TUESDAY February 18, 2014 Vol. 29• No. 14 ••• $1.25 inc. G.S.T.
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Safeway closing Courtenay site
Reunion described as magic
Erin Haluschak Record Staff
Scott Stanfield Record Staff
For close to a decade, Raissa Bunter had lost track of her father. She wasn’t sure where he lived. For that matter, she didn’t know if he was alive. But one day, a friend conducted a search on the Internet and spotted a photo of a man bearing a resemblance to the 26-year-old Raissa, who lives in Switzerland. Turns out the man is, in fact, her father. His name is Greg Wesson, who is alive and well, living in a trailer at the Maple Pool Campsite in Courtenay. The photo appeared in a Comox Valley Record story about a trailer donation to Wesson, who had lived in a tent before arriving at Maple Pool, which offers low-rent housing to homeless individuals. Raissa was able to reach her father by contacting outreach worker Grant Shilling, who had arranged the trailer donation and whose phone number was included in the story. Father and daughter reunited last week in Courtenay. “It was fantastic. It was the exact right moment,” an elated Raissa said, referring to her friend’s initiative. Her parents had met
A COMOX VALLEY Record story posted on the Internet resulted in a fatherdaughter reunion linking Courtenay resident Greg Wesson and Raissa Bunter from Switzerland. PHOTO BY SCOTT STANFIELD each other in Spain, but Raissa was raised by her mother in Lucerne, Switzerland. “We lost contact for a long time. We were disconnected,” said Wesson, 58, who came to Maple Pool about seven years ago after he was badly injured in a motorcycle crash. He had first met his daughter when she briefly visited the Valley as a teen. The visit was a gift from her sister who had won a contest on a TV game show. The prize turned dreams into reality. Raissa’s dream was to meet her father, so the TV station paid her airfare and even supplied some
spending money. “That was a real shock, it really was,” said Wesson, recalling their first meeting at the Comox wharf when Raissa’s mother tapped him on the shoulder. It was a whirlwind meeting that only lasted a day. “The next day my head was spinning,” he said. Father and daughter had a better visit when Raissa returned shortly thereafter for a two-week stay. But back then, she did not speak a word of English. They neglected to exchange numbers or addresses, and lost contact for eight years. Since then, she has learned to
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converse in English. Besides reconnecting with her father, Raissa met her stepbrother Rudy. Wesson’s son lives on Hornby Island. Years back when he lived on Hornby, Wesson had enjoyed a sense of community that came with living on a small island. He had earned a living as a self-employed stone cutter. Turns out his daughter also has a creative side. Raissa says she “cares for children” at work, and paints in her spare time. “Boy, oh boy, was that magic for us,” Wesson said. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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One of the longest-operating groceries stores in the Comox Valley will close its doors this spring after 75 years in business. John Graham, director of public relations for Safeway, told the Record the store’s 120 employees were given notice of the May 10 closing Thursday morning. “The decision was made as part of Safeway’s normal review of business operations,” said Graham. “There were a number of factors in the decision, but financial viability was the primary reason.” The Courtenay store has 50 full-time and 70 parttime employees. Graham added they are working with the employees’ union and its collective agreement over possible options. The closure will also affect the gas bar on the southeast corner of the
parking lot. Last October, Sobeys Inc., which owns Thrifty Foods along with IGA, Price Chopper and Foodland, reported its plan to purchase Canada Safeway. Thursday afternoon, Sobeys announced binding purchase and sale agreements have been entered into with Overwaitea Food Group and Federated Cooperatives Limited in which Sobeys will sell 22 of the 23 stores it is required to sell as part of its consent agreement with the Competition Bureau. Overwaitea will purchase Safeway stores in Sidney, Victoria, Port Alberni, Duncan and Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, along with the Island Highway location of Thrifty Foods in Nanaimo. Total proceeds from the Overwaitea and Co-op transactions will be approximately $430 million.
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Winter hits hard Scott Stanfield Record Staff
The ski season has been salvaged at Mount Washington Alpine Resort. Most of the front side of the mountain is open in the alpine, as is the Nordic Centre and Tube Park. The mountain, which reopened Thursday, received more than 100 centimetres of snow over
the weekend. The total in the past week was 210 centimetres, resort spokesperson Brent Curtain said Monday. Until last week, minimal amounts of snow had prevented the mountain from opening in December and January. “That snowfall really does set us up for the rest of the winter season,” Cur... see RESORT ■ 2