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Tuesday June 17, 2014
Volume 20, No. 48
Harbour Air Scenic Glacier Tours this weekend only The final weekend of the BC Shellfish and Seafood Festival boasts an amazing new addition to its line up; 30 minute scenic Glacier Tours aboard a Harbour Air float plane, and like the other Festival events, seats are selling fast. Depart from Comox Harbour this Saturday and Sunday, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm.
Regular price $129 per flight pp, however, businesses and families can book the entire 12 seats on the plane, and get a bulk rate of $69 pp, or $99 pp for groups of 4 or more. Call the Vancouver Island Visitor Centre, 250-400-2882 or bcshellfishfestival.com
City Hall discloses details of top earners Confirmation contracts of two senior staff were severed By Philip Round Echo Staff
Fire fighters and emergency responders work carefully to extract a woman from a Chevy HHR. (Drew A. Penner photo)
Woman sent to hospital in pain following two-car collision By Drew A. Penner Echo Staff A Volvo with a canoe strapped to its roof collided with a Chevrolet multi-purpose crossover vehicle with a KAYAK sticker Thursday before 9 p.m., spraying debris along the Old Island Highway just north of Dingwall Road and sending a woman to hospital. Courtenay Fire Department members raced to the scene and worked to free a woman trapped in the Chevy HHR, stabi-
lizing the car and using a triangular among other tools. The male occupant had already gotten out by the time firefighters and paramedics helped the woman, who was conscious but in pain, out of the burnt orange multi-purpose vehicle. One of the first responders held her head steady to prevent any dangerous and unwanted movements. She was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to hospital. Traffic along the route was down to one lane, as RCMP officers allowed drivers
heading north and south to continue using the Old Island Highway, taking turns. Bits of plastic and other rubble stretched nearly the full distance between the cars, which had come to rest the distance of approximately two telephone poles apart. Dusk had begun to settle as police questioned the male driver of the Volvo extensively, although they declined to say whether they planned to press charges. By 9:30 p.m. both cars had been removed from the scene by tow-truck.
Twenty-eight people employed by the City of Courtenay received remuneration of more than $75,000 each last year, according to figures revealed by the authority last night. The information has been released in line with BC local government transparency laws, and at the same time details of more than $200,000 in payments and expenses to the City’s seven elected officials were also posted. Usually the top earner in any municipality is the chief administrative officer, but as that post changed hands during 2013, the remuneration in Courtenay’s case is split between outgoing CAO Sandy Gray ($89,261) and incoming CAO David Allen ($111,655). So 2013’s top earner at City Hall is listed as deputy CAO and director of financial services Tillie Manthey ($139,978), followed by the now-retired director of operational services, Kevin Lagan ($124,576), and the current director of planning services, Peter Crawford ($122,235). Others shown as having remuneration of more than $100,000 are fire chief Don Bardonnex ($103,220), manager of operations Keir Gervais ($104,293), senior manager of engineering Lesley Hatch ($101,351), director of community services Randy Wiwchar ($114,324) and director of legislative services John Ward ($100,004). A further 18 people are named online with remuneration of between $75,000 and $100,000 - mainly departmental managers or foremen. (Continued on page 2)
Better Beach Bus service to Goose Spit this summer By Philip Round Echo Staff Beach bums of all ages will be able to take the Beach Bus direct from Courtenay to Goose Spit this summer. For 11 weeks, a special summer bus service will run seven days a week from Saturday, June 21 to Sunday, September 7 so people can avoid the often-congested parking at the hugely popular seaside regional park.
And thanks to the cooperation of HMCS Quadra in allowing access to a turning area for larger vehicles, it will now be possible to extend some of the existing express bus services from Courtenay to Comox right out to the beach. The new direct Beach Bus from Courtenay downtown (Fourth and Cliffe) will see four return trips Monday to Friday, with extra runs on weekends. It will follow the Cliffe Avenue,
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17th Street Bridge, Comox Road and Comox Avenue route, picking up and setting down at stops along the way to maximize the number of riders. The same bus will continue on to Goose Spit before returning to Courtenay via Comox, avoiding the need for transfers. In addition, and only on Sundays, there will be an extra direct bus service to Goose Spit from the Aquatic Centre car park off Lerwick Road and picking up beside Thrifty Foods’
Crown Isle Shopping Centre on Lerwick and other stops along Lerwick, Guthrie and Torrence before arriving at Goose Spit and returning via the same route. That route will use a smaller bus than the one from Courtenay, but big enough to carry the anticipated number of passengers. Comox Valley MLA Don McRae is welcoming the improved summer services. (Continued on page 2)
2006 CHEVY OPTRA WAGON
4 cyl., 5 spd., 106,000 kms Stk#3077