It’s an unusual skill that most people, even in the field of archaeology, wouldn’t even know they possessed.

However Vancouver Island University student Will Hills has had the opportunity through the Education Abroad initiative to cultivate an interest in refitting analysis, an archaeological tech-nique that allows researchers to explore how ancient humans constructed tools from flint and other materials.

Next month Hills will make his second trip to Scladina cave.

It’s a Middle Paleolithic archeo-logical site in Belgium made fam-ous by the significant discovery of a 100,000-year-old jawbone from a 10-year-old child which yielded previously unknown information about Neanderthal mt-DNA.

Hills previously worked at the site on a two-month internship

run through the university and organized by former instructor Cheryl Roy as a partnership with the University of Liege.

Once he arrived, Hills was given a one-metre by 50-centimetre plot to excav-ate with a trowel, and told to slowly remove the layers of sediment to reveal a variety of Lithic material, including ani-mal bones and horse and cave bear teeth.

However it was when Hills noticed a variety of refittings that had been completed by on-site archaeologist and Lithics expert Kévin Di Modica at the on-site museum that his interest was piqued.

“Basically I mentioned it to him and he was like, ‘Do you want to try it?’ and he gave me this bag of 36 pieces of flint that he assured

me all fit together,” Hills said.“(Refitting) is an analytical

research method used in archae-ology to piece together artifacts that once were connected. So

you can do it with flint, or quartz, or pieces of pottery or bones. In this case it was a block of flint that had been broken apart by a Nean-derthal in the process of making a stone tool.”

The purpose of refit-ting is to give research-ers information on how the material was knapped and broken apart, as well as on how the site was formed, he added. It turned out Hills had also had an

unusual knack for fitting the pieces together.

“He definitely showed skill and he showed patience. There’s a lot of things you can do in archaeol-

ogy and paleoanthropology that require some degree of patience but this — think about doing a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle where you don’t have a picture to work from and all the pieces look essentially the same,” said VIU anthropology professor David Hopwood, who will supervise the student trip to Scladina this year.

“So that’s basically what Will was doing, and he apparently had an aptitude for it, which is one of the reasons why he’s being invited back.”

Once he had worked with flint and became familiar with the process, Hills was given the more difficult task of refitting their collection of quartz pieces, which are much more fragile.

Most of the researchers were on vacation, so Hills got to work on his own and managed to com-plete 14 refittings.

See DIG,Page A5

Nanaimo Daily News, nanaimodailynews.com and Harbour City Star reach more than 60,000 readers each week in print and online. General inquires: 250-729-4200 | Newsroom: 250-729-4224 | To subscribe: 250-729-4266 | Copyright 2015. All rights reserved

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CITY

NANAIMO REGION

Tourism dollars rose in a productive February

Race by the lakeMore than 900 runners took part in the annual ‘Fletcher’s Challenge’

Nanaimo’s accommodation industry, airport and BC Fer-ries all saw a rise in tourist dollars. A3

NATION & WORLD

Kenyan gunman was a son of state offi cial One of the gunmen that killed 148 people was the son of a Kenyan govern-ment official. A7

the lakerunners annual enge’

Page A3, A5

The newspaper of record for Nanaimo and region since 1874 || Monday, April 6, 2015

Former spy brings new info to decade-old caseJohn Kiriakou gives a rare peek into the CIA’s arrest and torture of Canadian Maher Arar, saying multiple colleagues warned against doing so in debates. » Nation & World, A6

Intermediate T-Men bring in new coachAlong with his two sons, former Sen-ior B Timbermen veteran Pat O’Dwyer is hoping to improve Nanaimo’s Inter-mediate A team after a 4-14 season a year ago. » Sports, B1

» Use your smartphoneto jump to our website for updates on these stories or the latest breaking news.

$1.25 TAX INCLUDED

Fuellingstation talks in progressSPENCER ANDERSON DAILY NEWS

Natural gas giant Fortis BC is in talks with the City of Nanaimo to potentially locate a compressed natural gas fuelling station on city property, the com-pany confirmed this week.

Fortis spokeswoman Grace Pickell said the company is also in talks with “a variety of other businesses” about options it could take to expand CNG fuel-ing options on Vancouver Island.

Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay says the discussions could be a good opportunity for the city to expand its CNG fleet of vehicles.

It could also offer a revenue source for the city if a Fortis facility was operated on city property, although McKay acknowledged there is another company in town which is seek-ing to build a CNG and diesel fueling station, “which I would encourage.”

“It’s interesting that we’ve got all this interest in CNG now,” McKay said.

McKay cited the public works yard as a potential location.

“However, if there’s a com-mercial operator out there that wants to put his own fueling sta-tion in, then that also becomes a place where we could fuel up potential fleet-wide truck use as well,” he said.

In an email, Fortis said the company “has been working with fleet managers across B.C. to switch their vehicles to nat-ural gas” since 2009.

“We’ve provided incentives to fuel about 400 vehicles with com-pressed and liquefied natural gas. In fact, Nanaimo is home to 25 BC Transit buses fueled with compressed natural gas.”

Because natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel, the cars and trucks in the province that use the fuel have the potential to eliminate up to 38,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions for year,

“FortisBC is always looking for opportunities to expand our fueling operations on Vancouver Island,” said Vito Triggiano, dir-ector of sales for the company.

Pickell said discussions are still at a preliminary stage and said it was too early to discuss details.

SAnderson@nanaimodailynews.com250-729-4255

Unique skillVancouver Island University student Will Hills is set to return to 100,000-year-old

Belgium dig site, where he will put his unusual skill set to important use

Vancouver Island University student Will Hills. [JULIE CHADWISK/DAILY NEWS]

Refi tting a vital process for historical researchers

JulieChadwickThe Write Profile

WE

LCO M E H O M

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TO

REGION TODAY TOMORROWHI LO SKY HI LO SKY

Lower Fraser ValleyHowe SoundWhistlerSunshine CoastVictoria/E. Van. IslandWest Vancouver IslandN. Vancouver IslandCtrl. Coast/Bella CoolaN. Coast/Prince RupertQueen CharlottesThompsonOkanaganWest KootenayEast KootenayColumbiaChilcotinCariboo/Prince GeorgeFort NelsonBulkley Val./The Lakes

Mainly sunny withcloudy periods.

Sunny. Mainly sunny.Mainly cloudy with iso-lated showers in theafternoon. Winds light.High 11, Low 4.

TODAY TOMORROW WEDNESDAY THURSDAY11/4 13/4 13/4 12/6

Victoria11/6/pc

Duncan11/4/r

Richmond12/5/r

Whistler10/1/r

Pemberton13/3/r

Squamish13/4/r

Nanaimo11/4/r

Port Alberni13/3/s

Powell River12/4/s

Courtenay12/6/s

Ucluelet12/4/r

©The Weather Network 2015

Victoria11/6/pc

BRITISH COLUMBIA WEATHER

13 4 showers 16 5 p.cloudy13 4 showers 15 4 m.sunny10 1 showers 13 1 sunny12 4 m.sunny 13 5 sunny11 6 p.cloudy 14 6 p.cloudy12 4 showers 13 6 sunny12 3 sunny 12 4 sunny13 2 p.cloudy 12 2 sunny11 4 sunny 10 6 m.sunny11 4 sunny 10 8 p.cloudy13 0 showers 14 2 p.cloudy11 0 showers 13 1 p.cloudy9 2 rain/snow 13 2 p.cloudy5 -2 flurries 11 -1 p.cloudy9 1 p.cloudy 9 0 p.cloudy8 -3 sunny 10 -1 sunny9 -3 m.sunny 11 -1 p.cloudy9 -4 p.cloudy 11 -3 p.cloudy9 -2 p.cloudy 11 -2 m.sunny

Today'sUV indexLow

SUN AND MOON

ALMANAC

SUN WARNING

TEMPERATURE Hi Lo

Yesterday 12°C 1.4°CToday 11°C 4°CLast year 13°C 2°CNormal 13.4°C 1.6°CRecord 20.6°C -3.3°C

1951 1950

MOON PHASES

Sunrise 6:42 a.m.Sunset 7:53 p.m.Moon sets 8:52 a.m.Moon rises 11:26 p.m.

HIGHLIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROADCanadaCITY TODAY TOMORROW

HI/LO/SKY HI/LO/SKY

Dawson CityWhitehorseCalgaryEdmontonMedicine HatSaskatoonPrince AlbertReginaBrandonWinnipegThompsonChurchillThunder BaySault S-MarieSudburyWindsorTorontoOttawaIqaluitMontrealQuebec CitySaint JohnFrederictonMonctonHalifaxCharlottetownGoose BaySt. John’s

5/-3/pc 6/-6/pc5/1/pc 7/-1/pc0/-4/sf 8/-4/pc5/-2/pc 9/-1/pc2/-3/rs 9/-3/pc3/-4/pc 4/-4/pc1/-9/s 4/-6/pc

2/-4/pc 2/-4/sf1/-7/pc 0/-3/c2/-7/s 3/-3/pc

-6/-20/s 0/-11/pc-19/-28/pc -6/-8/pc2/-6/pc 2/-5/pc1/-4/sf 4/-4/r1/-7/pc 2/-8/pc14/5/pc 10/2/r6/2/sf 5/0/r5/-1/rs 4/-3/sf

-13/-25/c -19/-26/pc4/-1/rs 3/-3/sf-1/-10/s 2/-8/pc1/-3/s 3/-6/rs3/-2/s 5/-6/sf2/-4/s 1/-8/sf

2/-3/pc 3/-7/rs-2/-5/s 1/-8/sf

-11/-17/pc -9/-19/sf-1/-7/sf -1/-7/pc

United StatesCITY TODAY

HI/LO/SKY

AnchorageAtlantaBostonChicagoClevelandDallasDenverDetroitFairbanksFresnoJuneauLittle RockLos AngelesLas VegasMedfordMiamiNew OrleansNew YorkPhiladelphiaPhoenixPortlandRenoSalt Lake CitySan DiegoSan FranciscoSeattleSpokaneWashington

5/3/r20/17/r9/5/c

13/6/pc15/10/pc26/19/c22/5/s

14/8/pc7/-1/c

19/10/pc7/3/pc25/19/r19/10/s23/11/s12/5/r27/23/r27/21/t

16/11/pc21/12/pc28/14/s14/8/pc13/3/pc13/5/r

18/14/pc14/10/pc13/6/c8/0/r

24/15/pc

WorldCITY TOMORROW

HI/LO/SKY

AmsterdamAthensAucklandBangkokBeijingBerlinBrusselsBuenos AiresCairoDublinHong KongJerusalemLisbonLondonMadridManilaMexico CityMoscowMunichNew DelhiParisRomeSeoulSingaporeSydneyTaipeiTokyoWarsaw

10/4/pc15/7/s23/18/r

34/28/pc13/5/pc11/4/pc12/4/pc24/17/pc32/17/s14/5/pc24/20/c25/13/s

19/13/pc15/6/pc19/7/pc33/23/pc27/12/s8/-1/pc8/0/pc29/19/t14/4/s

12/5/pc13/2/pc31/26/t

21/16/pc19/17/r8/6/r

10/3/pc

Apr 11 Apr 18 Apr 25 May 3

Miami27/23/r

Tampa30/22/pc

New Orleans27/21/t

Dallas26/19/c

Atlanta20/17/r

OklahomaCity

28/19/pcPhoenix28/14/s

Wichita30/16/pc

St. Louis20/18/cDenver

22/5/sLas Vegas23/11/s

Los Angeles19/10/s

SanFrancisco14/10/pc

Chicago13/6/pc

Washington,D.C.

