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A wonderful follow up to a heartbreaking story.

We told you about the 63 year old woman who had her motorized scooter stolen while she was recovering from a car accident in hospital.

Constable Tracy Wolbeck with the Chilliwack RCMP says the community came through in a big way.

“Literally within ten minutes of her story airing we had people physically coming to the detachment, as well as calls basically ringing off the hook with people from all over, not just Chilliwack, Abbotsford, all over who saw this story who wanted to help this lady.”

She will be getting a new scooter donated from someone in the community as well as some cash donations, and Wolbeck says police want to thank everyone for helping restore her faith in people.

With the hiring of Evelyn Novak to the role of superintendent for School District 33 in Chilliwack, Michael Audet will be able to head back to retirement in August.

Audet was tabbed for the job on an interim basis a year ago to replace Corinne McCabe.

He says he was thrilled to be asked to take on the job.

“It’s something that previously I had wanted to do as a goal in my life, but it’s been a challenging year and I mean that in a good and in a bad way unfortunately. But it’s been a challenging year and it’s been a great learning experience for me.”

He says he’s much more hopeful about the next school year now that the teachers and province have  tentative deal in place, and says that makes it easier to leave the job.

Jordan Christian Reno, the 22 year old man found murdered in Prince George on Monday, had a criminal history in the Fraser Valley according to a story in the Abby News.

Reno had charges and convictions in Mission for theft, break-and-enter, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest.

He was also convicted a year ago for a break and enter in Abbotsford.

He may have other connections to the Valley, as several of his facebook friends are from Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission.

RCMP believe his death was targeted and are looking for information.

Canada turns 145 this Sunday, and in Chilliwack this year the party will be at Chilliwack Landing.

Things start off with a pancake breakfast at 8 at Evergreen hall, and of course our national anthem at 9:30.

There’s a pretty strong sports theme to this year’s event, with Tennis, roller hockey, soccer, and baseball happening all over the grounds.

And if you’re looking for something a little more physical, there’s roller derby at the Landing Sports Centre at 2:30.

Landing will also have free swimming from 10 till 5, while Prospera centre has free skating from 10 to 3:30.

For kids there are bouncy houses, carnival rides, and entertainment by Rosie Ribbonstar.

And if you just want to wander there will be displays from the armed forces, the Agricultural Society, a martial arts demonstration, and afternoon stage entertainment at the grandstand.

8 PM marks the official Canada Day ceremony, followed by some stage entertainment and fireworks to finish the day off at 10.

A full list of activities is available at envisionfinancial.ca under community highlights.

Chilliwack RCMP have released a sketch of the man suspected of attacking a jogger on June 6th on Fairfield island.

A 46 year old woman was jogging home along Hope River Road when a man assaulted her near the front entrance to Gwynne Vaughan Park.

The man ran away after she fought back and police are looking for anyone with any information on the attack.

Monday night Abbotsford Council voted in favour of a policy that will let restaurants and cafes in the historic downtown to apply to open patios.
Downtown business association executive director Tina Stewart says a lot of people love sitting on patios and says it will be a great addition to the downtown.

“We’re encouraging shoppers to grab a coffee on a patio and sit in the sun and enjoy their day, and then walk over and browse through some of the great little downtown shops we have to offer.”

The association will act as a liaison to help streamline the application process through the City.
A few details have to be ironed out, like insurance and specific procedures, but Stewart says we could start to see patios in about a month.

Last night, Seabird Island first nations celebrated the scholarly achievements of students by handing out education awards.
Seabird island education manager Diane Janzen says there are a range of certificates for all areas.

“Some top academic awards….could be in the public school here, could be in some private schools in the area, could be from the community school.  We also look at areas such as citizenship and leadership.  We have a very active trades program out here, so we also look at trades in the area.”

Janzen says 222 certificates were handed out in all.
Next Wednesday, Seabird college will celebrate the graduation of 58 students.

The River Forecast Centre is predicting the Mission Gauge to peak Friday or Saturday at around 6.3 meters.
They’re also looking at a peak in Hope of between 11 200 and 11 500m3/s.
Dave Campbell with the centre says they don’t think things will be worse than last weekend.

