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BACKS AGAINST THE WALL

Fireman and a policeman get into a sticky situation at Chemainus Elementary
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A little around the middle does the trick for Quinn Beam as he applies some tape to help hold dad Andy Beam on the wall at Chemainus Elementary School. (Photo by Don Bodger)

They brought a whole new meaning to the term ‘hanging out.’

Chemainus Fire Department’s Andy Beam and Ladysmith RCMP’s Mason Dirnback both have kids attending Chemainus Elementary School, but they hung out there Thursday in an entirely different fashion.

Beam and Dirnback were good sports for the school’s annual Terry Fox and Tour de Rock cancer fundraisers. They faced a very sticky situation, being affixed to a wall for two hours while every student in the school came through the gym to apply different coloured pieces of tape to help hold them there.

No bathroom breaks here, folks.

Talk about going through a lot of red tape for a fundraiser. But they also had to endure green tape, blue tape, pink and every other colour applied to them.

Near the end, “I feel fine, but I don’t think they’re going to hold me up,” said Beam.

But those students and staff members obviously knew what they were doing and stuck it to him enough to hold him against the wall after a milk crate he’d been standing on till the job was done got removed.

When Beam burst off the wall with his tape jacket intact, “I told them I was going to get out of it,” he grinned.

“It was fine,” Dirnback said afterwards about the event that would have been a huge ordeal for many people.

But RCMP training put him in the right frame of mind and body for the event.

“We had lots of practice standing still,” he joked.

“I like coming to the kids’ school. It’s good for the kids to see the police. I like being a cop and I like doing stuff like this, too.”

Chemainus Elementary principal Brenda Stevenson has been in that position against the wall before herself, but was pleased not to be doing it this time and reported the fundraising a success.

More than $500 each from the school will be contributed to Terry Fox and Tour de Rock campaigns.

“That’s pretty good,” she said. “I’m pretty excited.”

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HANGING IN THERE Helping out with the taping of dear old dad Mason Dirnback, far left, is kindergarten student Emmitt Dirnback, 5. A little around the middle, left, does the trick for Quinn Beam as he applies some tape to help hold dad Andy Beam on the wall at Chemainus Elementary School. Chemainus Elementary principal Brenda Stevenson flexes her muscle while Beam, left, and Mason Dirnback just kind of hang out at the school Thursday.
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Grade 2 student Isaac Dirnback, 7, has a special connection with the constable on the wall. It’s his dad Mason Dirnback of the Ladysmith RCMP. Family fun was part of the fundraiser at Chemainus Elementary School. (Photo by Don Bodger)
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Chemainus Elementary principal Brenda Stevenson flexes her muscle while Andy Beam, left, and Mason Dirnback just kind of hang out at the school Thursday. (Photo by Don Bodger)
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Andy Beam is back on solid ground with his tape jacket. (Photo by Don Bodger)
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The beginnings of the taping session for Chemainus Fire Department’s Andy Beam, left, and Ladysmith RCMP’s Mason Dirnback. (Photo by Don Bodger)


Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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