JULY

JULY 5

A number of Chilliwack veterans led a chorus of voices calling for the reinstatement of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR), which was disbanded in 1995 in the wake of the 1993 incident in which a teenager was beaten to death in Somalia.

The group sent a letter and a position paper to the media and members of Parliament entitled "Righting a Wrong."

Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon MP Mark Strahl said he had seen the position paper and that he was aware of the platoon's impressive history, but was uncertain if reinstatement was possible.

JULY 5

Two lucky fishermen who drifted 10 kilometres down the Fraser River hanging onto a capsized canoe were rescued just in time.

The boat dumped near Gill Road.

Once resuced, the men were taken to Chilliwack General Hospital, treated for hypothermia, and released.

JULY 7

A student pilot and his instructor died when their plane crashed near the north end of Harrison Lake.

Mounties said the pair were attempting the mountainous terrain portion of the student's flying lessons when their Cessna crashed four or five kilometres inland from Harrison Lake.

JULY 7

Thieves who broke into an apartment building's storage lockers made off with the ashes for a Chilliwack woman's mother.

The thieves also stole approximately $3,000 worth of equipment from the single mother.

A week later, the urn with the ashes was found in front of a convenience store and returned to the woman.

JULY 12

Despite blue skies and sunshine in July in the Fraser Valley, local beekeepers were hit with a financial sting of losses because of a cold spring.

The cold, wet weather well into June delayed the age-old horticultural dance between bees and blooms by about three weeks.

JULY 12

Police arrested one man in connection with a robbery at the Bank of Montreal near Vedder and Stevenson.

Two men wearing bandanas over their faces entered the BMO and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. A third man drove a getaway vehicle.

JULY 14

Residents of Carey Point, an area on the Fraser River outside the city's dike system, were concerned about flooding on their properties.

Blueberry fields and hazelnut orchards were affected by the rising Fraser River waters.

The residents of the area had met with Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz and wanted either more gravel removed from the river or help building a concrete wall.

JULY 14

Two men were seriously injured after a collision with an RCMP cruiser in Agassiz.

A 19-year-old and a 20-year-old were airlifted to hospital after the Ford Mustang they were travelling in collided head-on into a marked Chilliwack RCMP cruiser.

Steve Genberg, the 20-year-old, later died of his injuries.

JULY 14

The annual two-week tradition that is the Harrison Festival of the Arts kicked off with music, art and dance.

JULY 19

A local security company acquired a new infrared camera that can be used to detect marijuana grow-ops.

Griffin Investigation & Security Services said the camera can be hired out to landlords to measure the "heat signature" of home. A high heat signature could suggest the existence of a grow-op.

JULY 19

A truck driver stranded in Calgary hospital room for months after being nearly killed by flesheating disease was back in his Chiliwack home and thankful for the support of family and friends.

Neil Blakney nearly died after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, and neither BC Medical nor his health insurance would pay for inter-provincial air transportation.

JULY 21

A local First Nations elder was speaking out about the aquaculture industry.

Skwah band elder Eddie Gardner organized a rally outside the band office to protest the ongoing practices of the fish farm industry, which he says are damaging the food supply for many First Nations people.

JULY 26

Record low average temperatures in the spring put the famous Chilliwack corn harvest weeks behind schedule.

Some local corn growers said it was the worst year they had ever seen.

Ian Sparkes had planted 200 acres of sweet corn, but estimated the yield would be about 50 to 60 per cent despite actually paying for extra labour to tarp fields.

JULY 26

Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz said she felt like she had been "kicked in the gut" after hearing the provincial government approved Metro Vancouver's decision to build a waste incinerator either in or out of the region.

"I'm very frustrated. I'm very angry with Environment Minister Terry Lake's decision," she said.

JULY 26

The Times printed a headline with some unfortunate foreshadowing this day.

"Winless no more," was the headline on a story about the Chilliwack Huskers who won a preseason game after an 0-10 season in 2010.

The Huskers would go on to another 0-10 season in 2011.

JULY 28

Chilliwack MLA John Les continued to speak out about a decision by his own Liberal colleague, Environment Minister Terry Lake, to approve Metro Vancouver's garbage burning plan.

Les said he had been aware about air quality concerns in the eastern Fraser Valley "pretty much from the first days of my involvement in public life since 1983."

JULY 28

With a coat of pink paint, downtown business owner Twyla Johnson thought she was improving her little dress shop but it was too much for city hall.

After a complaint by the Downtown BIA, the city ordered Johnson to change the colour because it did not fit in with the local design guidelines.

