Wednesday May 27, 2015 (Vol. 40 No. 42)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
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S O U T H
Inaugural voyage: The City of White Rock’s Under der Sea Fantasy float claimed top spot in its first out-of-cityy appearance in 20 years, in last st weekend’s Hyack parade. i see page 111
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Former board chair agrees to repay contribution to his civic slate, and other expenses
Kwantlen claims criticized by minister Jeff Nagel Black Press
The former chair of Kwantlen Polytechnic University has promised to repay the school more than $4,000 in expenses he billed that included pricey bottles of wine and scotch, and a political contribution to Surrey’s ruling municipal party. Gord Schoberg claimed the expenses, which drew sharp criticism from Advanced Education Minister Andrew
Wilkinson after they were revealed through a Freedom of Information request. “I find it unacceptable for the board of a post-secondary institution to incur excessive costs for entertainment, especially when they involve meetings that are only between board members,” Wilkinson said in an emailed statement, adding he directed KPU to request that Schoberg repay the money.
The biggest expense was $3,500 Schoberg contributed to Surrey First in 2011 during a silent-auction fundraiser for then-mayor Dianne Watts’ party. Schoberg was the financial agent for Surrey First at the time, and for last fall’s civic election, he was spokesperson for the White Rock Coalition. Schoberg has also agreed to repay $125 for a 2011 BC Liberal fundraiser for Richmond MLA John Yap, $180 for
two bottles of 18-year-old Glenfiddich scotch from an airport duty-free shop, and about $370 for two dinners with wine in White Rock in the summer of 2013, with the KPU director who was replacing him as Kwantlen board chair. “What I want to do is repay the amount and hopefully that makes the situation right so that it doesn’t negatively reflect on the reputation of Kwantlen or the i see page 2
Gord Schoberg
Grad camp turns ugly
Peers tend to mess left behind Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Tracy Holmes photo
Andy and Carole Johnston are thankful a neighbour was persistent in her efforts to wake them, after she noticed flames on the side of their house.
Good Samaritan was on way to work when she spotted fire
‘If she hadn’t banged on the door…’ Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Andy Johnston doesn’t know how the story of his house burning would have ended if a Good Samaritan hadn’t gone out of her way to wake him and his wife, Carole, Monday morning. “She saw it and she kicked on the door, banged on the door till we were up and out of there,” Johnston said hours later, standing outside the couple’s badly burned 0 Avenue home. “You never know, if she hadn’t banged on the door, what the results would’ve been.”
Yvonne Bernardy-Dearden told Peace Arch News she didn’t hesitate to act when she spotted flames coming from the side of the Johnstons’ house as she headed west in the 17000block of 0 Avenue just before 6 a.m. Dialing 911 and knocking on the door at the same time, the WestJet customer-service agent said she became more aggressive as she saw the fire “progressively just turning monstrous.” “It was unreal how fast that fire moved,” she said. “Had I gone (to work) a minute later…” Fire crews arrived to find the Johnstons’ home
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fully involved. By the time flames were out, the entire west side was in shambles – its exterior walls and interior ceilings damaged extensively; and parts of the roof collapsed. Inside, two to three inches of water covered the main floor, remnants of the effort to quell the blaze. Exactly what sparked the fire is unclear, however, police say it is not considered suspicious. Chad Johnston said his father called him shortly after his parents made it out of the house. He was “rattled,” he said. i see page 2
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Peninsula high school students – including at least some from Earl Marriott Secondary – were the target of wide-spread criticism last week, after word and photos of a mess apparently left by grads at a Harrison Lake campsite over the long weekend hit social media. But students and others were also quick to defend their peers and the school, urging critics not to judge them all on the actions of a few, and pledging to make things right. “I think we can all agree that what happened is both unfortunate and disgusting regardless of who partook,” Jonah Mandin, in Grade 11 at EMS, posted on Facebook Friday. “… I understand that it really doesn’t matter who was there and who wasn’t. We are a community and we all let this happen, the blame game will not solve any problems. Moreover, I would love to help clean-up and do whatever I can to help make things right. “That being said, I feel that this prejudicial assault against our school is completely unnecessary… We represent a lot more than this isolated event, and I’m sure many of us can’t wait to prove it.” i see page 4