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Abbotsford Police had to deal with a suspect yesterday who just wouldn’t cooperate.
Constable Ian McDonald says a woman was trapped in her home by a neighbor’s goat…

“It essentially had made it’s way onto her porch, was head-butting her BBQ, and was preventing her from exiting her home.  Despite her attempt to rid the goat by lobbing some beer cans and beer bottles at it, the goat remained until one of our officers arrived, collared the goat and tied it to a post there.”

Police had a  subsequent chat with the neighbor and animal control.  McDonald says the goat was obviously enticed by the BBQ, and as long as it stays on its own property from now on will probably lead a long and interesting life.

We’re seeing a lot of potholes on the road right now, some of which could damage your tires.  We went from temperatures well below zero and snow, to a quick warmup and rain, and the holes are starting to pop up all over the place.  Starlee Renton with the City of Chilliwack says there certainly are a number of them out there.

“Probably more than usual for this time of year.   Normally we get them in the spring time.  Definitely the weather is having an impact.”

Renton says the City has a budget of about $200,000 to fix them, with the priority being the main streets and emergency vehicle routes.  She says they have 2 trucks out there patching, and can fill up to 40 or 50 potholes daily.
Crews will also fill in holes on other roads when they get a chance, so if you have one to report call the public works department at 793-2810.
In Abbotsford according to a release from the City, none of the heavy traffic roads have had much of a problem with potholes, and they’ve had less than a dozen complaints from residents.

(photo courtesy of Susan Vivian)

BC Hydro hasn’t nailed down a cause for the fire at the Chilliwack substation that left 50 thousand people without power on Friday.
However vice president of field operations David Lebeter  says contrary to the claims of environment critic Rob Fleming, it has nothing to do with aging infrastructure.

“This transformer is only approximately 25 yrs old which is mid-life for a transformer, and we had absolutely no concerns about the health of that equipment at all so this had nothing to do with inadequate or aging infrastructure.   In fact, we have a comprehensive preventative maintenance program that we do for all our transformers, and we’re up to date on that.”

Lebeter says crews will continue their investigation and environmental cleanup this week.
Once that’s done they’ll get the site ready for the spare transformer coming in from Vancouver.

The McBarge proposal in Mission has cleared one more hurdle.
Last night Mission Council gave third reading to the zoning application that would allow the old Expo barge to be converted into a space for a restaurant, tap house, and float plane marina.
Developer Howard Meakin says it’s terrific to move forward after all the time he’s spent on it.

“It had taken 3 and a half years, but it’s taken this council that was put in place in December no longer than 2 months to get everything together and now the work begins.  I’m looking forward to seeing this project actually happen.”

Mayor Ted Adlem says the district had spent a lot of time on this without anything actually happening.

“I personally think that Howard Meakin is a developer who wants to put his money where his mouth is, and I think we should give him the opportunity to do that.”

Now Meakin has to either acquire or get access to the Uplands to build parking in order for the zoning bylaw to get final adoption.
Close to a hundred people came out to the public hearing, with about a quarter getting up to speak.
Most were in favour of the development but many wanted some kind of assurance that if things didn’t pan out Mission wouldn’t be stuck with an empty barge.

So we’re big enough to get a Super Wal-Mart, but Chilliwack is apparently NOT big enough to have it’s own hemodialysis unit.  Other communties which are smaller than ours have one.  Even a Carnival Cruise Ship has one, so the question is, why is a city with 80,000 people lacking?  Elaina Wugalter started up a facebook group called “We Want a Dialysis Unit in Chilliwack” after her husband Morris had difficulty getting to Abbotsford for treatment during the big snow storm this month.  As it turns out, there are 33 people in Chilliwack alone that have to make the trek every week, on average 3 times per week.  Wugalter decided something needed to be done, and now not only does the group have approx. 100 members, but NDP leader Adrian Dix showed up at Decades Coffee House on Monday to chat with the group and listen to their concerns, hopefully to raise the profile of the issue.  “We are not a political group” says Wugalter, “but we realize that it takes someone to help us make this happen, and we’re grateful he showed up here today”.  She says members of the other parties, including MLA John Les, were invited. 

Local Paramedic Chris Buckner says people have to get to their treatments, and when a storm comes up like it did this month, the ambulance has to be called, which leads to increased costs and man hours.  “You can’t say we don’t have a need in this community, if we can populate 80 man hours a day for hemodialysis”.  “That’s just in Chilliwack, and doesn’t include people from Hope and Agassiz and Harrison who need treatment”.  He says having a unit locally would cut down transit time from 90-120 minutes a day to more like 30.

