POSTED SEP 8/10

With visits from Michael Ignatieff, and Bob Rae the federal Liberals have been making a big splash in local ridings lately -- today, this week the governing Tories are getting their turn.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in the Mid Island area: He's visiting the VIU Centre for Shellfish Research in Deep Bay, and stopping in Nanaimo to make an announcement about the Cruise Ship Terminal project...
The announcement will come after a public open house on the project... Nanaimo Port Authority President Bernie Dumas says he's expecting a lot of questions about things like environmental and visual impact.
The open house is from 2 to 3 at the Port of Nanaimo Centre -- the Prime Minister's announcement is slated for 3 at the Assembly Wharf.

On the Sunshine Coast, BC cabinet heavyweight Stockwell Day is stopping in Gibsons for an announcement on the latest project approved for Howe Sound Pulp and Paper under the Pulp and Paper Green Tranformation Program. Both HSPP and Harmac in Nanaimo have qualified for Green Transformation money.
Day is heading to the Island to join the PM after the Gibsons stop.

POSTED SEP 8/10

Gibsons council has made a couple of potentially controversial decisions on tax relief...
It voted last night to reduce the tax exemption offered to the Good Samaritan Society's Christensen Village assisted living facility from 100 per-cent to 50 per-cent...
The reasoning is that that housing component of Christensen Village is turning a profit...
And the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society will loose its tax exemption for the Thrift store it recently purchased on North Road.
Mayor Barry Janyk says the Society uses the store to raise money for its operations all over the Sunshine Coast -- not just Gibsons, and the Town shouldn't be asked to support it alone. He also concedes the decision could be changed based on discussion at an upcoming committee meeting...
Both groups plan to appeal the decision... which is part of a growing trend in BC of local governments being more restrictive in offering property tax exemptions.

It looks like full steam ahead for the new RCMP building planned for upper Gibsons... although the Town still needs to hear from voters...
Last night Council approved a bylaw to borrow 2.3 million dollars to get the project underway
That loan bylaw does still need to pass an Alternate Approval Process - a sort of reverse referendum, where people who object have a chance to try to block the decision...
But Town officials are confident, and may even put the work out to tender this week.

In another note from last night's council meeting, the street dance traditionally held on Saturday night during Sea Cavalcade may be held at the Gibsons Community Centre next year.
Due to an increase in underage drunkenness and violence this year the Town is looking to find ways to deal with rowdiness at the popular festival, and moving the event indoors at a more controlled location is just one of the options.

POSTED SEP 8/10

Sunshine Coast RCMP are warning of a door to door scam they say has already cost one elderly target 17-thousand dollars.
Investigators say a man has been approaching older people and offering to do some repair and reno work on their homes -- he asks for a cheque to cover the cost of materials. But never does ANY work.
RCMP also say it looks like the same suspect has tried this on the Lower Mainland... and was even handed a conditional sentence tied to case in 2008 where the victim lost 36-thousand dollars.
Police say they want to hear from anyone who thinks they've been a victim of the scam or has any information...

POSTED SEP 8/10

More than a month after being charged with murder in the shooting death of his father Brendan Menard of Nanaimo is free on bail.
Menard was accused of second degree murder after 52 year old Tony Menard was shot several times while on a family outing July 4th.
A date for his trial is still to be set..

POSTED SEP 8/10

Nanaimo's Crime Reduction Unit is claiming another success in stopping graffiti....
RCMP in the city say they managed to find out the identity of a prolific tagger and get a warrant to search his home... They carried out that search late last week.
The 23 year old man now faces several mischief charges.
Constable Gary O'Brien of Nanaimo RCMP says they don't treat graffiti tagging as a victimless crime -- he says it costs thousands of dollars to clean up, and police are aggressively going after those responsible.

UPDATE SEP 7/10

RCMP report nothing was found during an aerial search of the Yellowhead area on the weekend

POSTED SEP 6/10

RCMP in BC and Alberta are trying to find 81 year old May Milling of Gibsons.
Milling was on the return leg of a trip to Jasper and was supposed to stop to visit friends in Kamloops on Thursday but did not arrive on schedule.
RCMP have been searching an area along the Yellowhead, the main highway between Jasper and Kamloops.
Millng was driving in a blue 2009 Buick Lucerne with BC plate 147-LHF.
RCMP say they're hoping holiday weekend travellers on the Yellowhead may see something that helps in the search. There's nothing at this time to indicate foul play, and police are working on the theory Milling may have crashed her car. The roadside in the area is covered in dense bush, which could make it hard to spot a car that's gone off the road.

POSTED SEP 7/10

It's the first day of school in BC... and many students in this area are getting the extra help they need thanks to a couple of fundraising efforts.
Telus says its "Kits for Kids" program is going to provide needed school supplies for some 200 Sunshine Coast elementary school students this year.
And the Nanaimo Ladysmith Schools Foundation is working on its Stock the Lockers campaign with Staples...
The Foundation says Nanaimo-Ladysmith has one of the highest proportions of students living below the poverty line in the province.
The Stock the Lockers campaign has a goal of raising 50-thousand dollars to help those students with supplies and fees for things like music and sports programs. The fundraising deadline is September 9th.

