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LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2016
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CITY SCHOOLS
Nitpickers on the hunt It’s a lousy job, but these two moms step up to the challenge By Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@newwestrecord.ca
The lice ladies have arrived at Lord Kelvin Elementary School. Armed with a binder of class lists, the two New Westminster moms – Sukhi Plessis and Gina Griffiths – march across the school’s courtyard and set up in a hallway outside their first class. Students know the drill. Two at a time, they plunk down on undersized chairs and offer up their hair – brown, blonde, bright orange, frizzy, sleek, curly, pony-tailed, corn-rowed and brush-cut – to the expert hands and eyes of the lice ladies. The two women work their way through the kids’ hair in quarter-inch sections, focusing on the two inches closest to the scalp. The brush-cut boys are done in less than a minute and even the girls aren’t there for long. But, after a few heads, Plessis lingers over one long set of locks, running her fingernails along a few strands of hair. Continued on page 8
LICE LADIES New Westminster parent volunteers Sukhi Plessis, left, and Gina Griffiths, right, check Lord Kelvin Elementary School students for lice and nits as part of a routine round of inspections after every major break. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
Dimmer switch lights will cost $100,000 By Theresa McManus
tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
Anvil Centre is seeking $100,000 to help dim the lights in the ballroom. The city’s 2016 capital budget includes a request for $100,000 to upgrade the ballroom lights so they can be dimmed during events in certain locations of the room for audiovisual presentations. Anvil Centre staff say clients often request the lights dimmed for presentations or speakers, but that’s cur-
rently not an option. “The system currently does not meet conference standards, so to ensure that clients are receiving the best possible experience – we are actually climbing on a ladder and unscrewing lightbulbs,” said Vali Marling, general manager of Anvil Centre. “What we are proposing is that the wiring is redone. It wasn’t wired the way I guess I would have had it wired.” When Anvil Centre gets requests for dimmed lights in the ballroom, the city
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rents a scissor-lift so staff can unscrew lights to fulfil the client’s needs.The budget report notes that “it is unusual” for a conference centre ballroom not to be able to accommodate clients’ lighting requests. According to Marling, staff is working with the contractor to determine if there are ways to “significantly decrease” the cost of work needed to implement the lighting changes. The city’s 2016 capital budget includes two other items related to Anvil Centre:
" Anvil Centre restaurant work corridor and private dining area: $400,000.This would involve the construction of a corridor and some ancillary spaces between the Anvil Centre lobby and the lobby of the office tower. " Anvil Centre restaurant leasing and tenant improvements: $395,000.This work is being done so the city can lease out the restaurant space that’s located at the corner of Continued on page 8
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