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NEWS: Group takes aim at Gorge Waterway /A5 SPORTS: Team gives Saanich reason to cheer /A15 ARTS: Teachers take stage to benefit refugees /A17
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INVESTIGATIVE SERIES:
Money, science continue to hold readers’ attention Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the Capital SPECIAL REPORT Regional District’s sewage treatment program since 2006, but not all of those expenditures are easily IN TH E accounted for. And taxpayers have since 2013 been contributing to the CRD’s sewage fund, designed to help defray the final cost of the treatment, but the $30 million so far put into that account has been exhausted. In today’s third instalment of our fivepart series, Sewage in the CRD, we look at what’s been spent and what taxpayers are projected to pay for the option currently on the table. In recent days, we’ve also heard from many letter writers who have implored us to address the science behind the need to treat – or not. We hear from a pair of former University of Victoria marine environment specialists about Victoria’s unique ocean characteristics, and describe the various types of treatment communities can undertake. We appreciate the feedback so far and encourage readers to talk about the subject with their family and friends, as well as engaging the politicians who represent them at the CRD board table. See pages A12 and A13
Snakes alive
Rick Corbett of Rick’s Reptile Rescue shows off a Diamond Jungle Jaguar Carpet Python to Dallas Vallee-Labiuk, 6, at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary’s Super Snakes event on Tuesday. The slithery event was part of a week of special programs during Spring Break.
SEWAGE CRD
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Health struggles take financial toll on family Travis Paterson News Staff
Just as quickly as Emma Smith’s face lights up with smiles, it can also turn quiet. The 12-year-old Lansdowne middle school student chatted gleefully on Tuesday afternoon about how many times she’s read the entire Harry Potter series (four) while sitting next to her father Darrell on the living room couch of their Lakehill area home. She also jokes nervously about what it will be like when
her 10-year-old brother Charlie joins her at Lansdowne next year. After three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy treatments, pain killers, brain operations and various medications, the cancer in Emma’s brain and spine just Emma Smith won’t go away. Her family is currently awaiting the platelet count in her blood to restore to the minimum level for yet another round of
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chemotherapy. The best thing Emma’s parents Darrell and Diane can do for now is be with her. For Darrell, it’s meant putting work on hold at various periods since 2012. And now the financial strain has finally caught up to them and the Smiths are unsure where to turn. Yet it wasn’t until Heather Hanson talked to her neighbours in passing recently, that she learned of the financial strain the family is under.
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