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Reading the signs
The flying drunk
The News’ Michelle Hopkins gets a glimpse into her future, courtesy of an experienced psychic and tarot card reader at the Lansdowne Centre.
Tim Horton’s customers raced to help a drunk driver, who was lucky to be alive after her car struck a median, sailed through the air and uprooted a tree.
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Snow crews focus on flood Canada Line’s late-night stall not weather related BY A LAN CAMPBELL
acampbell@richmond-news.com
The City of Richmond didn’t wait until it was too late to react to Tuesday night’s heavy snowfall. Around 15 centimetres of snow fell over Tuesday into Wednesday, quickly turning into heavy slush as the mercury rose and drizzle kicked in. But in a measured proactive effort, city teams were out in force early on Tuesday evening to prepare roads and access points for the expected conditions come the Wednesday morning commute. The city declared a “stage 3” snow response at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with more than five centimetres of snow forecast at the time. City crews were out on Tuesday afternoon pre-treating first priority routes, community centres, fire halls and city hall. The pre-treatment was complete by 3 p.m. that day. The city’s snow removal fleet of 11 trucks, four backhoes, two bobcats and a holder (which is used to attend to pathways) was then prepared and on standby. And the entire fleet was on the roads by 8 p.m. and worked throughout the evening, plowing first and second priority routes using
200-250 tonnes of salt. By Wednesday morning, snow removal trucks were cleaning up some remaining areas and starting on third priority routes. At that point, the city turned its attention to preparing for the rain, melting snow and the potential for flooding. At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the transition from snow removal to flood prevention began as 15 to 18 crews started clearing catch basins, gutters and storm inlets at pump stations. A city press release said, “All efforts will be continued throughout the day and the situation will be reassessed this afternoon.” Unlike during the last heavy snowfall in November, the Canada Line experienced only one minor service interruption Wednesday morning, unrelated to the weather. However, around midnight on Tuesday, passengers en route from Waterfront to Richmond had to be bussed over the river from Marine Drive station after a train stalled just before getting onto the Fraser River bridge. Jason Chan, spokesman for the line’s operators Protrans BC, said a train had “timed out” just before it entered the bridge. “When a train takes too long to respond to propulsion, it times out and is unable to move,” said Chan.
Five, count them, five ... That’s how many times Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has been in Richmond in just over a year. He was speaking to a luncheon at the Shiang Garden Restaurant Thursday.
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with no explanation of what was going on. “There was no staff directing people, nothing,” said Lisa Forrster. Chan said that passengers on the stalled train were stranded for half an hour before a crew pulled the train back to a station.
Student’s work experience in school under appreciated: Report BY R YAN I NGRAM Special to the News
The Richmond school district should reinstate a career counselling committee composed of community members and stakeholders. It should also consider developing co-op opportunities for which students can get credits. These are just a couple of the recommendations presented to various stakeholder groups this fall, following a review of the district’s career education
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program. The review was undertaken last spring in response to concerns that, although the program is viewed as a valuable opportunity for students, in some cases, it has failed to flourished. The question is, why? The report found that the biggest challenge the district is up against in promoting it’s career program, is an attitude held by parents and students, that anything but university is a fail. “The lifelong benefits of a career in a traditional trade to both the learner
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and the community are not always understood or are under appreciated,” writes the report. This attitude must be addressed if the programs are to be successful, it states. That can begin with educating students about careers at a younger age. The district also needs to dispel the myth that focusing on a trade will limit a student’s academic opportunities. Students and parents must be convinced that such explorations augment, rather than restrict a student’s learning. see Parents page 5 07283111
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“There were a few people on board for a period of time.” Chan added that the “timing out” was a rare occurrence. The wife of a passenger trying to get home from work, said her husband was forced to get off the train at Marine Drive
Career program has attitude problem
CHUNG CHOW/ RICHMOND NEWS
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CHUNG CHOW/RICHMOND NEWS
The Canada Line had only two, relatively short delays, neither related to weather, during this week’s heavy snowfall.