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Annual walk, vigil planned for missing woman LISA MARIE YOUNG missing since June 30, 2002, disappearance.
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BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Joanne Young wonders what her daughter would be doing today and what kind of woman she would have become. Lisa Marie Young went missing June 30, 2002, after she left a house party. A man in a red Jaguar was going to give her a ride to a Subway restaurant and then home, but she never appeared at either location and has not been seen since. Young would have turned 30 this year. “I often wonder if she would be a mom by now or following her dreams of a good career,” Joanne Young said. “She often spoke of becoming a sportswriter or broadcaster – that kind of thing. She loved sports.” A walk and vigil is planned for July 30, starting at Diana Krall Plaza at 2 p.m. Young has named this year’s event Walk with Lisa to reflect the continuing efforts solve the case of her daughter’s disappearance. Last year’s walk and vigil drew about 40 people and Young hopes more will come out this year. In spite of crime re-enactments and other efforts by police to generate tips and leads, no breakthroughs that could lead to solving the case have been made in recent years. “None,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. “It’s still an active investigation.” Still, Young remains hopeful. “The police tell us that they’re working on tips that come in, so that gives us some hope that they’re still working on it,” she said. The walk will follow a route up Skinner Street past Club 241, formerly the Jungle Cabaret, one of the places Young was last seen prior to her disappearance, before winding its way down to the waterfront and Maffeo Sutton Park for a vigil. photos@nanaimobulletin.com
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Nanaimo News Bulletin
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Greens looking to gain ground
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TWO LEADERS visit city for barbecue with party supporters. BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
Threatening grey skies were the backdrop for a Green Party love-in Thursday as federal deputy leader Adriane Carr and provincial leader Jane Sterk spoke at a potluck lunch in Nanaimo. The lunch was held in the backyard of Anne Marie Benoit, a candidate in the recent federal election who announced plans to run in the next provincial election. Sterk said the provincial Green Party is facing an ominous battle in its efforts to ramp up for what could be a snap election call, which she said could take place as early as Sept. 6 for an Oct. 4 election date to not interfere with the scheduled municipal elections in November. “We were working on a fouryear strategy that was based on a May 2013 election, but everything has changed now, that plan had to be tossed out the window,” said Sterk, the party leader since 2007. “No matter what, we need to identify our candidates so they are prepared for a fall election, but anticipate we could go as far as a spring election, a fall election in 2012 or even the fixed election date, which is May 14, 2013. That’s a lot to ask of a candidate and a lot to ask as a team.” In the most recent provincial election in May 2009, the Green Party finished third overall with
TOBY GORMAN/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Federal Green Party deputy leader Adriane Carr, foreground, and provincial Green leader Jane Sterk address supporters at a potluck barbecue in Nanaimo Thursday.
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We proved we can win, we got our foot in the door and we’re not going to let it close on us.
8.1 per cent of the popular vote, but no candidates were elected. Green candidates finished in third place in all 14 Island ridings. Sterk said trying to rally 200 to 600 volunteers per riding to sup-
port candidates to run against NDP and Liberal incumbents is the party’s biggest task. “We need to have these people in place and ready to communicate our policy,” she said. “That’s a huge challenge to accomplish in such a short period of time.” Harold Henn, a Green supporter since 1983, said the party will have difficulty gaining traction if the national media continues to ignore it. “They’ve ignored us, completely left us out of the conversation,” said Henn. “I think our party has earned respect on a provincial and federal level and we’re just not getting it from the media.” The federal Greens have had
more success, but only slightly. After party leader Elizabeth May was elected to the House of Commons in May, the Greens have gained confidence in getting more candidates elected, but they aren’t relying on invites from national TV stations to participate in future television debates. “We’re not counting on it,” said Carr, who helped co-found the Green Party of British Columbia and worked as its leader from 1983 to 1985 and 2000-06. “We put a tremendous amount of resources into Elizabeth’s campaign win, resources we couldn’t possibly provide for every candidate. But we proved we can win, we got our foot in the door and we’re not going to let it close on us.” In the 2011 federal election, Carr finished with 15.4 per cent of the vote to finish in fourth place behind the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP in her riding of Vancouver Centre. She ran federally for the first time in 2008. Wearing a pale green jacket and thumbing away at a bright green Blackberry, Carr told the News Bulletin funding will be the party’s biggest challenge after the Conservative Party eliminated voter-direct financing. “The per-vote and voterdirected financing was a beautiful part and a very democratic part of our voting system and I’m really chagrined to see the Conservatives have maligned and misrepresented the fact that each voter, by voting for a party, sent just a tiny bit of their taxes our way, to a party they voted for,” she said. reporter2@nanaimobulletin.com
Mounties investigating complaint of harrassed jogger BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
A woman jogging on Victoria Road had a disturbing encounter with a man driving a pickup truck Wednesday. The woman, 37, was jogging south on Victoria Road shortly before 8 a.m. when a man in a small older model, two-door burgundy pickup pulled over and
demanded the woman help him fix his cellphone. The suspect yelled forcefully several times demanding the woman stop and help him, but she continued running. “He muttered something to himself or to her, she’s not sure, and then he sped off,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. “He was last seen turning left toward Nicol Street.”
Police describe the driver as being in his 60s or 70s, 5’10”, and wearing a grey or brown buttondown shirt with grey or brown suspenders and a dark jacket. No licence plate number or vehicle make was reported. O’Brien said police fanned out and searched through the area as soon as they got the woman’s report, but so far have not found the truck or driver.
Police did not put out a public advisory about the incident. “It does not mean that we are not investigating it or that we’re not treating it as a priority file,” O’Brien said. O’Brien said there is no relation between this event and others reported recently in the Harewood and Jingle Pot areas of a man in a truck approaching teenage girls. photos@nanaimobulletin.com
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