A new facelift for the Boys and Girls club in Metchosin, a con man picking up a woman with lies of being a big league baseball player and a sheep owner looking for a witness to her sheepB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s killers are among the headlines pulled from past Goldstream B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· Gazette articles.
2005
The Boys and Girls Club purchases 98 acres of rural splendour in Metchosin, a deal that promises a facelift for the clubB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s summer day camp programming. The land, formerly used by B.C. Corrections, became available when the B.C. Building Corporation deemed it surplus in 2003 and gave first right of refusal to the club.
Also making headlines the week of Oct. 9, 2005:
Despite rain, the 19-member Tour de Rock team lifts spirits as they rolled through the West Shore, stopping only to peddle support for childhood cancer research and support programs, including Camp Goodtimes. They earn a heart-warming welcome from more than 500 students at Dunsmuir middle school.
And, the debate over the proposed fireworks bylaw lights up View Royal council. When the smoke clears, council gives third reading to a bylaw that will ban the sale and regulate the discharge of fireworks within the town. Council passes it by a 3-2 vote, with councillors John Rogers and David Screech opposing.
1995
Langford resident Ronald Earnest Jay, 33, having earlier pleaded guilty to a brutal assault on his girlfriend, Sasha Peters, and received a restraining order against seeing her, uses using his car as a battering ram in an assault on the same woman. At one point he pushes PetersB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™ vehicle about 100 feet along the road, according to the prosecutor. Jay then walked up to PetersB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™ car and punched her through an open window. Jay pleads guilty to a charge of assault.
Also making headlines the week of Oct. 9, 1995:
LangfordB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s Darren Larry Richens dupes Rhonda Williams into believing he is a big-league baseball player, telling her that he was joining the Cincinnati Reds and wanted her to go with him. Williams gives notice at her job and sells her car in preparation for the move, even giving him money to get by. After Richens forges a cheque with his motherB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s name on a long-closed account, Williams realizes there is no big contract waiting.
And 12-storey buildings, a town centre, business parks and cluster housing are highlights from the third draft of LangfordB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s official community plan.
1985
A 26-year-old Sooke man and his 14-year-old girlfriend are tied together with speaker wire and left in the bush while their captors take off in the manB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s car. The man escapes and returns home to find three masked men ransacking his house. The three men stole a pipe and $15 but ignored a $3,000 stereo system and tape collection.
Also making headlines the week of Oct. 9, 1985:
Alvin McLeod, a Grade 12 student at Edward Milne high school in Sooke, receives minor rib injuries when an oxygen tankB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™s regulator valve explodes in the metalwork shop.
And, the owner of a flock of valuable sheep decimated by a pack of dogs in East Sooke is looking for a witness. Marilyn Young says a man saw the dogs chasing the sheep, but having caught the canines herself she didnB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·™t think she needed a witness to claim the loss. She turns out to be wrong and is out 11 sheep killed or wounded by the dogs, including a prize ram.
B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·“ Complied by Arnold Lim