24/15/pc

New York16/11/pc

Boston9/5/c

Detroit14/8/pc

Montreal4/-1/rs

Toronto6/2/sf

Thunder Bay2/-6/pc

Quebec City-1/-10/s

Halifax2/-3/pc

Goose Bay-11/-17/pc

Yellowknife-5/-12/pc

Churchill-19/-28/pc

Edmonton5/-2/pc

Calgary0/-4/sf

Winnipeg2/-7/s

Regina2/-4/pc

Saskatoon3/-4/pc

Rapid City10/-1/c

Boise13/3/r

Prince George9/-3/s

Vancouver12/5/r

Port Hardy12/3/s

Prince Rupert11/4/s

Whitehorse5/1/pc

CANADA AND UNITED STATES

LEGENDs - sunny w - windy c - cloudyfg - fog pc - few clouds t - thundersh - showers fr - freezing rain r - rainsn - snow sf - flurries rs - rain/snowhz - hazy

TODAYTime Metres

Low 1:25 a.m. 2.5High 7:02 a.m. 4.2Low 1:44 p.m. 1.3High 8:27 p.m. 4.2

TOMORROWTime Metres

Low 2:01 a.m. 2.7High 7:29 a.m. 4.1Low 2:18 p.m. 1.2High 9:13 p.m. 4.2

TODAYTime Metres

High 4:22 a.m. 2.4Low 11:16 a.m. 0.9High 6:10 p.m. 2.2Low 10:59 p.m. 1.9

TOMORROWTime Metres

High 4:46 a.m. 2.5Low 11:54 a.m. 0.8High 7:21 p.m. 2.2Low 11:30 p.m. 2.1

Nanaimo Tides Victoria Tides

PRECIPITATIONYesterday 0 mmLast year 0.04 mmNormal 1.7 mmRecord 13.4 mm

1996Month to date 0.3 mmYear to date 328.2 mm

SUN AND SANDCITY TODAY TOMORROW

HI/LO/SKY HI/LO/SKY

AcapulcoArubaCancunCosta RicaHonoluluPalm SprgsP. Vallarta

33/24/s 32/24/s31/26/c 31/26/pc30/23/r 31/23/pc29/19/s 30/20/s24/22/s 24/22/r25/11/s 23/12/s28/20/s 28/20/s

Get your current weather on:Shaw Cable 19Shaw Direct 398Bell TV 80

Campbell River13/4/s

Tofino12/4/r

Port Hardy12/3/s

Billings8/-1/r

VANCOUVER ISLAND

FOR April 4649: 02-09-32-33-35-49 B: 04BC49: 14-21-34-36-48-49 B: 43Extra: 43-63-69-83

*All Numbers unofficial

FOR April 3Lotto Max: 10-11-23-28-32-34-41 B: 29Extra: 02-49-73-89

» Today’s weather and the four-day forecast

» Community Calendar // email: events@nanaimodailynews.com

A2

NANAIMOTODAYMonday, April 6, 2015 | Editor: Philip Wolf | PWolf@nanaimodailynews.com | STORY UPDATES: www.nanaimodailynews.com

MONDAY, APRIL 6

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bunny Trail at Milner Gardens and Woodland. Easter bunny search in the gardens. Milner Gardens & Woodland 2179 West Island Highway, Qualicum Beach. Adult: $8.25 student $4.25, accompanied children and members free

8 p.m. The Longwood Brew Pub pres-ents Tora Leigh, Mark Crissinger live At Longwood, at The Longwood Brew Pub5775 Turner Rd.

TUESDAY, APRIL 7

10-11 a.m. Kids’ Drop-in & Play Group, In partnership with PacificCARE Child Care Resource and Referral, free weekly play groups near the food court for children five and younger.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8

6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Variety Children’s Radiothon, Woodgrove Centre is part-nering with 102.3 The Wave to host the Radiothon fundraiser for Variety – The Children’s Charity for children in Nanaimo who have special needs.

3-6 p.m. Island Roots Farmers Market. Support local growers, producers and artisans year-round. Pleasant Valley Hall, 6100 Dumont Rd.

7 p.m. Glen Foser, Kat, On The Dock with Rhodeo Drive at The Dinghy Dock Pub, 8 Pirates Lane. Tickets $20 from the art-ists, Dinghy Dock Pub, or at ticketzone.com.

THURSDAY, APRIL 9

5-9 p.m. The Nanaimo Flea Market offers a variety of vendor goods. 1630 East Wellington, Royal Canadian Legion Hall.

7:30 p.m. Nanaimo Rhododendron Soci-ety at Beban Park Social Centre. Bernie Guyader presents: Miniature and Dwarf

Rhododendrons in rock gardens and planters, guests welcome. Free admis-sion. For more info visit: http://nanaimo.rhodos.ca.

7 p.m. 2015 Cultural Awards Celebration City of Nanaimo honours citizens and others for outstanding dedication to cul-ture, including Grant Leier, Nixie Barton, Amanda Scott, Arlene Blundell. Free at the Port Theatre. Book ticket online or through the Ticket Centre.

7:30 p.m. Nanaimo Historical Soci-ety meeting and presentation. Local author and historian, Doug Steel, with his upcoming fourth book: Nanaimo: A Pictorial History. Bowen Park Complex, Room 1. Free. For more information: nanaimohistoricalsociety@shaw.ca.

7-8 p.m. Dave Hart plays the Nanaimo Arts Council Youth Showcase, North Nanaimo Town Centre. For more infor-mation: 250-729-3947.

8 p.m. The Longwood Brew Pub pres-ents Beatles tribute band The Eggmen, 5775 Turner Rd Longwood Brew Pub.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nanaimo Volunteer Fair up to 25 volunteer organizations at Woodgrove Centre. A variety of organiza-tions and opportunities are available.

7 and 9 p.m. ACMe Food Co. presents the Laugh Lounge at ACMe Food Co., 14 Commercial St., Tickets $10 at ACMe Food Co.

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

10 p.m. The Bastion City Wanderers Volkssport Club invite you to a 6-km or 10-km Cedar/Cable Bay walk. Meet in the parking lot at the end of Nicola Road. Registration starts at 9:45 a.m. For more information, call Ethel at 250-756-9796.

1–4 p.m. Nanaimo Lawn Bowling Club open house at Bowen Park, 500 Bowen Road. Bowls provided. Bring flat-soled shoes. For more information, David 250-245-5601.

1-4 p.m. Artist onsite, 100 Museum Way. Wilf Hatch drawings are on display through May. Nanaimomuseum.ca or 250-753-1821 for information.

1-5 p.m. Local author Giselle Roeder will present, discuss and sign her book We Don’t Talk About That, an amazing story of survival at Chapters Woodgrove.

SUNDAY, APRIL 12.

7 p.m. The Original Legends of Rock’n’Roll presents Elvis and Friends. Among the world’s top tribute artists, including Bobby Brooks Wilson tributes his father Jackie Wilson. Featuring the legendary Memphis Beats rock’n’Roll Band. Port Theatre. All seats $39.75.

TUESDAY, APRIL 14

10-11 a.m. In partnership with Pacific-CARE Child Care Resource and Referral, free weekly play groups near the food court for children 5 and younger.

10:30 a.m. Classical Coffee Concert with Sarah Hagen, Benjamin Butterfield and Sarah Hagen hosts innovative chamber music in The Port Theatre lobby. Mem-bers $24.50/ Public $27.50/ Students $15 eyeGO* $5.

7 p.m. Nanaimo Newcomers Club for Women meets second Tuesday of the month, September to June, at St Andrews Presbyterian Church.

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» How to contact us

B1, 2575 McCullough Rd.,Nanaimo, B.C., V9S 5W5Main office: 250-729-4200Office fax: 250-729-4256

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Subscriber InformationCall 250-729-4266 Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. circulation@nanaimodailynews.com

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NANAIMOREGIONMonday, April 6, 2015 | Editor: Philip Wolf 250-729-4240 | PWolf@nanaimodailynews.com | STORY UPDATES: www.nanaimodailynews.com

TOURISM

WHY NANAIMO?A look at why people choose to make the Harbour City home

Move from Manitoba provides a fresh start

Jessica Roth moved to Nanaimo last summer with her father from Brandon,

Man. She has decided to plant some roots in the Harbour City and has enrolled at Vancouver Island University.

What drew you to Nanaimo and when did you arrive?

My dad was living in Alberta before we moved, and I was finishing off high school while living with my mom. After I graduated we both decided that we wanted a fresh start. The previous summer we took a 14-day road trip around British Col-umbia and out of all the places we visited, Nanaimo was our favourite. We liked it so much we made a last-minute decision to make the big move out west; in fact it was so last-minute that the house we were going to be rent-ing wasn’t available for another month, so we camped in the Liv-ing Forest Campground for the entire month of July.

What challenges have you faced?Naturally I’m a quiet person, so

you can imagine that moving to a whole new city could be kind of terrifying. Having to start all over, meet new people, and find work was really difficult for me. Everything came together just fine though. I have had a steady part-time job for about eight months now, where I’ve managed to meet plenty of great people.