This story was picked up by provincial, national and even international media.

AUGUST

AUGUST 2

Chilliwack-Hope MLA Barry Penner said there wasn't much likelihood a waste-to-energy incinerator would ever end up in the Lower Mainland.

Conflict between Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver politicians has been on the rise, but much of it is shadow-boxing, according to Penner, as there is no specific proposal on the table.

AUGUST 2

When Chris Thompson's wife's handbag was stolen, the local resident embarked on a campaign of digital vigilantism.

Thompson tracked the usage of a prepaid cellphone and then created a website where he posted information about the alleged thieves and those connected to them.

AUGUST 4

A six-year court battle between three Sto: lo First Nations bands and the Canada Lands Company over a piece of former CFB Chilliwack land swung in favour of the First Nations in B.C. Supreme Court.

The court ruled against Canada Lands which wanted the court to dismiss the First Nations action aimed at getting back a 120-acre piece of land.

AUGUST 9

The re-branded 139th annual Chilliwack Fair was a success.

The show kicked off with livestock shows including B.C.'s largest 4-H show, which ran all weekend.

Organizers said attendance numbers were about the same as in 2010.

AUGUST 9

A slow news cycle in July saw the story of a downtown business owner who violated the city's colour scheme spread across North America.

But Twyla Johnson, proprietor of The Corner Hut clothing store, had to give in as her landlord painted over her pink walls.

AUGUST 11

Downtown Chilliwack's other life as fictional sci-fi town Eureka ended as the Syfy and Space Channel show ended production.

For five years, the show Eureka filmed its exterior scenes downtown, transforming Wellington and Mill into the quaint, if sometimes explosive-ridden American Main Street.

Producers decided against ordering a sixth season of the show.

AUGUST 16

The RCMP's Emergency Response Team (ERT) team may be a frequent sight in Chilliwack, but Mounties say that's a good thing.

The ERT, the RCMP's equivalent to a SWAT team, responded to more calls from Chilliwack than any other Lower Mainland community except Surrey.

But that's because one of two ERT teams are based in Chilliwack and they are called out to many less-serious calls.

AUGUST 18

Six local Sto: lo communities came together to create an aboriginal-owned environmental monitoring and site restoration business that Grand Chief Joe Hall hoped would be a role model for First Nations everywhere.

Seven Generation Environmental Services is a million-dollar start-up created out of a partnership with BC Hydro and will be involved with Hydro's Interior to Lower Mainland (ILM) Transmission Project.

AUGUST 18

Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz and Chilliwack MLA John Les don't agree on the idea of a municipal auditor general.

Les sent out a press release criticizing the NDP's lack of support for the provincially-created municipal watchdog.

But Gaetz doesn't much like the idea, calling it a whole new level of bureaucracy. She also said the province had not identified why the role was needed.

AUGUST 18

A black bear snared by a conservation service trap in a Cultus Lake mobile home park was later destroyed.

The bear had been frequenting the trailer park and regularly getting into garbage.

Neighbours were concerned as the bear was left in the trap for 12 hours before it was removed.

AUGUST 18

While organizers were preparing for the 20th Flight Fest, they were also aware it might be the final incarnation of the air show thanks to cuts to provincial gaming grants.

The $30,000 gaming grant, which expired at the end of 2011, represents 30 per cent of the show's budget.

Organizers were searching for corporate sponsors to make the show viable for 2012.

AUGUST 23

Mounties said a Chilliwack man who pleaded guilty earlier in the year to sex crimes against two boys was once a hockey coach and may have had more victims.

John "Jack" David Wright entered a guilty plea in January on two counts of sexual interference.

AUGUST 23

Chilliwack-Hope MLA Barry Penner stepped down from his role as attorney general to spend more time with his family.

Penner and his wife Daris had a baby girl, Fintry, in February.

AUGUST 25

Less than a month before a scheduled trial, the Times learned that prosecutors planned to drop all charges against Chilliwack teacher Jason Epp.

In May of 2010, Epp was charged with two counts each of sexual interference, sexual assault and sexual touching. The alleged victims were student at Sardis elementary school where he taught.

AUGUST 30

The provincewide HST referendum may have ended up with a decision to kill the controversial tax, but Chilliwack residents narrowly voted to keep it.

In the ridings of Chilliwack and Chilliwack-Hope, 19,000 voted "No" in the HST referendum and 18,500 voted "Yes," a margin of just over one per cent.

