ILLEGAL MILK DUMPED DOWN DRAIN FINDS ITS WAY INTO DUNVILLE CREEK
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Flexing their Mussells
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014
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Chilliwack
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SOCIAL POLITICS
Safe from the man who tried to snap her neck
It’s an essential tool for modern elections, but a nightmare when things go wrong
Found guilty of attempted murder
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
M
ichael Kha wants a seat on Chilliwack city council and he’s hoping Facebook and Twitter will help. “Social media is a very powerful tool if it’s used correctly,” Kha said in a press release issued back on Sept. 30. “If I received a fraction of my votes through my social media accounts, I would be in a good position to win.” To that end, Kha’s recently set up Facebook page already has nearly 400 Likes and he’s pushing 14,000 followers on Twitter. Council candidate Phil Maxwell decided to run in part based on the success of the Chilliwack-focused Facebook page he created “Beware! You Need to Know!”, which now has nearly 7,000 members. “[A]fter seeing the concerns, posts and comments from the 6,500-plus members over the last
you in person. “Does this mean that the door knocking is out? I don’t think so, not yet anyway, but it does offer alternatives to have your views and opinions disseminated in a larger social way.”
year or so and the effect that this group can do to change people I have decided it was time for me to step up and try to do my part and running for city council is the next logical step,” Maxwell said in announcing his candidacy. But is social media really a relevant factor in an election, particularly a local election? And given a few online blunders and battles of late, is it really worth it to even bother? University of the Fraser Valley media and communication instructor Darren Blakeborough thinks so. “Social media is an essential tool in modern elections for sure,” he said. “It gives quick, easy, and inexpensive access to a growing number of people, all of whom are potentially votes for you.” Blakeborough is also quick to point out it is just one tool in the toolbox, and is really just a means to an end; a way to reach prospective voters, direct them to your broader message and maybe meet
Putting the twit in Twitter There is, of course, the risk of things going wrong, either in the heat of a Twitter exchange or in the haste to click “post” on an unwise Facebook rant. And just as real-life dirt will be sought on candidates running for public office, so too will digital dirt re-emerge once your name is put forward. Cameron Hull is running for mayor and he knows all too well about this as comments he made back in June, as teachers went on strike, were made public and criticism began. “The BCTF can go suck it!! If you don’t like it get a different job,” he
M “Social med dia is a very powerrful tool if it’s used d correctly. If I receive a fraction of my votes through my social media acccounts, I would be in a good position to win.” - Michael Kha
{ See SOCIAL MEDIA, page A3 }
atthew Alderman kept a calm disposition throughout his entire tr ial for attempted murder, even as his accuser recounted the day when Alderman tried to remove her head “like a bottle cap from a bottle,” in his words to police. The 25-year-old Alderman sat virtually motionless, eyes fixated forward throughout his trial early this summer. His demeanour was unchanged last Thursday as he sat in the enclosed prisoner box in courtroom 204 at the Chilliwack Courthouse as Judge Steven Point rendered his decision: guilty of attempted murder and guilty aggravated assault. But when Crown counsel Paul Blessin discussed a pre-sentence report the judge had requested, a report scheduled to be presented six weeks later, the young man jumped to his feet and yelled, “I object!” The moment would have been comical if the subject matter wasn’t so serious, and if his victim, Deborah
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