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Letters

Ladysmith Maritime Society dock fi reThe Ladysmith Maritime Society (LMS) would like to thank the

many volunteers and members of the community who turned out to respond to the tragic emergency situation at the LMS Community Marina in the early hours of Thursday, January 6, and to the many who have subsequently offered their assistance. LMS is deeply ap-preciative of the members of the Ladysmith Fire Department, the B.C. Ambulance Service, Canadian Coast Guard, Marine Rescue Society and the R.C.M.P. for their thorough professionalism in responding to this emergency. In particular, LMS offers its heartfelt condolences to the family of our visitor from Revelstoke, who had been a guest at our marina and who passed away in hospital later that night.

- Dave Ehrismann, Executive Director, Ladysmith Maritime Society

Bottled ServiceRecently the South Wellington Elementary School PAC held a bottle

drive.Once again we were so impressed with the exceptional customer

service of the Ladysmith Junction Bottle Depot that we just had to share it! With the busy holiday season I had forgotten to call ahead to arrange the pickup, and found myself calling just a week before the date we had already advertised to see if pick-up was possible. At that time there was already another pick-up scheduled, but they were will-ing to squeeze us in at the end of the day as well. Whew! When our day arrived, the other bottle drive ended up to be cancelled due to weather, so Mr. Kim and his helper Dave arrived a couple of hours early and stayed to help us sort the empties. I can’t tell you how much we ap-preciate the hard work and cheerful disposition of Mr. and Mrs. Kim and all of the staff of the Ladysmith Junction Bottle Depot; Ladysmith and surrounding area is defi nitely lucky to have such a great place to take our refundable empties to! A big thank-you as well to all of the great people of South Wellington who stopped by to drop off some empties and have a quick chat! Krista Seggie, PAC chairperson South Wellington Elementary School

Proposed Replacement Fire HallDuring the summer of 2008 the original fi re hall replacement project

to the tune of $2.5 million was fi rmly rejected by the taxpayers of North Oyster when the odious Alternative Approval Project was foisted on the community. Since that time, the North Oyster Volunteer Fire De-partment’s Ad Hoc Building Replacement Committee was established to review whether or not, quote, “the project proposed to and rejected by the public in the summer of 2008 could be or should be modifi ed to reduce overall costs and to confi rm that the building design and physi-

cal site are appropriate for the long term objectives of the department. Additionally the committee was to make recommendations regarding the taxation method and the public approval process”. (1)

Also within that same letter, signed by all committee members, the committee stated, “the Coffi n Point fi re service issue was clearly stated as beyond the scope of this committee.”

With the progression of time, public meetings were held and, at the meeting of December 9, 2010, the general public in attendance were shocked to discover, not only fi nished architectural drawings for two fi re halls (including one at Coffi n Point for which the committee had in writing deemed beyond its scope), but taxpayer-funded costs had increased signifi cantly from the original $2.5 million to $3.2 million.

Unfortunately, due to the tenure of that meeting, there were many unanswered questions. In particular how does a yearly call-out (2009) of 89, less 25 to attend to traffi c accidents and only 6 structural fi res, rationalize the construction of an almost 8,000 sq ft fi re hall in this tiny community, a community whose Offi cial Community Plan discour-ages expansion and increased development?

There are no employment opportunities in this area, with young peo-ple having to leave to fi nd work, so where will volunteers be found to fi ll the quota required to man two fi re halls?

Also, it should be clear how capital projects are arranged for from the initial step of defi ning the needs of a volunteer fi re hall. This is the critical fi rst step and one that has not been divulged.

All decisions, which will result in taxpayers paying signifi cantly more, demand a full spectrum approach including accountability. How a fi re hall (now two) would be funded should have been an integral part of the fi rst step, not simply drawing up the plans then throwing the entire burden on residential taxpayers with the Chair of the committee demanding a vote on the spot. It is simply not good enough to say, ‘we need and want this’ and expect the taxpayers to, without question, pay. Where is the independent feasibility study? Such an independent unbi-

ased study would have answered all these questions and more.Notwithstanding the undeniable fact that the existing fi re hall is in

need of major improvements and upgrading; perhaps even a complete-ly new structure, is the other undeniable fact that a small portion of Area “H” within North Oyster, comprised of a little over 1,000 resi-dential taxpayers, who face diffi cult economic times (current property taxes almost doubled in 2010), cannot afford the currently proposed $3,201,235.53 overall cost.

We all have to live within our means. Understanding there are funds available from Terasen Gas for

$100,000, UBCM for $300,000 and the Fire Department have $415,000 in their coffers, plus there are other funding sources available which may be pursued, the entire burden including interest on borrowed money, must not and should not be dumped on this tiny community for decades.

The Ad Hoc Building Replacement Committee has deviated from the only duly signed document I can fi nd, wherein the original purpose for making modifi cations “to reduce overall costs” is outlined, and confi dence in their ability has been lost. - Rita Dawson

Area H #1 Firehall Proposal Project.The fi rst proposal for renovating or replacing the North Oyster

#1 Firehall was soundly defeated by the residents of Area H. The Alternative Approval Process and Costs were cited as the major is-sues at that time.

Public meetings in 2008 left the community again questioning the Project Costs of the (new) Proposal. The debt to taxpayers would have been well over $2 million. This cost was not acceptable.

An Ad Hoc Committee was formed (early 2009) by our Area H di-rector. They were given a mandate to see if they could address the costs, and possible site relocation of the Firehall.

In March/April of 2010, two public meetings were held, commu-nity feedback was deemed critical to discuss specifi c issues (costs-tax method - Coffi n Point area). The information at that time states that a Project brief will be updated to refl ect this feedback. This information was then to become available on the website. I have been unable to fi nd any information that was posted or given to the public following those meetings.

In December 2010, a meeting was scheduled by the Ad Hoc Commit-tee, those in attendance discovered the architectural designs have now been completed, which include two new Firehalls at a cost of $3.2 mil-lion plus yearly interest (payable in total by the taxpayers of North Oys-ter) over 20 years. Taxation method most discussed was Parcel tax.

A new round of public information meetings are supposed to begin soon. Ideally, our area director will have the proposals posted well in advance of these meetings. This would then give Area H taxpayers time to look through the data, to make informed decisions, and allow critical feedback/questions prior to the meeting(s).

This would then be followed by a referendum sometime around June 2011.

It is your community and your tax dollars, please keep informed. - Jerrilynn Harris, North Oyster

Bikes and busesThere are a couple of initiatives Ladysmith Town council is run-

ning with that I think we as taxpayers should be concerned about: the Bicycle Plan and the Trolley Service. Information about both of these can be found on the Town’s website. The plans were well intentioned but I think misguided.

If the Bicycle Plan is carried through to completion as shown, there will be a network of bicycle paths over a large part of our town with bike racks and shelters and even lock ups. What the total cost might be is hard to fi gure. There are costs set out in the plan but they are stated largely such as so many dollars per metre of construction. It’s not go-

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ing to be cheap if the costs for the one piece that Rob Johnson wrote about in November’s Take 5 is anything to go by: $78,000 for a stretch of Bayview.

What Rob was questioning up front then was the choice of Bayview. Like Rob I live on Bayview and I can vouch the number of cyclists using that road in a week can be counted on the fi ngers of one hand with fi n-gers left over. So why start there?

The purpose for the Bicycle Plan, accord-ing to the mayor is many fold...but overall, to encourage/promote the safe use of the bi-cycle (and) about good health. I would sug-gest bicycle paths will have little to do with whether people ride bikes or not. Let’s face it, this is not a cycle friendly town from a topographical point of view and, as far as safety goes, we have maybe just a couple of streets where traffi c could be regarded as “heavy.” I would be interested to know just how many accidents involving cars and bikes there have been over the past fi ve years.

I suggested to the mayor that not only would we have a bus with no passengers, we would have the bike lanes with no cyclists. He responded that our trolley bus carried 25 000 passengers last year which sounds im-pressive till it is broken down into smaller units. 25,000 a year works out as 10 pas-

sengers an hour which means that at any one time there are unlikely to be more than two or three aboard which anybody can observe any day of the week.

This bus came with great expectations. Look at the Downtown Business website at the trolley launch.

The Ladysmith Trolley Service meets several key goals for the Town. It supports sustainability by reducing greenhouse gases, provides increased mobility for young and old, residents and visitors alike, reduces parking congestion at the town’s two major shopping areas, and strengthens the local economy by enabling more people to access local businesses.

Does a diesel bus trundling around our streets ten hours a day carrying a total of 80 passengers meet these goals?

The trouble with the bus routes is much the same as with the bicycle routes: why would anybody use them? Bicycles go wherever they will, not on some set route unless you are going somewhere special with a lot of others. The mayor wrote about the large number of cyclists using Montréal’s bike routes. Well, the same could be said about Vancouver and Victoria. But these are cities with large num-bers of commuters, not a small town of 7000 with one main street.

As with our bike paths there is really little reason to ride our trolley unless it is to tour the town as Karen Girard wrote in a letter to last week’s Chronicle. If a person were to go shopping there are shopping bags to carry and possibly a couple of blocks of walking ahead which isn’t much value to the elderly or disabled. Better, as Paul Williams pointed out in December’s Take 5, would have been/would be(?) a smaller bussette as the Auxil-iary use and even have some sort of on-call door to door service. But then that would cut into the taxis’ business. Hmm.

Maybe we need to stand back and reevalu-ate. A cliche it may be but sometimes the best change might be no change.

Sad to say,as it stands now, when time and convenience and even the environment are considered, the car wins out.

- Brian Bradshaw

Re: Rob Pinkerton’s WIldfi leWild life rabbits, rats and deer etc. are like

relatives. You have to have them and they are nice, as long as they don’t bed down in my estate!

