December 9, 2015 Wednesday
News updates: westerlynews.ca
Serving Tofino and Ucluelet
$1.25 [including tax]
Bug in Tuff
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
ANDREW BAILEY
Westerly news
a rise in whooping cough has healthcare professionals urging locals to vaccinate their infants. the Vancouver island Health authority (ViHa) has confirmed six cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, in tofino, according to central Vancouver island’s Medical Health Officer dr. Paul Hasselback. “that certainly is not the sort of clustering of disease that we have seen in that area for quite some time,” Hasselback told the Westerly news. “typically we probably would be going many years with no cases or just the odd case that comes to our attention, not this sort of cluster where not only are we seeing six cases but we can actually see where one person transmitted to others.” He said whooping cough is on the rise across Vancouver island with about 300 cases reported this year. “the 300 cases this year is the highest we’ve seen in many years,” he said.
RAINY RELEASE: ukee’s aquarium held its annual release day on a stormy Saturday. PAgE 5
ANDREW BAILEY PHOTO
Construction at Wick Rd. will cause periodic closures this winter as the Pacific Rim National Parks tackles upgrades.
Park pursues winter projects ANDREW BAILEY
Westerly news
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the Pacific Rim national Park is taking advantage of winter’s calm to invest about $5 million into its accessibility and enjoyability. this includes installing a roughly $4 million water system and putting about $1 million worth of roadwork in at Radar Hill. “Parks canada is very excited about the infrastructure projects underway in Pacific Rim national Park Reserve,” Park Superintendent Morag Hutcheson told the Westerly news. “the rehabilitation of Radar Hill Road and day use area and the new water lines are part of the largest investment in See VACCINE pg. 16 infrastructure in the history of the park
reserve…these projects address some much needed rehabilitation to existing assets, and will benefit visitors for years to come.” the Park brought improvements to Radar Hill earlier this year by repairing platforms and installing new benches and it is now focused on improving access to the area by resurfacing the road leading up to it. the roadwork began at the start of december and Radar Hill will be closed to the public until the project concludes around May 2016. “Radar Hill Road was in very poor condition, making it difficult for visitors to safely access the Radar Hill day use area and viewpoint,” Hutcheson said. “the work is being done to address
safety and accessibility issues, including recent sink holes, large potholes, stretches of buckling pavement, and poor drainage.” the Park’s new $4 million water system is being installed between lost Shoe creek and Esowista and construction began on dec. 1. “the construction of the integrated water system will provide a new and safer sewer and water distribution system in the long Beach unit of Pacific Rim national Park Reserve, and includes Parks canada’s contribution to shared infrastructure required to connect the park, local First nation communities and the regional airport facilities to a viable potable water source,” Hutcheson said.
See PARK pg. 3
SANTA’S COMINg: Santa will visit tofino and ucluelet on dec. 12. PAgE 7
SURF SPOTLIgHT: the Westerly’s nora O’Malley catches up with canada’s amateur surf champion. PAgE 11