Tuesday - Aug. 27, 2024 - Buzz cuts and court delays

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Good morning!

If you read a newspaper (whether in print or digitally) over years and decades, you may witness a fairly common occurrence in which a smart, engaging opinion columnist ends up writing about the same things over and over and over again. It’s a progression that may seem sad. Sometimes it is.

But I get it. I’m a reporter by inclination. I chiefly find new things and write them in this publication. And there is a never-ending stream of new things. It’s easy to find new things in an ever-changing world.

But could I find an opinion or valuable piece of insight that can carry 500 words two or three times a week? Hell no. I can barely fill this tiny space here sometimes. So there’s something to be said for that rare breed who can continually offer cracking insights day after week after month after year. There’s also, I guess, a reason to focus on digging up new information, rather than just relying on stuff we already know.

– Tyler

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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

A $1,600/day job: Health authority board directors got massive pay hike last year

The provincial government quietly handed massive raises to dozens of hand-picked health authority board members last year.

The hike allowed some board directors to make as much as $2,000 for each day of meetings, and caused the average daily wage of health authority board directors to increase by 53% compared to the previous year.

The pay increases came after a little-noticed BC Treasury Board directive issued last summer.

A Fraser Valley Current analysis of the newly released wage data shows that the average daily wage of a health authority director was about $1,464 per day of meetings in the last fiscal year, compared to $924 per day of meetings over the previous 12 months.

• Today, Tyler reveals the massive pay increases handed to the politically appointed boards of BC’s health authorities.

Related

Need to Know

👉 A team of Hope cyclists raised more than $20,000 for cancer research [Hope Standard]

🏥 A charity event raised funds for a renal ultrasound machine at Abbotsford’s hospital, but more donations are still needed [Abbotsford News]

📱 A new mobile phone carrier has opened in Chilliwack’s main mall [Fraser Valley Today]

🔥 Campfires are now allowed in southwestern BC [BC Wildfire Service/X]

👏 Mission recognized two men who helped save the lives of people in distress [Mission Record]

🚂 Trains are no longer sounding their whistles in Chilliwack after fences were strengthened along tracks [Chilliwack Progress]

♥ Dozens of readers and friends turned out at the unveiling of a memorial bench honouring Tyler’s first newspaper editor in Vernon [Vernon Morning Star]

👉 Two Chilliwack nurses were suspended for breaches related to medication administration [Fraser Valley Today]

📈 The BC government is limiting rent increases to 3% next year [CityNews]

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The Agenda

Chilliwack hair salon plots a different kind of buzz cut

A hair salon near Chilliwack’s Garrison neighbourhood is hoping to add a little buzz to its hair cuts.

Refinery Hair Salon on Vedder Road has applied to sell alcohol in its waiting room. The salon, located across the street from Garrison Plaza, currently provides hair and aesthetic services. It plans to serve alcoholic beverages to customers, along with a “robust selection” of snacks, coffee, tea, and microwaved meals.

The drinks would only be available at the Vedder Road location (the salon has two other locations in Chilliwack, and another in Abbotsford). Final approval is up to BC’s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, although Chilliwack residents will be able to comment on the proposal during a public information meeting on Sept. 3.

Residential school hit-and-run verdict delayed again

The verdict in an alleged hit-and-run at a residential school march won't be delivered until September.

RIchard Albert Manuel was charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle after he allegedly struck four people with his vehicle in June of 2022. The people were participating in a memorial walk near St. Mary’s Residential School on Lougheed Highway. Witnesses at the time said a driver made racist comments and threats before he hit the people with his car, then left the scene. The then-77-year-old was charged nearly six months later.

Manuel’s trial began in March in Abbotsford, and closing arguments were heard in May. However, the judge’s decision on the case has been postponed twice. The first time, Abbotsford Provincial Court Judge Edna Ritchie had COVID. The decision was then rescheduled for Monday, but courtroom time constraints have now pushed the decision date to September.

Ritchie will pronounce her decision on September 23, 2024 at 2pm. Manuel, who currently lives in Nova Scotia, will attend the decision virtually.

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