SEPTEMBER

SEPT. 1

Citing the unlikelihood of a conviction, prosecutors dropped all charges against Chilliwack teacher Jason Epp.

"The Crown has concluded that we have a legal, moral and ethical duty to come to court and say there is not a substantial likelihood of conviction," Crown counsel Wendy van Tomgerren-Harvey told the court.

SEPT. 1

After six months of failed negotiations with the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, the B.C. Teacher's Federation filed a 72hour strike notice, which meant Chilliwack teachers would begin job action at the first day of school.

SEPT. 6

The diminished physical and mental faculties of a Chilliwack man accused of the 2009 murder of his wife rendered him incapable of participating in his own trial, his lawyer told court.

David Miller was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of his wife, Susan Miller.

Miller suffers from Huntington's disease.

SEPT. 6

Construction delays pushed back the opening of the University of the Fraser Valley's Chilliwack campus.

The $40-million development at Canada Education Park was slated for completion in the fall with students to move in for the winter semester in January.

SEPT. 8

Chilliwack Mounties urgently wanted to speak with the author of an anonymous letter dropped off at the detachment regarding the 1983 disappearance of 10-year-old Jo-Anne Pedersen.

Twenty-five years after the disappearance, in 2008, Pedersen's mother made a public appeal for any information about her daughter.

SEPT. 8

The wanton destruction and damage done to motorized scooters meant to give elderly and disabled people the gift of mobility had the man responsible for the Mt. Cheam Lion Club's lend lease program stewing in anger.

Thieves broke into the Safety Village compound on Fairfield Island, broke into the Lions Club building, and made off with four scooters, four wheelchairs and a pair of upright walkers.

SEPT. 8

The heroic actions of fisherman Ron Shore helped in the rescue of an angler who had fallen into the Fraser River at Peg Leg bar.

Shore saw the man go in and began yelling for help, cries that were heard by men in a jetboat on the river who rescued the drowning man.

SEPT. 13

With school back in session and with teacher-coaches around the Chilliwack school district gearing up for the fall athletics season, some were worried about how the teacher job action would affect sports.

SEPT. 13

Police said alcohol may have been to blame for a crash that killed a 71-year-old Agassiz motorcyclist in Harrison Hot Springs.

Mounties said the man was killed after his motorcycle collided with a car being driven the opposite direction on Hot Springs Road.

SEPT. 15

The search continued for another angler swept away by the powerful Fraser River at Peg Leg Bar in Chilliwack.

Friends and family of 24-yearold Chris Vang continued to search both sides of the Fraser downstream from where he went in.

RCMP said police boats were no longer on the water and it had become a recovery mission.

SEPT. 15

Local health researcher Matthew Wiens was set to travel to Uganda on a prestigious research award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

The 30-year-old doctor of pharmacy was to study children who die of sepsis after being hospitalized for serious infections.

SEPT. 20

Mounties released a composite sketch of a man who attempted to abduct an 11-year-old girl in July.

A girl reported she had been approached by two men in an older blue cargo van while walking along Watson Road.

SEPT. 22

The City of Chilliwack started a formal request for proposal process for the old Paramount Theatre.

The winning bidder will likely have to spend upwards of $250,000 in renovations but the city said a long-term lease will be issued to recover those costs.

The Paramount's owners, Landmark Cinemas of Canada, donated the building and the property to the city in 2010 and the final film was shown on Nov. 3, 2010.

SEPT. 27

After a five-year absence, the reborn Chilliwack Chiefs gave thousands of fans plenty of reason to cheer their return to Prospera Centre.

With pennants from past championships hanging from the rafters, 3,124 people looked on as the Chiefs trounced the visiting Penticton Vees 7-1.

SEPT. 27

Four out of five ain't great when it comes to downtown Chilliwack.

The Bank of Montreal (BMO) branch on Yale Road at Five Corners confirmed it will soon move operations to the new Eagle Landing development on the Squiala First Nation Reserve.

Mayor Sharon Gaetz said she was "not happy" with the planned move, as the bank was used by merchants downtown and older folks who like to walk.

SEPT. 27

The body of angler Chris Vang who was swept into the Fraser River on Sept. 11 was found at the mouth of the Vedder Canal.

SEPT. 29

The Chilliwack school district posted a $2.6 million surplus last year after originally predicting it would have to take $1.3 million from reserves to balance its 201011 budget.

OCTOBER

OCT. 4

A crackdown on prostitution in downtown Chilliwack led to charges against 21 alleged sex workers and nine suspected johns.

