March 23, 2023 edition — Why don't you cover Maple Ridge? Your questions, answered

Thursday, March 23, 2023 | Today: 🌧 High 10C, Low 4C | 7-day forecast

Good morning, there!

How ‘bout this spring weather? I went walking up on Little Mountain in Chilliwack for the first time yesterday (and snagged yesterday’s Current Cam picture) and was surprised by the breadth of the trails up there. It reminds me, and makes me think of my favourite Abbotsford walking spot, Downes Bowl, another place with great trails, albeit one that is criminally underused. Little Mountain shows just how much value a city can add by slightly improving access, adding signs, and telling people about the great places in their backyards. (Now the city just needs to add a sidewalk to the Little Mountain stairs.)

Oh and it’s still Tyler-mentions-advertising-week. If you want to connect with the thousands who open this newsletter everyday, you can advertise. It’s not only allowed, it’s gosh darn encouraged. There’s a form here, or just email us. Go nuts.

NEWS

You asked, we answered: our first mailbag edition

To mark our second year (and just because it seemed like a fun thing to try), we recently asked our readers to send us their questions on whatever they want to ask about—be it journalism, The Current itself, or the topics we cover.

You delivered, with some great queries and some even better ideas. This was so fun, we’ll definitely try it again.

Readers asked about our Good Morning welcome message, Need-to-Know links to paywall articles, firefighting staffing levels, the future of journalism, Maple Ridge coverage, and even our pets.

Check out Tyler’s responses to the questions readers asked—and even some they didn’t.

Need to know

🛍 The departure of chain stores from Langley’s malls is a sign of changes that could see land repurposed for highrises [Langley Advance Times]

👍 An Abbotsford man is helping gather and distribute medical equipment in Ukraine [Abbotsford News]

🚑 One person was hospitalized after a two-car crash that left one vehicle on its side in the middle of 200th Street in Langley [CTV]

🚓 Heavily armed Mounties surrounded an Abbotsford home after a wanted man refused to leave [Abbotsford News]

📚 A censured Chilliwack school trustee said the board’s chair unfairly shutdown discussion about books in schools [Chilliwack Progress]

💻 The Indian government has shut down mobile Internet in large parts of Punjab, leaving Canadian Sikhs concerned about an information blackout [CBC] (If you're a Fraser Valley resident who has had communication cut off with family email us.)

💩 Hope’s pool was closed due to an, um, ‘fecal incident’ on Tuesday [Hope and Area Recreation Centre]

👋 Three hundred Japanese students were warmly welcomed as they get ready to stay with local families for a week [Langley Advance Times]

🚐 An Abbotsford woman says the Fraser Valley bus strike has left her husband unable to get to crucial medical appointments [CityNews]

🐶 A Mission animal rescue organization has been ordered to pay more than $75,000 to the SPCA [Mission Record]

👉 Guns, drugs, and cash were seized from a Chilliwack home and a storage locker [CTV]

👉 A prominent homeless encampment in Abbotsford remains in part because of its location on Ministry of Transportation lands [CTV]

📸 CURRENT CAM: Sharron was the first to identify yesterday’s photo of the new trail on Little Mountain. We wrote last year about the decades-long effort to preserve the hills wilderness.

☺ TODAY’S SMILE: A fastpitch player pulled the ol’ ‘Look over there’ to distract her opponent / After the video went viral, the reporter talked to the runner [Twitter/Ryan Silapan]

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The Agenda

Rethink the economics of human waste, Kent mayor urges

The Fraser Valley’s cities and towns should pool their poop, Kent’s mayor (kind of) says.

Kent Mayor Sylvia Pranger has suggested that the region’s municipalities should consider jointly managing their respective biosolids programs. The biosolids are the end result of the waste treatment process, and communities are encouraged to turn it into fertilizer and soil supplements. But the process—and federal and provincial rules—are so complex that municipalities hire outside consultants to deal with their biosolids.

Every municipality in the Fraser Valley Regional District hires the same company, Sylvis Environmental Services, to cart the biosolids away. That led Pranger to suggest a more regional approach that could reduce costs and simplify the process.

“A regional management program would provide economy of scale benefits while tackling a challenging issue that applies to the majority of residents in the FVRD,” Pranger wrote in a letter to FVRD chair Jason Lum. The FVRD will consider the letter at its meeting this morning.

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NEWS

Who decides what books end up in school libraries?

In late February the Chilliwack RCMP put out a news release confirming what a reasonable person may assume to be true: the Chilliwack School District does not keep child pornography in its school libraries.

The release came in response to a complaint the Chilliwack detachment had received alleging books available in some School District 33 libraries fit the legal definition of child pornography.

But many still have obvious questions: just who decides what books end up in school libraries and how do they make those decisions?

The Tyee asked a teacher-librarian just how books get chosen for a school library, and why books with mature themes are included.

Around town

THIS WEEK

🐸 Mission residents interested in connecting with and conserving nature can join the Fraser Valley Conservancy's new Habitat Healers Ambassador Team. Information sessions are being held Saturday from 2 to 3:30pm at the Mission Library, and Monday on Zoom from 7 to 8 pm. Register online.

🥁 The South Island Rhythm Kings will perform at Abbotsford’s Eagles Hall on March 25. Tickets online.

COMING UP

🗨 The Alzheimer Society of BC is hosting a webinar on Saturday about sensory changes linked to dementia, and its effect on mobility and hearing. Details online.

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