As for starting all over, for now I’m just going with the flow, but I have plans to start school at Vancouver Island University in

the fall so we’ll see where that takes me. Another challenge has been the weather. I’m not used to the amount of rain and fog we get out here. It was also really strange going from living in a place where we get 10 feet of snow every winter to a place where we get none at all. Not that I’m really complaining, it’s just something weird I’ll have to get used to.

How are you integrating into the community and what do you

bring to Nanaimo?I think I will integrate into the

community more once I start school. At this point I feel that I am still slowly being integrated into the city.

What is the most underrated thing in/about Nanaimo, from your point of view?

The most underrated thing about Nanaimo in my opinion is the views. I come from a place where everywhere you look, you see fields. As much as I love

wheat, grass and cows, they just really aren’t all that interesting to look at. And yes the prairies are as flat as people say. I think growing up here you would just get so used to seeing a beach around every corner, or a beauti-ful green valley below, or even a mountain range in the distance every single day that they’re just not as appreciated as they should be. I feel very lucky to live in a place as beautiful as Nanaimo.

If you could make one change to

Nanaimo, what would it be?If there was one thing I had to

change it would be the length of Nanaimo. It’s such a long and skinny city that I just find it takes forever to get from point A to point B because everything is so stretched out. I realize that the city is like this due to the top-ography of the Island, I just don’t think I realized going in how big Nanaimo really is.

AHinks@nanaimodailynews.com250-729-4242

AaronHinksReporting

Jessica Roth recently moved to Nanaimo from Manitoba. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]

COMMUNITY

Annual Fletcher’s Challenge event again a big successAARON HINK DAILY NEWS

More than 900 runners were at Westwood Lake Friday to cele-brate the life and values of Gavin Fletcher.

Fletcher, a former editor with the Daily News, died in a car accident on the Malahat highway in 2006.

“Thinking of Gavin Fletcher, even though I didn’t know him personally, he was a family man who loved being outside and was

an athlete himself. This event (Fletcher’s Challenge) is the marrying of the two,” said race director Greg Scott.

The event had record-breaking attendance with 232 participants in the 14.7-kilometre mystery race and 194 families for the walk/run, plus approximately 75 volunteers.

Joel Deschiffart, 20, of

Nanaimo, finished first place in the point-to-point mystery race with a time of one hour, four minutes and 17 seconds, followed by Shaun Stephens-Whale, of Victoria, with a time of 1:04:47 and Chris Galley, of Ottawa at 1:09:13.

The mystery trail race has been an element in the event for the past four years. Busloads of participants were couriered to a secret location that served as the starting point of the race.

Five-time race champion Shelby Drope had to sit out this year out due to a knee injury he sustained the week leading to the event.

Drope was disappointed he wasn’t able to race.

“It’s not a typical run,” he said. “You can do a road run or run

around the lake and it’s repeti-tive. But if you go on a trail like this it’s a totally different exercise. The skill set is different and the experience is different. I

would say this is the most com-petitive trail race on the Island.”

Other Nanaimo athletes that finished in the top five included Jeremy Clegg, who finished fourth with a time of 1:09:32, and Yann Bernaquez, fifth at 1:10:52. Other Nanaimo athletes who made the top 10 include Bryon Trajan (sixth), Justin Mark (sev-enth) and Aaron Sellers (10th).

AHinks@nanaimodailynews.com250-729-4242

See photos, A5

February was promising for hotelsConference centre usage, warmer weather leads to nearly half of Nanaimo’s rooms being spoken forDARRELL BELLAART DAILY NEWS

Nanaimo’s accommodation industry continued to put more heads on pillows in February.

Nearly half — 49.4 per cent — of all available rooms were occupied during the month, a five-per cent increase over the same month a year ago.

One difference from last year was use of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, which saw 1,687 delegate-days of business in February. In 2014 the conference

centre logged zero delegate-days in February.

February tourism follows a strong January.

“Most of it was, from what I gather, the same as in January — meetings, business, corporate travellers,” said Dan Brady, man-ager of Howard Johnson hotels in Nanaimo and Victoria.

Brady also represents the Nanaimo Economic Develop-ment Corporation board to the tourism leadership committee of Tourism Nanaimo, which serves

as the industry’s official voice in Nanaimo.

Brady said his observations support new data from Chem-istry Business and Human Resource, a Victoria-based tour-ism consulting firm.

Besides business travellers, “in my hotel we had people come from Alberta to get away from the winter blahs,” Brady said. “I guess they just had enough and came out.

“Our winter was so fantastic, February was really spectacular,

and it brings people out to the coast.”

For hotel operators, that extra business boosted profits.

Average daily room rates rose $3.95 to $111.45, giving operators another $7.37 in revenues per available room.

BC Ferries also saw a signifi-cant uptick in February.

A total of 64,629 vehicles used the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay ferry, an eight-per-cent increase. Vehicle traffic on the Duke Point-Tsawwassen route

jumped 10.6-per cent, to 35,472.Nanaimo Airport cleared 19,812

travellers, a 14.8-per cent jump.“We’re happy, and March is

going to be just as good,” Brady said. “March is really strong.”

DBellaart@nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4235

» We want to hear from you. Send comments on this story to letters@nanaimodailynews.com. Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown.

According to the Council of Canadians, there were 100,000 Canadians who got

the chance to vote in 2011 because someone vouched for them. And there were 400,000 Canadians who used voter-information cards to gain access to the ballot box. The council claims that with amend-ments put in place by Stephen Harper’s government through the Fair Elections Act, those votes could be in jeopardy.

The new act does not allow for individuals to vouch for more than one person and it also prohibits the use of voter-information cards.

The council goes further and claims this is deliberate — that the people who relied on these forms of identification are less likely to vote Conservative and thus, sup-pressing their votes works in the

government’s favour.If that’s an unfair characteriza-

tion, you would think the Harper government would use its sizeable clout and embark on an informa-tion campaign proving the coun-cil’s allegation to be false.

But so far it hasn’t. And it needs to. For many, it seems the govern-ment talks a good game on the issue of democracy. But it needs to do more to convince Canadians it really values these fundamental standards of democracy, includ-ing the right to vote. The impetus behind the push for changing Canada’s election laws was never about marauding gangs of voters attempting to vote illegally.

It was about the use of robocalls in the 2011 federal election, in which people were deliberately given incorrect information

about the location of their poll-ing stations. Nearly 800 people complained about the misleading calls. Former Conservative staffer Michael Sona was convicted last August of having wilfully pre-vented or endeavoured to prevent an elector from voting for some of those calls. Mr. Sona is out on bail pending an appeal of his convic-tion. Many Canadians were out-raged by these actions, seeing it as an attack on basic democracy. The Fair Elections Act was supposed to be in response to that outrage.

It’s missed its mark.Chief Electoral Officer Marc

Mayrand has expressed concerns the act does not give the com-missioner for Elections Canada the power to compel witnesses to speak to him during investiga-tions, which was the problem in

the agency’s 2011 investigation of robocalls. In other words, the same thing could happen again, and Elections Canada would have a difficult time investigating it.

The Fair Elections Act doesn’t actually work at ensuring a fair election. Instead, the government remains resolute in closing the door on election fraud, another one of its perceived boogeymen to keep our eyes off the real issue.

In March, the Ontario Superior Court agreed to hear arguments of lobbyists seeking an injunction against the implementation of the bill. The Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Stu-dents and three private citizens are arguing the act is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Free-doms. It violates the right to vote and the right to equality.

In the meantime, little has been done by Elections Canada to inform the public about the new requirements, or to work with marginalized groups that may have difficulty obtaining the necessary documentation in order to vote. Perhaps it’s waiting for the outcome of the court case before launching a public relations campaign. Or perhaps Elections Canada is aware the Fair Elections Act prohibits Elections Canada from actually encouraging people to vote. Canadians are expected to go to the polls in October. If the government wants to turn the tide on falling voter turnout, it should actively work on getting the word out about how the new identifica-tion requirements work — the key word being if. — CANADIAN PRESS (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

» Editorial

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Other issues more worthy of MP attention

Re: ‘Locals react to Lunney’s decision’ (Daily News, April 4)

Dear Dr. Lunney,

I want to thank you for your entertaining speech on creation-ism and reminding us all, as an enlightened country, the reason why we have separation of church and state.

You are entitled to your own beliefs. That is your right as a Canadian.

However, as an elected member of Parliament, regardless which party you’re affiliated with, let me remind you that you are not entitled to espouse your personal beliefs in a political forum.

We are not in the dark ages any-more and mysticism does not rule the land. And make no mistake, Creationism is not science.

Evolution may not be entirely proved, espousing the theory of Creationism in Parliament insults us all and make us look stupid.

I would suggest that as a mem-ber of Parliament, you do some good by advocating those things that actually matter.

Issues such as child care, health, mental health, jobs, the environment, the econ-omy, pollution, transportation, educationgovernment.

Pick one. All are worthy of your attention.

Greg B. RobinsonNanaimo

How much do we need to know about candidates?

Re: Resignation raises ques-tions for constituents’ (Our View, Daily News, April 2)

As reported in the Canadian Press, Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth was annoyed when the auditor general asked her to justify claiming a meal so shewouldn’t have to eat the “awful,” but free, airline food.

Apparently she didn’t hesitate to charge Canadian taxpayers for her refined tastes, and currently some 40 other senators are hav-ing their accounts audited to find what they’ve been up to.

That doesn’t mean any have engaged in questionable activ-ities, but Senator Ruth’s behav-iour and Senator Mike Duffy problems still before the court aren’t reassuring.

If Canadians are only just learning unpleasant details about our long-serving senators, how much do we know about the individual candidates currently running for federal office?

I don’t mean are they “good” party members who can be counted on to supportthe party line, but what do they personally stand for that deserves our vote?

Did Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney have to abandon his party to freely speak his mind?

In England, individual mem-bers frequently vote against the party line on particular issues. In Canada, for the most part, we have consensus voting asrecent-

ly demonstrated by the Conserv-atives who rose as one in voting to bomb Syria, apparently par-liamentary democracy in action, actually rule by party whip. Proportional representation puts more weight on what individual candidates have to offer.

But until then, minority gov-ernments, at the very least, draw on a range of opinions.

