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TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011
An easy (fuel) cell SFU Surrey campus woos Bollywood, technology sector Matt LAW
Now Contributor
S
imon Fraser University’s Surrey campus is making global connections and some of them could have a big impact on the City of Surrey. Members of SFU’s staff recently returned from India as part of the City of Surrey’s mission to connect with companies that could be potential business partners. The most notable were Mario Pinto, SFU Vice-President Research and Dr. Erik Kjeang, researcher in the School of Engineering Science. Pinto made the trip to connect with members of the Bollywood film industry and establish future internship positions in India for SFU students. “We approached them to see if we could form these linkages for our students. We were very successful because they’re willing to accommodate our international co-op students,” said Pinto. Through these meetings, Pinto also discussed the opportunity for actors and producers from Bollywood to come here. “We had very positive signals that they would like to come here and film. It would certainly be a boon to the city of Surrey,” said Pinto. see GROWTH page 3
❚FATAL CRASH
HEARTBREAKING LOSS Feeling lucky on Friday, victim rights champion was killed on his way from buying lottery ticket
Family and friends say Bob Selig was a “simple, honest man.”
Tom ZYTARUK Staff Reporter
SURREY – A Surrey champion of victims’ rights has sadly become a victim himself. Bob Selig, 80, of Whalley was killed Friday afternoon when his sedan was broadsided by a pickup truck that Surrey Mounties suspect may have blown though a stop sign. The crash happened about two blocks away from Selig’s house as he was heading home after buying a lottery ticket. “Maybe we’ll hit the big one,” he’d told his wife, Pat, as he left for the store. That ticket, she said Monday, is still inside his shirt pocket. Bob and Pat became outspoken advocates of victims’ rights after a man high on cocaine stabbed their daughter, Laurie Wood, to death in 1992, in Cloverdale. “We feel that we owe it to Laurie to try and get some good out of a
terrible thing like this,” Selig said at the time. Wood, 33, had been killed while attempting to save her friend Caren Rainey, who was also stabbed to death. Rainey, 33, was four months pregnant and Wood left behind three young children. The killer was acquitted of second-degree murder but found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison – a sentence Selig considered “ludicrous” and a “slap on the wrist.” The Seligs lent their considerable support to Crime, Responsibility
and Youth (CRY), a Surrey victims’ rights group that was launched by Chuck and Dona Cadman after their son Jesse was murdered in 1992. Chuck became MP for Surrey North and held the position until he died of cancer in 2005. Today, Dona Cadman is the Conservative MP for that riding. “He was a very kind man, very giving,” Dona Cadman said of Bob Selig. “He and Chuck had a very special bond. He was a good guy. He’s going to be missed.”
see SELIG page 3
❚NEW CABINET
Abbott right choice for education: McNally Marisa BABIC Staff Reporter
Simon Fraser University Doctor Erik Kjeang of the School of Engineering Science at SFU Surrey hopes his new, low-cost fuel cell will bring clean energy solutions to people in rural India. ❚PHOTO/Matt Law
SURREY – “George, put out the welcome mat because we’re coming to see you.” That’s the message from Surrey school board chair Laurae McNally to newly appointed Education Minister George Abbott. Premier Christy Clark unveiled her new cabinet in Victoria on Monday. Moments after the news, McNally told the Now she’s pleased with Abbott’s appointment as education minister.
see ABBOTT page 9