INSIDE: Local troupe hoping to put a little opera into our lives
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T H U R S D A Y
May 12, 2011
soccer teams advance 17 Senior N E W S ,
SPORTS,
WEATHER
&
E N T E R T A I N M E N T chilliwacktimes.com
Feds kick in $100K for archives BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
R
on Denman is a pretty lowkey guy, but $100,000 has a way of making one shout “Ya-Hoooo!” That’s what Denman says he exclaimed when he opened a letter from Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and read that the Chilliwack Museum and Archives had been successful in its applica-
Museum still hopes to raise another $45,000 tion for a grant of $102,600. Denman got the letter a few weeks ago and has been keeping the news under wraps until he could share it with the public at a fundraiser planned for Thursday night at the new archives building. The money will go towards the $250,000 Denman hopes to raise to outfit the recently built addition to
the museum’s archives collection at Evergreen Hall. The museum must match the government’s contribution, but that’s already taken care of, with the museum having spent the past few years saving cash reserves with an expanded archives in mind. “It was a crucial part of the whole thing for sure, so we’re very grateful
for that,” Denman told the Times. The city already covered the cost of the building and some shelving for the archives and when the news of the grant came in, the archives had already begun what Denman calls Phase 1 of its work to purchase shelving and storage units. But the $100,000 allowed Denman to kick off a second phase. The
See ARCHIVES, Page 7
Senior caught selling weed
Assistance dogs give gift of independence trained by the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) and can respond to approximately 50 comnya McRae has had dogs all her mands. When Leahy is on duty—i.e. life, but none like Leahy. All pets need to be cared for with out in public working as McRae’s food, walking, cleaning and most assistance dog—she wears a cape provide some emotional benefit in that says “Please don’t pet me, I’m working.” terms of companionship. Like all working animals, Leahy But while Anya takes care of Leahy, Leahy takes care of Anya as needs to be working even if McRae is having a slow well. day or isn’t feel“She can pick ing well just so up the telephone “She can pick up the the dog doesn’t and carry my grotelephone and carry forget her comceries, empty my my groceries, empty mands. washer and dry“I have to get er,” McRae said. my washer and dryer.” her to do things “If my hands are Anya McRae even if I don’t full, she can close really need help,” doors behind she said. “’Bring me.” McRae has suffered from post- this to my daughter’ or ‘close the polio fatigue syndrome since she door.’ “I’ve learned a lot. I have had was four years old. She was born and raised in Taiwan in the 1960s dogs all my life since I was little but and was vaccinated against polio. there is a huge difference having a But the vaccine was flown in to the pet dog and having a service dog.” And Leahy isn’t cheap. To train warm Pacific island from the U.S. one dog for use with a client costs and was not 100 per cent effective. McRae’s condition means she PADS approximately $72,000, mostly uses canes to walk around according to executive director and has difficulty with balance and Kevin Pidwerbeski. PADS graduated 14 dogs through bending down. Leahy is an assistance dog See ASSISTANCE, Page 12
archives still hopes to raise another $45,000 over the summer and Thursday’s event was the kickoff to that campaign. The money will go primarily to purchasing shelving to house the archives collection of more than 10,000 objects. Because they will be storing valuable and aged historical documents and objects, the shelves have to be inert, meaning
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
A
Cops seize $45,000 of pot from Chwk. Mtn. home BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
M Paul J. Henderson/TIMES
Assistance dog Leahy brings a cane up the stairs for Anya McRae. Leahy helps McRae with a number of tasks including answering the phone.
ounties seized thousands of dollars of street-ready marijuana Tuesday from a two-year-old Chilliwack Mountain home. More than $45,000 of dried, clipped and packaged pot was seized along with “a large quantity” of cash and unpackaged marijuana plants and bud. A 65-year-old Chilliwack man was arrested. Charges of possession of a See SENIOR, Page 12
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