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Eliza Olson earns national honour
Getting prepared
Earthquake drill being undertaken across B.C.
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Wedding Planner Help to keep costs in check
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Optimist Delta
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YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL SPORTS, NEWS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT! WWW.DELTA-OPTIMIST.COM The Voice of Delta since 1922 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011
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DSS senior girls off to strong start on court
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Arts council to lose pair of homes Financially strapped non-profit group suffers another blow as it fails to provide Delta with business plan BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
The struggling Delta Arts Council is about to lose control of several municipal-owned facilities. Members were to hold a special meeting yesterday at the Firehall Centre for the Arts in North Delta to learn about the latest development in what’s already been a dif-
ficult two years since the provincial government abruptly halted gaming funding to the group. DAC president Dave Stevens said the membership was to be told the municipality is taking back control of the Tsawwassen Arts Centre and Firehall Centre for the Arts. Direction would be sought whether to accept a municipal proposal to allow the arts council to continue using
the artsSpace building on 84th Avenue in North Delta. Stevens told the Optimist Delta had rejected a counter proposal for a long-term discount on the rent, only offering the DAC use of artSpace, where the DAC would relocate its offices, free for six months. According to the DAC, afterward it would have to pay full rent and the estimated costs to
run artSpace, with one part-time staff member, of approximately $50,000 per year. The DAC, which lost and had to replace 13 board members in one year, had been receiving short-term municipal funding but at a recent parks, recreation and culture commission meeting were told there was an expectation for the group to have a comprehensive business plan by that
point. DAC representatives noted a strategic planning process was underway. “We didn’t disagree with the final assessment where things came to that we were being spread too thin trying to manage facilities and trying to generate income through the facilities,” said Stevens. See ARTS COUNCIL page 3
Family finds dog four years after it went missing Only problem is Cleo now has new owner BY
JESSICA KERR
jkerr@delta-optimist.com
A Ladner family is looking for answers after its missing dog was found years later with a new owner. Four years ago, Jamie Gillespie got up one morning to find his basement door open and his blue-heeler cross, Cleo, gone. He said he called the local animal shelter and put missing dog posters up around town. Cleo had a collar as well as an ear tattoo, so Gillespie said he assumed he would be contacted if the dog was brought to a shelter.
“I just didn’t know what else to do, there was no sign of her,” he said. Last week as Gillespie was driving along Cambie Street in Vancouver he spotted a familiar looking dog tied up outside the Choices Market at 19th Avenue. He stopped, approached the dog and said he was able to identify it as the missing Cleo by the deformed claw on its left front paw, something it had since birth. “It was her, no question,” Gillespie said. He waited outside the store for See LOST DOG page 3 PHOTO BY
LES BAZSO, PNG
Jamie Gillespie and his daughter Kira, 13, show photos of Cleo, a blue-heeler cross that disappeared from the Ladner family’s home four years ago.
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