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Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Ongoing violence plaguing reserve SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
Brave, crazy and everything in between, about two dozen swimmers took the plunge for the famous Clarence Whittingham Memorial quarter-mile swim during the annual Youbou Regatta on Saturday, based at Arbutus Park on Cowichan Lake. [LEXI BAINAS/CITIZEN]
Stubborn tug wakes just in time LEXI BAINAS CITIZEN
The famous quarter mile swim, an iconic event at the annual Youbou Regatta at beautiful Arbutus Park on Cowichan Lake almost didn’t happen this year. The call went out for entries. There were quite a few: the usual mix of spry seniors like Bernard Hewitt, who was staring down his 72nd birthday that’s coming next week, and buff lifeguards,
who were eyeing him somewhat askance because he beat them last year, plus the children who make the event a right of passage and the adults who have finally decided to take the plunge. They were all signed up and loaded onto the tugboat waiting for their quarter mile ride out into Cowichan Lake where they would be disgorged into the waiting waters for the swim to the park’s docks.
But the tug wouldn’t start. A call went out and a generous hearted neighbour down the lake a piece. Rumour had it that he was preparing to attend a wedding later that day, but he still fired up his boat and hurried to the scene to take the swimmers out. You can guess what happened next. As soon as he muscled in alongside and whispered, let’s dance,
the tug cut a rug and belched out smoke defiantly. A cheer went up as they guy sped off and the tug chugged out with its load of competitors. In they went, followed by lifeguards, as usual, to make sure no one ran into trouble. Thirteen-year-old swimming whiz Olivia Campbell finished an easy first this year, followed by fellow teenagers Tyler FalkChalmers and Alex Mizak.
A Cowichan Tribes member is concerned for the safety of residents in one neighbourhood on the reserve just south of Duncan after what he says was a particularly horrifying recent home invasion. “Nothing seems to be being done about it by Cowichan Tribes,” said the man who wished to remain anonymous for fear of his own personal safety. The issues tend to be concentrated in or near the “problem” subdivision in the Mulaqw Road area, he said. The last incident, which involved suspects threatening a young boy with a machete in the middle of the night has prompted the Tribes member to speak out, he said. “Apparently four natives with hoodies and their faces covered with bandanas invaded a home on the reserve while the people were sleeping at about three in the morning,” said the caller. “Two young kids about 12 years old were sleeping in the living room and one of them woke up… and one [invader] had a machete and he told the kid not to say anything or he was going to cut him with the machete.” See Mounties • page 4
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