LangleyAdvance
Scrubbing air
pg A11
Your community newspaper since 1931
Friday, October 1, 2010
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Fundraiser
Cheers greet Tour team
Wholesale Diamond Prices
Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley cyclists were given a hero’s welcome at a Fort Langley school Thursday morning.
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Concerns over Canadian flag protocol is a hot-button issue at Langley City’s fire hall. by Heather Colpitts
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Firefighter suspended in 9/11 dispute hcolpitts@langleyadvance.com
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Students’ cheers greeted Canadian Cancer Society’s Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley team members as they arrived at Langley Fine Arts School Thursday morning. Troy Landreville/Langley Advance The Tour de Valley cyclists Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley cyclists were all smiles as they arrived at Langley Fine embarked on their 800-kiloArts School in Fort Langley Thursday morning. metre journey through parts of B.C. on Sept. 23 and complete of the white blood cells, the she said. “They are really cool their ride in White Rock today cells in the body that normally people.” (Friday). fight infections. Like Faith, cancer has impactThe team visited Langley Faith had one word to ed the lives of several Tour de Wednesday and Thursday. describe the Tour de Valley cyc- Valley team members. On a crisp, sunny morning, lists: “Awesome.” Langley RCMP Constable and enthusiastic students from the “It almost feels like they’re team co-captain Karen Cryer Fort Langley school lined up to getting a cure for cancer by – who lost her father 10 years offer the cyclists “high-fives” as raising the money to help,” ago to colon cancer and her they rode past. aunt (on her mom’s side) Cops for Cancer raises to breast cancer – said her funds for pediatric candad is her No. 1 reason for cer research and supriding, but she has other ports families of child motivations. patients such as junior “He’s my main reason team member Faith for wanting to do this, Girvan. wanting to help support The 11-year-old Grade research for cancer, and 7 student at LFA is celebecause I’m a police officer brating her seventh year as well, doing it through of being cancer-free. Cops for Cancer is a great She was diagnosed with way for me to do it,” she acute lymphoblastic said. Troy Landreville/Langley Advance leukemia (ALL) when Langley Advance reporter Langley Fine Arts School students including, left to right, she was three years old, Matthew Claxton is a Tour Krista Warzel, Emily Ashton, and Sophia Jederman had a and underwent two and de Valley team member. a half years of chemogreat time as they welcomed the Cops for Cancer Tour de See his column Gearing Up therapy. ALL is a cancer Valley team to their part of town. on page A33.
Langley City
A.D.W.
A firefighter has had his wrist slapped in connection with commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. After the Langley Advance received information that a senior member of the fire department was suspended, City administrator Francis Cheung confirmed that action has been taken against a firefighter for something that took place on Sept. 11 this year. “One of the firefighters took some actions, and we investigated,” he said, declining to elaborate on personnel issues. He said the City looked into the protocols for Sept. 11 commemoration, contacting the federal government about rules for placing Canadian
PACs back trustees by Heather Colpitts
tlandreville@langleyadvance.com
Engagement Ring Specialist
Langley education
Parent groups voted to keep what they have.
by Troy Landreville
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flags at half mast. Sept. 11 is not on the list of special dates recognized by the federal government as appropriate for lowering flags to half mast, said Cheung, and so the City was following that protocol. Cheung added later by email that “the City respects our firefighters and all emergency personnel. We are also sympathetic to the fallen emergency personnel who lost their lives at 9/11.” Heritage Canada sends out notices of special occasions to lower flags. Recent notices have dealt with flags on all federal buildings to be lowered for Sept. 26, which is Police and Peace Officers’ National Memorial Day. “Having said all this,” Cheung added, “the City will meet with our firefighters to discuss how we should handle the 9/11 anniversary date in the future.” On Sept. 10 of this year, the City hosted a ceremony unveiling a $19,000 statue of a firefighter to honour fallen emergency responders.
Parent advisory councils at Langley schools told their District Parent Advisory Council they’d rather stick with elected trustees than risk a bureaucrat being appointed by Victoria. On Wednesday evening PACs voted on a DPAC motion asking for the current school board to be fired. Of the 39 PACs that make up DPAC, nine didn’t attend, seven abstained from voting, 13 voted against the motion, and 10 voted in favour. DPAC president Megan Dykeman-Porohowski said some PACs didn’t have a clear position from their parents to be able to take part in Wednesday’s vote. The motion called for the minister of education to remove the board of trustees and bring in an appointed trustee, citing the “continued dysfunction” of the board, the $75,000 cost of a byelection to fill the seat vacated by Trustee Joan Bech on Sept. 16, and the district’s ongoing financial problems. The DPAC was also concerned that Bech’s resignation would prevent the district from following recommendations stemming from a study of Langley School District’s financial problems by the provincial auditor general. The district is dealing with a $13.5 million deficit, requiring significant cuts in the coming four years. About 70 people attended Wednesday’s meeting, including two trustees and a senior district administrator. The meeting opened with a general vote on whether the trustees and district staffer should be allowed stay. The crowd mostly voted to let them to stay. “The parents honestly wanted the trustees and the senior management to hear the discussion,” she said. During discussions on the motion, DPAC came under criticism for announcing the motion to the media, DykemanPorohowski said. The DPAC executive told the crowd that the press conference was held Sept. 21, and copies of the motion were hand delivered to each school, as the quickest way to get word out to PACs and the parents about the Sept. 29 vote.