POSTED SEP 7/10

The Halfmoon Bay Coast Guard Auxiliary is getting ready to put a new search and rescue vessel into service.
The plan is to station the new Zodiac 733 in Sechelt Inlet to serve the Inlet and its various branches, with the goal of improved response time.
Unit 12 leader, Bob McKee, says that improvement will be dramatic... cutting a time of 45 minutes (in good seas) just to get through the Skookumchuck to 30 minutes maximum.
The boat is sitting in Victoria right now, being retro-fitted with the proper equipment.
McKee says it's hoped it can be ready for use by the end of September.
And, Unit 12 isn't the only one in the area waiting for a new boat... The Nanaimo Auxiliary Unit has a new, enclosed, rescue boat nearing completion.
The half-million dollar vessel is also expected to be ready by late September or early October.

POSTED SEP 3/10

The new school year starts on Tuesday, and it's going to mean a big change for BC's youngest learners... All Day Kindergarten.
The Education Ministry is spending around 280 million dollars over the next 3 years to help School Districts get the program up and running... and Districts in our area say things look good for the first year.
Nanaimo Ladysmith School District Assistant Superintendent Chris Southwick says they're expecting more than 500 students in the 18 schools offering All Day Kindergarten..
And, she says the District has done everything it can to help their staff, the parents and the students prepare....
Sunshine Coast School District Superintendent Deborah Palmer says her district is prepared for the possibility that some students will have to ease their way into a full day and they're willing to work with parents who's children might need to go home early for the first little while as they adjust.
Almost all Sunshine Coast elementaries are offering All Day Kindergarten this year, the only exceptions are Roberts Creek, Halfmoon Bay and Cedar Grove.
Palmer says the preparations for All Day K have also enabled the District to recall some teachers facing lay-off.

POSTED SEP 3/10

A 12 year old boy whose run-ins with police became public earlier this summer is going to have to remain in custody.
The boy was charged last month in connection with a robbery using a replica handgun. Nanaimo RCMP say leading up to that incident they'd had more than 100 dealings with the boy.
Both his mother and police have been saying they're trying to get the troubled youth the help he needs.
Children under 12 cannot be charged with crimes in Canada -- and that can sometimes limit the programs they're able to access.
The boy will remain in custody until September 16th when his bail hearing on the robbery charges will resume..

Nanaimo RCMP are also releasing details of another youth arrest.
This one happened August 24th...
Police and Nanaimo Fire Rescue were called out when someone setting off flares caused a fire in a hedge near a home in the 500 block of Bradley Street.
A 15 year old boy has been charged with mischief.
There's no word on whether this incident is connected to a similar incident in nearby Bowen Park the day before.. in that case police found spent flares, but there was no fire.

POSTED SEP 3/10

Amid a claim from the Centre for Policy Alternatives that some Canadian housing markets are in a bubble... Real Estate Board stats for Nanaimo and the Sunshine Coast show a market that's relatively steady... and still not back to the price benchmarks of a year ago.
In Nanaimo the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board says the average price for a detached home in August was about 1 per-cent lower than a year before. The number of homes sold is down 39 per-cent.
On the Sunshine Coast, where the numbers are tracked by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, average prices are down about 4 per-cent, but August sales were the same as 2009.

POSTED SEP 2/10

It wasn't the welcome back from Summer break Sechelt Councillors had been hoping for... More than 200 people, a lot of them angry, crowded the Seaside Centre last night to hear councillors re-consider their support of controversial changes to Highway 101 through Davis Bay.
More than 3-thousand people signed a petition opposing the plan to widen the road on the ocean side, and install left turn bays and a light at Davis Bay road.
It would mean the loss of some parking, a handful of seaside benches, and a smaller buffer between the road and the popular Seawalk.
Council voted in favour in July (with Janisch and Thirkell opposed), but given the growing public anger, Mayor Darren Inkster asked for a reconsideration vote. But he's in Europe on a family vacation right now and couldn't attend last night's meeting to cast a vote of his own.
The Ministry of Transportation had a chance to defend their plan... and Jay Porter pointed out that widening the highway on the land side didn't go over well at a June open house, especially the potential expropriations and tree cutting.
What most of the public at the meeting seemed to want instead was a by-pass route, or for the money to be spent on the Selma Park section of the Highway.
Councillor Alice Lutes continued her support of the plan... pointing out that a by-pass in the area is not in the cards, and even if it was built most traffic would still go through Davis Bay - especially summer tourist traffic.
In the end Council voted against the plan it had backed in July -- with only councillors Lutes and Ann Kershaw in Favour.
Councillor Keith Thirkell's attempt to get formal support for switching priorities to Selma Park was also rejected.
Some of the cash for the Davis Bay work is tied to the federal stimulus program -- and if the work isn't done by March 31st 2011 the funding will be withdrawn.