INSIDE: Border Services shows off soundproof shooting range Pg. 4 June 15, 2010
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ready to tackle mountains 15 Cyclist 1985-
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LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Waste not this chance Incinerator meeting open to the public
A most unlikely
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
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that I’ll listen to,” she said. “That’s the way I am.” A year ago, when she decided to come back to the REAL program, it was the same thing. Only this time no one was going to tell her she couldn’t graduate. Each student in the REAL program starts the year by setting a goal with teacher Tammy Harmatiuk “I guarantee them that we’re going to yell and scream at each other,” she said. “I guarantee them there’s going to be days they don’t want to be here and days when they do want to be here, but ultimately it comes down to the goal.” Doucette’s goal was to graduate with a Dogwood diploma. Taken aback, Harmatiuk told her to consider carefully what she was asking of herself.
ayor Sharon Gaetz really wants Chilliwack residents to come out tomorrow to voice opinions on Metro Vancouver’s plans to build a wasteto-energy incinerator. But for those whose eyes roll at the notion of providing public input at a public meeting on garbage run by bureaucrats whose minds are likely already made up, there’s a sexier reason to attend: Canadian Idol. Top five Canadian Idol finisher Shane Wiebe from Abbotsford may not be at the EB IRST June 16 meeting, First reported on but Zero Waste chilliwacktimes.com BC organizers will be out front of the public meeting to give a presentation of their own and to play Wiebe’s new song, “Landfill in the Sky,” sung to the tune of Norman Greenbaum’s classic “Spirit in the Sky.” “We are going to throw a little rally outside,” said John Vissers of Zero Waste BC. Gaetz, who has long spoken out against Metro’s incineration plans, will speak at the demonstration Tuesday. “I hope we get people out
See GRADUATE, Page 7
See WASTE, Page 7
Graduate BY CORNELIA NAYLOR cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com
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’m extremely proud of her. I never thought I’d see this day.” At this time of year, those are words you might hear from any grad’s parents. Coming from Danya Doucette’s mom, though, they carry extra weight. A little over a year ago, her daughter’s graduation would have been hard to imagine—jail or death seemed more likely. This Thursday, however, Danya Doucette won’t just be walking the stage at the Education Centre’s commencement ceremony; she’ll be taking the podium as valedictorian. Doucette is one of three students graduating this year through the Education Centre’s REAL program, and her road has been a rocky one.
Jail or death seemed a better bet for Danya Doucette, this year’s REAL program valedictorian Last year she was kicked out of REAL—a one-year transition program for high-risk youth aged 13 to 18 on probation with the criminal justice system. She seemed doomed to repeat a pattern she established four years earlier when she was first expelled in Grade 8 and began on-again off-again attendance at different schools and alternate programs around the district. “Any alternate program—I’ve been there, done that,” she said. Until about age 11, Doucette was “an awesome kid,” according to her mom. By the time she turned 12,
though, she had become angry and unpredictable both at home and at school. At 14, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but by that time she was already in trouble at school and with the law and had started using hard drugs. Doucette’s mom, a police officer of 30 years, knew better than anyone the terrible places her daughter’s choices could lead her. Today, if you ask Doucette what she would say to her 13-year-old self to change the course of the past five years, she’ll tell you words wouldn’t have made a difference. “There’s nothing you can tell me
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