FRIDAY APRIL 15, 2016 VOL. 42, NO. 63
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Ground rules
Beetlemania
A successful shipwreck
A home built from earth
Bugs with a fan following
The HMCS Annapolis one year later
Logging show chops through lots of red tape LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
Gary Anderson is hard at work preparing the site for his logging show. He had to wade through plenty of red tape to make the event happen. photo LOUISE LOIK
Ferry fix planned for the weekend LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
What used to be a 15minute crossing has become a lengthy ordeal for commuters who are travelling to and from Bowen Island. With one of the motors down, it can take an extra half an hour each way, or there may be a skipped sailing adding to the strain of juggling commuting, family, sports and work. “We recognize it’s a bit of an inconvenience,” says Darin
Guenette, manager of public affairs for BC Ferries, explaining that the vessel has a right rear angle drive malfunction. “One of the four motors broke down.” Guenette says that the boat is designed to work on three motors but it can’t power up to make up for any additional slow-downs. “There’s no contingency, so if there is anything that goes wrong, like congestion slowing traffic in the terminal, it can’t make up lost time.”
For two weeks, commuters have had to live with the late ferries but BC Ferries has no plans to offer discounts to compensate their customers. “We are replacing it Saturday night, overnight,” says Guennette. They will cancel the 6:30 a.m. Sunday crossing to give themselves time to fix the engine. “We’ll be putting a foot passenger water taxi on that run.” He says that because the Queen of Capilano just had its half-life fix it won’t other-
wise be pulled off schedule for planned maintenance this year. There are also no plans for converting this ferry to LNG. Guennette says that it isn’t in the plans for the Queen because “the conversion wouldn’t be economically feasible on a small ferry.” He says that only the big ferries will be worth the cost of the conversion that is currently being done on a C-class ferry in Poland, where two large ferries are being built.
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Gary Anderson decided that his community needed a logging show, and a place for a logging show. He went to Metro Vancouver for approval for a permanent set up in Crippen Park and felt crippled by bureaucracy. Instead, he turned to local council and now, within just a few months, he is well on his way to accomplishing his goals. On Dec. 14, Anderson went to Council asking for 1½ to two acres of parkland where he could clear space for a logging show complete with parking and seating areas. He told them that trying to run the event in Crippen Park during Bowfest, through GVRD was too tedious. “There’s too many policy issues, and no one wants to take responsibility,“ he told council. Disappointed to hear that Bowen also has to adhere to provincial mandates for the park construction, he was encouraged by the general response by Mayor Murray Skeels and council and by the speed at which his application was accepted. Anderson says that he put together the logging show for Bowfest last summer in two weeks, which included getting insurance and installing poles in the ground. He told council that he wanted to stage a bigger event next summer, but that the Bowfest committee wanted to schedule the show into a half-hour slot. The solution was for Anderson to take charge of the situation and find a permanent home for his annual event. Approaching anyone he encountered in the cove, Anderson asked people to sign his petition and got 800 signatures in support of his project, and eventually got his approval to go ahead and wasted no time. He planned for tree cutting to be done before nesting season, and to have his burns finished before the start of burning restrictions. He also wanted the grounds leveled and grass planted before watering restrictions. “There’s no water up there,” says Anderson. As of last week, he was going full tilt, with clearing and burning accomplished. “It’s going to look really different. There’ll be grass over there,” he says, pointing to the centre of the clearing, “and seating up here, with shade.” He’s pleased at how it’s all coming together. “You’ll be able to have all kinds of things here, like weddings and flying a kite, riding a horse, whatever the community wants. Anything.” Last weekend, he organized a country and western fundraising dance at Doc’s that sold out within a few days using word of mouth, and without any advertising. “We’ve got an account set up at the bank here (The First Credit Union) so that people can make donations for the park.” The field is in the area of Josephine Lake, off Salal Road, and Anderson is expecting the park to be ready for action by June.
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