FUSION CO. COULD CHANGE WORLD
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TRYING TO KEEP RESOLUTIONS
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RANGE ROVERS NOW IMPRESS
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FRIDAY
JANUARY 3 2014 www.burnabynewsleader.com
Keynan Parker’s football career has come full circle,and in surprising ways. See Page A11
Annual bird count yields no surprises Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Lyle Chase prepares to launch his “octocopter” that he calls “Hashtag” at the Burnaby Lake Hoods Up Flyers club on Saturday. Chase designed the eight-prop helicopter.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Begin began new life after election defeat
Begin began new life following defeat
In today’s paper, the NewsLeader catches up with a few familiar—and perhaps to some, unfamiliar—faces to find out “Where are they now?” The first is Gary Begin, who served 12 years on Burnaby city council, after 15 years on school board. Grant Granger
ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com
Grey-weather weekends in November can be a downer, and one in 2008 was shaping up to be real depressing for Gary Begin.
The former city councillor lost in the civic election after serving 12 years on the job. Begin had also served 15 before that on school board, running with the Burnaby Voters Association and later, Team Burnaby. But on Nov. 15, 2008, Begin finished ninth in the municipal election as the Burnaby Citizens Association got its first of two sweeps of all eight council seats. “It was disappointing because I really felt I was able to make a contribution,” says Begin, 71.
PIXEL LASER SKIN RESURFACING
The election result rubbed salt in a wound opened earlier in the campaign when Shell told him he had to close the gas station he owned in Surrey because Guildford Mall wanted the land back. “All that was hanging around the election. It was not a nice time,” says Begin. He woke up Nov. 16 not only needing to collect lawn signs but also having to hand over the keys to his gas station. He’d lost his business and he’d
lost his spot on council. He was devastated. All of a sudden an extremely busy guy was faced with the prospect of nothing to do, not to mention a reduced cash flow. But that day the phone rang. On the other end was Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee offering more than just condolences for his election loss. Lee needed an assistant for his constituency office and asked Begin if he’d like the job. Please see BEGIN’S NEW CAREER, A3
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PLAC3E 201
By bird standards, 2013 was a pretty unremarkable year. George Clulow, the president of the British Columbia Field Ornithologists, and the organizer of Burnaby’s annual Christmas bird count, said this year’s tally didn’t turn up any rare species or unexpected surprises. Three teams of birders surveyed the areas around Deer Lake and Burnaby Lake on Dec. 15 and counted 58 species, down slightly from the 10-year average of 59. “We managed to find most of our regular birds, the ones we’d expect to find,” said Clulow. That’s partly due to the milder weather that followed a cold snap earlier in the month, thawing parts of the lakes that had frozen over so waterfowl like ducks could return to their regular habitats. Clulow said recent counts have noted a steady increase in Anna’s hummingbirds settling in the Lower Mainland. Once native to California, the little non-migratory birds have expanded their territory north due to the increasing popularity of feeders, gardeners planting winter flowering plants and climate change. see BIRD COUNT, A4