The record, 18 décembre 2015, vendredi 18 décembre 2015

[" your is all it \u201cAUTO\u201d be For service that makes you feel like family, come do business with family, ask for Mike or John Page.^ûistril SHERBROOKE LINCOLN 819-822-8055 cell mike.page@valestrie.com 819-563-4466 office 819-578-1965 cell johnpage@valestrie.com Town Talk with Waterville Mayor Nathalie Dupuis Page 4 mTHE» RECORD The voice of the Eastern Townships since 1897 Local Ski Centres brace for the worst Page 3 WEEKEND EDITION 95 cents + taxes\tPM#0040007682\tFriday, December 18, 2015 Spidey robs dépanneur Record Staff Sherbrooke Jeannine Gagnon has turned over a good part of her home to her yearly labour of love Christmas village.Times are tough these days, even for superheroes, and it appears that ar least one has turned to a life of crime.Sherbrooke Police are looking for a distinctive looking thief who robbed a dépanneur in Larocque St.At 10:05 p.m.December 12, a man entered the store armed with a knife and demanded the contents of the cash box.The man was wearing a \"Spiderman\" mask, a checkered cotton coat in shades of gray with a collar and a hood, blue jeans and black gloves.As befits a superhero, he had a deep voice, and is possibly between the ages of 20 and 30 He is about 5' 10 1 (1,78 m) and has broad shoulders but is of thin build.Police are asking anyone who might be able to reveal the man\u2019s secret identity to contact them at (819) 821-5555 By Gordon Lambie Sherbrooke Ten years ago Jeannine Gagnon set up a small Christmas village in her apartment as a part of her Christmas decorating.This Christmas season, Gagnon\u2019s collection of houses is a miniature world that takes up close to one quarter of her living room.Under the glow of her Christmas tree, tiny figurines skate on a mirror beneath a real waterfall, glide down the slope of a ski hill, tend animals on a farm, boil sap in a hand-made sugar shack and move to and fro along the streets of what is not so much a village any more as a small town.Cont\u2019d on Page 3 Little Treasures Turning over the living room to the spirit of Christmas GORDON LAMBIE ¦yw THE UPS STORE 137 Main St., Newport 802-487-0643 Canadian Packaging, Shipping & Receiving! Visit www.trackvermont.com HOURS: M-F 8AM-6PM, SAT.9AM-4PM, SUN.10AM-4PM \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\t \t\tBjl } \t\tÉtat, jflg\t1 \t\t m\\m 03311X33© 42 In.wide up to 250 Ft.long Page 2 Friday, December 18, 2015 newsroom@sherbrookerecord.com The Record The Record e-edition There for you 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week.Wherever you are.Access the full edition of the Sherbrooke Record as well as special editions and 30 days of archives.Renew or order a new 12-month print subscription and get a 12-month online subscription for an additional $5 or purchase the online edition only for $82.21.Record subscription rates (includes Quebec taxes) 1 year print: $155.91 6 month print: $81.85 3 month print: $41.57 12 month web only: $82.21 1 month web only: $7.46 Web subscribers have access to the daily Record as well as archives and special editions.Subscribing is as easy as 1,2,3: 1.\tVisit the Record website: www.sherbrookerecord.com 2.\tClick e-edition.3.\tComplete the form and wait for an email activating your online subscription.Weather TODAY: MAINLY CLOUDY HIGH 2 LOW-4 SATURDAY: 40% CHANCE OF FLURRIES HIGH -3 LOW-7 SUNDAY: MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS HIGH -2 LOW-3 JJJJJ MONDAY: 70% CHANCE OF RAIN OR SNOW HIGH 2 LOW-1 TUESDAY: 60% CHANCE OF SHOWERS HIGH 6 LOW 2 External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him ¦vr Good Reads Eleanor Brown Id Marley was as dead as a doornail.Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail.I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for.You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.Marley may have been dead, but he still returned to haunt Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve, warning the old skinflint that his miserly ways would doom ilvatfl ng Kiirhar rrf The fturfo CJHw?IT* him to eternal damnation.A Christmas Carol was published by Charles Dickens in 1843, and is still a holiday favorite.Every year, we rediscover the miserable grinch, hissing at his well-wishing nephew, angry that an employee might want Christmas Day off, and earlier in his life, coming to love money above all else.That would be why his fiancée dumps him.You\u2019ll find various versions of A Christmas Carol on Lennoxville Library shelves (in the Noel section, and at C-222).The complete version is available online, for free, at www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46.It\u2019s so much fun that you\u2019ll want to read it aloud in various spooky voices, whether you\u2019re alone or not.Dickens, of course, wrote a collection of novels that still entertain and astound.They