Edwin TurnerNanaimo

Real professionals don’t converse on social media

I full-heartedly support Bill C-51 that Steven Harper and the Liber-als back. We should be monitored on the Internet and cellphones in everything we could possibly express as we need to soul-search if our personal point of view could possibly be a threat to our nation or more importantly to NATO and the UN that our military is loyal to first.

Times have changed and we should just sit back and accept it and any objection will be scrutin-ized as it may not line up with the world populist view that the corporate bankers, globalists and social special-interest groups want us to assimilate to.

Yes, some of the secret agent monitors could be biased or have a need to validate their position but overall in the present and the most distant future this will be for our benefit.

I understand that in the U.S.,

with its countless government agencies there has been a rise in anxiety and mistrust in the gov-ernment itself that is dividing the nation. Don’t worry because if we eventually lose all our freedoms due to a, overly intrusive govern-ment our primordial instinct to preserve our human purity and dignity can be eventually sup-pressed by martial law.

I’m just being sarcastic and the truth is the real professionals that have the power to destroy our nation in an organized fash-ion don’t communicate on social media like bored teenagers.

Actually Bill C-51 endangers us as this will be a distraction that leads those who have been sworn to protect us the burden to decipher who is an enemy amongst the countless private conversations of consumers that would waste their time communi-cating on the ’Net. I don’t own a cellphone and prefer to com-municate in person as I know just a few close personal relationships matter more than having 2,000 acquaintances on Facebook. Holden SouthwardNanaimo

Letters must include your hometown and a daytime phone number for verification purposes only. Letters must include your first name (or two initials) and last name. Unsigned letters, hand-written letters and letters of more than 300 words will not be accepted. For best results, e-mail your submission to letters@nanaimodailynews.com.

Informationabout usNanaimo Daily News is a division of VI Newspaper Group Limited Partnership, B1, 2575 McCullough Rd., Nanaimo, B.C. V9S 5W5. The Daily News and its predecessor the Daily Free Press have been serving Nanaimo and area since 1874.

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Fair Elections Act appears to be unfair

NANAIMOREGION MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 | DAILY NEWS | A5

Fun time at Fletcher’s Challenge

Excited runners are prepared to start the loop around Westwood Lake.

Nanaimo’s Joel Deschiffart, 20, finishes first with a time of one hour, four minutes and 17 seconds during the mystery race portion of the annual Fletcher’s Challenge event at Westwood Lake. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS PHOTOS]

Monday Morning PictorialSnapshots of the mid-Island

Yann Bernaquez is congratulated as he approaches the finish line at Westwood Lake.

John Grabher and son, Thomas, 16, finished first in the family run with a time of 22:08.

Shae McKeever, 9, grabs a couple cookies after running around Westwood Lake. Jason Blanchette donated all of the snacks for the event.

VIU student returning to Belgium DIG, From Page A1

“It’s a weird, niche kind of research,” Hills said. “I don’t know exactly how you can be good at it. For me it just seemed to be a lot of patience. There’s very few academic papers on quartz refittings.

I can probably count how many

I’ve read on one hand.”This makes research into the

field of quartz tools valuable, and when Hills returns to the site on May 4 for his three-month internship, he will have access to their entire collection of quartz collected from another archaeo-logical site in Belgium.

With a focus on simply building

up the available data on quartz tools from this era, Hills hopes to later move into analysis of the material as part of a master’s degree project in archaeology at Simon Fraser University, once his anthropology degree at VIU is complete.

JChadwick@nanaimodailynews.com

FROM THE FRONTNanaimo RCMP arrest SewardDAILY NEWS

Nanaimo RCMP reported that John Ambrose Seward, 27, was arrested Thursday at approxi-mately 10 p.m. It was reported he had been in a public park earlier in the evening. He was taken into custody without incident and will appear in provincial court on Tuesday.

Seward was released after serving more than five years for aggravated sexual assault, stemming from incidents in Port Alberni. He arrived in Nanaimo

from Vancouver and was met and escorted to his supportive housing by RCMP officers. They confirmed with him they and other agencies would be check-ing to ensure he is in compliance with all conditions of his release.

“Seward allegedly breached one of his conditions and as a result, he was arrested,” said Supt. Mark Fisher of the Nanaimo RCMP. “The safety of our com-munity is paramount. If and when Seward is released back into the community, this enforce-ment action will continue.”

INTELLIGENCE

Former spy: CIA tried to stop Arar’s arrest, tortureEx-CIA offi cer sheds new light on decade-old events that caused public inquiry

ALEXANDER PANETTA THE CANADIAN PRESS

ARLINGTON, Va. — A former spy has described the debate within the CIA over the arrest, rendition and torture of Canad-ian Maher Arar, saying multiple colleagues warned against it because they were convinced they were punishing an innocent man.

The account from former CIA officer John Kiriakou sheds new light on decade-old events that caused a public inquiry in Can-ada, a $10 million payout from the federal government, and unsuccessful lawsuits in the U.S.

It’s a rare peek into discussions within the U.S. Central Intel-ligence Agency — whose role in the 2002-03 events has never been publicly examined, having remained off-limits in Canada’s inquiry.

It came during an interview at the ex-spy’s Virginia home, where he described how he went from being the head of counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan after 9-11, to becoming the first CIA employee to publicly ques-tion the use of torture, to eventu-ally spending two years in jail for leaking agency secrets.

During that interview, Kiria-kou declined to discuss whether he’d interacted with Canada’s spy services — because, he said, revealing details about a foreign partner remains a cardinal sin in the world of espionage.

But he added: “We can talk about Maher Arar.”

Kiriakou expressed disgust with his country’s role in send-

ing the engineer to be tortured in his native Syria, and with its continuing failure to issue an apology like Canada has.

He described a dynamic within the agency in which one mid-to-high-level officer ignored repeated objections from her subordinates, and insisted on pushing ahead.

“I can tell you that a lot of people inside the CIA objected to this,” Kiriakou said.

“(They said), ’This is the wrong guy. He hasn’t done anything.”’

Arar was grabbed during a New York airport layover and flown to a notorious Syrian prison. He

has described a year-long ordeal that included being beaten and stuffed into a body-sized slot in a windowless dungeon. Arar lik-ened it to being buried alive.

At the time, Kiriakou was a branch chief within the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center.

While he won’t discuss the branch name, he says it fell under the broader Osama bin Laden unit and the Arar file was being handled by another branch within the center.

He says an officer, one level above branch chief, was deter-mined to make the arrest.

“I remember hearing some of

the conversations — that, ‘This is the wrong guy, this is a mis-take.’ And then one officer in particular (was) saying, ‘No, this is not the wrong guy. We’re going to take him.’ She was certain that we had the right guy. That Maher Arar was an al-Qaida whatever-he-was — a facilitator, or whatever — and we were mov-ing forward with it.”

He wouldn’t identify the officer.He’s just spent two years in

prison for leaking agent details to the media — though Kiriakou insists the government punished him for blowing the whistle on torture.

Former CIA agent John Kiriakou, goes through a manuscript about a book on his two years in prison at his home in Arlington, Va. on March 26 [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

TERROR

Teenagers arrested in UK for terrorismTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — British police say a teenage boy and girl have been arrested on suspicion of prepar-ing terrorist acts.

Greater Manchester Police said Sunday a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl have been arrested following two separate police raids that took place Thursday and Friday. Police say they had warrants for both searches.

The two teens have not been named and both have been freed on bail until a May 28 court hearing.

Police say they were arrested on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism as part of an ongoing investigation.

The number of terrorism-related arrests in Britain has surged in recent months as an increasing number of Britons try to travel to Syria to link up with Islamic State group extremists there.

Separately, police are question-ing six people arrested earlier Friday in the port city of Dover, which has extensive ferry service linking England to France.

Five men and one woman in their 20s were arrested in a departure lounge there Friday night.

Police have been given permis-sion to question the six until Fri-day before they have to charged, released, or subjected to another warrant for more questioning.

Earlier this week nine Britons from one family were arrested in Turkey trying to enter Syria. Police said the new arrests are not related to the detention of the family in Turkey.

SECURITY

CSIS sets up international forum on ‘terrorist travel’JIM BRONSKILL THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The Canadian Security Intel-ligence Service has set up a “multilateral forum of trusted partners” to share infor-mation on suspected extremists travelling abroad — a group that extends beyond its customary Five Eyes spy network, a newly released memo says.

In the memo, “CSIS Response: Address-ing the Terrorist Travel Threat,” Canada’s spy agency also flags a concern about the challenges it faces in going further to build relationships with “non-traditional partners.”

The September CSIS memo evokes the kind of information-sharing that led to the overseas torture of four Arab-Canad-ians following the 9/11 attacks, said Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty Inter-national Canada.

“The very term ’terrorist travel’ is uncertain and loaded,” Neve said. “Who, exactly, would be covered?”

The memo was drafted just weeks before a jihadi-inspired gunman fatally shot a soldier at the National War Memorial and stormed Parliament Hill last October. Those events prompted introduction of sweeping new security legislation to crack down on homegrown extremists, including those intent on heading abroad to join foreign battles. The government has also brought in a bill that would give CSIS more latitude to obtain a court-ordered warrant authorizing security investigations in other countries.

CSIS fears extremists who head to Syria or Iraq may return to Canada to wage attacks. The traveller phenomenon is a “priority collection” requirement for the spy service, the memo says.

“Obtaining the required intelligence on this threat to advise the Government requires extensive and resource-intensive investigations at home and abroad given the issue has both international and domestic components.”

» We want to hear from you. Send comments on this story to letters@nanaimodailynews.com. Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown.

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NATION&WORLDMonday, April 6, 2015 | Editor Philip Wolf 250-729-4240 | PWolf@nanaimodailynews.com | STORY UPDATES: www.nanaimodailynews.com

WORLD

NATION&WORLD MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 | DAILY NEWS | A7

Parents come to the altar for their children to be baptized during the service at the Our Lady of Consolation Church, which was attacked with grenades by militants almost three years ago, in Garissa on Sunday. [AP PHOTO]

Gunman in Kenyan massacre was a government offi cial’s sonTOM ODULA AND CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GARISSA, Kenya — One of the gunmen who slaughtered 148 people at a college in Kenya was identified Sunday as the law-school-educated son of a Kenyan government official, underscoring the inroads Islamic extremists have made in recruiting young people to carry out attacks against their own country.