After receiving numerous complaints from local merchants and residents, the RCMP's crime reduction unit spent five weeks investigating the sex trade in the downtown core.

OCT. 4

A Supreme Court justice ruled that David Miller, who killed his wife, was fit to stand trial even though he suffers from a terminal disease that limits his physical and mental capacity.

Miller was charged with second degree murder in the death of Susan Miller on Boxing Day in 2009.

OCT. 6

Dozens of investors owed millions of dollars by the company behind The Falls Resort may never see a penny after a buyer was found who was going to pay a fraction of what was owed for the struggling development.

With $75 million in debt, Blackburn Developments was granted creditor protection in B.C. Surpeme Court early in the year.

A $15 million bid to purchase The Falls by a Vancouver developer was approved by the court.

OCT. 6

A confrontation over a video game led to the stabbing of a 22year-old Chilliwack man near the Cheam Leisure Centre, according to the mother of the victim.

Police said the victim, who was treated for a four-to five-inchdeep puncture wound to his abdomen, was not co-operating with the investigation, but the woman said that was not true.

OCT. 11

Fraser Health promised an investigation and review of privacy policies at Chilliwack General Hospital (CGH) after internal records bearing the names of patients ended up on a Garrison Crossing road.

The papers comprised an entire "Team Report" on a 29-bed section of CGH, including names, ages, admission dates, attending physician and diagnoses.

OCT. 11

Chilliwack crown counsel John Lester was set to work as a prosecution advisor for the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country ravaged by a five-year war that became known as "Africa's world war."

Lester was to focus on prosecuting homicide, sexual assault and other crimes rampant in the aftermath of the war.

OCT. 13

A dozen American fishermen were getting set to return to Chilliwack to try and ensnare a vandal who slashed their tires on a previous trip.

Multiple vehicles-most with American plates-had their tires slashed while parked near the Chilliwack and Vedder rivers.

OCT. 13

An 83-year-old Chilliwack man died just hours after police were called to a "neighbourhood dispute" outside the man's Little Mountain home.

Mounties said they didn't know if the man's death was a result of the dispute.

OCT. 18

Mayor Sharon Gaetz learned she would be acclaimed back into office as no one stepped up to challenge the incumbent mayor at the deadline for nominations.

Gaetz was a four-term councillor before becoming the city's first female mayor in 2008.

"After 15 years of running campaigns, to be acclaimed was a really sweet feeling," she said.

OCT. 18

Chilliwack dropped from fifth in the province in the 2010 Statistics Canada crime severity ranking down to 16th for 2011.

Nationwide Chilliwack ranked 44th out of of 238 municipalities.

OCT. 20

The Chilliwack school district was collecting more money than needed for busing.

It was the second year in a row the district posted a surplus for the controversial transportation fees introduced the year before.

About $35,000 was collected for bus fees from parents, more than what was needed.

OCT. 20

With the municipal election one month away, a number of allcandidates meetings and informal events to meet those running for council were organized.

OCT. 25

The economic impact of an $8 billion contract awarded to Vancouver shipbuilders could trickle out to the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV).

Harv McCullough, who oversees UFV's trades programs, said the effects of the contract will reverberate through the entire Lower Mainland and beyond.

The shipbuilding contracts mean a lot of jobs, many in welding, and UFV's trades and technology campus offers a 34-week course in welding.

OCT. 25

Chilliwack city council candidates had their first chance to put forward platforms and talk about issues at a Chamber of Commerce all-candidates meeting.

The topic of downtown dominated the discussion, much as it did during the 2008 municipal election.

OCT. 27

Chilliwack Times reporter Tyler Olsen pulled off one of community journalism's rarest feats by winning a Jack Webster Award for his series "Growing Concern" to cap off a triple crown of newspaper industry awards.

He previously won Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Association awards for the series, which looked into marijuana grow operations in Chilliwack.

OCT. 27

Chilliwack school trustee Silvia Dyck said she would seek legal counsel after being "slammed" in the press by board chair Doug McKay for releasing information from a meeting he said was closed and confidential.

The subject was busing fees and came from a meeting that was not in camera, but McKay refused to apologize.

"I take great exception to being bullied and threatened and I want an apology," Dyck said.

NOVEMBER

NOV. 1

The City of Chilliwack's draft plan for the Eastern Hillsides includes fewer than one-third of the homes and residents first envisioned for the area in 1994.

City council was presented with a plan with a projected build-out of 1,700 homes for up to 4,000 people.

The 1994 plan envisioned up to 5,200 homes for between 13,500 and 17,000 people.

