o.com
Hockey happenings Nanaimo Clippers win
im JPHyundaiNana
games while making trade ahead of deadline.
Why buy a Jim Pattison Hyundai?
Page 25
Visit Our Website www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016
VOL. 27, NO. 70
Authorities urge caution after overdose spike
Solid footing
Tyler Pelletier, left, and Brad Freeland, with Nanaimo parks and rec, and Chad Schmitke, driver with ABC Concrete, pour a new pad at the entrance to the public washrooms at Maffeo Sutton Park Monday. The work finished repairs made to a leaky water line.
I
By Tamara cunningHam ThE NEwS BULLETiN
CHRIS BUSH THe NewS BUlleTIN
Volunteers revive society to help restore Morden Mine
O
*includes 5L of 5W30 or 5W20 oil. Enviro levy & shop supplies extra. Does not include diesel and synthetic oil changes.
ME OF T
TIRES AT COST!
YD
R
INCLUDES: ✓ Complimentary car wash and vacuum ✓ 15-point visual inspection ✓ FREE Battery and Alignment Check
EVE
HERE NOW!
RAPID OIL SERVICE from $2995 +taxes
See ‘POLICE’ /6
news@nanaimobulletin.com
HE
Now
m
l6p
‘ti pen
considered and seek support of local and international businesses. He plans to lobby the cement industry. Morden is an important investment for the community and province because of its history and the economic opportunity to develop attractions, he said. “We have so little physical representation of our history on the West Coast. We are a new country and we are allowing our basic elements of historical record to deteriorate and sink into the earth,” Routley said. “I think that is just wrong. Just plain wrong.” It’s also short-sighted economically, he said, because industrial heritage like mining and logging is what travellers come to see. Eric Ricker, former co-president of the society, wishes the new board members the best of luck but says they face a big job and one that will be far from easy.
See Dealer for details
E
A refreshed Friends of Morden Mine Society has picked up the gauntlet to save a towering remnant of coal mining history. “It’s kind of a last-ditch effort for the mine,” said co-president Sandra Larocque, of preserving the head frame and tipple at the B.C.’s Morden Colliery Historic Park. “It’s either now or never.” A newly elected board will carry on a 12-year mission to rescue the relic, with plans to try different solutions. It is a turnaround from last year, when the former board was prepared to fold the society. The dream had been to restore the deteriorating head frame and tipple, once used to lift and lower machinery and elevators into a mineshaft more than a century ago, but the group faced challenges, including financing, to get the work done. Restoration was
estimated at $2.8 million. The society was in the midst of a wind-down procedure when NanaimoNorth Cowichan MLA Doug Routley and Larocque expressed a desire to keep it going, and new members were elected to the board. Co-led by Larocque, it’s believed there are still avenues to try to save the concrete tower, from accessing grants to appealing to businesses and addressing the project in “baby steps” like removal of trees at risk of falling on the structure. Morden is a piece of our history and worth saving, said Larocque, who envisions a museum on site much like Britannia Mine Museum near Squamish. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re going to give it a shot,” she said. Routley, who is working with Friends of Morden Mine, said they aim to have a more open mind to different solutions than what’s been
Nanaimo authorities are urging drug users to take precautions after a spike in overdoses last week, including one suspected overdose death. Island Health and the Nanaimo RCMP report an increase in overdoses, with four during the span of three days and one suspected overdose death Jan. 6, currently under investigation by the B.C. Coroners Service. Another overdose death happened in late December. There’s concern this city is seeing the same drug product as in Greater Victoria, where there have been eight recent overdose deaths. Preliminary toxicology tests by the coroner service showed fatal overdoses in Victoria involved multiple drugs, like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and in one case, fentanyl. Island Health and the Nanaimo RCMP are now urging caution and safe practice of illicit drug use, including avoiding using alone, knowing the drug by taking a small sample first and having a take-home Naloxone kit, an antidote to opioid overdoses. “We know the severity of the situation that happened in the Greater Victoria area, that resulted in at least eight – probably more – tragic deaths, which are preventable,” said Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical health officer for central Vancouver Island. “It would be good to be able to prevent deaths occurring here in central Island.”
R IC
ThE NEwS BULLETiN
HO
By Tamara cunningHam
iSlANd heAlTh, Nanaimo RCMP suggest safe practices, such as having opioid antidote kits.
AY L O W
P
AUTOMOTIVE DETAIL PACKAGES
15% OFF FROM $
39
95 UPGRADE WASH WITH
ANY SERVICE NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY • PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE • ALL MAKES, ALL MODELS
NANAIMO
2525 Bowen Road Nanaimo • 1-888-325-5974
mazdatirestore.com