Bowen Island Undercurrent January 25 2018

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THURSDAY JAN 25, 2018 VOL. 44, NO. 03

$1

including GST

Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Emergency Preparation

What you need and need to know

The V-word

Bowen’s Priorities

Hint: It’s not “valentine”

As discovered by the Vital Conversations

Community journalism matters

It may be January but there is still fun to be had at the Lagoon. Heidi, on the left, enjoys a puddle. Seonaid and Iona check out the swan. Meribeth Deen, photos

Islanders shaken by early morning tsunami warning MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR

At 3am on Tuesday morning, Jon McNeil couldn’t sleep. Sitting on the couch, he looked at his phone and saw a coastwide tsunami warning and immediately woke up his wife, Alex. “He said it’s not a joke, he had called 9-11 before waking me and they said they were inundated with calls but didn’t have any details. I grabbed the cat, cat carrier and a carton of orange juice. We called all our friends and neighbours who live near the water and got in the car,” says Alex. “We drove to the heli-pad near the golf course and just kept an eye on the updates on our phones. There were moments where we felt ridiculous because everyone’s lights were out and nobody was responding, but ultimately, we thought it was important to respond.” Alex McNeil says that she has been concerned about earthquack and tsunami preparation ever since moving from

Montreal to Vancouver in 1997. “If anything, this experience showed us how unprepared we are. It took us 10 minutes just to get out the door, and we didn’t even bring water with us,” she says. “That’s unacceptable.” McNeil adds that as soon as she and Jon got home, they started making lists to improve their preparation. Bowen Island’s Municipal Emergency Program Co-ordinator, Jen McGowan, says she did not receive any notification until she woke up and the warning had been cancelled. “Fortunately, it was not serious enough for anyone to call and wake me,” she says. “Tsunamis are absolutely on the list of potential hazards to Bowen Island. Currently, there is nothing specifically about tsunamis in our community’s emergency services plan, but that plan is currently being updated.” For more on preparing yourself and your family for an emergency, see page 11.

HOT JANUARY

As many of you know, the newspaper industry is facing unparalleled challenges in today’s digital world. Many communities have seen their local papers close or faced with reduced publishing frequency or page counts. While the financial woes of your local paper may not concern you, the reality is that the loss of journalists from communities like Bowen Island has real consequence. Many communities across Canada no longer have any journalists attending municipal council meetings, public hearings, school board meetings and defining local events. This leaves a void in terms of holding local government and institutions to account. Without journalists, stories about the accomplishments of youth and volunteers, moments of sporting glory, perspectives of artists, among other things, never make it into the public record. The Bowen Island Undercurrent strives to truly reflect the complex and fascinating community it serves. The paper has had the privilege of documenting life here for decades and we are making plans to do so for many years to come, but we need your support! Today marks a very important day in The Undercurrent’s history. We are taking the bold step of providing a copy of this week’s paper to every mailing address on the Island. Over the years we have faced a shrinking base of subscribers, although our counter sales of the paper at local outlets continues to be strong. With today’s initiative we hope to reintroduce many Islanders to their paper. We want to make sure that every resident of our great community has a chance to evaluate our community paper. Please take time to read our stories, see the pictures and support the advertisers. If you like what you see and read, then help insure the future viability of our paper by purchasing a subscription. We are offering a special rate to encourage you to step up and count yourself as someone who cares about the quality of life here on Bowen. Bring in a receipt from any advertisers business from today’s edition and we will reduce our yearly subscription rate from $45 to $33. Not only does this help insure the future of your community paper but also supports all those businesses that make this island so interesting and great. Communities that have lost their local paper have lost an important local resource, don’t let Bowen Island be one of them. Call or stop by today and tell us you care by purchasing an annual subscription. Purchase one for someone else that may not have the means. Consider buying one for your children as they move off island to find work or pursue their education, keeping their connection to home alive and strong. Peter Kvarnstrom, publisher

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BOWEN BUILDING CENTRE OPEN MON-FRI 7:30 AM TO 5PM. SAT 8 AM-5PM CLOSED SUNDAY 604- 947-9622


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