NOV. 1

Veterans marched down Vedder Road to Member of Parliament Mark Strahl's office to protest the compensation system for veterans.

The group marched the year before to then-MP Chuck Strahl's office, but he was not there.

Mark was there this time and said he would research the issue and address veterans' concerns.

NOV. 3

Eleven-month-old Lilee-Jean Whittle-Putt of Chilliwack was at BC Children's Hospital fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Her parents, Andrew Putt and Chelsey Whittle, found out about the cancer just a few weeks before.

A fundraising campaign for the family was started.

NOV. 3

John David Wright was led from a Chilliwack courtroom in handcuffs after being sentenced to two years in jail for sexually assaulting two young boys who regarded him as a grandfather figure.

He had previously pleaded guilty to the charges.

NOV. 8

A Chilliwack senior died from injuries suffered in a mobile home fire the previous morning.

Odele Bouchard, 72, and her husband Ray were airlifted to hospital after sustaining serious burns and smoke inhalation in an early morning fire in the Chilliwack River Valley.

NOV. 8

Chilliwack city council candidate Garth Glassel was convicted 10 years ago of production of a controlled substance in connection with a marijuana grow operation on his Abbotsford property.

Glassel told the Times that it wasn't him, but a tenant who rented out a garage who was growing the pot.

"It was a mistake that I got into and something that a lot of landlords get into," he said.

NOV. 10

The theme of jobs was front and centre as politicians discussed the new University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) campus at Canada Education Park.

Politicians, UFV staff and the media were invited to tour the under-construction facility, which is slated to open in May 2012.

NOV. 10

Chilliwack RCMP investigated a weekend shooting that left bullets in the basement of two Vedder Road townhomes.

Mounties were first called to a complaint of shots fired but they weren't able to determine where the sound came from.

Later, bullet holes were found in the complex.

NOV. 15

Batman came to Chilliwack, but local police were less than enthusiastic about the masked avenger's attempts to expose men seeking dates with underage girls.

Videos were posted on YouTube that showed a person dressed as Batman confronting men purported to have arranged a meeting with someone they thought was a 15-year-old.

NOV. 15

Special interest groups rarely play a role in Chilliwack's civic politics, but the union representing the city's firefighters made some choices.

Union members attended all-candidates meetings and meet-and-greet events and paid attention to coverage in the local papers.

In signs and in ads, the union endorsed Ron Browne, Phill Bruce, Jason Lum, Ken Popove and Stewart McLean.

McLean's name was eventually removed at his request.

NOV. 17

Brian Minter, one of Chilliwack's most famous residents, was given the Order of Chilliwack by city council.

Minter is a gardening icon, broadcaster, author, columnist, international speaker and is the chancellor of the University of the Fraser Valley.

NOV. 17

The last meeting of the outgoing city council ended on an emotional note as goodbyes were said to three-term councillor Pat Clark.

Clark was first elected to city council in a 2003 byelection and finished second in voting in 2005 and 2008.

She decided not to run in the 2011 election.

NOV. 22

Chilliwack residents gave a thumbs up to the incumbents on city council as all four retained their seats in the 2011 municipal election.

Couns. Chuck Stam, Ken Huttema, Sue Attrill and Stewart McLean received enough votes to sit among the top six out of 20 candidates.

The two vacant seats were filled by first-timers Ken Popove and Jason Lum, who finished second and third respectively.

NOV. 22

Chilliwack residents gave most members of the fractious board of education another three years to work out differences.

Voters re-elected five of six incumbents and two newcomers.

Longtime Chilliwack school principal Walt Krahn topped the polls with 3,923 votes.

NOV. 24

The days of the University of the Fraser Valley's (UFV) theatre department are numbered as the core of the program will move to Abbotsford when the Chilliwack campus moves to the new facility on Canada Education Park.

When the original announcement was made that the campus would move, Friends of the Theatre and those in the program were promised that a new theatre would be included in the plans.

The north campus is for sale but a condition of the sale is that the school will lease back the theatre until at least 2015.

NOV. 24

The mother of a terminally ill Chilliwack girl said the community effort to help save her family's house from foreclosure has provided hope in a desperate time.

Eight-year-old Nicole Drews has a degenerative disease and the family lives in a custom-modified home to allow her motorized wheelchair to move around.

NOV. 29

Chilliwack-Hope MLA Barry Penner announced he would step down in the new year, a move that triggers a byelection in the riding.

The long-time provincial representative for Chilliwack-Hope announced he was retiring from politics to join Vancouver law firm Davis LLP.

