INSIDE: Maahs calls for school board to have more say in hiring Pg. 7 F R I D A Y
April 15, 2011
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Search for sasquatch an enduring mystery
N E W S , S P O R T S , W E A T H E R & E N T E R T A I N M E N T chilliwacktimes.com
Strahl a no-show for debate
Keith still angling for WHL team for Chilliwack
NDP, Libs take opportunity to say they’ll be there for voters
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes
T
he group working to replace the Chilliwack Bruins at Prospera Centre next year is still focusing its efforts on securing a Western Hockey League franchise, according to one British Columbia Hockey League owner. Bob Sales, a minority owner of the up-for-sale Quesnel Millionaires, told the Times that he called Glen Ringdal, a consultant working with Prospera Centre operators Moray Keith and Jim Bond, on Wednesday to see if there was any interest in Keith and Bond buying the Millionaires and moving them to Chilliwack. But the Chilliwack group has not made an offer for the Millionaires, and Sales was left with the impression that the group is still concentrating its efforts on finding a Western Hockey League club. “I think they’re more interested in a Western Hockey League team than they are a B.C. Hockey League team,” said Sales. “That’s the only reason I phoned them, because I heard that the Chilliwack Bruins were leaving.” Sales was one of 15 locals who bought shares in the Millionaires two years ago when the franchise looked to be on the brink of folding. The hope was to provide the team a lifeline while the city angled for provincial and federal dollars to build a new arena. Now, 24 months later there is still no new rink, the Millionaires drew sparse crowds throughout the season and the playoffs, and Sales said owners have “lost an enormous amount of money in the two years time since we took over the team.” See BRUINS, Page 4
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
Tyler Olsen/TIMES
Chilliwack Fire Department education officer Lisa Axelson holds a melted smoke detector that was mangled after alerting its owner to a kitchen fire Monday.
Kitchen nightmares
Last Friday, firefighters arrived at a Promontory Heights home to find a kitchen fire extinguished but having caused upwards of $20,000 of damage to the house. That blaze also broke out after the contents of n a wall hung a grotesquely twisted smoke a pot left on the stove broke out in flames. detector while on the stove sat a pot still conAnd firefighters also recently responded to a kitchen taining three pale eggs. Nearly everything else fire in which an elderly woman left a pot on the stove, in the kitchen was black, a reminder that cooking can which set off a smoke alarm while be a dangerous activity. the woman was in the shower. That Fire officials are urging people “Kitchen fires are one fire caused only smoke damage. to take care in their kitchens after of the leading causes “Kitchen fires are one of the learesponding to three kitchen fires in the span of a week. of fire in Chilliwack.” ding causes of fire in Chilliwack,” said assistant fire chief Ian JoseThe latest—the one sparked by unattended eggs boiling on a Ian Josephson phson. And they’re almost always preventable. pot—erupted Monday evening in The easiest way to avoid such an Evans Road mobile home. a fire is simply by not leaving the kitchen while The fire destroyed the kitchen and caused smoke something is cooking on the stove. Smart phones, damage throughout the trailer Monday evening. television or a computer can cause a person to forget The elderly woman who lived in the home escaped that something is cooking. unharmed, but was taken to hospital as a precautioIt doesn’t take long for an unattended pan to spawn nary measure. A neighbour who attempted to put out a dangerous fire that can threaten property and any the fire with a fire extinguisher was also transported residents’ lives. to Chilliwack General Hospital after experiencing chest pains. See FIRES, Page 28 The fire was just the latest in a string of such incidents.
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
O
T
wenty days into the federal election campaign and candidates continue to tour the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding, but Conservative Mark Strahl was conspicuously absent from one of the few all-candidates meetings scheduled. Three out of the six candidates attended the Tuesday meeting hosted by the Hope Ratepayers Association: Liberal Diane Janzen, New Democrat Gwen O’Mahony and Marxist-Leninist Dorothy-Jean O’Donnell. Strahl was in Pemberton at the time of the meeting and O’Mahony’s campaign sent out a press release Thursday pointing out the Conservative candidate did not show up. “Since the start of the campaign Strahl has been accused of relying on his father’s image instead of campaigning,” said the release issued by press secretary Glen Thompson. “It seems Mark Strahl believes his name alone is sufficient to win. He skipped an interview with Global TV at the outset of the campaign and Tuesday he skipped the Town of Hope.” On Twitter, Janzen also mentioned Strahl’s absence at the Hope all-candidates meeting. “Attended a great Hope ‘all-candidates’ meeting with 65 people. Mark was a no-show—as your MP I promise to be here for you,” she tweeted on Wednesday. See ELECTION, Page 12
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