are filled with humour (\u201cExternal heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge.No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him\u201d), pointed portraiture (\u201cRosebud's guardian was a Mr.Grewgious, an arid, sandy man who looked as if he might be put in a grinding-mill and turned out first-class snuff\u2019), and a keen eye for the evils of poverty, violence and hypocrisy (\u201cAt heart he hated the cathedral and the singing, and wished often that he could find relief, like some old monk, in carving demons out of the desks and seats.He had a soul that was without fear or conscience\u201d).All of Dickens was written so long ago that copyright has long expired; as such thee works can all be found online at, for example, Gutenberg.org.The Lennoxville Library also has some of his works in print form - Great Expectations is in Adult Fiction.But we also have Dickens Audio Books (Great Expectations again [1987], and The Pickwick Papers [2010, on 21 CDs clocking in at 31 hours, read by multiple award-winning actor Simon Prebble].) Are you too busy for his long, long, loooong novels?There\u2019s always the Easy Reads section of the library.Dickens is also famous for leaving his readers hanging.He died in 1870, halfway through a whodunnit, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood.Young Drood disappears, and we\u2019ll never know whether his nasty uncle has murdered him, or if the lad will return in triumph.Quite a few writers have offered solutions to the mystery, however.Matthew GIRL BLUE DRESS Pearl\u2019s attempt is one of the more recent; his novel The Last Dickens was published in 2009 (and is filed in Adult Fiction at the Lennoxville Library), with the action set on three continents, during the years 1867 and 1870.Pearl\u2019s gallant young man is a Boston book publisher, trying to make a living as the exclusive agent of Dickens at a time when the industry was run by pirates who lived to print quick, cheap ripoffs without fear of legal retribution.Our hero, however, is a bit of a liberal sort, and comes under fire for it: \u201c \u2018Why, an office in which the men are mixed together with unmarried woman - it is bound to corrupt young boys! Could awaken certain uncontrolled physical urges in the females, too, I dare fancy, that should make any gentleman color.\u2019 Though he himself did not.\u201d This is literally a literary thriller.The rock star Dickens is recreated during his last tour of the United States; so are his hysterical fans.Then there\u2019s England\u2019s officially sanctioned opium trade (intended to make loads of dough from and to politically destabilize China), smugglers, corrupt officials and shameless book trade operatives.It\u2019s heaps of fun (and well researched: \u201cA ryot looked up from his hoe and suddenly dropped it and ran.[Charles\u2019s son Frank] Dickens found the patch of land he\u2019d been working and saw that the crop here was in fact rice.He frowned.Cont\u2019d on page 5 Ben by Daniel Shelton ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS-X SELL HAVE SPOPPING TO VO, X NEEP TO MAKESHCRF BREAPANP WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTEP WRAPPING GIFTS/ K well, m QOIN&TO TAKE V A NAP.> REN, HOW CAN YOU TAKE A MAP WHEN THERE'REALE ^ THOSE ARE THE BEST NAPS.THESE THINGS v 1DPOZ' ^ USmW mum The Record newsroom@sherbrooker ecord.com Friday, December 18, 2015 Page 3 ^OCAI \u201cWe remain hopeful, but there\u2019s a limit in that we can\u2019t go through bad years year after year.\u201d Ski industry \u201cdefinitely worried\" Gordon Lambie Sherbrooke On December 2, the ski hill in Bromont was the first in the Townships to open its trails to the public, with the centres in Sutton and Orford optimistically announcing that they would do the same in short order.Two weeks of uncharacteristically warm and rainy weather later, Sutton has opened and then closed again, Orford has put off its opening until December 22, Owl\u2019s Head has yet to give a clear sign of when it will be ready to welcome skiers, and the City of Sherbrooke has announced that its small Mont Bellevue centre will not be opening until the new year.Of all the Eastern Townships Ski slopes, only Bromont has been consistently open over the last two weeks, although with only seven of the mountain\u2019s 143 trails in operation, there is room for debate as to just how open the hill has truly been.According to Yves Juneau of the Association des stations de ski du Québec (ASSQ), the situation has ski centre operators in the province feeling worried.\u201cWe are used to the lack of snow.The surprise this year is the warm weather,\u201d Juneau said, \u201cWe know we\u2019re going to TREASURES have limited terrains and some ski areas will not be able to open.It will definitely have a serious impact.