Any person that has an IQ better than their eyesight (20-20) would know that rabbits and rats can breed faster than you can write a story. So now all your neigh-bours are going to be inundated with all the destructive creatures that you let loose. If I were you I would not tell anybody that I caught and released a rat. It is manly to catch

and release a fi sh, but not a rat. Get out of BC and go to Alberta if you don’t want to show your girly side. - Al Cutting

Dear SantaThank you for coming to our Pancake

Breakfast again this year at Cedar Commu-nity Hall. We had such a good time doing the crafts, decorating cookies, and getting our nails and faces painted! But, the highlight, of course, was that you made the time to visit, get pictures taken with us, and ask us what we would like for Christmas!

The NOAH (North Oyster and Area His-torical Society) elves were busy, too, get-ting the decorations done, cooking a yummy breakfast, and helping us with our Christmas bags. We were excited to hear the winners of the raffl e, including Ron Lambert, John Neil, Inga Cooper, Joshua Lewis, Ann Marie Horne, Sally Steeves, George McKinley, and Barb Argue.

Again, many thanks to you, Santa, and all of the businesses who so generously support this annual tradition. We couldn’t do it with-out you!! From all of the kids and parents in our Area.

- Sue Benoit, Secretary NOAH

Cedar co-opThanks for the article regarding Cedar Op-

portunities Co-operative in the Dec/Jan Take 5. We really appreciate you fi tting us in. We have had some good feedback already about it. We are signing our lease this week and hoping to take possession of our space in January. We’ll have some more news to pass on to you in the coming months.

- Sandra Marquis, President, Cedar Op-portunities Co-operative

As I see it, Town’s top earnersRob Johnson’s column As I see it, (Dec/10)

Town’s top earners is bang on . It seems that the Town councillors cannot stand up to the senior Staff and the salaries and increases of Administrators are running completely out of proportion to the increases the other mu-nicipal employees are getting and what the public can afford.

Unless the elected offi cials start to bring some control and reality to the wages of the Managers, the town will both go broke and have a taxpayers revolution on its hands.

I have a copy of a “fact sheet, cost of com-munity services studies” from the American Farmland Trust ~ Farmland information cen-ter. It shows that for every $1 paid in taxes by residential properties, it takes $1.16 to provide community services. For every farm or open land, for every dollar collected, it takes 36 cents to provide the lesser community services they ask for.

I am getting really tired of the councils and

regional board Directors wringing their hands piously and stating that despite their best efforts at budget time, the taxes have to go up.

- Keith Wyndlow

RE: Dec ’10 Edition of Take 5 ‘As I See it’I read Rob Johnson’s latest article on the Town’s top earners, com-

paring the top salaried staff to those of other municipalities with great interest. Rob’s article raises some very interesting questions. Case in point, perhaps Rob’s lead-in sentence should be, ‘How much is a rea-sonable cost to administer our Town?”

I was fl oored when I read our City Manager earns $171,531 plus benefi ts, more importantly, how did Town Council rationalize a wage increase of 65.11% since 2005? What decision-making process did the Town Council use to grant administration wage increases of 53.71% over the last four years, and why do we need a new position for Man-ager of Administration Services? How does Town Council justify these wage increases? Is this type of administration cost in-line with provid-ing high quality services at the lowest possible cost to our tax payers? How much were services and residential and industrial taxes raised to help cover the cost of the administration costs? Were taxpayers con-sulted with the rationale for such a steep raise in administration costs?

I, too, believe in paying our senior staff a fair wage, but to be com-pletely out of line with other municipalities, such as View Royal, with a similar population of Ladysmith, which pays their City Manager $125,467, is ridiculous. Infl ation generally runs 2-3% per year, so the unionized employees agreement at 3-3.5 per cent is reasonable.

Mr. Johnson’s two previous articles on the pros and cons of the trol-ley bus program and the proposed bike path for Bayview (at a cost of approximately $70,000) make me question Town Council’s decision-making process on how it decides how tax payers funds be spent to provide high quality services at the lowest possible cost...I rode my bike to and from work along Bayview eight months of the year for eight years, and I never once passed another cyclist.Perhaps Mr. Johnson is correct in suggesting the Town direct the proposed bike path funds to providing solar energy for the Recreation centre as part of the ‘Go Green’ concept?

In February 2002, I presented Town Council with a consulting proj-ect I prepared for the Town (‘gratis’) in order to complete my MBA. The report was entitled, “Developing a Municipal Business Planning Process for the Town of Ladysmith – A Road Map for Continued Suc-cess”. The report outlined suggestions for the Town to improve the budgeting process and tie-in accountability and performance manage-ment objectives for Town Council and each department to reinforce the concept of accountability for strategic planning issues such as land use planning, service delivery, physical infrastructure – i.e. roads, and economic development.

Perhaps the Town will consider the use of newsletters, ‘town hall’ meetings, newspapers, fl yers, or Citizen Satisfaction Surveys on the types of services they want in order to answer two key questions - Is the Town delivering the services our citizens want?, and is the service being delivered at a reasonable/good price?

Perhaps Town Council and senior staff need to review the concept of accountability and fi scal restraint as part of cost effective service delivery for our taxpayers.

- Garth Buck

Town’s Top EarnersBravo for bringing the Towns Top Earners to our atten-

tion. A great follow up article would be, the qualifi cations these people have to earn this kind of money which is outrageous.Secondly, I wonder if the Citizens of our Community are aware of how high the tax rate is for people who own Commercial Build-ings in this Town. In these tough Economic Times, there is no money left over for renovations and upkeep. The amount a land-

lord can rent his Commercial Spaces out does not justify the Taxes due. A good example is Brian Marshall’s building on First Avenue which is nearly $26,000 annually. It doesn’t pay to have a beauti-fully built or renovated building as your taxes just keep climbing.It would seem prudent for the Town to gives some Tax Incen-tives to businesses locally. We need to attract more to this Town.- Barbara Bezeau

Town’s top earnersThanks for the great article on the Town’s remuneration. It’s great to

see that we have some investigative reporting in town. -Paul Williams

Town’s top earners Thanks for your excellent article re. the Town’s top earners, and I

must admit, I was shocked. How is it possible for the Town Councilors to approve such outrageous salaries for a small town like Ladysmith? Did they not do their homework or was pressure put upon them with the often used phrase, we have to pay that much to keep good people? Which of course is nonsense.

More and more people come to the Food Bank, many people are still unemployed or work for low wages and still their taxes go to pay for those top salaries + benefi ts + expense accounts, it is outrageous!

At the next Municipal election, perhaps we need to vote for people, who will freeze those salaries for the next fi ve years; what else can we possible do about it? - Lis Farrell

Staff salaries, Kay GrouhelI agree with Rob Johnson’s comments on salaries for staff at city

hall. I do hope that the Mayor and his council show some prudence in this matter as it soon will get way out of control. The taxpayers wages and pensions do not escalate at this rate of increase. As for Kay Grouhel, she was an outstanding mayor and deserves to have a special recognition for what she had done for this Town or City.

- Frank Crucil

Top earnersThank you for your article. I haven’t waited to reply now out of no

interest, but rather what can we do? The taxpayer apparently has little to say in determining salary ranges . If there is something that could be done, please share it with us and I for one would be willing to try to change the status quo.

- William Verstraete

Town’s top earners article is misinformedI am writing to correct some misinformation originally written in the

Take 5 magazine and subsequently presented in other media. The Town of Ladysmith City Manager’s regular annual salary for

2009 was $134,847, not the $171,000 as reported. The writer of the original article may not have been aware that the

City Manager’s salary, as reported, included a payout of several years’ accumulated unused holidays.

The compensation levels of senior staff are established with the as-sistance of an independent external review. The last such independent salary review took place some four years ago during the 2006-2009 Term of Offi ce.

-Rob Hutchins, Mayor, Town of Ladysmith

Letters to the Editor are welcome but subject to space and ed-iting. Write TAKE 5, PO Box 59, Ladysmith, BC V9G 1A1, fax 250-245-7099 or [email protected]

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Happy Valentine’s Day!Results from a national survey revealed that nearly 80 per

cent of Canadians feel that sex is an important part of their life. Not surprising when you consider how many articles and songs are written about love. Love inspires us to create and do better than we have done in the past.

This Valentine’s Day you don’t need to feel guilty about in-dulging in chocolates, wine and fi ne dining, because being inti-mate with your partner is good for your health.

Take 5 Ways a Romantic Interlude can improve your HealthBY ROB JOHNSON

February is traditionally the month for expressing your love for your partner, and it is also a month that we focus on our health and well being. Are you aware that you can combine both of these in a single activity? A robust love life offers nu-merous heath benefi ts as well improving you emotional heath.

1 INCREASED EXERCISESexual activity burns up a lot of calories. Some studies esti-

mate that you can burn up to 500 calories per session. For the average person in reasonable heath it could be the equivalent of 15 minutes on a treadmill.

2 REDUCED HEART ATTACK RISKBritish researchers found that in a study of 900 middle age

men who had sex twice a week or more reduced their risk of heart attacks by 10 % compared to their counterparts who were less intimate. In women, regular sex increases the level of fe-male hormone, which in women, reduces their risk of heart dis-ease. Regular sex improves cholesterol levels and increases circulation and improves the immune system as well.

3 REDUCES ACHES Studies have shown that sex reduces headaches and joint

pain. In medical terms immediately before orgasm, levels of the hormone oxytocin surge to fi ve times their normal level. This in turn releases endorphin, which alleviates pain from everything, headache to arthritis to even migraine.

4 HEALTHIER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL SKINSex can also contribute to healthier skin because estrogen in

women is released and that causes shiny skin and hair.

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5 REDUCE STRESSA recent survey revealed that people who have more sex re-

ported that they felt more at ease, happier and learned how to handle stress better. People who enjoy a regular dose of sex convey that they sleep much better during the night and feel alive and refreshed throughout the day. So, one of the health benefi ts of sex is a better nights sleep, which allows you to han-dle day-to-day stress much more effi ciently.

