Monday - Aug. 26, 2024 - Langley Paralympian heads to Paris

🌤 High 21C

Good morning!

I’m so excited to see the first few Classified notices come in after our announcement last week. It’s just a fun return to a classic element of community news.

I will note, though, that for those members submitting their 10-word ads, make sure you add a piece of contact information to your message if you want people to get ahold of you. People will need to be able to find your garage sale, ask to give your puppies a home, and tell you they want to rent your apartment. We won’t be able to be the middle-man for you—just like the Classifieds of yore.

Also, to get the new section up and running, we’re giving members a bonus ad until the end of September. It’s a freebie that won’t count towards your annual total. (Members, you can find the link to submit Classifieds in your weekend newsletter. Non-members, you can sign up for an annual membership here.)

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

The Yale Historic Site: one year later

The empty display cases are starting to fill. Visitors, however, are scarcer than ever.

Last summer, the Yale Historic Site was empty, its artifacts moved into storage during a tumultuous handover from the Yale and District Historical Society to the Forager Foundation. The 50-year-old society had preserved Yale’s history for decades, but refused to share both its knowledge and its items with the upstart organization that had replaced it.

Now, more than a year later, the Forager Foundation has made inroads into the community. Some local First Nations have brought their artifacts back to the historic site, and a new permanent exhibit on immigrant communities in the region is now complete.

But the Forager Foundation has said it has no plans to manage the historic site indefinitely, and continued acrimony and alleged racism in the 160-person town have left some Yale history enthusiasts worrying about the future of the one institution left in the community.

• Today, Grace takes a look back at how Yale’s historic site has fared over the last year, and looks at what the future has in store for the community.

Related

Need to Know

👉 A woman’s body was found nearly 19 years ago in southern Ontario; police have now identified her as Chilliwack’s Tammy Eileen Penner, who went missing in 2005 [CBC]

👶 A midwifery program at Seabird Island held a welcoming ceremony for 60 babies born over the past year [First Nations Health Authority]

🚂 The West Coast Express will be running again Monday, though there may be delays [CTV]

👉 Preston Manning and hundreds of others remembered former Chilliwack MP Chuck Strahl at a memorial Saturday [Chilliwack Progress]

🏎 Police broke up a gathering of dozens of people, including drivers doing donuts, in a Mission shopping centre parking lot [Mission Record]

🚧 Chilliwack’s Prest Road will be completely shut down between Bailey and McGuire from today until Sept. 11 [City of Chilliwack/Facebook]

🕳 A sinkhole forced the City of Langley to close a portion of 201A Street [CTV]

🚔 A Langley man has been charged with murdering a man in Vancouver in July [Castanet]

🐶 Your dog could be on a can of beer, thanks to a Langley brewery’s fundraiser [Langley Advance Times]

🖥 Police have arrested a man who allegedly broke into a Mission electronics store and stole computer monitors [Mission Record]

🚓 An Abbotsford business owner says extortionists are still targeting him and others [CBC]

🗨 The Union of BC Municipalities are seeking ways to address harassment towards elected officials, but some politicians wonder if much can be done about the growing toxicity in local politics [Vancouver Sun]

The Agenda

Langley wheelchair rugby player off to Paris Paralympics

With the Olympics over, Paris is getting ready to welcome the world’s Paralympians to the city. And one Fraser Valley athlete will be heading over to represent Canada at the games.

Trevor Hirschfield, 40, is the co-captain of Canada’s wheelchair rugby team. Hirschfield grew up in Langley, and was paralyzed in a car crash when he was 16. He was introduced to wheelchair rugby by its co-inventor Duncan Campbell, who was Hirschfield’s recreation therapist after his accident. He currently lives in Parksville with his wife and kids.

Hirschfield has played in four Paralympic Games, winning a bronze medal in 2008 and a silver during his first appearance as co-captain in 2012. He is considered to be one of the best low-point wheelchair rugby players in the world. (Rugby athletes are assessed into seven classes based on their functional ability. Hirschfield is a 1.0 athlete, which is the second lowest class.) He was the first low-point player to be named the International Paralympic Committee’s athlete of the month in 2015.

Wheelchair rugby, originally called murderball, is played by two teams of four players. Athletes must have a disability that affects their arms and legs, but must be able to use a manual wheelchair. The sport was originally developed in Winnipeg in 1977 as an alternative to wheelchair basketball, and was first included in the Paralympics as a full medal sport in 2000. The sport is co-ed, and athletes with different point levels can play together, so long as they don’t exceed the set points total.

Team Canada will be competing in Paris for the preliminaries on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, with games starting at 4:30am on Thursday and 8:30am on Friday and Saturday. The gold and bronze medal games will be held on Monday, Sept. 2. People can watch the games for free on CBC Gem.

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🤝 Now hiring

• Systems analyst at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford

• Ice person (aka Zamboni driver) at the City of Chilliwack

• Electrical distribution engineer at BC Hydro in Langley

• Fraser Valley regional integration liaison at Archway Community Services in Abbotsford

• Health administrative assistant at Seabird Island Band

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

Classifieds

• Local Handmade Pottery in Abbotsford [LINK]

• Happy early birthday to Bob and Bertha! Love the family.

Annual FVC members can find a link to submit a classified in the weekly FVC Insiders Edition. Members get one free classified each year. Become a FVC member here.

🗓 Things to do

Accessible yoga: Lululemon and Britt from The Valley Bee are offering free accessible yoga at Yarrow's Pioneer Park on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Yoga begins at 6pm, but arrive 15 minutes early to check in. Details online.

Twilight concert: The final Mission Twilight Concert is happening this Wednesday at Fraser River Heritage Park. Concert begins at 7pm. Details online.

Fundraising gala: The Langley Pos-Abilities Society is holding its Gala for Accessibility on Saturday, Sept. 28. Ticket sales close today. Details online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

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