2024 Comox Valley year in review: October

Comox Valley woman alleges child sexual abuse by a church minister

A woman from the Comox Valley is sharing her story of alleged child sexual abuse she endured as a teen while part of a secretive Christian sect.

Lyndell Montgomery was a member and was 14 years old in 1989 when the alleged abuse took place while she was a member of the Two-by-Twos, or 2x2s.

She claims her alleged abuser was 2x2s minister or 鈥渟ister worker,鈥� Lee-Ann McChesney. The alleged abuse happened when McChesney took Montgomery from her family home in the Comox Valley to Terrace where McChesney鈥檚 family resides. 

In May of 2023, Montgomery made a victim statement to the RCMP that led to an investigation against McChesney and her time as a 2x2 worker.

RCMP investigating fatal crash on Comox Valley Parkway

Comox Valley RCMP are investigating a fatal motor vehicle crash that occurred along the Comox Valley Parkway Friday, Oct. 4.

The incident occurred shortly after 9:30 p.m. resulting in first responders being called to a 鈥榟igh-velocity crash鈥� according to Deputy Chief Stephane Dionne of Cumberland Fire Rescue.

 鈥淲hen we arrived on scene the two vehicles were pretty damaged, one person trapped in the vehicle and the other people were outside their vehicle,鈥� Dionne says.

A 33-year-old woman was trapped inside a vehicle that was on its side down an embankment following the crash.  Initial plans were to have her air-lifted from the site but according to Dionne she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Minister with Valley connection who served time for child pornography returns to church

After spending less than 175 days in jail for two charges related to child pornography while he worked in the Comox Valley, Aaron Farough has been released back to his church.

Aaron Richard Eldon Farough, originally from Fort St. John, and a worker for the 2x2 church, pled guilty in Jan. of 2023 to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of accessing child pornography.

The 2x2 church is a religious sect that hides its practices. They have no buildings of worship and instead hold meetings with other members, referred to as 鈥渇riends鈥� in the homes of the parishioners. The ministers are called 鈥渨orkers鈥� and travel in twos, hence the 2x2 name, living with their parishioners in various communities. They keep no written records, instructing their parishioners to burn letters after they have been read. The church is also known as 鈥淭he Truth,鈥� and is under investigation worldwide for child sexual abuse, currently and historically. They hold weekly bible study meetings on Sundays. 

You can now take a BC Transit bus from Victoria to Campbell River

The last gap in an alternative form of travel between most of Vancouver Island's major urban centres was bridged in mid-September.

You can now travel on BC Transit buses from Victoria to Campbell River after the last link in a chain of regional transit services was connected during a quiet celebration in Deep Bay, south of Courtenay. 

Having worked together to connect their two regional transit systems since 2019, local government elected officials Stuart McLean (Regional District Nanaimo) and Daniel Arbour (Comox Valley Regional District), celebrated the new connection in Deep Bay.

Comox Valley connections to 2x2's beginnings, beliefs and connections to abuse

Despite a former 2x2 church worker being convicted and jailed on child pornography charges, the connections of the church continue to run deep in the Comox Valley.

The 鈥淐hurch with No Name,鈥� 鈥淭he Truth,鈥� 鈥淭he Way,鈥� or 鈥淭wo by Twos鈥� (2x2), is an evangelical Christian group that was founded by William Irvine in 1897. At the time, Irvine was involved with the Faith Mission, an evangelistic movement in Scotland, when he began preaching a new doctrine inspired by Matthew 10 in the Bible. He moved his work to spread the word to Ireland.

Cumberland dump refuses undamaged Walmart products after fire

Loads of material from the Courtenay Walmart were refused by staff at the waste management centre near Cumberland after a fire in the store this weekend.

After a fire in the store on Thursday evening last week (Oct. 10), Comox Valley Regional District General Manager of Engineering Services Marc Rutten said that three loads of material from the store were brought to the Cumberland landfill.

"It's always hard to know what Walmart intends to do, because they just hire a local hauler to haul the material away," he said. "But our understanding was that more and more trucks were going to come. Our manager stepped in an said that potentially some of the material is able to be reused, repurposed, donated or at least recycled, and that we wouldn't be able to accept loads of what appears to be good material."

ELECTION 2024: Courtenay-Comox riding too close to call

With one voting box yet to be counted for the Courtenay-Comox riding, B.C. Conservative candidate Brennan Day leads the polls with 13,140 votes over NDP candidate Ronna-Rae Leonard, who has 12,906 as of 10:45 p.m.

Seventeen of the 18 final voting day ballot boxes and six advance voting ballot boxes have been counted.

Comox Valley youth donates Taylor Swift tickets for Lake Trail Community Education Society

King Charles Coronation Medal winner, Sophia Vaillant, has found a new way to give back to the Lake Trail Community Education Society (LTCES). She has donated two tickets to Taylor Swift鈥檚 Eras tour in Vancouver for this December for a raffle to raise money for LTCES. 

鈥淭he whole reason Taylor went with the lottery system for tickets in the first place is that she wanted as many true fans to get to attend the concert,鈥� Vaillant says, 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 stomach selling them for what they are going for, and I couldn鈥檛 choose two people of the 60 friends who reached out.鈥� 

Sports:

Young Indigenous Vancouver Islanders urged to hit the slopes

Up Mount Washington, Indigenous youth can ride through the trees or sit and throw snowballs 鈥� it鈥檚 all about having fun and being free for members of the Vancouver Island Indigenous Snowboard and Ski Team.

The recreation-focused, 100 per cent volunteer -driven snowboard and ski team is accepting applications from Vancouver Island-based Indigenous youth ages 12 to 17 until Nov. 12. Members receive a pass to Mount Washington Ski Resort for the 2024-2025 season, access to gear if they need, plus holistic training that promotes healthy living and long-term love for the sport.

Comox Valley Kickers Women's Rugby Team Dominates Season Opener

The Comox Valley Kickers women's rugby team made a powerful statement in their season opener at home, delivering a dominant 88-0 victory over Castaway Wanderers (CW), who travelled up island from Oak Bay.

"The Kickers showcased impressive teamwork, with quick ruck speed and great passing contributing to their overwhelming performance," a release from the team says.

Arts:

Vinyl record show comes back to Courtenay

The love affair with vinyl has been reignited, which shows with the amount of record stores, places to find your vinyl and more record shows than before.  This most curious return to favour is well demonstrated right here in the Comox Valley. The upcoming Fourth Annual Comox Valley Record Show on Oct. 27 is a testament to the format鈥檚 persistence. 

The Comox Valley is served by two full time record stores, Bop City in Courtenay and Moon鈥檚 Records in Cumberland. Bop City has survived and thrived through the CD era while Moon鈥檚 Records is a relative newcomer. The dozens of vendors from up and down the island and the lower mainland have put an enormous amount of work into bringing their impressive array of new and used to this event.

Astrophobia Festival returns to Cumberland for its fourth year

Dan Webb started the Astrophobia Festival during the outset of the pandemic. Webb was stuck at home and it occurred to him that there was an absence of film festivals in the Valley. 

鈥淚 actually started two festivals. I also co-founded the Comox Valley International Film Festival but have moved on from that one. The [Astrophobia] festival is my passion project though,鈥� said Webb.