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FRIDAY APRIL 29 2016 • 3
Finding happiness at BIRD CAROLINE PARKER CONTRIBUTOR
This spring, Bowen Island Community School’s Parent Advisory Council (BICS PAC) will once again hold a spot in the line-up of Bowen Island organizations whose volunteers box and stack refundables at the Bowen Island Recycling Depot (BIRD). You may have noticed that some of these volunteers radiate a kind of happiness that you wouldn’t ordinarily associate with the handling of stale beer cans. One way to explore the mystery is to see how volunteering for the BICS PAC’s shift at BIRD fits the 10 key steps on the path to happiness identified by Action for Happiness (see actionforhappiness.org) and discussed last fall in BICS principal Scott Slater’s blog (see scottslater.org). Summarized as the acronym GREAT DREAM, these 10 key steps to happiness help to unlock the secret of finding bliss as you box empties. Here is just one interpretation: feel free to imagine your own answers. Giving You are giving your time to raise money for worthwhile projects such as the BICS community playground. Relating You are connecting with your fellow volunteers and island neighbours in a spontaneous way. Friendly eye contact. Frequent grins. The occasional chat with a new acquaintance or old friend. People leaving their smartphones in the car. Exercising As you set bottles and cans in motion on their journey to a better place than the dump, you are working your major muscle groups.
Appreciating You are appreciating that in the glorious Bowen springtime, you have a relatively painless way to do your part. No sweltering heat. No plague of wasps around the juice bin. Trying Out It’s all about innovating and refining your technique as you corral wine bottles of varying girths into a cardboard box. There’s no shame in being a novice. Direction You have a discrete task and two hours to do it. You will never face another more direct and easily achievable goal in your week. Resilience After the first time you realize that you’ve mistakenly tossed a white-lined juice box into the silver-lined juice box mega bin, you know you will bounce back from wading your hand into the juice slime and will be stronger for it. Emotion Your fellow islanders radiate positive energy as they weave around you and sometimes throw a kind word your way. How can you not soak it in? Acceptance Whether you go through your BIRD shift like a Zen master, a chatty bartender, a human sine curve, or Mrs. Tittlemouse, you accept the unique traits that you bring to this noble undertaking. Meaning As a parent volunteer, you are helping your family, your school, your community and the planet. It’s hard to pack that much meaning into two hours of volunteer time, but you’ve done it. Go home, your mission is complete. Don’t forget to wash your hands.
How word of mouth can distort the facts LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
While rumours of a cougar attack spread on Facebook and in the community, it would appear that it was likely the silhouette of a deer that triggered a series of events. According to RCMP Cpl. Paulo Arreaga who attended the incident, two men from off island were hiking and got lost, returning late in the day off the Mt. Gardner trail. “They came down to Mt. Gardner Road and came across the silhouette of an animal crossing the road. They yelled at it, and it didn’t
move.” The men felt that the wisest course of action was to find safety, assuming that the animal on the road was a cougar that was unfazed by the yelling. “They broke into the gas station for safety.” One of the men sustained minor cuts from breaking the window, contrary to any rumour of lacerations from a cougar attack. The man was assessed by a paramedic and did not require stitches. When Arreaga arrived, the men took him to what they described as the exact location where they had seen the cougar. “A deer
was standing in that same spot and didn’t move when I drove up,” says Arreaga. He says that he can’t be 100 per cent sure that there wasn’t a cougar that triggered the alarm, but there is nothing to substantiate the sighting. Arreaga sent a message to the nearby school choosing to “err on the side of caution.” “It’s unfortunate that a Facebook message caused this to escalate. It’s not really news that someone saw a silhouette on the road.” The men compensated the gas station for the damage to the building.
BICS student Malena Dawe and her dad Neil Dawe help out at the recycling centre. photo ISABEL RUEDIGER
Illegal crab trappers fined JANE SEYD CONTRIBUTOR
Two men caught illegally catching Dungeness crabs off North Vancouver’s Cates Park last year have been fined over $3,000 by the courts. The two men were caught illegally fishing for crabs off the pier in January 2015. When questioned by the RCMP, neither of the men was able to produce a license. One of the men was also using three crab traps when the legal limit is two. Altogether the men were in possession of 27 crabs under the required legal size and 21 of which were female – which is also banned. Four
Benefit Concert and Dinner Relaxed evening out for Tir-na-nOg Theatre School hosted by Synergy -Musical guestsMelanie Dekkes, Blake Harvard & Noman Foote with Synergy’s own, Beverly Elliot, Yvonne McSkimming and Mark James Forth
APRIL 30TH AND MAY 1ST | 10AM - 4PM
Donations from $50 per person or more if you wish! June 7th 6-10pm @ The Rowing club Reservations - ph. 9507 Reservations karenlea@telus.net karenlea@telus.netph.2403 tirnanog@telus.net tirnanog@telus.netph.9507 Reserve early for water taxi $25 return
crabs per person is the daily limit for Dungeness crab. Some of those crabs were discovered in a plastic garbage bag hidden in a spare tire of a vehicle belonging to one of the men. Sellathurai Sivakumaran, 38, of Vancouver was fined $1,600 April 4 after pleading guilty to possession of illegally caught crabs and fishing without a license. Sirpavan Kandsamy, also of Vancouver, was fined $1,700 last May after pleading guilty to catching and retaining undersize crabs and for retaining more than the daily crab quota. -courtesy of North Shore News