TUESDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2012
www.pqbnews.com
MAGIC BEGINS AT MILNER
Official newspaper of the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals
HEARTBREAKER AT T-BIRD STADIUM
More than 50,000 lights and much more at the Gardens
Season ends for QB Liam O’Brien and the Ballenas Whalers with last-minute gamble
B1
A27
Name change for 19A? Parksville councillor floats some ideas AUREN RUVINSKY
writer@pqbnews.com
There wasn’t a lot of excitement from the audience for councillor Bill Neufeld’s proposal to change the name of highway 19A during Parksville’s town hall meeting last week. A staff report on the possibility wasn’t ready (council unanimously supported looking into it in September), but council was looking for more public input. Neufeld’s motion suggests that since the construction of the Inland Highway, the main road through town has become more of a city boulevard than a highway. He said it would help the city promote itself with a more evocative name suggesting combinations with “Boulevard” like Parksville, Marine, Pacific, or Nelson Park — the first postmaster whom the community is named after. “I’m just trying to figure out what is the ultimate aim, and what will be the benefit from changing the name?” Frank Leach asked skeptically from the audience. “What are we achieving?” “The purpose that I see to this, is that it is not a highway any longer, but people still speed along it as though it was a highway,” said Neufeld. “I look at it as a safety factor. We are looking at what was once a provincial highway but is now an alternate route,” he continued. “What I’m trying to do, as a safety feature and functional landscaping feature, is to highlight that this is a municipal road.” See WIDER ISSUES, page A5
LISSA ALEXANDER PHOTO
KRINGLE FUN: The Hammond Bay Fudge Company had a popular booth at the Kris Kringle Craft Market on the weekend in Parksville and Monica Lum, above, was helping her dad sell fudge while having some fun too.
87-year-old found safe, cold Dog likely saved man from death after two nights outside
NEIL HORNER
news@pqbnews.com
An 87-year-old Qualicum Beach man is lucky to be alive after going missing for two nights in sub-zero temperatures — and he likely has his dog to thank. Oceanside RCMP Corporal Jesse Foreman said the man was reported missing on Saturday after a friend dropped by for a coffee and found it odd that he wasn’t home and his truck wasn’t in the driveway. “He thought that perhaps his friend had gone for a hike on his son’s 160-acre property near Spider Lake,” Foreman said. “He drove there to investigate further and found the
man’s truck parked at the end of the road and became very concerned when he could not find him nearby.” The man phoned police to help search for his friend and the police in turn called out Arrowsmith Search and Rescue. ASAR search coordinator Gordon Yelland said his group was called out at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. “We had teams out on the trails and we kept looking until 12:30 a.m. with the help of two RCMP dogs, three civilian search dogs, a horse team and of course some ground personnel but were unsuccessful,” Yelland said. See DOG DESERVES, page A5
FLU SHOTS ARE HERE!
CALL 250-951-0227 FOR AN APPOINTMENT
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 8&&,%":4 6/5*- 1. t 8&&,&/%4 6/5*- 1. Locally Owned, Proudly Canadian!
281 E. ISLAND HWY. PARKSVILLE, BC 250-951-0243