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Familiar faces pay tribute to Valley’s David Holmes with comedy Hay Fever
A&E, Page 15
WEDNESDAY
CIS HONOURS MANN’S DEDICATION /21
Serving the Cowichan Valley
www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Teens terrorize trick-or-treating duo in Maple Bay SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
Smoke, steam and a badly damaged home are all that are left of a Boys Road residence Thursday afternoon, Oct. 31 following a blaze that sent a plume of smoke into the air that was visible across Duncan. Firefighters from North Cowichan’s South End hall were also called out later that night for blaze at Herons Road. [LEXI BAINAS/CITIZEN]
Two fires damage mobile home, townhouses KEVIN ROTHBAUER CITIZEN
North Cowichan South End volunteer firefighters were kept busy around Halloween with a pair of structure fires that blazed up just hours apart. At 4 p.m. on Thursday, the fire department was called to a blaze in a mobile home on Boys Road, east of the Trans Canada Highway. About a dozen firefighters were
on scene for an hour, confining the flames to the trailer and knocking them down quickly. Fire Chief Rob McDowell wasn’t sure what caused the fire, but individuals at the scene said one person had been sleeping inside the trailer and woke to see the smoke and flames, but managed to get out without injury. Around 2 a.m. the following morning, the same fire department
was summoned to Herons Road, off Lane Road, where flames had erupted in a block of three townhouses. “One house had the roof burned off over the kitchen, and another lost the roof over the master bedroom,” McDowell related. About 16 firefighters were on hand for the morning blaze, and stayed at the scene for approximately two hours.
“Bullying at its worst” is how a Maple Bay mother is describing her child’s terrifying Halloween night experience. Maple Bay resident Shawna Cadieux says it all began when her 12-year-old son and his 11year-old friend, clad in their brightly coloured costumes, headed to the top of the Properties to meet up with her husband and younger child for some trickor-treating fun. “About 30 minutes after the boys left our house, I received a frantic phone call from a stranger’s home — it was my son calling to tell me that he and his friend had been chased and threatened with bodily harm by a group of uncostumed older teens,” Cadieux related. She said the duo had been trickor-treating their way along Chippewa Road when they noticed a group of 20-odd older kids following them. “They tried to ignore the large group, but the teens began swearing at them, threatening to beat them up and steal their candy,” Cadieux explained. Terrified, the younger boys took off but were chased by the mob, which at that point began throwing lit firecrackers at them.
The boys sought refuge at a home on Haida Road and asked to use the phone to call Cadieux. W h i l e t h e yo u n g e r k i d s were inside, the older teens remained nearby — destroying carved pumpkins in the neighbourhood. Shortly thereafter, Cadieux’s husband picked up the boys. While walking they encountered a large, uncostumed group of youth. “He confronted them, but they denied terrorizing the boys. My son, however, shared later that he and his friend were certain it was the same group that had chased them,” Cadieux said. The whole incident has not just ruined the trick-or-treating experience for a pair of young boys, but it’s made a mother furious and wondering if people know what their kids were up to that night. “It’s just so unfair that such nice kids who were so excited about trick-or-treating alone for the first time had to go through something so awful. Makes my blood boil,” Cadieux said, before asking parents to check in with their kids. “If your teenage son was See My child • page 5