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Pipe band to perform at Windsor Castle
Hospital helpers Auxiliary volunteers logged 73,000 hours
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Computer guidance Local author adds another to series
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Royal treatment
Middelaers launch civil lawsuit Driver and little girl’s aunt named along with Delta and Victoria in wake of fatal crash in Ladner two years ago BY
JESSICA KERR
jkerr@delta-optimist.com
A civil suit has been launched in the 2008 death of four-year-old Alexa Middelaer. The suit, seeking unspecified damages, names Carol Berner, who is also facing criminal charges in the case, Daphne Middelaer, Alexa’s aunt who was also injured in the crash, the Corporation
of Delta and the provincial for other persons using the highDelta and the province are Ministry of Transportation and way, and driving while impaired named for failing to remedy Infrastructure. by alcohol, drugs and fatigue. known speed control problems at The suit was filed the scene of the crash. in B.C. Supreme Court Alexa died on May 17, Two-year anniversary Page 3 on May 6 by Michael 2008. It was around 5 p.m. Middelaer, Alexa’s father, when Alexa and her aunt The suit names Daphne and contains a long list of allestopped to feed the horses while Middelaer for, among other gations against each defendant, the child’s grandparents waited actions, allegedly parking her car including that Berner drove within a car nearby. A vehicle, driven dangerously close to the side of out due care and attention and by Berner, heading north on 64th the road and “failing to keep a without reasonable consideration Street in East Ladner left the road, proper lookout.”
hit the parked car and careened into the adjacent field, fatally injuring Alexa and seriously injuring Daphne Middelaer. Berner has been charged with impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. The criminal trial is scheduled to begin May 31.
Special needs playground now open at Centennial PHOTO BY
DAVE WILLIS
Work on the playground expansion at Centennial Beach has now wrapped up. Project co-ordinator and Tsawwassen Boundary Bay Lions Club member Harry Caine said the playground, which now includes playing apparatus for kids with physical disabilities, has been busy since the expansion was completed. It features a specialized turf, designed and made in Florida, that has eight to 12 inches of chipped rubber underneath to provide a softer landing. An official opening is scheduled for June 20 at 11 a.m. A Father’s Day Breakfast at adjacent Cammidge House gets going at 9 a.m. that day.
Olympic warehouse to close doors to public at end of month BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
The VANOC Main Distribution Centre in Ladner is to close to the public at the end of this month, but many Olympic items will still be available at other sales centres and on the Internet. Selling thousands of goods used during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games,
the warehouse store at 7530 Hopcott Rd. is already sending inventory to other sites that have opened in Surrey, Prince George and Victoria, said Graham Duncan, spokesperson for the province’s Asset Inventory Recovery Department, which is managing the sale. According to the government, total sales of Olympic items to the public have exceeded $3.2 mil-
lion. “Part of the discovery for us is we continue to receive new items every day from VANOC. There’s still much to come,” said Duncan. The hottest items are laptop and desktop computers, as more than 2,900 have sold as of last week. Over 2,750 TVs have been bought, along with more than 3,000 pieces of furniture, including couches, chairs, coffee tables
and desks. “We still have a lot of furniture available and we will continue to have furniture available in the next few weeks. If the public is looking for things like wardrobes or dressers or desks or night stands, we’ve got them,” said Duncan. The furniture totals don’t include about 15,000 plastic folding tables that have sold.
Hundreds of coffee makers, lamps and thousands of articles of clothing have also been scooped up. Banners and Olympic torches have also recently started becoming available. The sale at the Ladner facility goes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. All items must be paid for and taken away at time of purchase. Only street parking is available.