As there are many ways that sex can keep you a healthier person inside and out, the important thing is that it is shared with someone that you are emotionally involved with. Sex is a beautiful thing to share between people who are in love and respect each other. Ultimately, the act of love making, or sex, is a beautiful thing that is healthy for you from head to foot and all the bits in between. Enjoy your Valentine!

Single? The Cotton Club is holding a speed dating night Fri-day, Feb 11 at 8pm. 250-245-5157 for more information.


Ladysmith Maritime Society dock fi reOn Jan. 6 at midnight a fi re broke out at Ladysmith Maritime Society docks. The

fi re spread to other boathouses destroying seven boathouses and fi ve vessels, 100 feet of dock. Decking was scorched on another 100 feet of main dock and on one fi nger. During the evacuation a man collapsed on the deck of his boat and later died after having been taken to hospital by ambulance. Damage is estimated at approximately $2 million making this one of the costliest fi res in the town’s history. Cause of the fi re is still under investigation. Rob Pinkerton was there and here is his account of that terrible night.

BY ROB PINKERTONThe phone rang just before one in the morning. There is always that feeling of un-

ease and dread as you stumble out of bed to answer at that hour. A friend told me that the Ladysmith Maritime Society docks were on fi re and I should see to my boat. As I approached the Expo Legacy building, I could make out dense smoke and fl ames coming from the seaward end of the docks. I wove my way through three ladder and pumper trucks and smaller vehicles all with emergency lights rotating and fl ashing. A couple of fi refi ghters standing in the heavy rain watched me go by. Parking my truck, I made my way down the dark stairway to the lower parking lot. Groups of fi refi ghters dressed in full gear stood quietly together among three more trucks. Ladysmith’s Fire Chief Ray Delcourt and a lieutenant stood at the head of the ramp talking on radios with those on the docks. A hose from the hydrant in the upper lot snaked down the bank and attached to a pumper truck. From the truck, a charged hose continued down the docks to a portable hydrant and then split; one hose to the center dock and the other to the north dock where the fi re was burning. At the far end of the middle LMS dock, the stream from the hose arched up and over to the wall of fl ame on the northern dock. Toxic smoke billowed and rolled away to the south and fi re, higher at times than the

boathouse roofs, showed the marina in a weird fl ickering light.

Four fi refi ghters were given instruc-tions. I watched them recheck their gear and start down the dock. Soon only their headlamps could be seen as the made their way towards the northern area where the boathouses were on fi re. I wondered what thoughts had gone through their minds as they waited in the pouring rain for their turn to come. About ten minutes later, the headlamps of the crew that was relieved appeared. They said little when they arrived, struggling out of breathing apparatus and other gear. Alarms jangled on their regulators signifying that they were almost out of air and were shut off. Some shed their heavy coats and steam rose from their overheated bodies. Water and energy drinks were gulped and para-medics checked their heart rates. I tried to imagine the situation they had just left. They would be in the small space between the rows of boathouses, facing a wall of fi re. They could not see around the end of the burning houses and could not see what was happening beyond their immediate area. They all knew that be-sides fuel tanks of gasoline, diesel and fl aming fi berglass, propane bottles, aero-sol cans, paint cans and other unknowns were certainly there. As boats inside burned, the aluminum boathouse walls melted beside them. A fi refi ghter on the nozzle would have his partner directly behind him, feeding him slack and tak-ing the weight of the hose. Behind them another of the team would be watching for dangers and assessing the attack. Another would be helping to change air bottles and fueling the hot generator that ran a seawater pump that could not be shut down as it may not start again. The roar and crackling of the fi re, popping as unknown things exploded, the poison smoke rolling away with smoldering em-

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After the fi re. Photo: Rob Johnson

TAKE 5 take5.ca 15

bers in it. I would think heart rates might be somewhat elevated. They are trained to keep their breathing at a steady rate as you go through your air bottle very fast if you get excited.

In the parking lot, the fi refi ghters talked among themselves and put fresh air bottles in their breathing apparatus. The rain was steady and hard and was probably extinguishing those fl y-ing cinders. The trucks shined wet in the pulsing lights. Another team was sent to relieve the crew on the hose on the middle dock and they soon arrived, tense and quiet.

It had been about an hour since I had arrived. The fi re was being beaten down and suddenly was out. Now those guys on the front lines were in the dark except for headlamps. I was wet and getting cold so decided to go home. With a dull “whump”, a ball of fi re shot up, twice as high as the boathouses, illuminating the towering smoke. A fuel tank full of gasoline? As I climbed up the hill, the fl ames slowly died down as they were cooled by the fi refi ghters.

Arriving on the scene at around midnight, they worked until seven in the morning and then had to clean and service their gear back at the station. Twenty-six fi refi ghters from Ladys-mith, eight from Chemainus and six from North Oyster fi re de-partment responded. I have heard it said that this fi re was the largest and most dangerous that many of these men have faced. Watching their team work and skills impressed me greatly and I think they did a magnifi cent job.

Fire engulfs a boat house at Ladysmith Maritime Society docks. Photos: Stephanie Irvine

A United Stand Against Bullying

Bullying is an ongoing issue in our society; one that negatively impacts our youth. Millie Stirling, branch manager of the local Ladysmith Vancouver Is-land InsuranceCentre, hopes all students in the Ladysmith school catchment area will wear, en masse, pink tee shirts which read, “Respect the right to be different.” take a stand against bullying on Febru-ary 23. Close to 2,000 tee shirts in our community are a gift from VIIC. Mil-lie points out, “VIIC is an Island owned company staffed with parents, grandpar-ents, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers who believe that by working together in our communities we can make a differ-ence through keeping the anti-bullying message visible. The impact on the vic-tims’ confi dence is huge. Kids are taking their lives.”

A Wear Pink Day campaign is occur-ring in other communities throughout BC and Canada. This year, VIIC is distribut-ing over 11,000 tee shirts in Vancouver Island communities.

Students at Ladysmith Secondary School in drama, dance, music and so-cial justice clubs are collaborating to put

on a performance event for intermediate and elementary school-age children that aims to end to bullying: February 14, 10-10:30, St. Joseph’s Elementary School, Davis Road Elementary School, and North Oyster Elementary School, grade 5-7 students will attend at LSS. Febru-ary 15, 2:00- 2:30, at Ladysmith Primary School, February 16, 9:15-9:45, at Lady-


smith Intermediate School.Student dancer Cassidy Stachow be-

lieves many students will identify with the performance message of acceptance and respect, “I often struggled with classes and social life, wondering I was doing this or that right so that people would accept me.”

Ladysmith InsuranceCentre supports the anti-bullying campaign. Wearing the pink t-shirts are: Back row, l-r: Millie Stirling, Katrina Stirling, Charlene Kong, Carolyn Bradbury, Front row, i-r: Cassidy Kong, Liam Vegh, Sarah Stirling, Sarina Stirling, Peyton Kong Photo: Marina Sacht

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China keeps mill busyThirty-fi ve sawmill workers back on the job is a perfect ex-

ample of how B.C.’s coastal forest sector is enjoying increased lumber demand from China, Forests, Mines and Lands Minis-ter Pat Bell announced today while touring the Western Forest Products sawmill last month in Ladysmith.

“With four straight positive quarters, Western has clearly turned the corner from the very tough market of recent years,” said Western vice chair Lee Doney.

Western-Ladysmith was forced to close its doors in April 2008 due to the collapse of the U.S. housing market. They re-started in September 2010 after re-tooling the facility to pro-duce metric-sized hemlock/fi r lumber specifi cally for the China market. With an annual production capacity of 40 million board feet on a one-shift basis, Western-Ladysmith now exports 100 per cent of its output to China.

Cancer Society needs canvassers for Cedar We urgently need volunteers to canvass the Cedar area. We

are looking for one area captain and 25 canvassers who can provide approximately a three hour time commitment for fund-raising door-to-door. Contact Bill McCullough at Nanaimo Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society at 250-741-8180.

MISSI Meeting At the Cedar Heritage Centre, 1644 MacMillan Road, Ce-

dar - Thurs Feb 24th, 7-8pm - ‘RDN/CVRD - Cross Bound-ary Water Challenges - Local Aquifers & Groundwater’ with the MISSI AGM at 8pm-to provide residents with a chance to discuss present and future demands on local water supplies, so that informed comments and decisions can be made as the Area A OCP, and proposals for the RDN Airport Accord are considered. The meeting takes place the night before the RDN deadline to submit comments on the ‘RDN Drinking Water & Watershed Protection Report’.

Dr. Gilles Wendling, author of many groundwater and aquifer studies for the area and region is the speaker.

Don’t Shoot We’re Still British” presented by YPDG

Yellow Point Drama Group presents the sequel to their suc-cessful run of “Don’t Shoot We’re British” two seasons ago,

this time with a whole new evening of familiar British com-edy sketches, a fi lm parody of “The Avengers”, and another episode of “Fawlty Towers”. It sold out last time, so don’t be disappointed and reserve tickets early. Preview is March 3, with other shows on March 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19. Tickets are $10.00 for preview and $15.00 for regular. ($10.00 for children under 12). Reserve at 722-3067.

Torch SongVancouver Island Players present Torch Song - Widows and

Children First. A very personal story of a memorable charac-ter Arnold Beckoff that is both funny and poignant by Tony award winning actor playwright, Harvey Fierstein, Torch Song chronicles a New Yorker’s search for love, respect and tradi-tion in a world that seems not especially made for him. Widows and Children First, fi nds Arnold armed with a keenly developed sense of humor as he continues to test the commonly accepted terms of endearment ~ and endurance ~ in a universally affect-

18

Members of Yellow Point Drama Group rehearsing for their “Don’t Shoot, We’re Still British”

The $1000 donation to the Cedar Skate Park Association is through CIBC’s Employee as Ambassador Program, which recognizes the difference CIBC employees make in their community by volunteering their time and expertise for good causes. FSR II, Jan Stephens has been involved with the program as a volunteer for past two years.

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ing story that confi rms that happiness is well worth carrying a torch for. Directed by John Fox.

