On March 1, the Boston Bar Community Hall rocked with combined laughter of over 100 children and adults alike.  The “Community Celebration” was a hit with a free lasagna feast, musical guest and a visit from “The Wacky Wizard”.
    The party was arranged by Building Bridges/New Beginnings (BB/NB) as a way to acknowledge   the   wonderful gifts our community has to offer to residents of all ages. Lani Emmerson, the  Make  Children  First Community Champion for the Fraser Canyon
First Nations,   sang  a  tribute  to our   town  with   a   little  ditty written    especially for   the event.  
      The BB/NB committee members set up displays promoting various community programs for Youth, Seniors, Family Recreation and Arts and Crafts.  A special booth was set up as a Sharing Board for people to share their skills and resources.  Another booth announced $9000 worth of funding for community projects, $5000 from a Make Children First Community Investment Grant and $4000 from Regional FOG.  Residents were encouraged to visit the booths, enter  draws for  great prizes and sign up to teach, learn, share and have fun!      The entirely FREE event was planned with one thing in mind; to bring our community together in a spirit of goodwill, to celebrate this wonderful place we call home and to talk about ways we can all work together to make it even better for all of us.  FOG, (Finding Our Gifts) a Health Canada initiative was the mobilizer for the project,   but the group of Fraser Canyon parents took it and let it develop  according to the needs  and   wants   of    the community.    The   whole project, from survey to party was community driven, but the work is not done yet  Now the sign up sheets will be tallied and contacts made. Funds will be allocated according to your preferences and projects and programs will  begin.  Way to go, Boston Bar and North Bend!  We all worked together and got a great big ball rolling!  Watch this paper for follow up reports, and remember to get involved.  A great community is inhabited by wonderful, caring, giving people,  and this home of ours is definitely proving to  be a great community!


Feb 14- Police were engaged in a slow speed pursuit from Jackass Mountain to The Colonial Inn, outside of Yale.  Police were bombarded by boxes of nails thrown from the fleeing vehicle, but counterattacked with a couple of spike belts.  The vehicle, which was stolen out of Chilliwack, ran on 4 flats until it was finally stopped when  officers boxed him in with their cars.  The Chilliwack man plead guilty to causing a police pursuit, obstruction of a peace officer,  driving while disqualified and taking an auto without owners consent.  Sentencing is on March 10th.
Feb 17- Acting on a tip, police attended a residence on Old Boston Bar Road and seized 86 marijuana plants and grow equipment, no charges were laid.
   Trans Canada Highway was closed for 10 hours when a tanker carrying ethanol lost it's “pup” at Bells Crossing.  The tractor lost the back trailer in the corner.  The trailer then overturned and caught on fire.  A hazardous  matter team attended the scene to address environmental concerns.  It is unknown at this time if the fuel had entered the river, although it had evidently spilled onto the CP tracks. -


    The town meeting on Feb 17th commenced with honouring ceremonies for auxiliary officers Jason Greenfield and Todd Kafi, for their selfless service to the community.  Ken Conway was honoured for 25 years of service.  The community is deeply grateful to these three men for their dedication and commitment.
     Launching into the formal presentation by the highway traffic service, community members were introduced to the concept of a new integrated service delivery model.  Don Saigal stated that, “ the past system was outstanding, for those days, we have found better ways to work with the data and partners to identify clusters, hot spots and priorities, discovering the dynamics that are causing people to die.”
    Some of the given statistics were startling; for example, traffic collisions take 5 times as many lives as homicides, in BC there were 91 homicides versus 381 fatal crashes in 2002.    Studies have shown that 28,000 vehicles per month are clocked at travelling more than 30 km over the speed limit.  1 in 25 vehicles (at night) in BC contain a drunk driver and 1 in 3 fatal crashes involve alcohol  AND in 2000, only 11% of BC were not wearing their seatbelts, but they accounted for 60% of the fatalities!
    These are the kinds of “black spots” the Highway Traffic Service are going to be targeting.  How are people dying?  Considering such  factors as time, place, driver condition, vehicle condition, and environment,   by using available data, communicating with partners across the entire region and by involving communities in the policing these priorities can be identified.  How will we know if the strategy is effective? The number of crashes will be reduced and the survival rate will rise, says Saigal.  
    Using a team approach will help the service to develop an integrated deployment strategy, no unit will operate in isolation but as a  single service delivery unit from the Sea to Sky to the Fraser Canyon.  
    “No resources will be removed from the community” says Saigal, “ the new strategy will operate on the existing budget and resources”.
      Officer Bud Mercer, spoke briefly about concerns raised by community members at the last meeting in Dec.  Community members had voiced concerns about such issues as  vicious dogs and speeding truckers.  Mercer evidently  thought that the concern over vicious dogs was trivial and scoffed at the person who voiced the dog issue at December's meeting.  “If the dog was attacking your child ,it would be a priority” said one resident.  Mercer reiterated that police needed to focus on “real” concerns, does the community want police to be out chasing stray dogs or saving lives on the highway? Limited resources apparently say we can't have it both ways.   
    Dogs and drug houses getting a brief mention, speeding truckers remain a major concern for canyon residents, as do highway maintenance  and  lack of cell phone service.  Mercer offered his support  if canyon residents chose to approach  the CRTC to acquire cell phone coverage.    
    FVRD Chairman, Terry Raymond, asked whether the highway services detachment for the Fraser Canyon will be coming from Kamloops  in the future and not the Lower Mainland.  “This is just a rumour”, stated Mercer, “It is NOT happening”  
    Raymond also asked about the ICBC Enforcement Enhancement Fund, but  Mercer stated that the money was not acquired by the service because the funds had to be spent under the conditions of ICBC as opposed to the conditions of the police.  Mercer said that government funding  is an issue between governments not a policing issue.
    On March 12th, Derek Ayers is arranging a meeting when the Highway Traffic Service officers will be town again with a facilitator to ask the question “What are priorities for the canyon communities?  This is a very important meeting for our community and Ayers encourages as many of you to attend as possible.  The community input in this process is vital to effectively identify the targets and areas of priority for police. Watch for notices.

