FRIDAY
$1.25
inc. H.S.T.
January 20, 2012
A division of
Vol. 27 No. 6
COMOX VALLEY RECORD Your community. Your newspaper. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
CE CRASHED ICE
Croxall wins first part of Red Bull series. ■ B13
HEALING ONGOING
COLD COMFORT Sure, the rest of Canada is colder than us, but -8? That’s plenty cold for Vancouver Islanders. Never fear — a warming trend is around the corner. More, A2. PHOTO BY ERIN HALUSCHAK David Somerville’s childhood was abruptly interrupted when he was plucked from his southern Ontario home and placed in foster care. Over a two-year period during the Second World War, he circulated through “ad hoc” homes. Then at age 10 he was shipped by train to live with his Mohawk father and second wife. It’s tempting to think Somerville was lucky, since most aboriginal children taken from their homes attended residential schools.
... Complete story on ■ A3
FINDER ■ Weather
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■ Lottery
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■ Ferry Schedule
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■ Editorial
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■ Opinion
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■ Arts
B1
■ Sports
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■ Classified
B25
Sid trying to keep head above the red ink Erin Haluschak
... we’re trying at this point not Krutzmann told council the to scale back but save the things society fundamentally believes the that are most important to the core principal of supporting local theatre.” user groups As of Dec. is a key The support of arts and 31, the socicomponent ety record- culture by local government is of supported a total ing the as important to the well-being of of 39,316 performp a t r o n s a community as funding recreing arts who used ation centres, playing fields and and culthe theatre, other sporting endeavours. tural orgaalong with nizations Tim Krutzmann within the 733 members. community. Renz noted they are also planHe said he believes the minining on approaching their other mum increase of $7,500 is a fair municipal supporters — the City and reasonable request. of Courtenay and the Comox ValRenz explained that in the ley Regional District — and added three-year plan for the theatre, the board is quite optimistic, as three key points were highlighted: they have had very good support to make the theatre accessible in the past. for the community and non-profit
Record Staff
Courtenay’s Sid Williams Theatre Society is asking Comox council for help as it struggles with an operational shortfall in the 2012 business year. Tim Krutzmann, board member of the Sid Williams Theatre Society, presented Comox council Wednesday with a proposal to increase to their current funding from $12,500 to a minimum of $20,000. The theatre could potentially post its first deficit in 20 years, confirmed Deb Renz, general manager of the theatre. “We’ve had a very difficult couple of years,” she told the Record. “We’ve put together a new threeyear business plan for the theatre
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organizations; to have safe, environmentally friendly and profitable operations; and to ensure a high quality of artistic productions. “The support of arts and culture by local government is as important to the well-being of a community as funding recreation centres, playing fields and other sporting endeavours,” explained Krutzmann. “The social and economic benefits of the arts and culture sector to our community as a whole are well-documented and researched.” Mayor Paul Ives said the society’s request will come up in budget discussions, which are scheduled to happen within the next few months.
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