The show runs to Feb 13, Ladysmith Little Theatre ladysmiththeatre.com Box Offi ce: 250-924-0658

Transit Open HouseThe Cowichan Transit is having an

Open House on Saturday, Feb.5 from 2 - 4 pm at Aggie Hall in Ladysmith. BC Transit is working with the Cowichan Valley Regional District to develop a transit master plan for the next 25 years. Visit www.bctransit.com, click Transit Future and use the online survey to send us your comments.

New Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce board

The Ladysmith Chamber of Com-merce has elected its new board. Re-turning are Bill Eller, Rhonda Shirley, Paul Nettleton, Nita Grant, and new Rod MacNeil, Simon Warne, Michael Furlot, Kathy Holmes, Cyndi Beaulieu, Linda Donohue.


Mary Fox at Pottery StoreThe Pottery Store in Chemainus is

pleased to announce that they will be selling the functional tableware and unique fi ne-art creations of the inter-nationally renowned Ladysmith potter Mary Fox “Mary Fox is in the top ech-elon of Vancouver Island artists and we receive frequent requests for her work” said Peggy Grigor, co-owner of The Pottery Store. Mary’s works have been exhibited internationally and have won numerous awards.

RDN to host Livestock Carcass Disposal Exercise

Learn to plan for the safe disposal of killed livestock in the event of a trans-portation accident. On February 9 the RDN will host a tabletop farmed animal mass carcass disposal exercise in the RDN Board Chambers in Nanaimo. A wide range of stakeholder groups will also participate in the exercise, including the Justice Institute of BC, the BC Milk Producers Association, the BC Cattle-men’s Association, the Ministry of Ag-riculture, the Ministry of Environment, Emergency Management BC, the Ca-nadian Food Inspection Agency, the In-vestment Agriculture Association of BC (IAFBC), the Vancouver Island Health Authority, the Ministry of Transporta-tion and Highways, EMCON, RCMP, local cattle haulers, composting service providers, incineration equipment sup-pliers, meat processing/rendering com-panies, and insurance providers. For details call RDN Emergency Program Coordinator Jani Drew at 250-390-6526, or [email protected].

Ladysmith Mayor Report

Building a Community - Vision, Tenacity, Hard Work, Compassion, and Grants

When I refl ect on 2010, I salute with admiration the citizens of our community who have worked so tirelessly to help build some exciting new facilities in our Town.

Lot 108At the north end of 4th Avenue you will fi nd, near comple-

tion, the fi rst phase ($3.2 million) of a multi-purpose sports park. The vision for such a facility, at that location, was fi rst shared some 17 years ago. A boundary expansion, withdrawal from the Forest Land Reserve, land negotiations and acquisi-tion, and rezoning of the 23 acre parcel took some seven years to complete. In 2002, plans were then developed: “The Field of Dreams” they were called, as the accompanying price tag at that time was in excess of $7 million. As BC was in the midst of an economic recession, the plans had to be put on hold until the right ingredients were in place to allow us to proceed.

A catalyst for change and (fi nally) development on Lot 108 came in two forms - a nearby housing development (shared cost of infrastructure) and most importantly in the form of a “Sad News/Good News Story.”

In early 2009, the residents (38 families) of Ivy Green Mobile Home Park received eviction notices. That set into place a se-ries of events that would see The Town of Ladysmith become (it is my understanding) the fi rst community in North America to help facilitate the collective move of such homes.

The question was, “Would we give up a portion of our ‘Field of Dreams’ to provide a site for the construction of a new mo-bile home park?” Although the sacrifi ce was some 11 acres of parkland at Lot 108, the members of Town Council, Town staff, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Field Users Group, the Executive of the Ladysmith Golf Course, and those citizens who took part in the public hearing on the rezoning of the park-land unanimously agreed that it was the right thing to do. No one was to be left homeless.

In early 2010, we were fortunate and we are so grateful that David Stalker, Jag Basi, and Chris Kaelble were willing to step forward and take on the challenge of creating the new mobile home park.

But the fi rst phase of the sports fi elds at Lot 108 was still underfunded. The Provincial Government agreed to allow the Town to redirect our “Towns for Tomorrow Grant” of $375,000 for Aggie Field to the new site at Lot 108. The Federal Govern-ment, through the advocacy of Island Government representa-tives who recognized the multi-faceted benefi ts of our vision, generously agreed to provide a $1 million grant.

2011 will be a year of celebration. Behind the celebration are years of hard work, tenacity, compassion, and generosity. We do live in a most wonderful place.

Next Month – A new Community Service Building on High Street.

Ladysmith Mayor Rob Hutchins

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Finding “Life In Adventure”

Years ago I recall reading something about families making mission state-ments. Creating a few words to several paragraphs that set the philosophical ba-sis and direction of the family. I did not have children at the time and dismissed the idea thinking it was goofy. Who has time for that? Fast forward to life with kids and apparently I have the time. For the past two years I have come up with a mission statement of sorts. A few words that I use as inspiration for things we do as a family. With outdoor adventure taking up most of our family time, the

mission statements have been created specifi cally for that.

In 2009 it was “Adventures in BC.” The children were turning 4 and 2 years old. Any where we went was an adventure. I remember walking through Hemer Park with a 2 year old screaming 10 yards behind us. How were we ever going to hike any great distance with crying chil-dren? Adventures in BC kept us going…it was an adventure and we were in BC. Over time the crying decreased and the distances travelled grew. That year we tried new things like surfi ng, canoeing, and biking. That’s when I thought there was something to this mission statement idea after all.

2010 was inspired in part by the Olym-pics, “Spirit of Adventure.” I wanted to capture the children’s spirit and our passion for adventure. Like the athletes competing for gold, we started every outing with a goal and did our best to achieve it. We surfed some more, snow shoed for the fi rst time and canoed on a cold wet afternoon. And this was just the January activities! Our spirits kept us going in all kinds of weather and

situations. We had our fi rst family bear encounter, backpacked our fi rst multi day hiking trip, and got caught in rain one too many times. I really believe if I did not have these three words to refl ect upon, we would never have done half of the things we did.

So here we are…2011, time for a new mission statement. I struggled with this one, mostly due to the fact I was not ready to let go of 2010. The children will be turning 6 and 4 years old this year. They are full of curiosity and life. That’s when I came up with “fi nding LIFE in ADVENTURE”. The phrase has many meanings. Life itself is an adventure or adventure can bring new life and fi nd perspective. For us it will be fi nding fi ve living creatures on every adventure. To seek out and learn about organisms such as animals, plants, fungus, or micro-or-ganisms. The only rule I will enforce is not picking the fi rst fi ve plants or trees we see and never the same living crea-ture twice. Ok, that is two rules. There needs to be some adventure to it.

Before 2011 was offi cial, I tested our mission out just to be sure it could be


done. With family in tow, we hiked lo-cal trails like Jack Point and Hemer Park. I drove everybody nuts by con-stantly reminding them of the mission. I was sceptical thinking that the children would not be interested let alone fi nd anything exciting in mid December. My motherly rants were quickly muted. Living creatures were among us every-where. It was fun and easy to fi nd and identify fi ve living creatures. Some liv-ing creatures required a bit of research afterwards in order to identify, like the pipefi sh. Others were easy to identify,

like the giant earthworm slithering under our feet while we were having a snack. What I found was the children were captivated and interested in the fi nds no matter how common or rare. Mission accomplished.

Being a list type of person, I have started recording all our fi nds. Where we were and what we found. It also helps re-inforce the no creature twice rule. What I did not expect was how diffi cult it is to identify organisms. A tree is not just a tree. Nor is a fi sh just a fi sh. What I am now faced with is hours of research-

ing the exact species of tree or fi sh. The more I investigate the more species I uncover. I defi nitely do not have the time for that. So now I am researching a backpack for the dog so he can carry the dozen or so books I require to identify the living creatures we fi nd.

To read On The Beaten Path’s monthly blog and adventure stories, join the Fa-cebook fan page “On The Beaten Path” or visit www.wix.com/onthebeatenpath/on-the-beaten-path

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Feb 1-13, Torch Song, Ladysmith Little Theatre 250-924-0658Feb 1, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Resume 101, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 1-19, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, Chemainus Theatre Festival 250-246-9820Feb 2, 9:30 am, Employment Navigators Workshop Internet and Email Job Search in the 21st Century, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 2, 7:30pm, Broadway to BC, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 2-19, 8pm, Barefoot in the Park, Bailey Studio, Nanaimo 250-758-7224Feb 3, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Crafting your Cover Letter, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 3-27, 12pm, Architecture Interior, Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery 610 Oyster Bay Dr. 250-245-1252Feb 4-5, 7:30pm, Curtains, The Cowichan Theatre 250-748-7529Feb 4, 9am, CPR C Full, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 4, 4pm, CPR C Recert, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 5, 1pm, The Big Sneeze, Malaspina Theatre 250-754-7587Feb 4, 7:30pm, Gryphon’s Trio, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 5, 10am, E & S Heating Grand Opening, 428 First Ave. 250-924-0114Feb 5, 2pm, BC Transit Open House, Aggie Hall 250-746-1004Feb 5, Hockey for Life Canuck Alumni vs. NRGH Hockey Team at Frank Crane Arena 250-729-1662Feb 5, 7pm, Opening Ceremony - Architecture Interior, Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery 610 Oyster Bay Dr. 250-245-1252Feb 5, 7:30pm, Dance Odyssey 2011, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 5, 8pm, Parker Schmidt, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 6, 7:30pm, Bombay Bellywood, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 5, 7pm, Open Mic Nite, Dancing Bean Café, 9752 Willow St. Chemainus 250-246-5050Feb 6, 2pm, Curtains, The Cowichan Theatre 250-748-7529Feb 6, 2pm, Hope King, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 7, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Job Search Support Group, 710 1st Ave.