Dear Editor,

     I was at your paper (website) this morning & saw the link for the breast cancer donation. I also received this link from a friend of mine who moved to Virginia about 3 years ago. Being that the U.S. does not have national health care program this link is very important in getting mammograms to women who unfortunately cannot afford them, but being in Canada we have health care & they are provided for us. I was wondering if maybe you could do a story on it? Maybe about the importance of having a mammogram done. My ex mother-in-law has had 3 lumps found & unfortunately this last lump was cancerous & she had to have the breast removed. She then suffered a stroke & now has bone cancer. Breast cancer is hereditary & of course I have made sure my daughters are informed of this. My ex mother-in-laws mother also had breast cancer & has had a double mastectomy. I agree we need to do more to inform women & try to cure this horrible disease & was thinking if you could do an article it would be beneficial to everyone.      
                                                                                                                                         Thanks ,  Sherri Nuttall
                               45 Minutes To Save Your Own Life

    If you're a women and over 50, it's simple to guard against breast cancer. A screening mammography takes less than 45 minutes and can help save your life. There's no cost and you don't need a doctors referral.  But for some reason, our women aren't doing it. In Vancouver, only 35% of all eligible women have been screened. This is the lowest compliance rate in the province. The provincial mammography program says that all women between 40-80 benefit from regular mammograms. For women over 70 and under 50, the value varies depending on their health and medical history. The goal of the Screening Mammograph Program in B.C. is to screen 65 percent of eligible women.
A mammogram is an x-ray of the breast to determine the presence of breast cancer. A screening mammogram is used to check healthy women who have not displayed any signs of breast cancer.
      Mount Saint Joseph Hospital  has offered screening mammograms since 1995. There's no charge for the procedure, no physician referral is necessary, parking is easy and all the technologists are women. Brochures and pamphlets are available in English, Chinese and Punjabi and staff and interpreters can provide assistance in all major languages. As a bonus, the centre is being refurbished and will re-locate in June to an area that is separate from other radiology procedures, comfortably appointed and more private. To make an appointment, or to receive more information on the simplest way to prevent breast cancer, call 1-604-877-8388. As of the spring of 1999 St. Paul's Hospital  has also begun doing mammograms. For appointments at St. Paul's, call 1-604-660-3639.  Breast cancer is a close second to lung cancer as the leading cancer killer of women in Canada. In 1997, it was estimated that there were 18,400 new cases and 5,100 deaths from breast cancer. The objective of mammography is to find cancers of the breast in the earliest possible stages of development. The rationale is that the earlier the cancer is found, the more effective is the treatment. Also, with  early detection the need for radical surgery or radiation  therapy, with their adverse side effects, can be minimized, resulting in a better quality of life. All data clearly show that for any woman, the risk of getting breast cancer does increase with age. The lifetime probability of the disease is roughly 11 per cent, or one woman in every nine will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.   ..........FROM HEALTH CANADA