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April 29, 2011 THIS WEEK’S
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Fire hall vote results dismissed
Plans to borrow $16 million to rebuild a fire hall in Port Moody went up in smoke Tuesday when council veered against recent referendum results. At the April 16 referendum, 58 per cent of voters supported plans to borrow up to $16 million to rebuild the aging Fire Hall No. 1. Of the city’s 21,551 eligible voters, 1,980 people cast ballots for a 9.2-per-cent voter turnout. However, council voted 4-2 against borrowing the funds after gaining approval through the referendum. For Coun. Meghan Lahti, the referendum vote was too close, since a margin of 304 votes separated the 1,142 who voted Yes and 838 who voted No. “I believe that this referendum has left us with more questions than answers. Why did less than 10 per cent of the eligible voters in Port Moody choose to cast a ballot on April 16? That’s less than 2,000 who voted and less than 310 people determined the difference and determined whether or not we would go ahead with spending $16 million,” Lahti said. “Why is this? Was it because they didn’t know about it? … Is the public simply apathetic? Were they in support so they didn’t come down? Were they not in support? Was it the wrong time to hold a referendum because we have two other elections looming on the horizon? “I don’t know what the answers to any of those questions are. I can presume some of them, but I surely don’t feel comfortable with proceeding with spending $16 million on a narrow margin of support that’s been identified with such a small sampling of our CONT. ON PAGE 5, see LOW.
Paul vanPeenen/NOW
Coquitlam Search and Rescue volunteers scour the woods in Coquitlam River Park east of the Coquitlam River for Donna Rasmussen.
Search on for missing PoCo woman Stories by Jennifer McFee jmcfee@thenownews.com
Rescue teams are combing areas along the Coquitlam River to search for a 75-year-old Port Coquitlam woman missing since Tuesday. Donna Rasmussen left her Suffolk Avenue home around 12:30 p.m. on April 26 and was expected home by 4 p.m. When she did not return, her daughter contacted police. Coquitlam RCMP Const. Kristina Biro said police sent up a helicopter for an aerial view of the area on Wednesday. The next morning, they called out Coquitlam Search and Rescue (SAR) to launch a ground search along both sides of the Coquitlam River from David Avenue to Pitt River Road. “We’re searching that area as a precaution. Potentially she went down the trail. But we don’t have any actual indication that she did in fact go down the trail, so it’s more to eliminate that as where she could be,” Biro said Thursday.
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“You never know if she decided to go for a walk by the river or what happened, so it’s just to eliminate that as a possibility. We’ve done extensive patrols along the area, neighbourhood inquiries … There’s been numerous avenues of investigation and we have members actually dedicated right now just to trying to locate her. “There’s a lot of unknowns right now. We’re just trying to cover off every aspect and trying to locate her and bring her home safely to her family and friends.” Rasmussen’s family is concerned since it’s uncharacteristic for the woman to not come home, Biro added. “As far as we know, there are no medical or mental health issues,” she said. On Thursday afternoon, SAR manager Jim Delgrande said about a dozen search and rescue volunteers were searching the Coquitlam River area, with no sign of the woman so far. “It’s slow and it’s occasionally wet. I just talked to someone who came back who said it was very bushy and brushy,” he said. “It can be slow going and in other places there’s a defined trail, so it’s very
mixed.” SAR manager Dwight Yochim added that the search area is close to Rasmussen’s home. “We’re doing everything we can to see if we can come across her and find her or eliminate those areas as possible. We’re almost finished the task and unfortunately we haven’t come up with anything at this moment in time,” Yochim said. “But usually what happens in situations like this, if the media can get information out to the public, it’s usually the public that finds some of these people before we do. We get so many eyes out there. She may be wandering the streets somewhere and someone happens to recognize her from the news clipping they saw. That’s usually the way it works.” The Coquitlam RCMP are seeking the public’s help to find Rasmussen, who is described as a 120pound, five-foot-four-inch Caucasian woman with brown eyes and long blond hair. She was last seen wearing a red fleece jacket, green pants and white runners. Anyone with information is asked to call the Coquitlam RCMP immediately at 604-945-1550.
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