\u201d According to the ASSQ the ski industry brings roughly $800 million into the province every winter and is Quebec\u2019s biggest source of winter tourism.For the moment, Juneau said he is holding onto hope for the success of the coming season, given the fact that visits to ski areas prior to December 23rd typically only make up about six per cent of overall traffic.\u201cI cannot say that it\u2019s a very busy time of year for ski areas,\u201d Juneau said, adding that the period from the 23 through to the beginning of January typically makes up about 18 per cent.Once that percentage would have been higher, but Juneau said that ski centres are learning that the holiday season is not peak period anymore and are beginning to adjust their practices.\u201cThe biggest day of the year last year was January 18,\u201d he explained.This doesn\u2019t mean that the loss of potential business doesn\u2019t hurt.Juneau pointed out that the Townships in particular see a lot of traffic from outside the region renting cottages and booking hotels to visit the slopes.There is a risk with the warm weather, Juneau said, Cont\u2019d from Page 1 \u201cEvery year it gets a little bit bigger,\u201d Gagnon said.\u201cOnce you\u2019ve started you can\u2019t walk into a store without going directly into the miniature village aisle.\u201d A seamstress by trade, Gagnon explained that she started to put the village together each year because she had a small collection of wax houses that were a part of a candle collection.\u201cI started with those, just making a little village on the buffet,\u201d she recalled, explaining that before long she found herself adding a plank to the buffet at Christmas time to add more room for the village.In 2015, the village resides on a platform that Gagnon takes apart and puts back together every year.The village is electrified, with what its creator says is a complex system of wires underneath, all run from outlets in her home, and the scenery is carefully constructed out of sculpted floral foam and bits and pieces she has gathered from nature while walking along the bike path alongside the river in East Sherbrooke.Living on her own, the village\u2019s creator said that she does all the set up and staging herself over a period of about 50 hours, usually at the beginning of No- vember.\u201cEvery year I start again; it\u2019s never exactly the same,\u201d Gagnon said, offering the example that her ski hill is eight inches higher this year than last.Though clearly pleased with the visual effect of the finished work, Gagnon made much of the \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d planning that goes into making the village work each year.With the number of different kinds of lights to plan for and arrange, she said that the wiring for the project is a feat of engineering because she needs to be able to imagine her new plan in advance while arranging the hidden wires to make sure that, once the whole thing is finished, the whole town lights up as it is meant to.Gagnon doesn\u2019t deny that the village is an expensive habit, pointing out that she only makes a few very small additions every year, but she argured that the time and money spent on the project has been worthwhile not just for the joy she has seen it bring to herself and others, but for the way it has gotten her to engage with the rest of the world.\u201cI want to inspire people to find their passion,\u201d the village builder said.\u201cThere are so many people who sit in their homes doing nothing, but all summer I have this in my mind.\u201d GORDON LAMBIE *7% k.phalet - Club House An\"eau.dea|ace:Ska!3nk ^rnni/û i pare à Neige \t Local ski hill operators, like those at Sherbrooke\u2019s Mont Bellevue, are dreading another lacklustre season due to unseasonably warm weather.that those bookings will be cancelled.cent years to what would happen to the tourism industry in Canada if the coun-\u201cWe remain hopeful, but there\u2019s a try were to face a major public health limit in that we can\u2019t go through bad crisis every year, years year after year,\u201d tjuneau said, comparing the slew of bad ski seasons in re-\tCont\u2019d on Page 4 Portland extension opens Monday Record Staff Sherbrooke The western extension of Portland Blvd is now complete and the 1.15 km stretch will be open for use first thing Monday, December 21.The $15.5 million project consists of a two-lane boulevard in each direction that can accommodate at least 30 000 vehicles per day.The intersection with Industriel Boulevard will be handled by a double roundabout that can easily accommodate a high volume of heavy vehicle traffic, a first for Sherbrooke.Motorists are asked to be courteous and use the appropriate approaches as shown in billboards and road signage.Instructions for those in doubt can be found at: sherbroolce.ca/portland.The median on Portland has been fitted with a five-metre wide multifunctional path that will