for dangerous purpose and two counts of mischief $5,000 or under. Taylor appeared in court Friday. editor@nanaimobulletin.com
After just 14 months of operations, Seattle-based Kenmore Air is suspending regular scheduled flight service to Nanaimo Airport. Craig O’Neill, Kenmore Air director of flight operations, said the service will cease on May 4, ending the company’s first attempt at land-based aircraft service to Vancouver Island. “We have reached the decision, with a lot of reluctance, to discontinue the service,” O’Neill said. “We’ve tried it for over a year and just have not seen growth to any kind of passenger count that we would need to consider it economically viable for us to keep going.” The company started operations from Nanaimo Airport on March 3, 2014, with two flights a day, seven days a week, to Boeing Field in Seattle, with nine-passenger aircraft, but was never able to generate enough business to maintain that schedule and cut back to two flights Monday and Friday with one flight on Wednesday. Attempts to find a sustainable schedule never produced the needed passenger numbers to keep the service aloft. O’Neill cited the difference
between Canadian and U.S. currency values as a final blow to the service, but also mentioned it never drew the numbers of leisure travellers hoped for. “We do feel the people who went on it found it worthwhile and really enjoyed it, but they were mainly business travellers,” O’Neill said. Kenmore Air will continue to offer charter flights from Nanaimo Airport and its seasonal floatplane service from Nanaimo Harbour, which runs from May until September. O’Neill said Nanaimo Airport has been a good business partner. “They have been fantastic partners and really turned over every stone with us to try and make it work. We’re very sorry it didn’t pan out.” Mike Hooper, Nanaimo Airport president and CEO, said the loss of Kenmore’s regular flights is not all bad news. “We’re going to continue to work with Kenmore on their charter services,” Hooper said. He added that Kenmore’s seaplane flights to Seattle will enhance air carrier service in the region along with additional Air Canada flights to Vancouver and Calgary starting May 1. “In terms of air transportation in the area, there’s going to be a considerable increase in options people can catch, whether it’s into the States with Kenmore because they’re going to add flights, or if it’s into Vancouver or Alberta. It’s all increasing,” Hooper said. photos@nanaimobulletin.com
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