NOV. 29

Some Chilliwack golfers were left feeling scammed and betrayed after the City of Chilliwack terminated the lease of Cheam Golf Course because of a failure to pay rent and taxes to the city.

The lease termination notice said the city was ending the 22-yearold lease, which had been held by Bogey Enterprises since 1996.

DECEMBER

DEC. 1

A united and ongoing Sto: lo fight against the federal and provincial governments' push to ratify a treaty with the Yale Indian Band could get physical.

The Sto: lo community asked its two tribal organizations to kick into gear the Sto: lo War Council to come up with a plan to defend Sto: lo rights to land and their fishery in the Fraser Canyon.

The Yale treaty still needs to be ratified by the federal government.

DEC. 1

Two days after a notorious serial killer pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of his Mountain Institution cellmate, Jeremy Phillips, the BC Coroners Service announced it will hold a public inquest into the 33-year-old man's death.

Phillips was found dead in his cell on Nov. 22 and his cellmate Michael Wayne McGray immediately confessed.

DEC. 6

Criminologist and Times columnist John Martin announced his run for the BC Conservative Party nomination in the byelection to replace Barry Penner in Chilliwack-Hope.

Martin said as a small 'c' conservative, the BC Liberals don't represent his beliefs anymore and he certainly wouldn't vote NDP .

The Tories will choose their candidate at a meeting on Jan. 17.

DEC. 6

Former Chilliwack city councillor and federal Liberal candidate Diane Janzen announced she would step down from her bid for the BC Liberal nomination for the Chilliwack-Hope byelection.

Janzen said that "there had been a growing concern over her run in the last federal election and she felt it had become a major distraction."

DEC. 6

Questions were quietly being raised about the $1.5 million contract awarded to Tourism Chilliwack to manage Chilliwack Heritage Park.

The two losing bidders, Chilliwack Community Arts Council and Vancouver-based Projects on Purpose, weren't saying much other than that there was more to the story.

DEC. 8

The provincial government announced that three schools in Chilliwack were among 102 across the province whose Parent Advisory Councils (PAC) would be reimbursed for money raised to build new playgrounds.

"That's awesome," said McCammon PAC chair Kim Edmondson when told of the money. "I feel like I just won the lottery."

DEC. 8

A Chilliwack man previously handed a long-term supervision order after being convicted of a serious sexual assault was back in jail.

Daniel Alphonse Paul was arrested for breaking the conditions of his supervision order.

DEC. 8

Chilliwack's newest city council was sworn into office at the inaugural meeting held at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

DEC. 13

The Village on School Street, a supportive housing project, was officially unveiled.

Residents of the 33-unit supportive rental building had been living in the project for some time.

The building was constructed with units used for athletes at the 2010 Olympics.

DEC. 13

Iconic Canadian rock band Nickelback took the challenge issued by supporters of cancer-stricken Lilee-Jean (LJ) Whittle-Putt to match donations to BC Children's Hospital.

LJ's father Andrew Putt is in the Chilliwack band Pardon My Striptease, which released a song on iTunes as a fundraiser for the hospital.

Nickelback was challenged to match those funds and announced the band would donate $50,000 to the hospital, an amount to be matched by the band's label.

DEC. 15

A 20-year-old Surrey man faced charges after police say he conducted a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old Chilliwack girl he met online.

Mounties said the girl's parents filed a police report advising that their young daughter was having sex with the Surrey man.

DEC. 20

About a dozen protesters marched from the Sto: lo Nation site on Vedder Road to ChilliwackFraser Canyon MP Mark Strahl's office to voice concerns about the aquaculture industry and its effect on wild salmon.

DEC. 20

BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins paid a visit to the Times office to talk about the party and the upcoming byelection in Chilliwack-Hope.

Cummins said his party are the alternative that voters in British Columbia need and want and that Penner's seat is vulnerable.

DEC. 22

Premier Christy Clark hasn't written off the Chilliwack-Hope riding, but add the popular Barry Penner's retirement to the history of byelections in this province and she isn't banking on a win.

"I was the first person to win a byelection from the government's side in 30 years," she said during an interview with local media in Chilliwack.

DEC. 22

Maureen Beckford has gone through some dark times working as a care aide travelling to jobs on buses and taxis, all to take care of her young daughter.

Beckford was selected out of dozens of nominees as the recipient of a refurbished 1995 Mazda Protege as the winner of the 2011 Chilliwack Times Fix Auto Christmas Car Giveaway.