WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2014
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VOL. 18, NO. 52 | $1 + GST
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013 Wednesday, December
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LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE www.lakecowichangazette.com 4, THE 2013 THE LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE www.lakecowichangazette.com
Pastor TerryOn Hale GLASS guard UPHOLSTERY od’s&AUTO R finds new home against the 250-748-4466 cyber bully for Lake Cowichan Mouse armour: Popular online Christian Fellowship safety evening returns to Lake Cowichan PAGE 3
Coming This Summer: Buskers in town square? PAGE 5
Backpack Project: Annual LCS event began last week PAGE 11
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Ross Armour
Lake CowiChan Gazette
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A Victoria Police sergeant will give a presentation to local parents based on the topic of cyberbullying next Tuesday night. Sgt. Darren Laur has been contacted by Lake Cowichan School’s Parent Advisory Council and the presentation will start at the school at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 10. Laur will discuss the dangers to young people of sharing personal information online and making friends with the wrong people. “We had Darren come out last year and he did three presen-
Ken Karpic and Dana Rudan from Lake Cowichan took their hometown newspaper with them on a vacation to Riu Santa Fe resort in Cabo San Lucas. they are pictured here in front of the world famous El Arco, Cabo’s Golden Arch. Just by booking their vacation with Sherri from Whittomes Travel they are now eligible to win $500 off the next trip they book at Whittomes Travel.
tations to middle school students, high school students and parents,” said LCS PAC member Belinda Waller. “They were really well attended and there was lots of information on how to protect yourself. People really enjoyed it.” Waller and company decided to bring Laur back for another session with the parents after many couldn’t attend last time out. “Lots of parents missed out so it’ll be a real benefit to attend it.” Laur will also talk about the consequences of cyberbullying and online decision making as well as giving parents advice on how to protect their children in online use. “The presentation is not just open to LCS parents. We want all parents in the community to come out. Parents from Duncan or those who have their children in homeschool are welcome to attend. There’ll be a question period at the end.” Waller was unable to attend Laur’s parent talk last year but said her husband did attend and “couldn’t stop talking about it.” The presentation is free to get into.
credit
Robin Brooks, left, Billie Scott-Polson, centre, and Raimund Mullin with the Backpack Project drop box at the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena.
Students stuffing backpacks for other students Annual program: charity starts close to home for LCS, as teens collect clothes and school supplies for less-fortunate peers Malcolm Chalmers
Lake CowiChan Gazette
For some Cowichan Lake families the luxury of a new backpack full of school supplies each year is out of reach. Here is your chance to make a difference and assist these students and their families. Lake Cowichan School’s District Student Advisory Council students Raimond Mullin, Billie Scott-Polson, Robin Brooks and Alex Mizak are heading the schools annual Backpack Project. It’s a way to serve students in the area who may not be able to afford the basics for school, such as school supplies, toiletries or good clothing. Collection boxes have been set up at a variety of locations until the middle of December. After that the school will continue to collect items or monetary donations which can be dropped off at the school office.
Cowichan Lake
Lake Cowichan Lions Club
UNITED WAY
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Friday, December 6 Shaker Mill Restaurant 7 am - 9 am | $10/person
Donations may be made at the Breakfast
ORLD EW TH
“We love to travel!” Stay in Touch with Home: www.lakecowichangazette.com
DOLLS GALORE! • GARAGE SALE ITEMS • COOK BOOKS & MORE!
Dec. 7th and 8th 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
More than half of the price goes to the United Way Campaign.
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Each year LCS participates in this School District 79 program to provide —without cost — these school supplies and toiletries. For a number of years, Targus Canada and Monk Office Supply has generously donated backpacks and each year volunteer students canvass local businesses, students and the public for school supplies, toiletries and gently used clothing. Once donations have been collected, the students distribute the backpacks full of supplies to students that can make use of them. The school respects the feelings of recipients with anonymity. Collection bins have been placed locally at Lake Cowichan School, Cowichan Lake Community Services, Vancouver Island Regional Library, and the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena. If you have any questions about what is needed please contact LCS at 250-749-6634.
Lions Den 131 Oak Lane
Tickets are available at: Shaker Mill Restaurant, Community Services or by phoning Pat Foster at 250-749-3730 or at the door.
Photo Malcolm Chalmers
The singers in the Lake Cowichan Secondary production of Larun Frost’s play The Christmas Journey are from grades four and five. The ensemble delighted the crowd at two shows last Thursday (Dec.18).
Town ‘caught short-handed’ by boil water advisory, says town’s CAO The Town of Lake Cowichan’s Chief Administrative Officer, Joseph Fernandez, said the town was caught off guard when Island Health issued the boil water advisory earlier this month. According to Fernandez, a boil water advisory is relatively unheard of for Lake Cowichan, with no mention of one in the town’s records. “It was a bit of a shock for us,” Fernandez said.
Drew McLachlan
LAKE COWICHAN GAZETTE
The boil water advisory assigned to Lake Cowichan nearly two weeks ago on Dec. 12 has continued to persist as of the time of this writing (Dec. 21), causing quite a reaction from residents who were unpleased with how town officials handled notifying the public within the first few days of the advisory.
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“We were caught shorthanded. Some people were unhappy about that, as they weren’t notified by anyone until a couple days after the advisory was issued.” After the advisory was issued, town officials immediately notified the town’s schools, businesses, specifically restaurants, posted a message on the Town of Lake Cowichan Facebook page and alerted the radio station
so they could notify the public. With a significant senior population, however, a number of residents were not made aware of the situation until days later, when they went into town or checked in online. The Lake Cowichan Gazette, received several letters questioning why the town didn’t do more, such as going doorto-door, as did town council, according to Mayor Ross Forrest.
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“Island Health was satisfied with how the message was put out,” Forrest said at the following town council meeting. “In a real emergency we would have gone door-to-door.” Fernandez suggested that if a boil water advisory should be issued in the future, a notice be put on the entrance to town, similar to how the public was notified of the stage 3 water restrictions during the summer.
However, with a secondary UV water treatment system planned for next year, which will take the town’s system to new Island Health standards, in addition to the rarity of boil water advisories in Lake Cowichan, the discussion may have been moot. “We’ll be better prepared for next time,” Fernandez said, “if there is a next time.”
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