INSIDE: Number of drunk drivers has climbed here in Chilliwack Pg. 4 August 13, 2010
F R I D A Y
Local talent hits stage 23 PNE 1985-
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LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Filled to the brim
Trail system would boost tourism
UFV faced with problem of who to accept thanks to capacity issue
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
T
he City of Chilliwack and local First Nations groups say they are enthusiastic about a massive proposed trail system along the Fraser River from Boston Bar in the west to Delta and Richmond in the east. The so-called Experience the Fraser trail system is just in its planning stages, thanks to an initial $2.5 million provincial grant last year. The trail would promote tourism next to the Fraser and connect municipal and regional parks along its banks throughout the Lower Mainland.
is a 100-year project that will start now and the lands will be identified.” Mayor Sharon Gaetz Chilliwack mayor Sharon Gaetz told the Times that Premier Gordon Campbell has been a key proponent of the project and envisions a $100-million, 100-year project. Officials have compared the trail to tourist trails along the Australian coast, as well as the Rhine and Mississippi rivers in Europe and the United States. “The premier has said this is a 100-year project that will start now and the lands will be identified,” See TRAILS, Page 20
Cornelia Naylor/TIMES
Yarrow resident Rhian Franks stands by some of the potted plants she has placed around the community’s downtown. Within the last week, 20 of the plants have been stolen.
Plant project uprooted ‘Low-life’ thieves take some of the colour out of downtown Yarrow BY CORNELIA NAYLOR cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com
R
hian Franks’s campaign to bring some colour to the downtown core of her little Yarrow community began last summer at the local video store. She was irked by a pair of planters filled with garbage instead of plants and couldn’t resist sprucing them up with a bit of soil and a couple of spare banana plants. “That’s what got me going,” she said, “and you know the more you do, the more you want to do.” After two summers, the mother of two (soon to be three) estimates she has now spent almost $2,000 on plants, soil, pots, rocks and other materials to get some much-needed greenery into the town’s threeblock downtown core. But Yarrow residents who’ve grown fond of the plants and care for many of them are now incensed after four of the pots were stolen a week ago and 16 more were taken late Sunday night.
“Those plants and their containers were visible symbols of affection that were appreciated by homeowners and visitors alike,” said Carol Bell of the Yarrow Volunteer Society in a letter. “We send a collective ‘shame on you’ to the lowlifes that would stoop this low.” Franks’s efforts began as her own pet project, but community members have jumped on board, watering and caring for the plants placed in pots outside their businesses. At the Yarrow Super Market, John Riou waters his plants twice a day and is disgusted at the theft of five pots from the front of his store. “No good,” he said. Hank the Barber, an icon in Yarrow after 66 years in business, is glad none of his plants were taken. “I would miss them,” he said. “Everybody in town looks after them,” said Franks. “Everybody waters their plants outside their stores.” While Franks has footed the bill for much of the project herself, locals have also come forward to donate plants and help water, weed and build benches for new flower beds. Until the first theft a week ago, a bit of minor local vandalism was the worst the plants had attracted in two years.
H
ockey players may be expected to “give 110 per cent” but universities? Not so much. The University of the Fraser Valley will operate at 108 per cent capacity this upcoming year, an untenable situation that is putting a strain on resources according to UFV provost and vice-president academic Eric Davis. Davis says the university has attracted more students than its government-set target, which is a tribute to the school’s quality but a problem for administrators and those trying to enroll for classes. The university has operated beyond capacity before, normally producing around 104 per cent of its quota, said Davis. But with increased demand for post-secondary education in the valley, this year is shaping up to be the busiest yet. “We’ve never been this full, or over-full, really,” said Davis, who attributed the surge in students to [the institution] achieving university status in 2008, a good reputation for teaching, and a demographic explosion in the Fraser Valley. And now, the economic slowdown is adding to those factors. “When the economy is poor and the job market is tight, people tend to go back to school,” said Davis. For those tasked with budgeting
See YARROW, Page 6
See UFV, Page 20
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