MARCH

March 1

An American fugitive pedophile who owns a Garrison Crossing townhouse under a false name designed and sold playground equipment at a number of local elementary schools.

The Canada Border Services Agency arrested Stephen Dyer in Montreal and he was returned to the U.S. where he faced a 169-year prison sentence.

Dyer was involved with the installation of playgrounds at McCammon and Vedder elementary schools.

March 1

The body of a missing Chilliwack man was found in the Chilliwack River Valley.

Douglas Sawatzky's body was found several feet down an embankment near the Liumchen Creek Forest Service Road although foul play was not suspected.

March 6

Premier Christy Clark ditched out of a planned meeting at Unity Christian school after teachers turned out in force to protest.

Clark was to attend a gathering of independent school officials but Chilliwack Teachers' Association president Katharin Midzain suggested the premier should have been in Victoria dealing with prov-incewide teacher issues.

March 6

City council received an offer from Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO) president John Jansen to demolish the Paramount Theatre at no cost to the city because CEPCO already planned to tear down the adjacent Ewert Building.

March 8

Leanne Terhaar and her husband Jerome's eighth child was extra special.

Little Samantha Daralynn was Chilliwack's only leap year baby, born at 8: 15 a.m. on Feb. 29.

March 13

Chilliwack-Hope BC Liberal candidate Laurie Throness was forced to take down byelection signs found to be in violation of the city's bylaws.

Previously, NDP candidate Gwen O'Mahony had put up signs on the median in front of her Young Road office, which were also in violation of the bylaw.

Conservative candidate John Martin said he was "disappointed" about the Liberal signage.

March 13

The most memorable moment of the Chilliwack Chiefs game against the Trail Smoke Eaters came during the second intermission when Bill Miller shot a puck 120 feet into a six-inch hole to win a 2012 Dodge Challenger courtesy of O'Connor Dodge Chrysler Jeep. "It was amazing," Miller said of the shot.

March 15 The Paramount Theatre got a last-minute reprieve from demolition as the Save the Paramount group was handed 90 days to come up with a business plan to save the cinema.

And while the group conceded that the time frame was going to be too short for them to raise the approximately $300,000 needed to renovate the building, they believed they could save the theatre.

March 15

The lowest car theft numbers in more than a decade were credited to the Chilliwack RCMP's prolific offender program and bait cars.

Two hundred cars were stolen in Chilliwack in 2011, down 50 from 2010. Since 2003, when 720 cars were stolen in the city, the number of thefts dropped by 72 per cent.

March 15

Those who were unaware of Kinder Morgan's TransMountain oil pipeline running through Chilliwack found out the company was in the early stages of planning a twinning of the 1,150-kilometre pipeline.

A January spill of 110,000 litres of oil at the TransMountain terminal site on Sumas Mountain had some activists and residents concerned about the twinning project.

March 20

The Chilliwack school board appeared to violate the School Act and its own policy by allowing a trustee to vote via an Internet connection during at least two meetings.

Trustee Doug McKay twice participated in a vote online at which there were questions over whether he could hear what was being discussed.

March 20

Unity Christian school was ready to break ground on a long-delayed $3.45 million building project that would bring its elementary program into the same campus on Hack Brown Road as the middle and high-school programs.

The plan for the school included three major additions, including a new elementary school wing and an expansion of the middle and high school facilities.

March 22

While city hall and the province went back and forth over who should pay to protect land and homes in the Carey Point area from the spring freshet, residents wanted to build a berm themselves.

City staff presented a report to council that found there was no immediate threat to the dike and the cost to build a berm to protect the area outside the city's dike system was too high.

March 22

A large fire at a Yarrow gas station forced the evacuation of nearby homes and businesses.

The blaze, at an Esso gas station on Yarrow Central Road, began in a garage attached to the station and quickly spread, rupturing a natural gas line and causing more than a dozen explosions.

March 27

A byelection for Chilliwack-Hope was called for April 19, which meant a showdown between Liberal Laurie Throness, New Democrat Gwen O'Mahony and Conservative John Martin.

Five days into the campaign and the first issue surfaced, but was one that all the candidates were in agreement: Metro Vancouver's proposal to build a waste-to-energy incinerator was a bad idea for the Fraser Valley.

March 27

Two men who helped a Mountie in distress were among those honoured at the RCMP's Recognizing Excellence Awards.

Andrew Brown and Rod Alderson were given a standing ovation after receiving certificates of appreciation from RCMP Supt.

Keith Robinson.

The men assisted an officer who had been attacked during a routine stop along Bernard Avenue.

March 29

More than $25,000 worth of masks and jewelry were stolen from a Ryder Lake home, but the victims of the burglary say the items' sentimental value far outstripped the monetary worth.

Mounties said thieves took 10 native masks worth more than $10,000 along with a large amount of hand-carved gold and silver jewelry valued at around $15,000.

March 29

A 58-year-old Surrey grandmother was sentenced to one year of house arrest for operating a Fairfield Island marijuana grow operation.

Mounties seized 467 plants from the grow op run by De Nguyen on Bonavista Street.