250-245-7134Feb 7, Med-Small Non-Pleasure Vessel Safety (formerly MED A3), Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 7, 7:30pm, Andre LaPlante, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 7, 8pm, Laura Mann & the Fairly Odd Folk/Naomi Middlemiss, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 7-14, Navigational Safety-Level 1, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 8, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Computer Basics for Beginners, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 8, 6pm, A Living Library of Spirituality & Faith, Ladysmith Library 250-753-6911 Feb 8, 7:30pm, Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 8, 8pm, Blues Tuesday, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 9, 9:30am, Employment Navigators Workshop MS Word - Basics & Beyond , 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 9, 1pm, Livestock Carcass Disposal Exercise, RDN Board Chamber 250-390-6526Feb 9, 8pm, Mobadass, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 10, 8pm, Snowed In Comedy Tour, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 10, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Resume 101, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 10, 7pm, Nanaimo-Cedar Farmers’ Institute meeting, Cedar United Church Hall, 1644 Cedar Rd 250-722-3397Feb 10, 8pm, Trevor Davis Band, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 11-12, 7:30pm, Curtains, The Cowichan Theatre 250-748-7529Feb 11, 7pm, Jazzfest 2011, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 11, 9am, Emergency First Aid, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 11, 8pm, Midnight Hours/Chris Mapstone & Rootsystem, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 11, 8pm, Speed Dating, The Cotton Club 250-245-5157Feb 12, 7pm, Dance, Chemainus Seniors Drop In Center 250-246-2111Feb 12, 7pm, Dinner, Comedy, Dancing, The Cotton

Club 250-245-5157Feb 12, 8pm, Bob Marley Birthday Bash, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 12, 8pm, David Vest Combo, Dancing Bean Café, 9752 Willow St. Chemainus 250-246-5050Feb 12, 8pm, Performance Works 1218 Cartwright Street (Granville Island) 604-719-7423Feb 12, 8pm, Bob Kemmis/Wyckham Porteous, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 13, 2pm, Bobbi Schram, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 14, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Job Search Support Group, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 14, 7:30pm, Spring Breakup, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 14, Valentine’s Day Four Course menu, Mahle House Restaurant 250-722-3621Feb 14, Valentine’s Day Four Course menu, Page Point Bistro 250-924-1110Feb 14, 5pm, Valentine’s Day dinner & music, The Cotton Club 250-245-5157Feb 15, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Resume 101, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 15, Boat Pro Course, Mount Brenton Power & Sail Squadron 250-245-6424Feb 15-27, General Ship Knowledge Level 3, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 15-17, Med-Basic Safety (formerly MED A1) Med-Small Passenger Vessel Safety (formerly MED A2) Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 15-19, MED STCW Basic Safety Training, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 15- Mar 3, Ship Construction & Stability Level 4 Upgrade, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 16, 9:30 am, Employment Navigators Workshop Internet and Email Job Search in the 21st Century, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 16, 11:30am, Soup & Sandwich Lunch, Chemainus Seniors Drop In Center 250-246-2111Feb 16, 7:30pm, H’SAO, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 16-19, 7:30pm, The Children’s Hour, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 17, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Crafting your Cover Letter, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 17, Boat Pro Course, Mount Brenton Power & Sail Squadron 250-245-6424Feb 18-21, Small Vessel Operator, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 18, 9am, CPR C Full, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 18, 4pm, CPR C Recert, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 19, Pruning Workshop, $60+HST 250-756-8892Feb 19, 8pm, Shelly Dubois, Dancing Bean Café, 9752 Feb 12, 8pm, Performance Works

TAKE 5 take5.ca 29

Willow St. Chemainus 250-246-5050Feb 19, 7:30pm, Vancouver Island Symphony, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 20, 8:30am, Nanaimo Fish & Game Hunting & Fishing collectables display & sale. Nanaimo Fish & Game Club, 1325 Nanaimo Lakes Road. Jim 250-754-9967Feb 20, 7:30pm, Peter & the Wolves, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 21, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Job Search Support Group, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 21, 1pm, Employment Navigators Preparing for an Interview, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 21-24, MED – Survival Craft, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 22, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Computer Basics for Beginners, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 22, Boat Pro Course, Mount Brenton Power & Sail Squadron 250-245-6424Feb 22-23, 8am, Standard First Aid, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 22, 7:30pm, Pteros Tactics, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 23, 9:30am, Employment Navigators Workshop MS Word - Basics & Beyond , 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 23-Mar 9, Meteorology Level 1 (formerly 072), Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education

Associates 250-245-4455Feb 24, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Resume 101, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 24-26, Restricted Operator Certifi cate: Maritime Commercial, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Feb 24, 7pm, MISSI’s Drinking Water & Watershed Protection meeting, Cedar Heritage CentreFeb 24, 7:30pm, Mother, Mother, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 24, 8pm, John Cohen/Northcote, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 25, 9am, Emergency First Aid, EFAS, Ladysmith First United Church 250-893-3418Feb 25, 5pm, Used book/toy/game sale South Wellington Elementary School PAC 250-245-0440 Feb 25-28, 7:30pm, The Children’s Hour, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Feb 26, 9am, Used book/toy/game sale South Wellington Elementary School PAC 250-245-0440 Feb 26, 7pm, Dance, Chemainus Seniors Drop In Center 250-246-2111Feb 26, 7pm, Open Mic Night, United Church 232 High St. 250-245-2183Feb 26, 7:30pm, South Island Music Society - Curtains, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 26, 8pm, David Essig, Dancing Bean Café, 9752 Willow St. Chemainus 250-246-5050Feb 27, 2pm, South Island Music Society - Curtains,

The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Feb 28, 9am, Employment Navigators Workshop Job Search Support Group, 710 1st Ave. 250-245-7134Feb 29-Mar 3, Simulated Electronic Navigation Ltd. (SEN Ltd), Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455March Mar 1-4, MED – Advanced Fire Fighting, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Mar 1, 7:30pm, Paul Mercs Concerts- Curtains, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Mar 2-3, 8pm, Martyn Joseph, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246Mar 4-Apr 9, The 49 Steps, Chemainus Theatre Festival 250-246-9820Mar 4-5, Marine Basic First Aid, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Mar 4-14, Cargo Level 2, Western Maritime Institute & Maritime Education Associates 250-245-4455Mar 5, 7:30pm, Vancouver Island Symphony –Airs d’Espagne, The Port Theatre 250-754-8550Mar 5, 8pm, Jeff Martin 777, Duncan Garage Showroom 250-748-7246

More events: www.take5.ca


“If you don’t got nothin’ to say, don’t say it ...don’t even think it.” - me, during one of those moments.

Love, & An Old Saw... Almost blew it the other day. Op-

portunity knocked when a trail-blazing horse-riding invitation arrived and, not one to pass up a good thing, I grabbed it. Oh mercy, mercy me. An old friend and a promise ...a ride through the mountains in June, with the old trail boss and leg-endary back-country riders, renown for breath-taking campfi re tales and fi ve-star bean-baking culinary skills.

One of the riders had just dropped out, and there was a chance for someone to take their place - mebbe a couple could be squeezed in at the last minute, if I act-ed fast? I always talk about the glories of the trail, was I in or out, yay or neigh-hhh? Dusty, saddle-sore, sweaty days and bone weary, damp and cold, starry mountain nights, Jackie’d be thrilled, and bonus - she’d take her niece too!

So I wrote back. Yahh pardner, sounds grrreat. J the rider will pony up, with wild rellie in tow. Me though, darn, I’ll haf’ta tend to the hay and the planting in June, can’t go, sorry! Poor me. Shucks.

And I marched out to the corral, all proud like, fi nding Jackie mucking out

the stalls. Sauntering suavely into the yard, whilst holding my nose as a partic-ularly hot wet one wafted by, I oh so ca-sually mentioned the great ride to come. And awaited J’s squeal of joy.

“That’s the best you’ve got?” J’s snort wasn’t as fi red up keen as I’d hoped. “You’ve been looking to keep my ‘little demon-seed niece’ as you call her, away for months now.” A coupl’a more dol-lops landed squarely in the wheelbarrow, backsplash encouraging me to move a step or three away.

“Y’know I’m just thinking what a great time auntie and wee niece could have ...horsing around on the range. Y’know, where the deer and antelope...” “..spread the sh** deep and wide?” J bridled, like I’d put a burr under her saddle. “Too bad the wee niece’s already busy, handling details ‘n all for our 35th anniversary party ...about that time.”

Silence fell, as they say, most palpable. Whoooa Nellie, my self-admiring rever-ie ended with a fi ve alarm bell. Danger, danger, danger ... dim recesses of rarely used brain cells fi red up. I kept eye con-tact, backing away slowly, buying time, waiting for a really good thought to come my way.

A large squishing sound reminded me I shouldn’t be out in the stall with my good sneakers. J smirked, and looked ex-pectant, well?

“Oh darn,” I said, scraping something quite nasty off my foot and onto the stall rail. “And here I thought I could fool you.” Ha, ha. “And you’d be all sur-prised like, at the big surprise party I was going to surprise you with, for you, and me, and like your niece, when you got back, from the ride and all.” I fl ashed a little smile, took another step back.

Lame, lame. The brain, not been in-formed of any such party, had resorted to Plan B, aiming me for the nearest exit. Danger, danger, talking, walking, a quick two-step to avoid another steamer. And then, profound revelation, the reason I think so highly of my brain. “Remember back when we fi rst met,” I gushed, an old saw that never failed me. “I saw you across a crowded room...”

“When you were going out with Tam-mi, you mean?” J leaned on the pitch-fork, all ears.

“Well, technically I’d broken up with her, after I met that redhead who made the silver jewelry.” That darn bell started ringing again, but I pressed on. “Y’know, she made that pinky ring I gave you, on our 3rd date...”

Something in J’s eyes made me pause then, or it may have been the way her nostrils fl ared, ever so slightly, but in that defi nitive way she has that I’ve come to dread. Plan C, brain, where’s Plan C when you need it.

