INSIDE: Bruins find bottom of standings with sixth straight loss Pg. 14 F R I D A Y
February 4, 2011
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Spreading the burn awarness message
E N T E R T A I N M E N T chilliwacktimes.com
Centre site selected
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
C Paul J. Henderson/TIMES
Chilliwack’s health contact centre will be located at this site on Young Road if the deal goes through and city council agrees to the rezoning required.
hilliwack’s long-awaited health contact centre for homeless, addicted and mentally ill men and women finally has a home at the site of a Young Road motel across the street from city hall. Few of the parties involved are talking, but the purchase of the Days Inn by B.C. Housing is in the final stages and a rezoning application has been made to the city. Chilliwack MLA John Les said he couldn’t comment on the project, but said he and Chilliwack-Hope MLA Barry Penner would likely make a formal announcement about the facility by the end of next week.
Drug house goes up in flames
May not like FSAs, but still telling students to write them
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See FLAMES, Page 6
See CENTRE, Page 6
Chilliwack principals caught in the crossfire
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com he neighbours of a Gore Avenue drug house are saying good riddance to a muchdetested home that exploded in flames Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of firefighters worked to contain the blaze, which broke out just after 1 p.m., while uniformed and plainclothes officers kept an eye on the house. A female tenant of the house managed to escape and was taken to hospital, where she was treated for smoke inhalation. Investigators suspect that the fire began when someone carelessly used a blowtorch to try and repair a crack pipe, according to RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop. Blowtorches are also frequently used to light crack in a pipe in
The application for rezoning from tour ist commercial to a new R9 Supportive Housing and Health Contact Centre zone is scheduled to come to city council at the Feb. 15 meeting and, if given introduction and first reading, a public hearing will be called for March 1. Last fall there was concern that a $3 million grant from the province and B.C. Housing had disappeared after the purchase of the downtown Trader’s Inn fell through. “We were concerned about it,” said Coun. Diane Janzen, who has spearheaded the health contact centre project from the city’s side. “I have to thank B.C. Housing and the provincial government—both
tion president Rick Jones. “In our role, we must act on behalf of our executive and our board,” he said. “The FSAs are mandatory, so we still need to have conversations with our parents around that you can’t opt out of them.” The FSA gauges basic reading, writing and math skills in Grade 4 and 7 students, and every year the BY CORNELIA NAYLOR assessment sparks a pitched battle cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com between the ministry of education, which says its mandatory and hilliwack school princi- valuable, and the B.C. Teachers’ pals and vice principals will Federation, which urges parents to continue to urge parents to withdraw their kids because they send their kids to school to say it is a waste of time and write the Foundation Skills because the Fraser InstiAssessment this month tute uses the results to rank despite a statement by the schools. president of the B.C. PrinThe usefulness of FSA cipals’ and Vice Principals’ results has been called into EB IRST question for years because Association (BCPVPA) callFirst reported on ing for an end to the tests. of low par ticipation chilliwacktimes.com Last month, Jameel Aziz, encouraged by the BCTF president of the BCPVPA campaign. said it was time to scrap the annual Last year about 16 per cent of standardized tests and replace them Grade 4 students and 25 per cent with another assessment “that does of Grade 7 students in Chilliwack not have the political baggage or didn’t write the FSAs. rhetoric around it.” As the only people who can offiIn Chilliwack, however, it will cially exempt students from the test be business as usual, according to Chilliwack Administrators’ AssociaSee FSA, Page 6
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Paul J. Henderson/TIMES
The Chilliwack Fire Department put out a blaze at a known drug house on Gore Avenue Tuesday afternoon.
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