FEBRUARY

Feb. 2

Work began on the Island 22 Bike Park and designer/builder Jay Hoots used social media to gather input from potential users.

The $200,000-city-funded park on FVRD park land was created to fill the gap left when the city levelled the so-called Sardis humps in June 2010 due to liability concerns.

Feb. 2

Kaelyn Burns of Vedder middle school was the last girl standing at the sixth annual ChillSpell.

After 12 rounds Burns correctly spelled the word "applicant" beating out 51 competitors to earn her the title.

Feb. 7

Premier Christy Clark was in Chilliwack to see Laurie Thron-ess acclaimed as the BC Liberal candidate for the Chilliwack-Hope byelection.

Throness's acclamation rounded out the field for the yet-to-be-called byelection as Gwen O'Mahony won the nomination for the NDP and John Martin was in place for the Conservatives.

Feb. 7

Henriette Crampton thought she got a call from her grandson in jail in Montreal asking for money but it turned out to be a scam.

Luckily, Crampton didn't like the young man's tone-even though she thought it was her grandson- so didn't pay up.

She wasn't the only one targeted with the scam around the same time, according to Chilliwack RCMP.

Feb. 9

The Chilliwack Chiefs were spectators to an historic victory by the Penticton Vees in Chilliwack.

The Vees 7-0 trouncing of the local boys gave Penticton their 30th consecutive win to break a 22-year-old record.

Feb. 9

Numbers released by Statistics Canada showed Chilliwack- including Harrison Hot Springs and Agassiz-is the second-fastest growing metropolitan areain B.C.

Between 2006 and 2011 the area saw more growth than any other metropolitan area in the province besides Squamish.

Feb. 14

B.C. education minister George Abbott was in Chilliwack to tour the new Rosedale school where he was asked about the labour dispute with teachers.

Eleven months and two weeks into the dispute, Abbott said his 'well of optimism' had drained, and that teachers are not "more special" than other workers.

Feb. 14

The Chilliwack school district announced that students would not be getting report cards this term or next due to the labour dispute between the BC Teachers' Federation and the BC Public School Employers' Association. Feb. 16

A 49-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a westbound train just west of the Young Road railway crossing.

Police said the incident was not suspicious but was "clearly a tragic accident."

Feb. 16

RCMP had few details about a shooting at the Sto: lo Nation's child and family services building in Chilliwack.

A single shot was fired from a distance through a second-storey window into Building 1.

No one was injured in the inci-ent.

Feb. 21

City council set a 3.44 per cent property tax rate increase for the year.

A staff report pointed to increased policing costs, which represent 30 per cent of the city's budget, as the main reason for the increase.

The fire budget was also to be increased by $500,000 for 2012, which would allow for the hiring of two new firefighters.

Feb. 21

Chilliwack teacher Michael Todd Paice was arrested and charged with child luring.

The Mt. Slesse middle school teacher also served as athletic director and coached soccer and field hockey.

Feb. 23

A back and forth pre-byelection battle began as Chilliwack MLA John Les reacted angrily to NDP leader Adrian Dix's criticism of what he called Liberal mismanagement of the justice system.

Les said if it had been up to the NDP in the late 1990s, the Chilliwack courthouse would have been shut down.

Feb. 28

News that a convicted American pedophile purchased a Garrison

Crossing townhouse using a false identity came as a shock to neighbours.

Steven Dyer, 44, was hiding out in B.C. using the name Brian Woolworth when he purchased the Chilliwack property in 2008.

Dyer fled Arizona on bail in and was convicted in absentia in 2002, and sentenced to 169 years in jail.

Feb. 28

Chilliwack teachers hit the street to protest the government's plan to legislate an end to the teacher strike.

Wearing protest buttons and T-shirts, and carrying signs with slogans such as "Negotiate Don't Legislate," and "Teachers Need a Fair Contract," local educators rallied at Cottonwood Mall and in front of several schools.