The train-wreck of my slack-jawed mumblings were laid bare for all to see. And mebbe a beautiful-in-a-sad-way, death-do-us-part-ending very, very close. I had to think fast. But nothing. I had nothing, a blank nothingness raced across my mind. I think I might have twitched a little too. Then that wonder-ful, wonderful Palomino of hers gave a snort and a prance, dancing around the corral so our heads turned in unison. A wild spirit kicking up her heels, a happy life in celebration.

And my brain saddled up, and I put my arm around my wee beauty, pulled her close and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, “So, we’ll have pony rides for the kids, walks thru the back woods, and a big BBQ down by the pond, for our 35th, eh. And your beautiful niece’ll meet all kinds of young fellers, and we’ll sing all those old songs you like, and it’ll be like ..wonderful!”

To which she agreed. And I got a big kiss too! And the horse got a carrot.

Laurie Gourlay has worked with envi-ronmental groups for thirty years, farms 20 acres organically on Vancouver Island with life-partner Jackie Moad, and occasionally rides Thistle Consulting Services into the sunset whilst actively seeking local solutions to global challenges.

TAKE 5 take5.ca 31

RDN - Area AUpdate Area ‘A’ Offi cial Community

Plan ReviewThe updated draft of the revised Offi -

cial Community Plan is scheduled to be considered for 1st. and 2nd. Reading at the Feb. 22. RDN regular Board Meet-ing. The OCP project website has been updated to include the latest version of the draft. To view the updated plan click on www.asharedcommunityvision.ca After receiving 1st. and 2nd. Reading the updated plan will proceed to a Pub-lic Information Meeting then to a Public Hearing.

Preparing for Earth QuakesDid you know that our risk of a Cas-

cadia Subduction 9.0 magnitude earth quake is rated only as moderate? We could be subjected to even a greater magnitude. Do you know what to do in an earthquake? You simply Drop Cover And Hold On.

On Jan. 26 the RDN staff and elected offi cials joined thousands of British Co-lumbians in the annual provincial-wide earthquake drill, the largest earthquake drill in BC history.

All local residents, businesses, organi-zations and schools were invited to par-ticipate in The Great British Columbia Shakeout. The RDN has approximately 250 full time staff including transit driv-ers.

At 9:59 am staff with a desk and a com-puter saw a notifi cation on their screen for the Shake-Out.

Pre-selected emergency wardens an-nounced the drill at 10am at which time all staff practiced the Drop Cover and Hold On protocol, dropping to the ground, taking cover and holding onto a fi xed surface as if a major earthquake were happening, staying down for at least 60 seconds. During the drill partici-pants were to consider the effects of an earthquake on surrounding objects and whether hazards may be created. Local

busses also participated in this BC Shake Out. At 10am Regional Transit busses that were in service stopped for one min-ute, then the busses continued on to the next scheduled stop where the bus driv-ers provided earthquake preparedness information to passengers. In the event of a major earthquake local government staff needs to respond quickly to ensure the RDN key operations such as water/sewer service, fi re protection and transit can continue. It is expected that practic-ing these few simple steps Drop Cover and Hold On will make participants more ready to respond in the event of an earthquake and could save lives. All RDN residents are encouraged to get prepared for earthquakes by: -“ do a haz-ard hunt” for items that might fall during earthquakes and secure them. –create a personal or family disaster Plan. –orga-nize or refresh your emergency supply kits. After an earthquake you may need to remain in place for at least 72 hours or up to one week. For more information


please visit www.shakeoutbc.ca or contact Jani Drew, RDN Emergency Program Co-ordinator at 250-390-6526 or email: [email protected] .

Parks, Recreation and Culture CommissionArea ‘A’ has a Parks, Recreation and Culture Commission

(PR&C) that provides recommendations and advice to RDN staff and the RDN Board regarding community parks and trails and recreation and culture services in Electoral Area ‘A’. The Commission consists of nine members. The members are ap-pointed for a one or two year term. On Dec. 31, 2010, four of the Commissioners terms were up and one incumbent Com-missioner had submitted their resignation, for personal reasons, making a total of fi ve positions to be fi lled. The RDN placed an advertisement in the local papers to inform Area ‘A’ residents of the opportunity to apply to be a member on the PR&C Com-mission. Only two of the previous Commissioners reapplied and they have been reappointed to the PR&C Commission. There are still three vacancies to be fi lled. The RDN will be advertis-ing again to fi ll these positions. If you are a resident of Area ‘A’ who would like to play a leadership role in this important func-tion in our community by: -participating in the acquisition and development of parks and trails. –provide input into planning and implementing recreation and culture programs, I strongly encourage you to submit an application for a position on the PR&C Commission. For further information please contact me at the phone # or email address below.

Joe Burnett, (250) 722-2656; email: [email protected]

CVRD - Area HProposed North Oyster Fire Hall Building Project:I would like to thank all of you who attended the public in-

formation meetings on Nov. 22 and Dec. 9, 2010. Public input is very important when considering the future of fi re protection services in North Oyster.

Unfortunately, the information presented to the public was not as complete as we hoped it would be. The information that we were able to provide indicated that the projected costs were much higher than anticipated. Obviously this was a great disap-pointment to everyone present. After a great deal of discussion, the question was asked “Do you want to proceed to referendum or stop the project tonight”. The answer from the majority of the attendees was “proceed to referendum”.

The CVRD began working toward a referendum. It was estab-lished that it was feasible to hold a referendum in late spring or early summer. Some cost savings could be achieved by holding the referendum on the same date as the Kerry Park referendum. It was determined that June 4, 2011 worked for all involved.

Since that time, both the Citizens Committee and I have con-tinued to receive comments and concerns from members of the public. Some of the feedback has been supportive of the pro-posal, while some has not.

It has become apparent that some community members still have questions that they would like answered prior to the ref-erendum. Because the goal is not to sell the project to you, but to obtain your feedback and provide you with the information that you need to make an informed decision, I have decided to

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delay the referendum. This will give those involved with the project additional time

to further investigate potential ways to reduce costs. Although much work has been done in researching applicable grants and corporate sponsors, alternative means of funding the proposed project will continue to be explored.

The delay will also allow for additional neighbourhood meet-ings to obtain feedback and provide information. If you are in-terested in hosting a small group of neighbours in your home, garage or back yard, please send an email to me – [email protected].

CVRD - Area GI will report on a number of issues in this month’s column to

try to get you up to speed on what’s happening in Saltair and the CVRD.

Regional RecreationThe CVRD has hired a contractor to do a study of the number

of users of each of the regional recreation facilities. After the study is completed in May there will be discussions about who will pay how much for recreation. This has been an issue for 20 years. Last year the CVRD tried to get electoral areas to buy into the so called YELLOW PLAN which was one of the many plans that they tried to fl oat without success. The YELLOW PLAN would call for an increase of Saltair taxes by about $60/$100,000 of property evaluation. That would mean if you had a home worth $500,000 you would be paying $300 more in taxes per year. This money would go mainly to Ladysmith and North Cowichan. There will be a new plan put forward in June with I hope a lot of public discussion and consultation. If you have any questions call Jacob Ellis at the CVRD 250-746-2500 or toll free 1-800-669-3955 or myself 250-245-2116

Uranium Ship Moored Off SaltairA ship on the way to China with radioactive uranium

developed leaks in some of its containers and had to return to

Canada for repair. It ended up moored off the Saltair shore. Hopefully by the time you read this column the ship will be gone and taken care of by Transport Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Board. We frequently have ships moored off Saltair when the Vancouver port is overloaded but never one with a radioactive cargo. This raises a lot of important questions. Are we adequately prepared for an event like this? Under what legislation and policies are decisions about hazardous waste like this made? What are the procedures to notify local people so they can avoid this area? The CVRD will be working with senior governments to answer these questions. At the CVRD contact Kate Miller for further info.

Saltair Ratepayers Annual General Meeting March 24I will be at the Ratepayers AGM to answer general questions

and bring you up to date on Saltair activities and plans for the future. Hopefully we will have one of the CVRD engineers there to answer questions on the Saltair Water System too. We can have a Saltair Parks Commission report as well. The meeting is at the Chemainus United Church March 24th at 7 pm.

Email ListI have an email list of Saltair residents that I send emails

to letting them know of things that may be interested in and occasionally asking for volunteers. If you would like to be on this list then email me your email address and I will include you on my list. Hopefully in the future we can have a website for Saltair and include historical items as well as CVRD info.

Pan- Blackened HouseAfter we decided to get in the restau-

rant business, but before we opened, I enrolled myself in a self-taught, crash course in cooking. This involved reading a lot of cookbooks and trying a lot of rec-ipes. Being forced to eat your own mis-takes, I fi gured, was probably as good a way to learn as anything.

The two prominent cookbooks of that era were Chez Panisse by Alice Waters and the Cajun cookbook of Paul Prud-homme, the inventor of pan-blackened food. Both books took vastly different approaches, the Chez Panisse book be-ing somewhat elitist while Prudhomme’s book seemed more like something a guy from my side of the tracks could be com-fortable with.

Waters’ approach was to use the best of everything. Not a Costco shopper this girl or one you’d expect to see at Fat Al-bert’s corner market picking up a head of lettuce. Instead she’d be off to Shangri-la Farms where lettuce was ten times as ex-pensive but grown without fertilizer by a dedicated group of left leaning college graduates, who, this being Berkley, were all playing Led Zeppelin backwards at the time.

Once the lettuce got home, it was scrupu-lously sorted with only the top ten leaves surviving. The rest was composted along

with any concern this degree of fussiness would cost her patrons a bundle. Choos-ing meat was a similar process. She’d start with a side of beef, discard the bones, and then proceed to chop the beef into chunks small enough to fi t in the stockpot. Only the tenderloin would be used and even it would be trimmed within an ounce of its life. Alice would then very critically examine this remaining eight ounces of centre cut tenderloin, sometimes shaking her head sadly before throwing it in the garbage. “Not good enough,” She’d say. “Get me another cow.” Meanwhile, every rabbit in the neighbourhood was rum-maging through her compost marveling at the bounty.

