FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2015 VOL. 42, NO. 20
$1
including GST
Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM
Grads, grads, grads!
Recognizing the hard work of Bowen Islanders heading on to new things
Last weekend at Terminal Creek Photos from Coho Bon Voyage
Walk-on blues
A plethora of foot passengers throw a wrench in ferry loading
Twin brothers Matthew (left) and Christopher celebrated their third birthday with a trip to the Bowen Island Firehall Open House last Saturday; and Jonah got to put out a real fire with the assistance of firefighter Jeff Dempsey. Meribeth Deen, photos
Municipality commits to first steps Blame it on the deer in battle against Giant Hogweed Drivers often tell RCMP that
MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
J
essie Perry-Cottrell has reason to be nervous of her backyard. The Scarborough resident learned from her downstairs neighbour, Andy Huinink, about a noxious weed growing in her backyard. A year or so ago, Huinink decided he wanted to get more use out of the yard so decided to clear away a patch of weeds. The next day, he went to work outside and developed blisters all over his arm, which had been bare when he cleared away the weeds. Huinik learned the hard way that this plant, best known as the Giant Hogweed, has toxic, photo-sensitive sap that causes blistering, burning and sometimes permanent scars. Perry-Cottrell says that while Huinik has covered the area he cleared with a tarp in an effort to suppress the weed, it has spread along the embankment near the property lines and is even starting to creep towards the gravel pathway to the front of the house. Alex and Euan Sinclair, who live in a property connected tangentally to Perry-Cottrell’s yard said a guest looking through their kitchen window identified the plant and warned them about it a few weeks ago. “She said, I’m pretty sure that’s dangerous, make sure you keep your kids away from it,” says Euan Sinclair. Sinclair said his first course of action was to contact the Invasive Species Council of BC, but they did nothing. Next, his wife called the municipality and asked for help – but was told that they would only remove the plant from public property. So, last weekend Euan Sinclair donned a facemask, long-
sleeved shirt and work gloves and cut the plant down himself. “I have some small blisters in spots where my gloves and sleeves didn’t completely cover me up,” says Sinclair. “It’s hard to cover up properly especially when it’s so hot out.” Parks and environment manager Bonny Brokenshire told council this week that public work crews have recently identified and destroyed Giant Hogweed plants in ditches in the Windjammer area and the Queen Charlotte Heights area; and she proposed a series of first steps in fighting back against the invasive plant. “It’s at a state right now where we can map it, we can attack it. Unlike a lot of invasive species on Bowen, they are past the point of physically eradicating. This species is something we can tackle perhaps through education but at least we can start there,” said Brokenshire. Brokenshire added that with large hollow stems, children have known to pretend the stems are spyglasses and develop burns around the eyes, and even blindness. Islander Bill Granger first reported the appearance of Giant Hogweed on Bowen roughly ten years ago, having found it on Grafton Road and Adams Road. Through his work as manager of parks and environmental services in North Vancouver in the 1990s, Granger was familiar with the plant and how to deal with it. “We found this infestation of weeds in Mosquito and Wagg Creeks running right through North Vancouver and sent work crews out to pull them out,” says Granger. “People on our crews started coming back and complaining of being itchy, and feeling burned...”
continued PAGE 7
accidents weren’t their fault
MARTHA PERKINS CONTRIBUTOR
D
eer seem to be causing a lot of accidents on Bowen, with “seem to be” being the operative words here. In 2014, there were 18 incidents of motor vehicle accidents that incurred damages over $1,000, Cpl. Paulo Arreaga told Bowen Island council on Monday night. Many of those were single vehicle accidents. “We’ve seen cars in the ditch and usually that’s an indication of people driving home drunk but when we do talk to them they say it was a deer that came in front and, ‘Okay, well, no one else saw it so we have to take your word for it.’” Looking over the statistics, which show a 260 per cent increase this category of accidents over 2013, he said “a lot of this is deer. Deer cause damage as well… and late night getting home.” The RCMP tries to curb the number of people who drive when they shouldn’t be, but the timing isn’t always perfect. “I’ve done one shift that I thought, ‘okay, I’m going to work until 5 a.m. and see what I get’ and it was just,”
sigh, “nothing happened. But when it does happen it’s like, ‘Why aren’t we out there?’” Officers will continue to do random road blocks to reinforce the message that officers are out there making sure that no one drinks and drives. “Deterrence is our goal,” Cpl. Arreaga said. “To me it’s a successful shift if we do a road block and don’t catch anyone.” There were seven impaired drug/ alcohol infractions in 2014 compared to seven in 2013. The comparison of statistics between 2013 and 2014 didn’t reveal any startling trends. Total property crime is down 43 per cent, perhaps because there was someone in 2013 causing a lot of the problems. Likewise, an 83 per cent increase in the number of incidents involving someone being intoxicated in a public place – six in 2013 compared to 11 in 2014 — may be attributable to one person. He said was pleasantly surprised that the number of frauds was low (4), since seniors tend to be the target of off-island scammers. There have been 280 calls this year, which is on par for other years.
continued PAGE 7