THURSDAYOCTOBER 15, 2015
Black Press C O M M U N I T Y
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M E D I A
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General Excellence
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
DOWN TO THE ELECTION WIRE
It’s National Disability Awareness Employment Month
News you can use on page A5, editorial on page A10 and four pages of letters!
A6
INSIDE
ANIMAL NEGLECT IN PARKSVILLE
Man gets 10-yr ban SPCA protection officer calls it ‘profound neglect’ CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
A 23-year-old Parksville man has been banned from owning animals for 10 years after forcing a 14-month Alaskan Malamute to live in what SPCA investigators called “deplorable” conditions in a home along Corfield Street. Nathan Boire pleaded guilty last week in Nanaimo Provincial Court to causing an animal to continue to be in distress. SPCA senior animal protection officer Tina Heary said constables found the female dog named Effy being forced to live in a shed covered in feces and urine. “There were One of her legs was swollen c o u n t l e s s at a joint, angled mounds of exirregularly. She was not crement,” said walking on the pads of Heary, noting her feet. it was difficult TINA HEARY to determine how long the dog lived in such conditions. “Some of the waste matter was old and mouldy, some were fresh piles, there was urine throughout the area… It was certainly difficult for us to walk in there without (stepping in) it.” Heary said the case illustrates “profound neglect” of an animal. “One of her legs was swollen at a joint, angled irregularly,” she said. “She was not walking on the pads of her feet, she was trying to walk on her knuckles.” Heary said the owners admitted the dog had never been to a vet and voluntarily surrendered her to the SPCA.
CANDACE WU PHOTO
FACING YOUTH: Courtenay-Alberni candidates for Monday’s federal election faced a crowd of high school students on Tuesday at Kwalikum Secondary School in Qualicum Beach (above) and Ballenas Secondary School on Wednesday. For more from the event at KSS, and for information on where and when to vote in your community on Monday, please go to page A5. Also, check out today’s editorial on page A10 and make sure you bookmark www.pqbnews.com on your computer, phone, laptop and tablet to get the latest results and reaction on election night.
MEANWHILE, IN PROVINCIAL POLITICS
Changing the boundaries MLAs will vote on the recommendations which would be in effect for the 2017 election CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
Parksville’s provincial electoral boundaries may stretch northward. A final report released last week by the British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission proposed
an extension to include Dashwood in the current Parksville-Qualicum provincial riding. The report said the areas surrounding Nanaimo including Parksville Qualicum Beach are experiencing “moderate” population growth. “These areas share ties and… combine various communities in one electoral district,” states the report, which was made public Friday morning. “The changes we propose address the growing population in this area and respond to requests to unite af-
filiated communities.” The report proposes changes to 48 of the current 85 districts, while also proposing two additional electoral districts in Richmond and Surrey. According to the report, most of the suggested changes are relatively minor including adjustments to better align the boundaries to roads, administrative boundaries and natural geographic features. MLAs will vote on the recommendations which would be in effect for the 2017 election.
See DOG ADOPTED, page A9
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