NDP Health Critic Mike Farnworth was also on hand for the meeting.  He says advocacy is the first step to moving this cause forward.  “We’re coming up on budget time this spring…we’re spending 40% of our provincial budget on health care, and service in Chilliwack should be one of those priorities that needs to be met.  The government can do that by ensuring there is more money there for dialysis.”  Chilliwack MLA John Les has said that their dialysis program is already costing them $141 million annually, and the money to add to it is just not there, but Dix isn’t buying that argument, citing Liberal ad campaigns ranging in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the half a billion dollar renos at BC Place as proof that the money (could) be there.

Wugalter says she is hoping to continue building awareness in the community, and will petition in support of the cause.  “We’re taking this all the way…and I’m not letting this go.”

Tomorrow afternoon should be F-U-N for around 60 school kids in Chilliwack.  The annual ChillSpell spelling bee is taking place at GW Graham Middle School.  One of the organizers is Janet Hall, the principal at Unsworth Elementary.  She says some of the kids have been practicing since early fall.

“At the start we have words you typically would expect kids in maybe Grade 4 to be able to spell, but by the time we get into the competition kids are spelling words that would level out at around a Grade 9 level.  Our students range from Grade 4 to Grade 8.”

The event starts at 3:30 tomorrow in the gym at GW Graham.  The public are encouraged to come out and support the kids.  School Board Chair Louise Piper, City Councillor Sue Attrill and Ed Kaye from the Waterstone Group are the 3 judges for the event.  Hall says it was moved this year away from the Chilliwack Cultural Centre mainly due to the cost of renting out the facility.

MESSAGE FROM CITY OF CHILLIWACK:

A transformer failure at Atchelitz BC Hydro substation has caused the current fire. BC Hydro has turned off the power at the substation to ensure the safety of fire crews who are currently fighting the fire. There are 38, 000 customers without power in the Chilliwack area. BC Hydro indicates the power could be out until the late afternoon.

 Fire crews are still trying to determine the health risk of the smoke from the fire. To ensure your safety, Chilliwack’s Emergency Operations Coordinator is advising resident to stay inside your current shelter if safe to do so, close your windows and turn off your furnace.  

MESSAGE FROM BC TRANSIT:

Expect minor service delays due to area wide power outage. Transit info telephone lines are not available.
 Busses are running normally but may experience some delays due to traffic lights not working.HandyDART services may be affected due to telephone lines not being available.The latest estimation is that power will be restored between 4:30-5:30pm.

MESSAGE FROM SCHOOL DISTRICT 33:

At least 14 schools are without power, mostly on the south side of the freeway.  Parents are welcome to pick up their kids, but no official word on whether they will close anything.  Listen to Star 98.3 for updates.

More than 70,000 British Columbians are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, and nearly 10,000 of these people are under the age of 65.  This Sunday folks across the province will be participating in the annual Walk for Memories, in support of the Alzheimer’s Society of BC.  Local organizer Ron Angell says although there is no cure, awareness can make a difference.

“Recent findings from a national survey indicate low awareness of the early signs of alzheimers disease and other dementias, causing a delay in diagnosis and subsequent treatment for people with this illness.”

Each walk is dedicated to a person who has been impacted by Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Here in the valley, that person is Richard Kostrzewa, the husband of long time Chilliwack councillor Dorothy Kostrzewa.  The whole community is invited out.  Its Sunday from 2-4, starting at the Landing Sports Centre on Spadina.  Registration is at 1.  You can also go to www.alzheimerbc.org to donate.

(photo by Dick Byker)

A fire broke out in Yarrow at a wood mill yesterday afternoon on Number 3 road near Yarrow Central. According to reports it started around 3:20 in the afternoon. A nearby resident says she heard a loud bang and when she went outside she saw flames shooting out of a quonset building.  The flames spread very quickly, and a number of small explosions were heard. Fire crews and paramedics were called down just in case, but its not believed there was anyone inside and there are no reports of  injuries.   It took firefighters a long time to get it out, and smoke could be seen (and smelled) from Chilliwack. 

The fire also melted hydro and internet lines, causing a power outage for nearby residents and a lengthy internet interruption for most of Chilliwack.  Telus was completely out, and customers of other providers were noticing delays.  It appears Telus is coming back online this morning, with only minor interruptions. 

We still don’t know the cause of the fire, although it’s believed the owner is out of town, and we’ve been told by a couple people rent hadn’t been paid on the property in some time.  It appears the fire started towards the back of the mill in a storage area.  It spread from the back to the front in less than 15 minutes.

A fire broke out in Yarrow earlier this afternoon on Number 3 road near Yarrow Central.

According to reports it started around 3:20 in the afternoon.

A nearby resident says she heard a loud bang and when she went outside she saw flames shooting out of a quonset building.

Fire crews and paramedics were called down, but so far no reports of any injuries.

Yarrow Central and Number 3 road are closed down until further notice, so you’re advised to avoid the area.

There’s still lots of smoke coming out of the building so it’s recommended to stay indoors if you live nearby.