Abdirahim Mohammed Abdul-lahi, who was killed by security forces Thursday along with the three other militants who stormed Garissa University Col-lege, was the son of a govern-ment chief in Mandera County,

which borders Somalia, Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told The Associated Press.

The chief had reported his son missing last year and feared he had gone to Somalia, Njoka said.

Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the bloodbath, saying it was retribution for Kenya’s sending of troops to Somalia to fight the extremists. The attackers separ-ated Christian students from Muslim ones and massacred the Christians. The news that one of the gunmen was Kenyan highlights the challenges faced by the government in prevent-ing terrorist attacks. The dan-

ger comes not only from neigh-bouring Somalia but also from within Kenya.Kenyans make up the largest number of foreign fighters in al-Shabab, according to experts.

Hundreds of Kenyan youths have trained with al-Shabab and then returned to Kenya, posing a major security threat, according to former police chief Mathew Iteere. Kenya’s govern-ment has said another source of instability is the country’s refugee camps, with more than 423,000 Somali refugees.

Abdullahi graduated from the University of Nairobi with a law degree in 2013 and was seen as a “brilliant upcoming law-yer,” according to Njoka.

RELIGION

Pope braves rain for EasterFRANCES D’EMILIO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sun-day praised the framework nucle-ar agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

Cautious hope ran through Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message, a kind of papal com-mentary on the state of the world’s affairs, which he deliv-ered from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square.

He had just celebrated Mass in rain-whipped St. Peter’s Square for tens of thousands of people, who huddled under umbrellas or braved the downpour in thin, plastic rain-slickers.

Easter day is “so beautiful, and so ugly because of the rain,” Francis said after Mass about Christianity’s most important feast day. He expressed thanks for the flowers which bedecked the square and which were donated by the Netherlands, but the bright hues of the azaleas and other blossoms seemed muted by the grey skies.

Francis made his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord, reached in Lausanne, Switz-erland, and aimed at ensuring Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear weapon.

“In hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne,

that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and frater-nal world.”

Decrying the plentitude of weapons in the world in general, Francis said: “And we ask for peace for this world subjected to arms dealers, who earn their living with the blood of men and women.”

He denounced “absurd blood-shed and all barbarous acts of violence” in Libya, convulsed by fighting fueled by tribal and militia rivalries. He hoped “a common desire for peace” would prevail in Yemen, wracked by civil warfare. Francis prayed that the “roar of arms may cease” in Syria and Iraq, and that peace would come in Africa for Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Congo.

He recalled the young people, many of them targeted because they were Christians, killed last week in a Kenyan university, and lamented kidnappings, by Islamic extremists, that have plagued parts of Africa, includ-ing Nigeria.

Weather not a damper for Vatican City

POPE FRANCIS

TRANSPORTATION

Uber has no plans to give up on CanadaMICHELLE MCQUIGGE THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — The strong-arm tactics that some Canadian cities have been using against virtual ride-hailing company Uber have prompted the organization to try to mend fences with local offi-cials even as it maintains hope for further expansion.

Municipal governments across the country have launched everything from political salvos to court injunctions against the San Francisco-based tech giant in a bid to keep its fleet of both licensed and unlicensed vehicles off city streets.

While Toronto Mayor John Tory has publicly defended Uber, saying companies like it are here to stay, a recent blitz by a lone city cop saw 11 charges laid against UberX drivers in a single weekend.

Uber’s opponents have occa-sionally succeeded. While the company maintains a presence in Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Hali-fax, it was forced to shut up shop after brief sojourns in Vancouver and Calgary.

Uber says there’s an effort afoot to cool tensions with the cities it serves before it pursues new locations.

“Uber wants to be everywhere and we are constantly evaluat-ing new opportunities,” said Jeff Weshler, Uber Canada’s General Manager for Regional Expansion.

Uber has met with varying lev-

els of resistance in nearly every Canadian city it has operated in even as it has won plaudits for its innovative business model.

Municipal officials from Van-couver to Halifax have accused the company of operating illegally at best and endangering the lives of passengers at worst. They assert that Uber provides the services of a taxi company without complying with the licenses and regulations that govern that industry.

Critics have been particu-larly vocal about the company’s UberX service, which allows unlicensed drivers to offer rides in their own vehicles. Such trips are not eligible under the insur-ance plans that cover licensed taxi rides, and opponents describe this as only one among many safety risks associated with the practice.

Uber, in turn, argues that developing a mobile app that lets customers hail nearby cars makes it a technology company rather than a transportation firm.

This argument has fallen on deaf ears in several European cities, which have banned Uber’s services outright, even as it’s been embraced by several Amer-ican jurisdictions.

The reaction has been similarly mixed in Canada.

Chris MacDonald, professor of Business Ethics at Ryerson Uni-versity, said there’s no doubt the model has caught on in the 300 cities worldwide where Uber cur-rently operates.

BLAZE

Dog alerts family of fi re in Nova ScotiaTHE CANADIAN PRESS

NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — A fire official in Nova Scotia says a family’s dog helped alert them to get out of a burning house Satur-day night.

Jason MacLeod with the Alma Fire Department says crews were called to a house fire in Mount William, near New Glas-gow, around 11:20 p.m. and had the fire under control around midnight.

He says because of the bark-ing dog, along with the home’s smoke detectors, everyone inside was able to escape safely.

The Canadian Red Cross says it is assisting a man, a woman and their five children with food, clothing and shelter after the fire. MacLeod says the dog also made it out of the burning home.

The fire department says the house was not destroyed but it is not clear when the family will be able to return.

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ANALYSIS

ODDITIESNews services

A8 | DAILY NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 NATION&WORLD

Iran nuclear deal could have regional impactDAN PERRY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO — On a basic level, the framework deal between world powers and Tehran will be judged by whether it prevents an Iranian bomb, but that will take years to figure out.

A more immediate issue is the projection of Western power. Supporters of the framework deal can argue that the U.S. and world powers extracted signifi-cant concessions from Iran, breaking a decade-long impasse and proving that diplomacy backed by tough sanctions can bring about positive change even in the Middle East.

But if, as critics contend, the agreement ends up projecting U.S. weakness instead, that could embolden rogue states and extremists alike, and make the region’s vast array of challenges -- from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syrian civil war to the fighting in Libya and Yemen -- even more impervious to Western intervention.

The United States wants to rein in Syria’s President Bashar Assad as his ruinous civil war grinds into year five. It would like to encourage more liberal domestic policies in Egypt and push Iraq’s leaders to govern more inclusively. Despite years of setbacks, the U.S. would still like to see a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But if leaders in those places read the fine print of the agree-ment the U.S. and other world powers hope to reach with Iran by June 30 and conclude that they were duped or have flinched, these leaders will be less likely to give in to pressure in the future, rendering the Iran agreement a lonely foreign pol-icy achievement clouded by the region’s chaos.

The implications may first be seen in Iran itself.

If the agreement leads to acceptance of Iran’s theocracy, hard-liners could feel less pres-sure to curb their support of regional militant groups and crack down even harder on dis-

sent at home. They would be flush with cash from the lifting of sanctions and emboldened in their confidence that the West will turn a blind eye.

Alternatively, the deal could mark a major victory for Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, and a broader rap-prochement could bring about a Persian glasnost of sorts that leads to democratic reform.

Whichever direction Iran goes will have wide-ranging implica-tions for the rest of the region. Iran backs powerful Shiite prox-ies in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. It also has supported the Palestin-ian Hamas, the Sunni Islamists who rule Gaza. Sunni powers like Egypt and Saudi Arabia fear and distrust Iran and have warned of a regional arms race

if it becomes a threshold nuclear weapons state. Saudi-led war-planes are bombing the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran, though both Tehran and the rebels deny it arms them.

The implications of a weak United States, meanwhile, are not just regional but global, affecting events from Russia to China and North Korea — as well as the prospects for global accords on climate change or even significant trade deals.

Many of these questions will only be answered by the final agreement, assuming there is one.

For now, both sides are present-ing the framework accord as a major accomplishment.

On one hand, Iran accepted lim-its on its enrichment levels and centrifuge numbers to prevent the accumulation of weapons-grade material for a decade or more. “Breakout time” to a bomb would be extended from mere months to a year or more.

But on the other, its right to enrich uranium would be enshrined, its facilities would

remain in place, the sanctions would be lifted and a sort of legitimacy bestowed.

Critics in Israel and elsewhere cannot understand why world powers, who could afford to play for time, did not squeeze Iran by presenting it with a mind-clear-ing choice between having a nuclear program and having an economy. They never believed Iran’s claims that — with oil in generous supply — it was investing such effort for nuclear energy and research. They expect Iran’s energies to now focus on fooling the inspectors and developing a bomb.

That won’t be easy. Under the framework deal the U.N. nuclear agency would have substantially more authority than it has had in the past.

The fact sheet issued by the U.S. says Iran has agreed to grant inspectors more intrusive access to both declared and undeclared facilities — access that may not be “anytime, anywhere,” but goes far beyond anything that was in place when weapons were developed by India, Pakistan, North Korea — and Israel.

Supporters of the deal argue that any risks that may remain are preferable to war. Implied is the admission that a global consensus on tougher sanctions to force Iran to its knees was unattainable -- Russia, China and even India could not neces-sarily be corralled. That would leave armed force, never taken off the table, as the only remain-ing option. Some also note that viewing Iran as an implacable regional menace is simplistic. Iran backs groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which the West views as terrorist organizations, but it is also training and sup-porting Shiite militias battling the Islamic State group in Iraq, where Washington and Tehran have found themselves on the same side of the conflict.

Washington’s bridled ambi-tions are understandable given its recent failures in the region. Both Afghanistan and Iraq are still at war more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasions. The Islamic State group, an al-Qaida breakaway, controls a third of both Syria and Iraq. A NATO intervention helped topple dicta-tor Moammar Gadhafi, but Libya today is a failed state in the grip of rival militias and jihadi groups. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is in shambles.

One senses, beyond the specif-ics of the Iran deal, an implied admission by the global powers: there is a limit to countries’ abil-ity to interfere with one another, however interdependent the world may be.

Ironically, it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the most outspoken opponent of the Iran deal — who might have reason to appreciate this kind of humility. Recently re-elected and at odds with the White House, Netanyahu faces a global clam-our to end the West Bank settle-ment project and enable the creation of a Palestinian state. If the United States and other pow-ers got serious about enforcing their will on other countries, Israel could be no less a candi-date than Iran.