“It’s going to be similar or a little bit below.  Certainly at the Mission gauge we’re looking at it being similar or 10cms below what it was last weekend.  Again, that varies as we go down various spots along the river, but 10cms is a reasonable estimate.”

Emergency management BC is still asking people to stay away from the rivers and streams and follow the directions of emergency management officials.

It was a nice surprise for folks in Hope.  Emergency Management BC delivered 400 metres of gabion baskets to the District to help out with some of the potential flooding.  The baskets arrived yesterday and were placed along 7th ave near Wardle St.  Gabion baskets about a metre high, linked together and filled with sand.  People in the area are currently under evacuation alert.  Hope Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy says this is helping with public safety, and also laying the groundwork for future flood mitigation.

(Aerial view of Hope)                                                                (Crews filling gabion baskets)

(Photos courtesy of Emergency Management BC)

The 2012 Chilliwack Chiefs Alumni Game is coming up next Friday night at Prospera Centre.  Around 50 current and former players have committed to the game.  StarFM had a chance to take part in a “draft” yesterday, helping to pick one of the teams, and I (Mike) get to take part as a guest coach at the game.

Team Hawk/Chwk Progress

Aaron Boucher(D), Brad Bakken(D), Cam Campbell(F), Chris Kerr(D), Darnell Dyck(F), Derek Janzen(G), Doug Ast(F), Jeff Royston(F), Jeff Tambellini(F), Kit Sitterley(F), Kyle MacKinnon(F), Mac Roy(F), Matthew Hutchinson(D), Mike Spring(F), Shawn Landry(D), Skyler Smutek(D), Thomas Kraft(D), Trevor Gerling(F), Tyler Burton(F), Tyler Miller(D), Tyler Spice(D), Tyler Quiring(F), James Reimer(F)

Team Star98.3/ShawTV/Chwk Times

Adam Powell(F), Brandon Fleenor(D), Brandon Thompson(F), Chris Blackmon(D), Colton Beck(F), Corey Demossiac(D), Dan Mahe(F), Garet Hunt(F), Jag Bal(F), Jeff Barlow(D), John Craighead(F), Josh Lunden(F), Kyle Nason(F), Malcolm Gould(F), Mike Destefano(F), Mike Bickley(F), Nathan Martz(F), Nolan Julseth-White(D), Peter Bogdanich(F), Riley Emerson(F), Rob Bruni(G), Ryan Bakken(D), Shawn Germain(D), Sheldon Lee(D), Wyatt Tunnicliffe(F), Trevor Hunt(F)

The game will start at 7:00 on Friday July6 at Prospera Centre and all tickets are priced at just $5.

On Saturday July 7th there will be a golf tournament at Cultus Lake Golf Club.  If you are interested in participating in the golf tournament please call the Chiefs office at 604.392.4433 or email Barry Douglas:

barry.douglas@chilliwackchiefs.net

Over a hundred residents of electoral areas came out to the FVRD’s public information meeting on the Aggregate Pilot Project last night.
Many of them were pretty angry over how the FVRD came up with their ideas on how to regulate the gravel industry.
One of the big concerns is that residents were not allowed by the province to be a part of the process to create the plan.
Dick Harrington said he doesn’t agree with that kind of thinking.

“If changes are being made to the environment that affect citizens all over the Fraser Valley for a hundred years, the public has a right, in a place called a democracy, to be involved.”
The plan that was presented divided up electoral areas into three types of zones.
Red, which means no new operations and no expansion of current mines.
Yellow, which allow gravel mines, and green which allows extraction and processing. In both yellow and green zones mines would be subject to a set of restrictions on a bylaw that is being developed.
A number of other people spoke on the issue, some worried that the APP plan won’t do enough to protect communities and others saying that areas that used to be red zones are now yellow thanks to negotiations with the gravel industry.

Abbotsford-Mission MLA Randy Hawes says that yellow or green zones don’t mean gravel mines can have a free for all.

“There is a process that includes an environmental review, a hydrological review, engineering….none of those things, including aboriginal consultation, are bypassed by this process.  All this does is say to the industry ‘don’t look here if you want to establish a gravel mine, but here’s where you could look’ and there could be very severe conditions.”

FVRD Board Chair Sharon Gaetz said coming into the evening that nothing was carved in stone…that’s why they held the public meeting in the first place.