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Nab red light runners with camera
Pumpkin tribute to Edgar!
King wants one installed at Trunk & 17 BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
PHOTO BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
Edgar Dunning would have had a good chuckle about a unique tribute paid to him for Halloween at the Westham Island Herb Farm. Proprietor Sharon Ellis normally carves about 150 pumpkins in all manner of whimsical design every year for All Hallows’ Eve, including one special pumpkin. This year she decided to pay tribute to the beloved Delta storyteller and journalist, a longtime family friend of the Ellis family, who recently passed away. A celebration of Edgar Dunning’s life will be held on Friday, Nov. 12 at 1:30 p.m. at the South Delta Baptist Church.
people to get through an intersection can reduce the collisions,” she said. Noting the focus now is on improvements for the worst intersections, other ideas being contemplated, which will require funding from various sources, including ICBC, are reader boards, designated left turn lanes, anti-skid pavement and upgraded
A red light camera should be installed at the intersection of Highway 17 and Ladner Trunk Road, says the chair of Delta’s traffic safety advisory committee. Coun. Heather King said the findings of a consultant’s study for Delta, as well as a crash report by ICBC, were analyzed by her committee, which has come up with a number of recommendations for Delta council. Those recommendations, recently presented at a budget workshop, deal with the worst intersections in Delta, including Highway 17 and Ladner Trunk, which has the dubious distinction of PHOTO BY SANDOR GYARMATI being one of the three worst The intersection of Highway 17 and Ladner of 50 intersections studied. Trunk Road is one of the worst in Delta. “What this report in the phase one determined is that light signal displays. essentially red light running is the “We have them divided number one cause for concern for into short, mid and long range safety in Delta, as well as speedimprovements for each one of ing. Excessive volumes and the the 16 (worst) interchanges,” resulting congestion and cueing explained King. frequently cause these collisions,” Red light cameras fall under said King. the category of enforcement. “There’s a few things we can The option of installing a do: Having a red light camera red light camera at the intersecenforcement by our Delta police, tion of Highway 17 and Ladner having a longer green light and See RED LIGHT page 3 some tweaking the time we allow
Delta shortchanged on funding for ‘vulnerable kids’ BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
The Delta school district isn’t getting an equitable share of provincial funding to assist disadvantaged kids. That was the message delivered to trustees by Kathy Guild, the district’s director of special programs, who outlined what
Delta receives from the Ministry of Education’s CommunityLINK program. CommunityLINK (Learning Includes Nutrition and Knowledge) provides over $51 million in funding to all 60 boards of education to support vulnerable students in academic achievement and social functioning, according to the ministry.
The funding helps school districts provide services such as breakfast and lunch programs, inner city and community school programs, school-based support workers, and counseling for atrisk children and youth. The term “vulnerable students” is defined as students primarily from less affluent socio-economic backgrounds and “at-risk” of not
achieving in school, but students whose first language isn’t English can also fall into that category. The goals include improving student attendance, report card letter grades and anger management skills and decreasing substance abuse as well as assisting with coping skills for students who have “financial concerns at home.”
Noting that at one time the program was administered through Deltassist before it was taken over by the ministry, Guild said CommunityLINK funding here goes into several different initiatives, including child and youth care workers, a behaviour specialist and multicultural workers. See FUNDING page 3