From left, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, line up for a press announcement Thursday in the Learning Center at the Swiss federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. [AP PHOTO]

◆ NEW JERSEY

‘Disorderly’ goat gets corralled, owner soughtA “disorderly” goat has been cor-ralled in northern New Jersey, and authorities are now trying to determine who owns the way-ward animal.

Two Paramus police officers nabbed the small white goat shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday. The department says they were responding to “calls of a disorder-ly goat head-butting a door.”

Officers captured the goat as it was running in the roadway.

◆ RUSSIA

Siberia burglar left photo, apology note

A burglar in a small town in Siberia has broken into a house and left his photograph with a note of apology.

The burglar in Prokopyevsk, about 3,100 kilometres east of Moscow, picked the lock on the front door and stole a chain saw as well as several blocks of cigarette packs, the Interior Ministry said.

The owner of the house found a photo of the burglar lying on the desk with a handwritten note on the back which said: “I’m going to give myself up today. Please for-give me. I hate myself for this.”

Police eventually found the man who turned out to be a 26-year-old local resident.

◆ PENNSYLVANIA

Pig wanders into Burger King restaurant

Did you hear the one about the pot-bellied pig at Burger King? Pennsylvania State Police swear it’s not a whopper.

Troopers from the Somerset bar-racks were called to the restaurant on U.S. Route 30 near Boswell in southwestern Pennsylvania after the pet wandered from its home and took up residence near the fast-food restaurant Thursday morning.

The eatery was running a two-for-$4 special on bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, but the pig wasn’t promoting or participating in the deal. Rather, he was scarf-ing down hash browns given him by one customer and snapping at some others who got too close before police arrived.

“Critics in Israel and elsewhere cannot understand why world powers . . . did not squeeze Iran.”

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SPORTSMONDAYMonday, April 6, 2015 || Sports Editor: Scott McKenzie SMcKenzie@nanaimodailynews.com || SECTION B

Duke to face Wisconsin tonight for national championship || Page B2

Holmes rallies to win PGA’s Houston OpenJ.B. Holmes used a strong start Sunday for a Houston Open victory in a three-way playoff against Jordan Spieth and Johnson Wagner. The 32-year-old Holmes birdied the first five holes and nine of the first 12 after starting the day six shots back of Jordan Spieth. He had a 64, the day’s low round, and won on the second playoff hole for his fourth PGA Tour victory and the $1.18-million cheque.

‘Bama offers coaching job to Johnson: reportThe University of Alabama has offered its men’s basketball job to former NBA player and head coach Avery Johnson, a person familiar with the negotiations said Sunday. The person said Johnson and Alabama are working on the details of a deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press Sunday on condition of ano-nymity because no announcement has been made about the coaching search.

Padres, Braves, swap stars in major tradeThe San Diego Padres pulled off another blockbuster trade on the eve of opening day, acquiring All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel and out-fielder Melvin Upton from the Atlanta Braves for outfielders Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin, plus two minor leaguers and a draft pick. The trade announced Sunday reunites Upton with his younger brother, Justin, who was obtained by the Padres in one of several trades.

ESSENTIAL READING

LACROSSE

hip || Page B2

Recruiting already in full swing for ClippersSCOTT MCKENZIE DAILY NEWS

Perhaps no B.C. Hockey League will have a more import-ant offseason than the Nanaimo Clippers when it comes to recruiting.

The Clippers are currently pre-paring for the Penticton Vees, who they meet for Game 1 of the Fred Page Cup finals on Friday night in the Okanagan.

But for 10 of the 22 players on the Nanaimo roster, it will be their last playoff series in white and orange.

That includes their four top scorers from the regular season, and seven of the top nine, leav-ing the team either for gradua-tion or for an early exit to the U.S. college system.

Gone next year will be start-ing goalie Guillaume Decelles, defenceman Austin Dick, Nic Gushue and Yanni Kaldis, and forwards Devin Brosseau, Jake Jackson, Cole Maier, Sheldon Rempal, Brett Roulston and cap-tain Brendan Taylor.

It will be a big change from

last summer, when the team’s top scoring trio of Rempal, Tay-lor and Brosseau all returned for one more season of junior hockey.

This year is different, and assigned to run the team’s scout-

ing and recruitment depart-ment is Jason Williamson, who stepped down as head coach of the Vernon Vipers in September for personal reasons. He served as the captain of the Vipers dur-ing current Clippers head coach and general manager Mike Van-dekamp’s tenure in Vernon.

Vandekamp, Williamson said, approached him about taking on the Clippers’ director of scout-ing and recruitment role, which he accepted.

“I didn’t have time to do a full head coach-GM job,” Williamson said. “That’s very time consum-ing. I’ve got a lot of respect for Mike and we work well together.

“I think (I’m doing it) to be able to stay current with the players and just stay involved with the game.”

The Clippers already have three commitments for next season to replace those departed stars and to join the likes of Nic Carrier, Anthony Rinaldi and Ed Hookensen in Nanaimo next season.

Nanaimo’s Owen Hardy, who

turned 16 in February has recently made his pledge to play for the Clippers next season after leading the major midget North Island Silvertips in scor-ing this season.

Hardy also played for Team B.C. in the Canada Winter Games, and got into three BCHL games with the Clippers as a 15-year-old in the 2014-15 season.

Also committed for next sea-son is 17-year-old right winger Troy MacTavish of the Ottawa Senators Midget AAA club

MacTavish leads that team in scoring.

On defence, Louis-Philippe Pagé of Quebec has committed to the Clippers while playing in the U.S. high school system with Deerfield Academy.

Those three will likely join returning affiliate players such as Jake Wozney and Sean Buchanan with the Clippers next season, but Williamson admits there is still work to be done.

“We’ve recruited a few defence-man, and we’ve got to fill some

holes up front,” Williamson said. “I’m basically attacking all of

North America, scouring to find the best available talent. Wheth-er that’s a forward, defenceman or a goaltender. It’s definitely a busy time.”

The Clippers open their first of two two-day spring identifi-cation camps April 18 in Kam-loops, and have another on May 23 in Parksville. They’re expect-ing close to 200 players looking to make names for themselves atthose camps. The recent success the Clippers have had — getting through three playoff rounds and into the championship ser-ies — can only help recruiting, Williamson said.

“Individual success comes from team success,” he said. “This is a platform for them to get onto the next level. Players want to go to teams who are having success and moving players onto the next level, so it definitely helps.”

SMcKenzie@nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4243

New Blood: Committed for 2015-16◆ Troy MacTavish (Ottawa) Age: 17 (born 1997)

Team: Ottawa Senators Midget AAA Stats: 28 GP, 25 G 26 A, 51 Pts.

Position: Right wing

◆ Owen Hardy (Nanaimo) Age: 16 (born 1999)

Team: North Island Silvertips Stats: 31 GP, 14 G, 18 A, 32 Pts.

Position: Centre/left wing

◆ Louis-Philippe Pagé (Rosemère, QC) Age: 19 (born 1996)

Team: Deerfield Academy (high school) Stats: 26 GP, 6 G, 4 A, 10 Pts.

Position: Defence

SOURCE: NANAIMO CLIPPERS

BCHL

BASEBALL

VIBI M’s get back on track during road tripDAILY NEWS

Playing in their third straight four-game weekend Canadian Collegiate Baseball Conference road trip, the Vancouver Island Baseball Institute Mariners took the first step in digging them-selves out of the bottom of the standings.

In two games each against the Calgary Dinos and Okanagan Coyotes, the M’s went 3-1 on the weekend, surpassing the Dinos for last place and pushing their record to 5-7 on the season.

Austin Gurr picked up his third save of the year as the Mariners opened the weekend Saturday with an 8-7 win over Calgary, with Andrew Evernden continu-ing to lead the VIBI offence with three runs in the win. The Mar-iners then beat the Coyotes 10-6 later that day with pitcher Ken-ton Schroter picking up the win for VIBI in seven innings — six of them were blank — and pick-ing up seven strikeouts.

The Mariners then blasted the Dinos 14-4 on Sunday with Connor Merilees going 4-4 at the plate with three RBI and two stolen bases. Tyler Ulrich pitched the complete game, as well. The latter game on Sunday saw VIBI fall 9-7 to the Coyotes with M’s pitcher Aidan Goodall taking the loss.

The Mariners are now sched-uled to play their first set of home games this weekend against the Coyotes.

It begins Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Serauxmen Stadium.

SMcKenzie@nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4243

SCOTT MCKENZIE DAILY NEWS

As the team’s new head coach, Pat O’Dwyer has rea-son to believe the Nanaimo Intermedi-

ate A Timbermen will be able to make positive strides in the com-ing season.

It helps that his two sons, up and coming lacrosse prospects Aidan and Matt, join the Inter-mediate circuit this season after graduating midget lacrosse last season — and an influx what he called one of the most talented crops of graduating midget play-ers Nanaimo has seen in years.

“The first-year kids that are coming up, there’s a lot of really talented kids coming through,” O’Dwyer said.

“Even though we’ve lost a lot of guys who have graduated, the future of this scenario looks phenomenal.

“We may not be a winner this year, but I think we’ll be able to improve from last year in the standings.”

The Timbermen, though, have their share of issues to deal with.

After a 4-14 season a year ago, they lost their top seven scorers. They also won’t get the services of Zach Manns, the Junior A Timbermen’s first draft pick, as he has elected to pursue basket-ball instead of lacrosse, accord-ing to O’Dwyer.

Their second pick, B.C. graduat-ing midget player of the year last season Mat Jung, will be playing Intermediate B for Cowichan Valley for school reasons.

Along with his sons, who played for the Vancouver Island team in the B.C. Summer Games, O’Dwyer expects Jake Nicholson to be one of the top offensive threats this season.

O’Dwyer last played lacrosse in 2010, leading the Nanaimo Senior B Timbermen in goals (23) and assists (25), while also serving as

the team’s coach. He brings with him to the Inter-

mediate A Timbermen bench assistant coaches Brad Lytle and Jason Dubyna as the club opened its training camp Sunday less than a month before its first game, April 25 at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

“I think, for this group, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and it’s going to take discipline,” O’Dwyer said of his team’s chan-ces at success this season.

