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2010
1985
Hard work helps Boseko Lokombo in life & football
F RIDAY , N OVEMBER 12, 2010
36 Pages
Page A34
YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT abbotsfordtimes.com
End LINE?
Woman beats purse snatcher to the punch
OF THE
Or, in this case, to the gut-busting karate kick
Four generations deep, their family learned inside Dunach’s walls. That run could end if the Abbotsford Board of Education decides to close the historic elementary school Monday
RAFE ARNOTT RArnott@abbotsfordtimes.com
D
ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.
E
vie Reimer sports blond, curly pigtails and a pink shirt with the word Joy emblazoned on the front in sparkles. The five-year-old kindergarten student darts across Dunach Elementary’s field towards the back playground. He r great grandmother Mar y Schmidt, grandmother Pat Braun, and mom Erin Reimer trail behind. Evie is the fourth generation of her family to attend the small rural Abbotsford school threatened with closure this coming Monday. Citing declining enrolment in the western rural region, an aging building, and lack of ministry fund“It was a place ing, district staff is recommendwhere you were ing the board of education shut known and the school. Erin, 27, comfortable.” attended Dunach Elemen– Pat Braun t a r y, l o c a t e d on the cor ner of Downes and Mount Lehman roads, in the late 80s. She’s thrilled her daughter Evie has also had the chance to go to the school. “I think she loves it. She’s having lots of fun . . . she knows her way around the playground,” says Erin. Evie’s new teacher is Mrs. Plank. “She’s nice,” Evie states. There are a total of five girls and eight boys in Evie’s class and she knows all their names.
– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Evie Reimer, 5, sits with her mom Erin, grandmother Pat Braun and great grandmother Mary Schmidt in front of Dunach Elementary last week. All four attended classes at the rural country school.
see DUNACH, page A12
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efending herself with a well-placed karate kick to the gut of her female attacker, an Abbotsford woman sent a purse-snatcher reeling Saturday afternoon. The attack occurred as the victim was getting into her car after shopping at a mall in the 32800 block of South Fraser Way around 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The thief snuck up behind the woman, said “Hey,” then punched her in the face as she sat in the driver’s seat of her car, First reported @ all the while abbotsfordtimes.com trying to grab the victim’s purse, Const. Ian MacDonald said. Luckily, he added, the victim was able to defend herself — and keep her purse. “She did a karate-style kick to the abdomen of the attacker and started honking her horn like crazy,” MacDonald said. “This caused the suspect to flee, both because she was kicked in the gut and the noise emanating from the car.” The suspect is described as five-feet six inches tall, medium build, dark brown hair tied into a ponytail, in her mid-20s, wearing a white and purple hoodie. She fled the scene in a late-80s, grey or brown four-door Jeep Cherokee driven by someone else. MacDonald said the incident is concerning, as Abbotsford police have only had a small number of interactions involving females previously. Those incidents involved youth strongarming victims for a wallet or purse, or getting arrested for breaking and entering homes. “But nothing like this,” he said. MacDonald said the victim was very shaken by the attack, but commended her speedy reaction. “That was very quick thinking for being completely startled,” MacDonald said. “I guess the combat element was instinctive . . . [but] trying to draw attention to the situation was completely heads-up. That’s what we would advocate for people to do.” Anyone with information is asked to contact the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225.
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