Prudhomme’s method was all about seasoning and his outrageous cook-ing method. Everything was so highly seasoned; he didn’t have to rely on the fi nest of ingredients. Like deep-frying, this level of seasoning can cover a lot of faults. Don’t know what to do with that old sock? Dredge it in this and throw it in some hot oil.

Instead of using fresh herbs like Wa-ters, (Who would search for the plump-est rosemary bush in a 200 mile radius, pick maybe two twigs, then bring the rest of plant home for the rabbits who are now so fat they travel back and forth between lettuce leaves on golf carts.) he used everything in dried and powdered versions; garlic powder, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, basil, etc. All of which seemed innocent enough until you fac-tored in the cooking method, pan-black-ening. (Ominous drum roll reserved for moments like Godzilla climbing out of Tokyo Harbour, King Kong scaling the Empire State Building, or Dick Cheney crawling out of bed.)


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Let’s run through the method for pan-blackened fi sh. Trot to the store for a piece of white fi sh, Fat Albert’s will do fi ne, thank you. Dump a whole pile of the above mentioned herbs and spices onto a plate, melt some butter and dredge the fi sh in it, then in seasoning mix. Put in fridge so butter hardens up.

Here’s where the fi re department’s ears perk up. Turn burner on high, gas or electric, doesn’t matter. Place cast iron frying pan on burner. Go read a book, maybe one on safe cooking practices. Wait a full ten minutes, every fi ve seconds of which you will be looking at your watch feeling sorry for the frying pan and wondering nervously if there are any laws governing such treatment of a cooking implement.

Drop buttered, seasoned fi sh into pan. That’s the last you’ll see of it for quite some time as the column of smoke rising from the pan will make the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki look like a bonfi re. At this point in time you’ll become fully and pain-fully aware that cayenne pepper brought to this temperature is as lethal a cooking ingredient as mustard gas.

Scramble to open all windows and doors, before chain saw-ing a hole in roof. Be prepared for neighbourhood commotion. “Holy cow, the Smith’s place is on fi re.”

Oh, oh. The phone. “Hello. It’s who, the Space Challenger. You’re orbiting how many hundred miles above the earth? Do we have a problem? The smoke? No, it’s just a little cooking experiment. Thanks for the call.”

Quickly prepare story for emergency vehicles that will soon be arriving in mass. Fire engines, the toxic chemical truck, and of course an ambulance for the frying pan.

Oddly enough, the fi sh will be pretty darn good. The house, not so good. The caustic smoke will render it totally uninhabit-able except by fi remen who will be using it for hazardous ma-terials training exercises for at least a month. The one, and only one, time I tried this cooking method, I ended up, because it was raining, eating in the doghouse on the deck. Alice Waters, I’m sure, is still laughing.

Cayenne pepper can wreak havoc on wine so you’ll want something cheap and white. The current batch of Cono Sur (to-cornal) chardonnay is a spectacular bargain at $15.99 for a large bottle. Hope you have better luck than I did with the smoke.

Delbert Horrocks is co-proprietor at the Mahle House res-taurant in Cedar.


Mid-Island photographers prove the arts are alive and well

These stunnimg im-ages are the winning entries in the Mid Island Photo Expo held this winter. Hosted by the the Ladysmith Camera Club with support from the community the show was a success. Ellen McCluskey, Dirk Hey-demann, and Cim Mac-Donald were the judges who selected the top 60 images to be exhibited during November in the Ladysmith Waterfront Art

Gallery. From these images, the judges assigned six award win-ners and a public ballot determined the People’s Choice Award winner.

And the winners were… Taking top prize was Sean Sher-stone of Ladysmith with his image “Medusa’s Metamorpho-ses”. Bruce Whittington of Ladysmith took second place with

Clockwise:1st: Sean Sherstone “Medusa’s Metamorphoses”, 2nd: Bruce Whittington “Tracy Arm”, 3rd Brad Grigor for “Pollenation.” People’s Choice Award: Ann Stefanson “Bouquet in the Window”.

TAKE 5 take5.ca 37

“Tracy Arm” and third place was awarded to Brad Grigor of Saltair for “Pollenation.” Honourable Mentions went to the images “Capitol Iron Stuff” by Neil Newton of Chemai-nus; “Hagia Sophia” by Lisa Parrish of Nanaimo, and “break/ water triptych” by ML Leidl of Ladysmith. Ann Stefanson of Nanaimo won the People’s Choice Award for her image “Bou-quet in the Window”.

The Ladysmith Camera Club meets in Hardwick Hall on High St. at 3rd Ave., in Ladysmith on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. On Feb 22 the club will feature “Art or Vandalism? Photographing Street Art, Graffi ti, Posters and Stencils”, a pre-sentation by well-travelled photographer Marshall Soules. 7pm, in Hardwick Hall, High Street at 3rd Avenue in Ladysmith. Pub-lic welcome. Non-members $5 drop-in fee. LCC invites new members, novice to pro. [email protected]

”

Clockwise: Honourable Mentions went to “Hagia Sophia” by Lisa Parrish, “Capitol Iron Stuff” by Neil Newton, and “break/ water triptych” by ML Leidl of Ladysmith.

Bird Watching in Mexico Years ago the long haired one and I met a couple in the south-

ern part of the Yucatan peninsula who were avid bird watchers. I distrust that word, “avid”. It has a whiff of obsession about it and obsession usually means that other things are neglected.

We had lunch with these nice people in a small Mayan vil-lage where no one that we met spoke Spanish, only Mayan. These bird watchers had been out at dawn, walking the jungle roads, as that is the time to see birds. They had binoculars, spot-ting scopes, stacks of books and spoke of lists and numbers of birds identifi ed. They were having a ball.

Now, I don’t get up before dawn unless I am very well paid for it or have a very good reason. I have two pairs of small bin-oculars, a Peterson fi eld guide to Mexican birds and a different philosophy. The birds must come to me. This is not because I am an egotistical nut bar that expects wild parrots to land on my shoulder. I just observe and enjoy what goes on around me, be it birds, animals, insects or people and I thoroughly enjoy them all.

The Mexican beach is a wonderful place to see creatures. Me-lodious blackbirds raid palapa restaurants. Yellow and black fl ycatchers scoop crabs that stray too far from their holes. Her-ons and egrets patrol the surf edge nabbing small fi sh and crabs. Pelicans and boobies fold their wings, plunge into the sea and rise up with fi sh. Frigate birds, aerial wizards, snatch any fi sh that are dropped or even hang out the side of the pelicans’ bills. Vultures soar overhead. We were very excited to fi nd a boat-billed heron, quietly standing on the beach. The book said that it was found only in Mexico and Central America. It is a noc-turnal bird so we considered ourselves fortunate.

A couple of days later, I was standing at the water’s edge, not far from the beer

cooler and noticed a lot of bird droppings on the rocks under a overhanging tree. The tree was full of sleeping boat-billed her-ons. If you tire of birds, there are beach dogs behaving badly, Mexican kids excavating vast holes in the sand, young men playing very skillful soccer and of course, pretty girls.

We stay in a delightful second fl oor room with a covered out-door kitchen surrounded by trees, overlooking the bay. Now here is civilized morning of bird watching. A yellow-winged cacique hollows out the bottom of a papaya as it hangs on the tree in the vacant lot next to us while crows fi ght about who should have done this. A lineated woodpecker tears a rotten tree apart. These guys are even cooler than our pileated woodpeck-ers. Vireos, manakins, masked tityras, rufous collared robins and doves all work the trees for bugs as I sip my coffee and munch on my own sliced papaya. We were very excited to see some strange black birds that hid in the branches. We fi nally identifi ed them as the grooved-billed ani. Later, at the fi sh store, a pair of them perched on and pecked at the gut bucket at my feet. Very rare birds.

A Green Heron in Mexico. Below: Pelicans Photos: Rob Pinkerton


TAKE 5 take5.ca 39

Dave, a friend of ours, lives on the edge of a small hill village, surrounded by jungle and orchards. This is bird watching at its best. We sit under his palapa, philosophizing and drinking beer all day. Blue hummingbirds visit the bougainvillea. The always present vultures come very low and have a look at us. Black-throated magpie jays with wonderful crests and tails longer than their bodies pose on a branch against the sky. Anis (here they are again) scratch and rustle under the trees and watch us unafraid. A beautiful yellow bird swoops by that Dave calls a “turko”. He knows these birds by their Mexican names and tells us of their habits. I didn’t bring our book or the binoculars so couldn’t look it up. The nearby trees and brush are always noisy with birds but they will not show themselves if you go looking. So, crack another beer.

Another wonderfully lazy way to bird watch is to go on a boat tour through the mangroves. If you get the fi rst boat in the morning (yes, I had to get up before dawn), you see birds everywhere as well as crocodiles up to ten feet, iguanas, snakes and raccoons, as a young man slowly navigates the channels and points out and names the many species.

I went fi shing with Dave and four Mexican guys. The fi sh were not biting but we saw humpback whales performing, tur-tles, fl ying fi sh and schools of small manta rays. A large white duck with a comical long tail that curved upward from its rump and back down to the water fl ew away as we approached. Ev-erybody laughed at it but no one had seen one before.

Oh well. Who cares. Cervesa anyone?