be lighted and plowed for cyclists and pedestrians to use throughout the year and two separate tunnels about 20 meters in length will allow them to pass safely under the Industrial - Portland roundabout.Eventually, the trail will be extended as part of building the future René-Lévesque Boulevard.The City points out that the construction of the extension helped develop a new approach in terms of street structure by using a coating comprised of three layers of asphalt, totaling 230 to BOUL.DE PORTLAND BOUL.INDUSTRIEL VILLE DE SHERBROOKE 240 mm thick, which is designed to increase useful life of the road surface.In addition to providing access to valuable land in the regional industrial park, the extension of Portland will de-congest traffic on Bourque and Industriel, the City says.In the next phase of its major projects, the City will proceed with the construction of René-Lévesque Blvd, which will cover some 3.65 km to the Bourque Blvd from the current dual roundabout.Finally, the segment of Léger St.north of Industrial Blvd has also been connected to the new section of Portland providing additional access to new industrial land.Additional landscaping and road work will be conducted next spring and summer.For complete project details visit sher-broolce.ca/portland.To view an animation of the new roundabout, see sherbroolce.ca/portland3d. Page 4 Friday, December 18, 2015 newsroom@sherbrookerecord.com The Record n A own 1\tlal\tk\tMeeting Waterville\u2019s mayor Nathalie Dupuis - Water ville mayor By Matthew McCully Waterville Waterville wants to be like the next suburb of Sherbrooke, according to Mayor Nathalie Dupuis.\u201cWe were kind of a secret before,\u201d Dupuis said.The extension of the 410 has helped put the town on the map.\u201cWe\u2019re only 15 minutes from Carrefour de l\u2019Estrie Estrie,\u201d she said, adding that Waterville offers the best of both worlds; small town living with all the convenience of a big city.\u201cYou have to come to Waterville.You don\u2019t pass through Waterville,\u201d She said, explaining that before the town ended up on the new roundabout signs, many people would drive down Route 143 not knowing the town even existed.Dupuis served two terms as a councillor in town and is halfway through her first term as mayor.\u201cI can see the potential in town,\u201d she said.Patience is the key to seeing projects come to fruition, Dupuis said, realizing that running a town is a long game plan.Waterville has seen its share of ups and downs in the past year, Dupuis said.The CIBC bank closed its local branch, and the town lost Dr.Chia, the area\u2019s GP, who retired this summer.\u201cIt\u2019s not the end of the world,\u201d Dupuis said, pointing out that the Caisse Populaire is still in the area, and people can deal with their banking needs more and more online.Regarding losing the town\u2019s only doctor, Dupuis said they have a plan.\u201cIt\u2019s in the discussion process,\u201d she said.The town has approached the Mas-sawippi Health Coop about the possibility of opening up a satellite location in Waterville.Before the project moves forward, the coop, still getting started, will have to work out its own kinks before considering a second location, according to Dupuis.\u201cIt makes sense,\u201d she said, adding that there is no need for towns so close to each other to start up completely sep- Cont\u2019d from Page 3 He took solace in the fact that the people of Quebec still want to ski, but said that the lack of weather to support those desires creates a worrying view of the future.Backing up what Juneau had to say, Orford General Manager Luc Chapde-laine spoke to the difficulties of the season\u2019s snow making efforts in a statement announcing the site\u2019s intention to open on the 22nd.\u201cDespite the investments that have been made in snow making equipment over the last few years, it is still not pos- arate organizations when they could be working together.\u201cIt\u2019s too soon, we have things to figure out,\u201d she said, but she said opening the door to possibilities is a good start.In the fall of 2014, Waterville completed the biggest project in the history of the town; a new water filtration plant, with an investment totalling $8.5 million.\u201cThat had an impact on citizens\u2019 tax bills,\u201d Dupuis said.When the facility was first up and running, getting a handle on the operating costs was a challenge to estimate in advance, Dupuis said.\u201cWe know more now,\u201d she said, explaining things have stabilized, allowing the town to look at investing in other projects.\u201cYou can\u2019t just smother citizens with expenses,\u201d she said.