Brentwood aBout to change
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godzilla comes to town
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summer camp for kids with adhd
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friday
June 21 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
turns out tougher rules on drinking and driving might be saving lives and reducing financial costs as well. See Page A13
21% tax increase too much: resident But city hall says taxpayer needs to see whole picture Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTeL/neWSLeADeR
cor dykstra is reunited with his old steel apollo racing bicycle after it was stolen from his garage on June 8. the bike has special meaning for the 85-year old senior who rode it across canada to visit his daughter 30 years ago.
Man’s storied cycle comes full circle Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
Cor Dykstra was supposed to go to a funeral on Wednesday. Instead he had a reunion with an old friend. His bike. Dykstra’s vintage steel racing bicycle had been missing since June 8, when he discovered someone had broken into the garage behind his Goodlad Street home. The thief, who jimmied the steel
skirt at the bottom of the garage very often. door and slipped through the He’s happy to be able to take it for narrow opening, made off with the a spin around his neighbourhood or bike, which had been leaning down to Deer Lake every two against a back wall, and or three weeks. Dykstra’s helmet. But 30 years ago they At least he was safety forged a bond as Dykstra conscious. pedaled across Canada to The bike itself isn’t worth fulfil a promise he’d made much; it might fetch $30 on to his daughter, who BuIS Craigslist. lived in the small town of But the memories worn Chesterfield, just outside into its leather saddle and black Ottawa. handlebar tape are priceless. She’d asked him if he ever At 85 years old, Dykstra doesn’t planned to visit. get out on the burgundy Apollo Dykstra said he’d come for coffee.
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When she asked how he’d get there, Dykstra thought for a moment and then said by bike, of course. He is Dutch after all, and for many people in the Netherlands, riding a bike is as natural as breathing. He bought the Apollo 10-speed at Jubilee Cycle, outfitted it with panniers and saddle bags to carry camping equipment, arranged time off from work and set out. He got as far as Saskatchewan before sore knees and an aching behind got the better of him. please see VAnCOuVeR-OTTAWA RIDe, A4
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85-year-old’s stolen bike spotted nearby after media reports
A Burnaby taxpayer is livid over the increase in his property taxes, which he says have gone up more than 21 per cent over three years. But staff at Burnaby city hall say it’s a case of the resident shooting the messenger. South Burnaby resident Dave Squires said in a letter to council that his 2013 taxes are almost $3,619, a 6.9 per cent increase over 2012 when they were $3,384. In 2010, a year after he purchased his duplex, they were just under $2,990, or 21 per cent less. “What planet are you people from?” Squires wrote. “I would say that you are spending money like a drunken sailor, but a drunken sailor will stop when he is broke.” He expressed concern at how he will manage the increases as he expects to retire next year and called on council to rein in its spending and reduce taxes “considerably.” see PROPeRTy’S, A3