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Local man named Hero of Ability PAGE 13
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CITY HALL
Council approves $2M for city parks Janaya Fuller-Evans
staff reporter
Eleven city parks, recreation and cultural services projects will go ahead after receiving more than $2 million in funding from the city. The largest of the projects includes upgrades to Burnaby Central High School, with the city contributing $1.06 million from capital reserves. Funding for the capital projects – nearly $2.17 million including GST – was approved by city council at Monday night’s council meeting. The upgrades to Burnaby Central are on track, according to Dave Ellenwood, director of parks, recreation and cultural services. “That facility is going on schedule,” Ellenwood said, adding the other projects were mostly “major maintenance, some fitouts and interior stuff.” The high school project includes construction of joint use indoor washrooms, change rooms, first aid and storage space; a lit artificial field with an eight-lane running track; and a natural turf rugby field. Additional funds for the project are coming from the federal government and the Burnaby school district. The federal recreation infrastructure Canada program is putting $1 million towards the Parks Page 4
Larry Wright/burnaby now
Keeping hope alive: Ron Braumberger has spent three years waiting for more information about his missing son, Bryan. Bryan disappeared on June 1, 2007, and his family continues to hold out hope he will return alive. Ron has a flyer with Bryan’s information on his car, and he regularly replaces old faded flyers in the Cariboo Hill area.
‘For us, it’s like a twilight zone...’ Alfie Lau
staff reporter
It’s an overcast Monday morning, and the living room is dark in Ron Braumberger’s quiet Cariboo Heights home. But even if the sun came out, there would still be little light in the life of the Burnaby sawmill worker. It’s been almost three years since Ron and his wife, Janice, had just returned home from a vacation in Reno when they found out their 18-year-old son, Bryan, had disappeared, seemingly without a trace. The day was June 1, 2007, and Bryan’s
abandoned car was found in the George Derby Centre parking lot. Bryan hadn’t shown up for work, and he hasn’t been heard from since. “For us, it’s like a twilight zone, and we’re in limbo because we don’t know what’s happened to Bryan,” said Ron, who said his older son, Trevor, is also affected by Bryan’s disappearance. “We live with this every day. We wake up with it, we go to sleep with it, but nothing’s changed ... We still don’t know what happened to Bryan.” During the course of a 30-minute interview with the Burnaby NOW, Ron’s emotions run the gamut from disappointment to hope,
but one thing doesn’t change: he hasn’t given up on his younger son, who would be 21 right now. “I have to keep hope alive that he’s still alive,” said Ron. “Only in the back of my mind, a small part in the back of mind, do I think he’s dead. ... It’s only a very small part.” For Ron, talking to the media isn’t easy, but it’s something he wants to do if it can help his family find their missing son. “It’s very hard. Every day when I watch the news or read the paper and they’ve found a body in the river or there’s a body in an The vigil Page 3