Friday
December 4, 2015 (Vol. 40 No. 97 97) 7)
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Dames are back in town: wn: South Surrey’s Pavilionis sisters rs have put a modern spin on a classicc for this year’s Christmas pantomime, as Cinderella opens at White Rock playhouse. se.. i see page 33
Views cited by Chesney
Tree motive argued Melissa Smalley Staff Reporter
Tracy Holmes photo
Marilyn Koyanagi (top) and Shirley Zimmerman show some of the items that have been donated since her appeal to friends and family last week.
Call for help hits home for South Surrey family as donations mount
Acceptance ‘makes for a better world’ Tracy Holmes
ing room and home office were piled with bags coming here. The response we’ve had has been and boxes full of all manner of items, and the overwhelming, and it really shows there are a offers to give more haven’t let up. lot of people that want them here,â€? she said. “It’s just been snowballing,â€? said friend Shirley “This shows the majority of people are very Zimmerman, as she and the Koyanagis pre- caring and very giving.â€? pared to sort items for baby “kitsâ€? that will be Koyanagi noted that if Canada had been less distributed through the Mennowelcoming to refugees years nite Central Committee in bags â??The response we’ve had ago, “we would not have a son.â€? handmade by the two women. In 1980, the couple adopted has been overwhelming, Each will be stuffed with two and it really shows there a six-week-old boy whose parsleepers, two nightshirts, four were among the thousands are a lot of people that ents diapers, four safety pins, a bar of of Vietnamese “boat peopleâ€? want them here.â?ž soap, a receiving blanket, a cap who came to Canada in 1980. and a pair of socks. Now 35, Mathew Koyanagi Marilyn Koyanagi Koyanagi said the outpouring donated “quite a large chunkâ€? of support for the effort backs her assertion of his wardrobe and other items to his parents’ that reported opposition to helping the refu- drive. gees is not reflecting the true picture. Many He said by email that his views on the crisis people want to help, she said. are not limited to just Syria, “but to all refugees “There was such negative press about the from around the globe.â€? number of people that didn’t want the refugees i see page 4
Staff Reporter
A South Surrey effort to rally supplies for Syrian refugees who are coming to the city has received a response beyond anything imagined, organizers say. “It just kind of exploded,â€? said Marilyn Koyanagi, of an appeal for winter coats issued last week through social media and a flyer. “We have a living room full of bags‌ clothing, household items, lots and lots of bedding, lots of winter clothing, coats for all ages, baby things.â€? Koyanagi said taking on a charitable project at Christmas is an annual tradition for her and her husband, Shiro. Thinking of the hundreds of Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Surrey by the end of February – the federal government has committed to settle 25,000 nationwide – Shiro suggested they focus on a coat drive, to help them keep warm. Within days, the Koyanagis’ living room, din-
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Residents and at least one city councillor are looking for answers after the latest round of ‘vegetation removal’ along White Rock’s Marine Drive hillside. City staff say the work, which launched in the spring, was necessary to “maintain slope stability,� however, Coun. David Chesney, a longtime opponent of tree removal on ‘the hump,’ told Peace Arch News this week he believes the city has been “disingenuous.� “It’s to improve the view for some of the people on the hillside,� Chesney said Wednesday. “Why don’t they just come straight out and tell the people in the community, look, we made a promise and told these people we’re going to take these trees out and we took them out. End David Chesney of story.� councillor In letters to PAN and in comments online, residents have described the state of the hillside as “so sad,� “despicable� and “devastation.� Greg St. Louis, the city’s director of engineering and operations, did not return phone calls on the matter but in an email to PAN sent late Wednesday evening, he said his department’s “primary focus remains on the reconstruction of the Marine Drive retaining wall and eradication of invasive species.� He said that in undertaking the work, crews uncovered a retaining wall in poor condition that was not known to the city or listed on previous reports. i see page 4