Progress
The Chilliwack
Wednesday
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Cougar
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Eric Peterson digs for the truth in the docu-drama.
Cougar sightings not unusual.
Chiefs pulling away in race for first place.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • W E D N E S D AY, J A N U A R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 6
Truck crash claims two Chilliwack teens Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Chilliwack is mourning the loss of two 18-year-olds after a single vehicle accident in the early hours of Sunday morning. Connor Dash and Gerritt Niessen were driving over frozen gravel on Ballam Road when the truck they were in left the road and tumbled 20 feet down an embankment into an icy Fraser River. The bodies of both young men were found inside the vehicle, Chilliwack RCMP said. Chilliwack Search and Rescue personnel were called out at about 1:10 a.m., to be on-hand for recovery or should a river search be required to locate survivors, lo The tr trag tragic g gic ssaid SAR search Doug deaths of manager Fraser. conditions these young at Icy the time likely men has factored into the truck going over had an the bank, he said. “It was very impact on slippery since the entire that part of Ballam Road community doesn’t get much if any sun at all,” ~ RCMP Fraser noted. Emergency Cpl. Mike responders working at the crash Rail scene had to tread extra carefully on the iced surface off the gr gravel road. SAR gets called to attend that section of Ballam Road “quite frequently,” said the search manager. Sometimes it’s for motor vehicle accidents, but more often than not it’s to recover stolen vehicles that get dumped in the Fraser. “When we were called out for this one, that was our first thought, hoping that no one would be found in the vehicle, and that it was just another stolen truck. “But tragically that was not the case, and two boys lost their lives. My heart goes out to their parents.” They tried to access the site by deploying the SAR jet boat at first, after
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Continued: RCMP/ p11
Davin Padgham leaves a container of chewing tobacco at a parking lot memorial for Connor Dash at Chilliwack secondary on Monday morning. JESSICA PETERS/ PROGRESS
Friends gather to remember two young men Jessica Peters The Progress They sent them off like only friends could. On Monday morning, hundreds of mourners gathered in Chilliwack secondary school’s parking lot to grieve the loss of Connor Dash and Gerritt Niessen. They solemnly surrounded Dash’s unofficial parking stall, which had been marked off in stones and filled with flowers and candles on Sunday. Dash and Niessen died early Sunday morning when Dash’s truck left Ballam
Road and slipped into the Fraser River. The 18-year-olds were good friends, and shared a love of trucks, motocross and spending time at the river with their large group of friends. Niessen had graduated from high school last June, and Dash was set to graduate this year. On Monday, their close crew of friends stood together to quietly share memories. And an even larger group of mourners included grads of 2015, 2016, teachers, staff, and parents in the school community. Shortly after the morning
bell ran, automotive teacher Kevin Moore choked back tears and addressed the students. “The best way we can honour these boys, is to come inside and further your education,” he said, asking them to follow him inside the school. However, nobody was being ordered to get to class, and the boys’ close friends were given space to grieve. They added empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and chewing tobacco to the memorial. And once the crowd was down to just a few dozen, they lined up their cars and trucks in the parking
lot and proceeded to drive slowly and loudly around the parking lot. They took two slow, noisy, smoky laps around the lot, with drivers, passengers and onlookers crying, smiling and remembering their friends. School administration watched silently, as the procession filled the parking lot with smoke and the remnants of tire burnouts. After an hour of congregating together, they moved onto the riverside for another farewell. A memorial with two crosses has been growing in size there since Sunday. Continued: STUDENTS/ p11
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