\u201cDevelopment means investment.It\u2019s not always just an expense, but it\u2019s hard to see the difference,\u201d Dupuis explained.Understanding the challenges of a small population bearing large expenses, one of the town\u2019s mandates is to attract new citizens and see the municipality grow so that those costs can be shared among a larger number of people.Dupuis hopes the expansion of Marché Morin, moving into a newly built location with a gas station and more parking will make the town more attractive for new settlement.The town will likely begin working on a residential development next year, according to Dupuis.On a property belonging partly to the town and partly by Camp Val Estrie, Dupuis said a field located in front of the new Marché Morin location on Gosselin Street could be the site of a new development with space for up to 50 homes.While the town has a number of industries, Dupuis said that Waterville has an interesting dynamic.Most of the employees of the local industries come from outside the town, and most of the people who live in Waterville work outside of town.sible to make snow at temperatures higher than 0 degrees,\u201d lamented Chapdelaine \u201cSituated as we are in a provincial park, we have also made the ecological choice to not use chemical additives in the snow making water, a common practice which facilitates the making of snow at higher temperatures.\u201d According to Juneau, Quebec\u2019s ski hills spend an average of $6 million per year on snowmaking.\u201cThis year we know it\u2019s going to be way above that,\u201d he said, estimating the extra cost as being at least another million.\u201cUsually we make snow at minus seven degrees Celsius.This year we\u2019ve stretched the temperature so that we\u2019re MATTHEW MCCULLY Waterville mayor Nathalie Dupuis loves the that the town provides \u201cthe best of both worlds; small town living with all the convenience of a big city.\u201cIt\u2019s been like that for years.Why?I don\u2019t know.\u201d Overall, Dupuis described the town\u2019s population as a creative, artistic community with a lot of independent workers.The town does not have bilingual status.Roughly 25 percent of the population is Anglophone, Dupuis said.\u201cIt seems like everyone gets along,\u201d she said, adding that the town does translates most things unofficially and can switch languages depending on its audience, enjoying the perks of bilingualism without the added costs associated with official bilingual status.Waterville has two elementary schools; one offering a standard curriculum but with emphasis on outdoor activities, and Les Enfants de la Terre, which follows the less traditional model of Waldorf schools.There is also a private girl\u2019s boarding making it even at minus two or three because there\u2019s such small periods of cold weather that we try to take every opportunity there is.\u201d \u201cAs we speak today, we have worries,\u201d Juneau continued, \u201cbut the ski industry is able to take a hit once in a while, the managers know that there\u2019s no guarantee with the weather, so every owner and manager can anticipate a bad season and handle that.\u201d As of Thursday morning there were 44 ski centres across the province planning to be open for the weekend, but it remains to be seen whether that number meets reality.school, College François-Delaplace, Dupuis said, pointing out there is more to the little town than meets the eye.The biggest win for the community, according to Dupuis, was the skate park ramp built in Parc Bellevue, thanks to funding from the Tillotson Foundation.Dupuis said there is also a plan to asphalt the walking to the trail, connecting its different sections, and will include a new play module for children and an exercise circuit for seniors.Dupuis said each bench in the park will have a different exercise for seniors to try, geared to promote strength and balance, during walks through the park.When asked about public attendance at council meetings, Dupuis said her town is not doing better or worse than any other, maxing out at around four people per meeting.She added that when the town holds consultations looking for input, there is usually good participation.\u201cPeople try to be constructive,\u201d she said, \u201cI think that\u2019s a nice approach and a positive way to work together.Dupuis went on to say sometimes people can have trouble with change.She used the example of two parking spaces that were removed in front of the post office to make it easier for pedestrians crossing the street to be seen.While members of the public were first upset to lose two spaces in town when parking is already tight, they eventually saw the benefits, and even asked that the no parking zone be slightly increased.\u201cSometimes you have to go through that.