EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Not so strange sighting on Shuswap Lake Page 6
Antique boat show returns with wheels Page 9
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 PM40008236
Vol. 53 No. 33 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Sandfest fun: The Beach Park was bustling with activity Saturday for the annual Sicamous Sandfest. Clockwise from left – Reece Pearson and Nadav Avigdor flip for the velcro wall; Carter Robert and Shea Watke make a beeline for the beach to wash away their foamy layer from the Sicamous Volunteer Fire Department’s bubble pit; Max and Tamara Loughran put the finishing touches on a backhoe, their entry for the sand sculpture competition. Photo by Lachlan Labere
Tremendous teamwork prevents man from drowning Heroic display: Alberta resident plunges into lake despite reluctance to swim underwater. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Swim lessons and CPR training are on Drena Walmsley’s list of things to do after she helped save a man from drowning. On the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 1, Walmsley and her three children – Millarville, Alta. residents who summer in Sicamous – arrived at Beach Park at the same time as a Korean tour group. Walmsley says she hadn’t even sat down when she noticed three young men from the tour group out in the water. It quickly became evident that one of them was in trouble. “I saw him sort of near the surface but
going down, like to wait by the he was sinking to lawn chair and, the bottom,” says now running on Walmsley. “And I Without their willingness adrenaline, she could just tell the to step up, the circumstances jumped into the other two with might have ended a bit water and made him couldn’t her way out to differently. So very well done. swim. And they where she saw were kind of at the man go unKathy Crandlemire that point where der. BC Ambulance Service they may not be “I knew I able to touch the couldn’t dive bottom. And I down; that’s not just kind of knew it wasn’t a joke.” something I do a lot of, and I also knew At that point, Walmsley told her kids the lake was really murky,” said Walms-
ley. “So I just started feeling around with my feet and my hands, like doing big egg beaters, and I just happened to brush his hand. I grabbed on and started kicking towards shore.” Walmsley started pulling the man ashore while calling for help and for someone to call 911. By now everything for Walmsley had become a blur. She says another lady dove into the water to find the drowning man, but hadn’t been able to until Walmsley had grabbed onto his hand. At that point, the other lady was able help push the body towards the beach, where others See BC Ambulance Service on page 2