CLASSIFIED ADSPAINT & SAVE OPTION: Do it your-

self, with a little help from a pro together we can make your job more affordable and accomplish a great look. Making the world a brighter place over 25 years. Call Harvey 250-245-2174

DRIVING LESSONS: Approach-ing Road Test time? Need an evaluation of your driving skills? Available: Emer-gency Maneuvers/Collision Avoidance Training. Car has Michelin winter tires. 49th Parallel Driving School 250-416-1606 or 250-619-2713

SERGE’S DRIVING has gone “GREEN to save you “GREEN”. Pack-ages for all, road test service, door to door, high success rate & ICBC certifi ed. BEST IN TOWN JUST ASK AROUND 250 245-0600

HIRE AFFORDABLE PROPERTY SECURITY An insured, bondable re-tired police offi cer will check your home & property when you’re away. Reasonable rates and free estimates. Call Tubbs Brothers today 250-751-9415

CERTIFIED GEL NAIL TECHNI-CIAN, Specializing in en Vogue Sculp-tured Nail Systems, Full Sets $55.00, Fills $35.00, Colors, Glitters, and Nail Art. Call 250-245-2454 for an appoint-ment with Kim at NAILStylgic NAILS

.ISLAND PRUNING - Pruning, tree

care, fruit trees, vines, ornamental trees, shrubs and hedges. Chainsaw work and small and large clean-up. Darcy 250-245-1260

FOR SALE: Stove, fridge, dishwasher white. All in good condition. $250 for all or sold separate. Ph: 250-245-0499

AJ’S PLUMBING AND GASFIT-TING - Licensed - Bonded - Insured, Journeyman with over ten years experi-ence. New construction, renovations, re-pairs and installs. Seniors rates, no travel charges. Call Aeron Jensen for a free es-timate. 250-802-7123

LIGHTWORKS WINDOW WASH-

ING and gutter cleaning. Careful & con-siderate. Call David 250-722-3599

BOWEN TECHNIQUE is a gentle soft tissue remedial therapy that resets the body to heal itself. Useful for joint, back and neck pain, frozen shoulder, asthma, chronic fatigue and many other problems. For information and appoint-ments call 250-245-7738. Lilja Hardy FMBAC in practice since 1994. www.bowtech.com

GOT GRANITE? Have your Granite and Marble Countertops professionally sealed and buffed. Kitchens starting at $75. We do tile as well! SealTech Spe-cialties. Call Stuart at 250-734-2681 www.sealtechspecialties.com

PROFESSIONAL PET CARE SER-VICE: leash em & walk em with Marle-na. Insured & bonded. Animal First Aid and CPR. Service for all pets including dog walking, home care visits, overnight with pet in your home and much more. As my love is yours! 250-246-3394.

HOME BUDDIES PET & HOUSE CARE since 1994. Licensed, Bonded,

Insured. Professional, kindhearted, ex-perienced & reliable care for all pets. Pet First Aid and CPR Certifi ed. Certi-fi ed Security Professional through West-guard Security. When loving care & security are essential, Peggy Wildsmith 250-245-0151

BOBBY S MINIHOE & CLEANUP Landscaping, lot clearing, debris re-moval, excavating, small deliveries with dump trailer, mulch, lawn soil, garden soil, driveway chip, serving Nanaimo, Cedar, Ladysmith & area call Bobby 250-713-4970

OFFICE SPACES -Downtown Ladys-mith, modern, ac, renovated, wired, rea-sonable rent or lease. 250-245-3395

OUR TOWN CLEANING SERVICES - Thorough cleaning for both residential and commercial clients. Respectful of your privacy and treasures. Veteran Af-fairs Cards now accepted. Call Jacquie at 250-245-2455

THE HAPPY GARDENER, weeding, digging, racking, etc. Cheerful and con-scientious. Call David 250-722-3599

EMERGENCY FIRST AID SERVIC-ES is Ladysmith owned and operated. Red Cross First Aid and Worksafe BC fi rst aid courses available. Check out our February schedules at www.efas.ca or call 250-893-3418

EFFICIENT, friendly, non smok-ing female is available for all your house & window cleaning needs. Excel-lent references available. Call Janet 250-245-5437



THINKING OF SELLING YOUR HOME? Perhaps ready for a fresher look in your existing home? The affordable design services provided by Rooms n Blooms can help. Call Shar at 250-245-0548 or email [email protected]

“I’LL SEAL MY DECK IN THE SPRING” Why? It’s the winter weather that will cause the damage. It’s not too late protect your beautiful wood. Tech-nology is what we do. Contact Seicoat 250-816-5002 www.seicoat.com

CEDAR HERITAGE BRIDGE GROUP WILL CONTINUE the Dupli-cate lesson/play every Tuesday @ 1:30 pm.-4:30 pm.with Rosemary Spratt. On Thursday lessons @ 1:30 pm with Brian Atkinson (Audrey Grant Method). Join us at Cedar Heritage Centre, for tea/coffee/laughs/lessons & fun 1644 Mac-Millan Road, Cedar. 250-722-2656; 250-722-2692; 250-722-2813

MULTI FAMILY GARAGE SALE NOW A SWAP MEET Saturdays, Campers Corner RV Park from 8am.

Loads of quality used estate items. Ta-bles $10. 250-245-3829

AQUTEC BATHTUB CHAIR, re-chargeable battery operated clean and in good condition $700 obo. Original price $1500. 250-245-8340

Qigong Meditation and Movement Class, (Beginner level) Saturdays, 9-10 a.m. Drop in fee $12, pre-registration fee $10- Curious? call Kareen at Sunny Sal-tair Acupressure, 250-245-1074

“PARTY SHOES” new to mid-Island.” Host a Party” and receive $100.00 in shoe credit plus 10% of sales from your party! Contact Theresa at 250-245-4506 e-mail [email protected] or visit www.partyshoes.ca

FREE RANGE BROWN EGGS. Veg-gie diet. Farm gate sales: 3026 Hill Road (off Cedar Road)

LYNN’S SENIORS CARE HOME: High Quality Personalized Care. Warm caring environment, Great food & snacks, Family events, Couples & Pets

welcomed, Ocean views, Gardens. North of Ladysmith. 250-245-3391 www.lynnsseniorcare.com

SEMI RETIRED MASSAGE THERA-PIST working in Cedar By The Sea $60 an hour session. 8am to 3pm Wednesday to Saturday. 250-722-2669

LEARN A LANGUAGE : sign up now for classes in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese and Mandarin. Other languages available upon request. Small classes. Wentworth Court Language Centre, downtown Nanaimo. 250-716-1603

LARGE PINE ISLAND/BREAK-FAST NOOK for sale. Fits 3 stools com-fortably $75.00. Small portable chop-ping block $45.00. Call 250-245-5847

KAREN’S INDUSTRIAL SEWING alterations and repairs, from Grad and Wedding to heavy work clothes and ac-cessories. Can also do manufacturing and prototypes. 2nd Ave. Ladysmith for appt. call Karen 250-245-7945

TAKE 5 take5.ca 45

ARE YOU CONCERNED? Hot fl ashes, sweats. Arthritis, colitis, bursitis, migraines, constipation, blood pressure, shingles, gout & tumors? Over 90% of diseases originate in our colons. Call Ma-vis for information re: Canaid & Yuccan 250-245-3054 [email protected]

ACCLAIMED PIANIST - ANDRE LAPLANTE - performs Liszt, Bach, Schubert and Chopin at the Port Theatre on Monday February 7, 7:30 pm. Tickets are adults $30, students $20, available at the Port box offi ce 250 754 8550. Pre-sented by the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music. Also watch for information on the upcoming 1st Annual Vancou-ver Island Chamber Music Festival at St. Paul’s Church, downtown Nanaimo, February 25 & 26. Information for both these events at the Conservatory offi ce 250-754 4611 or the NCM website - www.ncmusic.ca

12’ FG BOAT with TRAILER, needs work, great project. $450. 250-756-8892 for details and photos.

Remember SeptemberHappy 2011, dear reader, we are over-

joyed you have joined us here on the Other Side, once again. We trust that each and every one of you had a happy Christmas, a merry New Year’s, and have made it through the fi rst month of 2011 relatively unscathed. Now, if you’re a regular reader of this column (Hi Mom! Hi Grandma!) you will prob-ably know what the subject of this year’s fi rst column will be about. If you’re a rookie reader, though, let’s bring you up to speed.

What’s the worst thing about this time of year? Yes, the Christmas credit card bills that are now coming due suck. Okay, the weather really blows, too. And believe us, we fully share your pain that

the NFL season is nearing completion. But do you know what’s worse than all of those complaints combined? It’s the enduring, agonizingly painful stretch of working days between stat holidays.

This year’s Mongolian Death March, for example, is 111 days. Read that again. One hundred and eleven days. Now, 111 days between wins for the Toronto Maple Leafs is perfectly under-standable and acceptable, but 111 days between stat holidays? Are you freaking kidding us? But this is NOT the year, dear reader, that we will write an entire column on the inhumanity of not having a stat holiday between New Year’s and Easter. See, someone from (okay, okay) someone nearing the upper echelons of power is fi nally taking notice. Future Liberal leader Christy Clark has made a pledge to declare the third Monday of February as Family Day if she’s elected premier. N

ow, we realize that this is not an origi-nal idea (Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatch-ewan all have Family Day on that same Monday). Nor, is it out of the realm of possibility that a politician may make a promise and not keep it. But we don’t give a Stephen Harper about any of that.

The point here is that

this issue is fi nally being given the atten-tion it deserves. Of course, the boo-birds have already risen (Hello there, Business Council of B.C.), predicting all sorts of economic mayhem if a stat holiday is implemented.

We here on the Other Side, though, prefer to follow the logic of Helmut Pas-trick, chief economist with Central One Credit Union. “There are more than 200 working days in a year, and we’re talk-ing one day, so it would be less than half a per cent,” Pastrick said. “I don’t think there’s any economic signifi cance to it.”

Atta boy, Helmut, and congratulations on winning the Economist’s Coolest First Name award, by the way.

We agree with your informed opinion 100 per cent. We agree 1,000,000 per cent. Dang, Helmut, we agree SO much that we’d even be tempted to vote Lib-eral on this issue alone. Yeah, yeah, we realize that if we did vote Liberal our vote was bought by a populist, crowd-pleasing idea, but what the heck. If any bozo is going to get in there, it may as well be a bozo with a stat holiday in their back pocket. (On top of that, Christy would put B.C. as the favourite in the Province with the Cutest Premier con-test. We haven’t fared very well there


take 5 february

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