\u201d Waterville Population: 2068 MRC: Coaticoolc Council: Mayor: Nathalie Dupuis Councillor seat 1: Antoine deacon Councillor seat 2: Gaétan Lafond Councillor seat 3: Karl Hunting Councillor seat 4: Gordon Barnett Councillor seat 5: Gilles Charest Councillor seat 6: Carole Chassé Town hall: 170, rue Principale Sud Waterville (Québec) JOB 3H0 819 837-2456 Interesting historical fact: According to Mayor Dupuis, the founders of Waterville included one third Loyalists from New England, one third Francophones, and one third Swedish immigrants.S'NO GO FOR SKI HILLS The Record newsroom@sherbrookerecord.com Friday, December 18, 2015 Page 5 Good Reads Cont\u2019d from page 2 The opium was mandated, the rice illegal.\u201d) The Last Dickens also makes brief mention of Nelly Turnan, the younger woman for whom Dickens left his wife (after eight children).You can pick up on that part of the story in Girl In The Blue Dress, by Gaynor Arnold (2008, in Adult Fiction).The names have been changed: Alfred Gibson dies halfway through writing a mystery novel.His wife, Dorothea Gibson, was banished from their home a decade ago, and uses the death to recall their relationship.The writing is almost Victorian, at times a bit overwrought (as were both the women and, refreshingly, the men, of the time).Dorothea was never able to recover from Alfred.It\u2019s clear that Catherine Dickens never did, either.As Arnold writes, \u201cI have tried to give voice to the largely voiceless Catherine Dickens, who once requested that the letters from her husband be preserved so that \u2018the world may know he loved me once.\u2019\u201d WHAT THE-?On the day he was born, the poor wee guy didn\u2019t know who, or what, he was.He took a name for himself: What-The-Dickens.Young Master What then tries to find a home for himself, a place to fit in.He is, it must be said, strangely attracted to teeth.And so begins the tale of What-The-Dickens: The Story Of A Rogue Tooth Fairy (2007, filed in C-250).It\u2019s written by Gregory Maguire, famous for his adult reimaginings of The Wizard Of Oz from various perspectives (beginning with 1995\u2019s Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West, filed in the Lennoxville Library\u2019s Adult Fiction section).It turns out buddy is a skibbereen.(\u201cDon\u2019t touch me.Skibbereen rarely touch each other.\u201d All these rules, he thought.I\u2019ll never learn.) The tale of the lost skibbereen is told by a babysitter to three children, trapped in a house with little food during a natural disaster.The sitter is desperate to keep the kids occupied, and the book switches from skibbereen to distraught children, then back again.Readers should know that Maguire seems not to be a fan of religion, and there\u2019s a human granny with a penchant for gin.Certainly the tale shows signs of Dickensian wit and uncomfortable social circumstances: \u201cShe armed herself with two thorns shaped into knitting needles.A wodge of curlicued metallic scrubbing pad supplied the thread.T knit handcuffs as a hobby,\u201d explained Old Flossie happily, and set to work.\u201cIdle hands get up to no good, and I like to be prepared in case I meet up with any idle hands.\u2019 \u201d The expression \u201cWhat the Dickens\u201d turns out to have nothing to do with the venerable author, however.It was used at least as far back as the 1500s, far before Dickens\u2019 birth.It might refer to the Devil, or it might refer to a woodworker who never managed to make a profit of selling his bowls: \u201cNo more is to be got by that than William Dickins got by his wooden dishes,\u201d wrote one wag back in 1599.(A tip of the hat to the Guardian newspaper for the history lesson.) In the meantime, What-The-Dickens continues to learn about his heritage: \u201cDozens of tooth fairies work in any given sector during any given season of Quebec police say they have received 200 tips in Cedrika Provencher case /Aue I )ha V^th clue^Tr The Canadian Press uebec provincial police say they have received about 200 tips since they began searching for new n the death of nine-year-old Cedrika Provencher.Her skull was found by passersby last Friday and Capt.Guy Lapointe said the investigation is progressing well.\u201cWe're satisfied with the search so far,\u201d Lapointe told a news conference Thursday in Saint-Maurice, near Provencher's hometown of Trois-Rivieres, where she vanished in July 2007.Lapointe gave few details but did confirm that police are still interested in the driver of a red Acura that was seen near the scene of her disappearance.\u201cWhat I can tell you is the red Acura is still an element we're looking at, it's still a lead we're following, so, again, if anybody has information regarding that, we'll take it,\u201d he said.Lapointe would not confirm whether police have spoken to the driver again.He also did not want to answer when asked whether remains other than the skull had been found.If the search for more clues continues on the weekend, it will do so with fewer officers because some of them need a break from such a gruelling assignment, he added.Muscular Dystrophy * « _ **> -Soon* ^ Association of Canada fireman 5o/ne