“We need to select the right players that will buy into the sys-tems that we coach.

There’s a lot of experience on the coaching staff.”

O’Dwyer is also expecting near-instant production from his sons, but recognizes the father-son relationship can’t be a factor on the bench.

“They’re different,” he said. “Matt’s tall, big, strong and

quick. Aidan can play a complete game, and he’s very talented defensively. They’re two up and coming players.

“It’s tough to be a father and coach in the same breath, so we have to separate our rela-tionships from being a father

at home and being a coach in lacrosse.”

The Timbermen opened their training camp with 40 players on Sunday, and need to whittle that number down to 25 before the season begins.

“We’re going to have some pretty specific systems that we’re going to be running,” O’Dwyer said. “We’re really confident that if this group can buy into our systems, then we’re going to have a really good year.”

SMcKenzie@nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4243

Nanaimo Intermediate A Timbermen head coach Pat O’Dwyer conducts training camp on Sunday afternoon at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. [SCOTT MCKENZIE/DAILY NEWS]

Pat O’Dwyer takes over as head coach for Intermediate A T-Men

RUGBY 7s

SPORTS MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 | DAILY NEWS | B3

Canadians win over All-BlacksTHE CANADIAN PRESS

TOKYO — Canada posted its best result of the season on the HSBC Sevens World Series, scor-ing a first-ever win over New Zealand en route to a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Sevens rugby tournament.

Conceding two late tries, Can-ada fell 21-19 to Fiji in its final match Sunday.

England won the event, beat-ing South Africa 21-14 in the final.

Canada’s performance moved Liam Middleton’s team up two places to No. 11 in the series standings after sevens stops of the nine-event season.

South Africa won Pool C with a 3-0 record Saturday but Canada also advanced as the best of the other three 1-2 teams on points differential.

That set up a Cup quarter-final showdown Sunday with the powerful All Blacks, who had won all 28 previous meetings between the two.

Canada trailed 5-0 within 20 seconds when New Zealand’s Joe Webber scored from the kickoff.

But Sean White’s offload set up a tying try from Mike Fuailefau before Tim Mikkelson scored to put New Zealand ahead going into halftime.

Captain John Moonlight and Conor Trainor scored second-half tries, with conversions from Harry Jones giving Canada a 19-10 lead that withstood a late Sherwin Stowers try for a 19-15 win.

Canada lost 14-5 to England in the Cup semifinal before falling to Fiji in the battle for third place at Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground.

Trainor scored Canada’s lone try against an English side reduced to six men in the third minute when captain Tom Mitchell was shown a yellow card for an alleged punch.

Against Fiji, Canada led 19-7 after 11 minutes on the strength of tries by two tries by Moon-light and one by Ciaran Hearn, with two Jones conversions. But converted tries by Osea Kolini-sau and Savenaca Rawaca gave the Pacific Islanders the win.

Despite its best finish of the season, Canada finished with a 2-4 record in Tokyo.

National team fi nishes fourth in Japan

MLS

Caps beat Galaxy, move to 4-1JIM MORRIS THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps are enjoying their best Major League Soccer start ever but realize the real work is just beginning.

The Whitecaps scored a pair of second-half goals to defeat the L.A. Galaxy 2-0 Saturday night to move into first place in the over-all MLS standings.

Head coach Carl Robinson is proud of what his young players have accomplished so early in the year, but believes they must become even better during the long season.

“It’s one game for us,” said the second-year coach. “I think they have got to feel good about themselves.

“What we have to do is be more consistent. If we are more con-sistent then we become a very good team. I don’t want to be a good team one week and a very poor team the next two or three weeks. It’s about consistency.”

Midfielder Kekuta Manneh, in the 56th minute, and forward Octavio Rivero, in the 66th, scored for Vancouver in front of a soldout crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place Stadium. It was just the second time the Whitecaps had beaten the Galaxy since joining MLS in 2011. Vancouver is also riding its first four-game MLS winning streak. Goal-keeper David Ousted said other teams are taking notice of the Whitecaps.

“There is definitely confidence in the locker room but there is also the knowledge we need to be ever better every time,” said Ousted, who earned his third clean sheet of the season.

“Now, when people are going to play the Whitecaps, they are going to say ’they are really good and we need to beat them.’ We need to work even harder if we want to keep ourselves up there.”

The Whitecaps improved their Western Conference record to 4-1-0. Their 12 points puts them

two ahead of Dallas in the over-all standings. Dallas lost 3-1 to Portland Saturday night.

The defending MLS champion Galaxy suffered their second-consecutive loss and saw their record drop to 1-2-2 for five points. Dating back to last sea-son, L.A. is winless in nine road games (0-5-4). The Whitecaps dominated play most of the game and limited the Galaxy to just one shot on goal. L.A. coach Bruce Arena was frustrated with his team’s performance.

Vancouver Whitecaps’ Octavio Rivero (29), of Uruguay, and his teammates celebrate his goal against the Los Angeles Galaxy. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

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Sharks playoff chances remain slimCURTIS PASHELKA SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — One in a thou-sand. Those were the Sharks’ chances Sunday of making the playoffs this season, according to data available at sportsclubstats.com.

After a five-game stretch in which the Sharks collected nine of a pos-sible 10 points to provide at least some optimism going into the final week of the season, any modicum of hope the Sharks had all but evaporated with a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.

Now five points out of a playoff spot with three games to play, the Sharks have a 0.1 percent chance of going to the postseason, a 4.3 percent drop from a day earlier.

After the loss to the Coyotes, the Sharks talked about winning their final three games, starting with Monday’s regular-season home finale

against the Dallas Stars, and seeing what happens. But the dead silence of the visitors’ dressing room at Gila Riv-er Arena painted a different picture.

Realistically, the Sharks right now have a much better chance of winning the draft lottery — 2.5 percent — and selecting Connor McDavid with the first overall pick than making the play-offs for an 11th straight season.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Sharks forward Patrick Marleau, who has only missed the playoffs one other time since he joined the team as a rookie for the 1997-98 season. “You want to be in a playoff position again. We’ve grown accustomed to it, but slipping behind a few spots, this is different territory for us.”

The Sharks’ elimination from playoff contention could happen as soon as early Monday evening if the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild in a game that begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

Or it could take place two hours later if the Sharks lose to Dallas at SAP Center or the Los Angeles Kings top the Canucks in Vancouver.

Simply put, to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003, the Sharks need to win each of their remaining games and hope Los Angeles and Winnipeg are both unable to collect more than one point over their final four games.

“We need the points, each and every game here,” Marleau said.

Saturday’s result continued one of the Sharks’ yearlong problems — losing to non-playoff contenders. And that’s as good a place to start as any to explain why San Jose will finish with at least 18 fewer points than it did last season.

With Saturday’s loss, the Sharks have a 12-9-3 record against teams that, as of early Sunday, have been eliminated from the playoff picture.

HI AND LOIS

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

SHERMAN’S LAGOON

BLONDIE

BABY BLUES

MOTHER GOOSE

ARCTIC CIRCLE

CRANKSHAFT

ZITS

ANDY CAPP

WORD FIND

CROSSWORD

CRYPTOQUOTE

BRIDGE

SOLUTION: TIME TO GO AWAY

Duplication Dealer: North Both vulnerable

NORTH ♠J86 ♥K86 ♦Q10 ♣AJ974

WEST EAST ♠Q7 ♠A10953 ♥102 ♥QJ93 ♦K87653 ♦J42 ♣863 ♣Q

SOUTH ♠K42 ♥A754 ♦A9 ♣K1073

W N E S Pass Pass 1♣ Pass 3♣ Pass 3NTAll Pass Opening Lead: ♦6

South put up dummy’s queen and ran the club suit on

which East discarded two spades, a diamond and a heart. Declarer pitched a spade but West threw two diamonds. South ducked a heart and the diamond return drove out the ace but the seven of hearts furnished a tenth winner, N-S +630. Success in the nine-trick game rested upon a guess at trick one. Defeat will be imminent when South calls for dummy’s ten of diamonds and East contributes the jack. West is surely more likely to lead a diamond from the king than the jack on this auction. He might well have chosen a major when holding jack-fifth of diamonds. South’s advance to the nine- trick game was indicated when partner revealed a limit raise. The diamond lead offered a chance of defeating of defeating the contract but declarer’s play of the queen guaranteed success. A club contract is likely to yield nine tricks when West declines to begin with a diamond. Declarer could emerge with ten tricks but this result would pale in comparison to the actual one. Two balanced hands with a combined 25 HCP merit an advance to game. The contract would be a lock if either North or South had owned a third diamond. Author: Dave Willis - visit his website at www.insidebridge.ca Questions on bridge can be sent with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to The New Canadian Bridge c/o Torstar Syndication Services, One Yonge St., Toronto, M5E 1E6.

TIME-OFF FOLKS ACROSS1 Amounts of money5 Right now, in memos9 Turns brown from the sun13 Mahogany or elm14 Adore15 Fill with joy17 Fairy-tale meanie18 Tremendously19 Church platform20 Military reservists23 Resort with hot springs24 Young boy25 Venomous snake28 “That’s a shame”31 Prepare, as pizza cheese35 Corrosive chemical37 Double-helix genetic

material38 Musical drama40 They crowd stores in

December44 Cooktop range45 Solar-system center46 Takes to court47 __ off (avert)49 Local swimming center, for

short51 Summer hours in California:

Abbr.52 Ancient54 Poem of praise56 People you meet while

you’re away65 Teheran native66 “Guided” vacation67 Ready, willing and __68 Sauce made with basil69 Concludes70 Flat-topped hill71 Similar (to)72 Medicinal amount73 Sunflower stalk

DOWN1 Pack away cargo2 Suggest strongly3 Insignificant4 Searches for

5 Lead actor of M*A*S*H6 Offered at retail7 State firmly8 Piece of a blossom9 It’s shed when weeping10 “That’s __ need to know”11 Western alliance: Abbr.12 Top-billed performer16 Ambulance destinations, for

short21 Air-quality agcy.22 Cleaning cloth25 Oohs and __

26 Glasgow natives27 Cockpit boss29 __ minute now (very soon)30 Smart-mouthed32 Smartphone downloads33 Start a golf game34 Made a mistake36 Hard-to-please actress39 Office helper: Abbr.41 Deep dedication42 How to play the kazoo43 Proceeding as expected48 Yale student50 Calculate a total53 Showered affection (on)55 Dutch cheeses56 Bigwig, for short57 Region58 Wine barrel59 Prefix meaning “against”60 Prohibited thing61 Blossoms yet to open62 “A likely story!”63 “If all __ fails . . .”64 Stitched clothing line

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLVED

DIVERSIONS MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 | DAILY NEWS | B5

MLB

B6 | DAILY NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 CLASSIFIEDS/SPORTS

Frozen fi elds thawed for opening dayWhat winter? Scherzer, Sandoval, stars ready for sunshine as Major League Baseball beginsBEN WALKER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

No team lost more games in spring training than the cham-pion San Francisco Giants, hard-ly any pitcher struggled more than World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. So what? Throw out those stats — it’s time to play ball for real. Today, Clayton Ker-shaw and Masahiro Tanaka will be on the mound, Mike Trout and David Ortiz will be at the plate, Max Scherzer and Pablo Sandoval will be on new teams.

