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Board puts Christ back in Christmas
BY CORNELIA NAYLOR cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com
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hilliwack school trustees stirred up controversy at Tuesday’s board meeting when they unanimously passed a motion to call the school vacation in December the Christmas holidays. The break is currently referred to as the winter vacation on the school district calendar, but trustee Martha Wiens said that’s not what the holiday is about.
School board takes a ‘walk on the wild side’ as it decides to call holiday break what it really is
“We’re not having a holiday because it’s winter,” she said. “We are having a holiday because it’s Christmas, so why not just say what it is.” The school district has used the religiously neutral “winter vacation” because that is what’s used on the ministry of education calendar, according to superintendent Cor-
rine McCabe, but it was unclear at the meeting whether that meant the district was legally required to use the name for the break. Trustee Heather Maahs, who introduced the motion, favoured changing the name first and asking questions later. “I say let’s take a walk on the wild side and unless the legislation says
we’re not allowed to call it Christmas, let’s call it Christmas,” she said. Trustee Doug McKay said he personally preferred to call the break Christmas, but added his vote only after expressing reservations about the inclusiveness of the name. “Christmas is a Christian holiday,” he said, “and we are more
than just a Christian school district. We are a public school district and provide education for all religions and groups.” As for the legal implications, McKay said the board would know soon enough if it had taken a misstep. “There will be people out there that will very quickly share with us that we cannot do it,” he said. Those people were close at hand. Before the end of the meeting, See CHRISTMAS, Page 5
Apt. blaze puts 20 on the street
nearly an hour after the blaze first took hold. Felicia McNama, who lives in an esidents say all humans, but apartment adjacent to the burning not every pet, escaped a fire unit along with her fiancé and twoin a Williams Street apart- month-old son. said she was sitting ment building Wednesday after- in her apartment when she first smelled smoke. noon. “I opened our back door and Around 20 residents and several dogs were evacuated from the you could see smoke billowing burning structure and an adjacent out.” It was coming from the adjacent apartment. She said apartment building. that no alarms sounded, But as firefighters entered and that it was up to resithe building and attempted dents to alert each other to snuff out the fire, resito the fire. “Everybody was dents reported that at least two cats were still missing. EB IRST stomping on floors and An investigation is under First reported on banging on doors.” A hallway alarm did way, but Erin Torrance said chilliwacktimes.com eventually sound, but at the fire appears to have least one resident said she started in her second-stodidn’t have an alarm in her apartrey apartment. Torrance said she was called at ment. Fire officials said that fire and work and told of the fire. “My girlfriend called me and said water damage to the building is my building’s on fire,” she said. extensive, although crews were able “You never think it’s going to hap- to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent structure. pen to you.” The second building’s power Torrance had two dogs and three cats. The dogs, along with a tiny supply was cut, but residents of black kitten, managed to escape, those apartments were allowed to but two cats were still missing See FIRE, Page 5
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
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Paul J. Henderson & Tyler Olsen/TIMES
A Chilliwack RCMP member (above) holds a chilled dog rescued from an apartment fire Wednesday. Resident Erin Torrance (left), who had several pets trapped in the building sobs before being reunited with one of her cats (right).
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