In all, 28 teams in action, all hoping to make the Final Ten come October.

“If you can play every day like opening day and get yourself up like you do for opening day, you’re probably going to have a good year,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, whose club visits Arizona. “That’s how we like to play every game, that it’s the most important game of the year. Opening day is that day. It’s an important game. It probably helps set the tone a little bit,” he said.

The 2015 big league season started Sunday night with St. Louis taking on the Chicago Cubs at renovated Wrigley Field. Jason Heyward of the Cardin-als got the first hit of the year, a double off Jon Lester in the first inning. Even before Paul Molitor becomes the latest Hall of Famer to try managing or Ortiz tries to

stick in the batter’s box under Major League Baseball’s new pace of play rules, some stars had already emerged.

David Mellor, Jason Griffeth, Derek Gauger and Jedi Saverse, among them.

Never heard of ’em? They’re the full-time groundskeepers at Fenway Park and have gotten the diamond ready despite the snow-iest winter in Boston since the city began keeping such records.

“I was never worried about getting ready for opening day,” said Mellor, director of grounds for the Red Sox. “The field is in great shape. It is looking better with each passing day.”

Across the Northeast and Mid-west, ballparks were battered by a harsh winter. Blizzards, below-zero temperatures, sheets of ice and wicked winds made prepara-tions even tougher.

Chalk this up to baseball’s good

fortune: In Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Kansas City and other places that endured a long winter, it’s forecast to be clear enough and in the 60s and 70s on opening day. Quite a contrast from a couple of months ago.

At Fenway, up to 40 inches of snow blanketed the field at one point. Mellor and his crew used a half-ton of black sand — like ground-up tires, it absorbs heat and helps the melting process

— to clear the crush. Boston was hit with more than 9 feet overall.

“When we had all the snow, I thought I’m glad we aren’t open-ing at home,” Mellor said. “But because of all the hard work of my co-workers, we are actually ready to play now.”

Red Sox newcomers Hanley Ramirez and Sandoval play Mon-day at Philadelphia. The Fenway home opener is April 13 against Washington. Washington out-fielder Bryce Harper was pleas-antly surprised when he took his position at Nationals Park on Saturday for an exhibition vs. the New York Yankees. The NHL held the Winter Classic at the ballpark on Jan. 1, and Wash-ington was enveloped by frosty conditions.

“It feels fine. I thought it was great,” Harper said. “Some-one was telling me that when the NHL does it, they actually have to re-do the whole field or something like that. So that was brand-new grass out there. It was beautiful. It played great.”

Harper, Scherzer and the Nationals host the New York Mets on Monday. Tanaka, Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees will be home to play Toronto. Pitcher Adam Warren was eager to see how well the grounds crew had done at Yankee Stadium, espe-cially since the city’s new Major League Soccer team recent-lyplayed on the grass.

A fresh “S” is painted within Safeco Field Thursday as the venue is prepped for the Mariners 2015 season in Seattle. Opening Day is today. [AP PHOTO]

DIVERSIONS MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 | DAILY NEWS | B7

Dear Annie: I am expect-ing my first child. My mother is a wonderful, intelligent 68-year-old woman. She is also bipolar and seems incapable of keeping herself physically healthy and her house clean. I know her poor health almost certainly stems from the fact that her living conditions are filthy. She also has a sour smell about her that makes me worry that she is lax about her personal hygiene.

I have tried many times over the years to help her keep her house clean, but inevitably it returns to a state of extreme disarray. The only visible floor is the pathway through piles of junk. The kitchen and bathroom are moldy bio-hazards. Eventually, I came to the realization that nothing I say or do is going to make her start taking care of herself. I can’t afford to hire a caregiver to help her, and I’m past the point of trying to make a dent in the perpetual filth myself.

My main problem is that when my baby is born, I know Mom is going to want to spend time with

her. I don’t feel comfort-able allowing my infant child to be exposed to the unhealthy conditions of her house. I am ashamed to say that I also don’t feel comfortable placing my baby in the care of a woman who seems incap-able of caring for herself.

How can I tell my mother, the woman who raised me, how to live? This is a con-versation I never wanted to have. Is there any way I can avoid breaking her heart and embarrassing her?

— A Concerned Daughter and Mom-to-Be

Dear Concerned: We sympathize, but your child’s welfare will soon become your first priority. This will make it easier for you to talk to Mom. Tell her you love her and understand that her level of cleanliness and hygiene is her choice, but it is not appropriate for your child. Explain that visits with the baby will take place only in your home, under your supervision. She will promise to do better, but that is not a guarantee. So, also say that you hope this will spur her to seek pro-fessional help to make her life healthier for herself and everyone around her. Her doctor can refer her. If she is heartbroken and embarrassed, that should not change the parameters you have set up for the care of your child.

Dear Annie: “On the

Outside Looking In” com-plained that at holiday gatherings, four of the female relatives go into another room to laugh, excluding the other three women and the men. The others should plan something they can enjoy together with or without the other four.

Plan ahead, and make sure everyone knows you have a game to play, a funny gift exchange, a skit to perform or a tale to tell of holidays past in which each person is expected to speak for one minute. Have a bonfire and roast marshmallows.

Be silly and lighthearted, forget your troubles and play games with the children.

Turn these gatherings into a celebration for all of you, instead of a party for the clique and a whining session for the rest. Wheth-er they join in or not, you’ll have fun, and your chil-dren will remember that for a lifetime.

— Been There

Dear Been There: We couldn’t have said it better. Thank you.

Annie’s Mailbox is writ-ten by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Land-ers column. Please email your questions to annies-mailbox@comcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, Calif., 90254.

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ARIES (March 21-April 19) You might be unusually

tuned in to a loved one. Your creative energy blooms, which allows you to move through your day more successfully. A partner could be difficult no matter how hard you attempt to appease him or her. Let it go. Tonight: An animated conversation.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)Define your objectives

and pursue them before someone trips you up or distracts you. You’ll gain insight when you can relax and see what has been accomplished. A per-sonal matter could put a smile on your face. Share an insight with a loved one. Tonight: Accept an invitation.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You might feel over-

whelmed by the constant barrage of people who need you, or at least think that they do. You need to reach out to a close associate or loved one, as this person will support you in carrying out what must be done. Tonight: Express your easygoing personality.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)You might want to

reconsider a judgment you have made about a loved one. You also could need to review a matter that requires your ingenu-ity. A conversation with a trusted pal could cause an enormous backfire. Tonight: Be playful, and your stress levels will go down.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)You could be content,

yet there is someone close to you who is often combative and difficult. You might be wondering whether you need less

time with this person. A discussion will help you understand why he or she acts like such a curmudg-eon. Tonight: Head home early.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)You have a tendency to

choose your words with care. This trait easily could help you win over a difficult person. You might feel very optimistic at this moment, but it would be wise to proceed with care; others seem to be on the warpath. Tonight: Make an effort toward a love one.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)Be aware of the costs of

a situation with which you are about to be involved. A partner could have a totally different perspec-tive from you, and will let you know in no uncertain terms. You will discover that you have some strong opinions as well. Tonight: Run errands first.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)The Moon in your sign

tends to give you that extra magnetism and energy you might want or need. You could be challenged by a family member and might be disappointed with what happens. Investigate potential options involv-ing your health. Tonight: Be spontaneous.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Step back a bit before making a decision -- the more information you get, the wiser your choice will be. Keep reaching out to someone at a distance whom you care about. You’ll gain a sense of well-being through a conversa-tion. Tonight: Embrace your impulsive side.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Don’t lose your focus with regard to a special issue. Honor a change, and

be more open to new pos-sibilities at a later point. You’ll need to complete a project as it stands. Do not sell yourself short. Tonight: Do what you want to do.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

You’ll be coming from a place of confidence despite a difficult author-ity figure. Communica-tion could be erratic, but you can deal with the unpredictability. A part-ner will support you in a venture, and he or she will make a difference. Tonight: Burn the mid-night oil.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You might feel as if you

can handle nearly every-thing, and you can -- if you detach. Recognize the importance of taking an overview and understand-ing why certain people act in the way they do. Tonight: Surf the Web or

watch a good movie.

YOUR BIRTHDAY (April 6) This year you are driven

to find a new outlet for self-expression. You will experience great fulfill-ment as a result. You also discover a new ability to understand and resolve problems quickly. You’ll work best with a partner on a one-on-one level, no matter what the project or issue is. If you are single, someone you interact with closely easily could become a more romantic bond. This person will be quite important to your life’s history. If you are attached, the two of you experience a period where you are more closely con-nected. SCORPIO has as much energy as you do, but he or she is more subtle.

BORN TODAYComposer Andre Previn

(1929), actor Paul Rudd (1969), actor Walter Hus-ton (1884).

HOROSCOPEby Jacqueline Bigar

Children’s welfare quickly becomes parent’s priority

Kathy Mitchell & Marcy SugarAnnie’s Mailbox

‘Skynyrd’ drummer dies in car crashTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — The former drummer for the Southern hard rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rob-ert Burns Jr., has died in a

car crash in Georgia.Georgia State Patrol

spokeswoman Tracey Watson said Burns’ vehicle went off a curve in a road near Cartersville just before midnight Saturday, striking

a mailbox and a tree. Burns was killed in the wreck. He was 64. The single-vehicle accident remains under investigation, and Watson said further details were not immediately available.

B8 | DAILY NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015

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