Sept. 29, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News

They’ll be talking about medical marijuana grows, booze pricing and even musty old clauses in land sales agreements that hurt a city’s growth plans.

And it’s hoped other cities will see Maple Ridge’s point of view and adopt the resolutions and push the provin-cial government into action at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conven-tion this week in Whistler.

Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin is confi dent the resolutions will at least see the light of day.

“I’m sure we’ll get support on the medical marijuana grow thing be-cause it is a challenge in a number of municipalities.”

Surrey proposed the resolution last year, but it didn’t get any support.

Businesses try to attract bike traffic. p5B.C. Views

Politics and the Peace River dam. p6

A Maple Ridge man faces crimi-nal charges in connection with a drunk driving crash that killed his girlfriend earlier this year.

Trevor Livingston, 20, made his fi rst appearance in Port Coquit-lam Provincial Court on Tuesday

on one court each of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death, and hav-ing a blood alcohol content over .08 while in care or control of ve-hicle.

Livingston is accused of being behind the wheel of a silver Audi on March 8, when it slammed into hydro pole in Pitt Meadows, kill-ing 19-year-old Amanda Wood-thorpe.

The Maple Ridge teen was re-moved from the crumpled wreck by people passing by. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Pitt Meadows fi re depart-

ment used the jaws of life to extract Liv-ingston from the car. He was airlifted to Royal Co-lumbian Hos-pital in New Westminster with serious head and in-ternal inju-ries.

Two passengers in the back seat – a 20-year-old man and 19-year-old woman – were also injured.

The four were returning home from a night out at Rooster’s Country Cabaret in Pitt Mead-ows.

Livingston’s serious injuries initially prevented police from laying charges sooner.

He was in a drug-induced coma for nearly a month and police say he has had to make “life altering arrangements” as a result of inju-ries sustained in the crash.

“Mr. Livingston’s health ... has positively improved and he is now able to answer to the charges,” said Insp. Derren Lench.

Trevor Livingston makes fi rst appearance in provincial court

THE NEWS

Charges in drunk driving death

James Maclennan/THE NEWS

River’s DayBeavers, Cubs and Scouts explore Kanaka Creek Regional Park in a canoe during B.C. River’s Day in Maple Ridge on Sunday. Stewardship groups such as the Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (KEEPS) and the Alouette River Management Society (ARMS) helped organize events locally.

‘Make sure medical growops follow rules’

See UBCM, p3

See Charges, p10

Opinion 6

Tom Fletcher 6

Letters 7

Community Calendar 18

Arts&life 19

Sports 23

Classifi eds 27

Index

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢www.mapleridgenews.com

Arts&life

Singer nominated for Aboriginal music award. p19

Woodthorpe

b y M o n i s h a M a r t i n sstaff repor ter

b y P h i l M e l n y c h u kstaff repor ter

New drunk driving rules

hurting pub.

See story, p3

Since then, the TAGS Medical Cannabis dispensary opened in Maple Ridge on 224th Street, south of Lougheed Highway.

Maple Ridge then wrote a let-ter to Health Canada expressing the same concerns about medical marijuana growops as an earlier resolution proposed by the Feder-ation of Canadian Municipalities.

The resolution at Whistler will ask for the same thing – that the federal government fi gure out a way to ensure medicinal marijua-na growops are following all the rules.

The resolution cites the risks of growing medicinal marijuana, which resemble the illegal opera-tions – such as grow rips, health hazards to kids living in homes where marijuana is grown inten-sively, and the greater risk of fi res and chemical spills.

Daykin said Kelowna, Langley and Parksville are facing the same issue as Maple Ridge, with dispen-saries opening.

The current situation turns mu-nicipalities into the “default regu-lator,” he said.

“We don’t have the manpower to go around monitoring growops.”

The issue cropped up last year when Surrey asked that Health Canada to require medicinal mari-juana grow operations to follow all electrical, health, fi re and safety regulations.

That prompted a response from Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, explaining that her department does not verify compliance by me-dicinal marijuana users. Those re-sponsibilities are stated when the person gets the licence, she said.

“I think the feds have put in a system that has no checks and bal-ances,” Daykin said.

So far, though, he knows of only

two medical growops in Maple Ridge not following their licence requirements.

Daykin added he had no problem with sick people using marijuana to ease their suffering. But give it a drug identifi cation number and sell it from a pharmacy, he sug-gested.

Coun. Cheryl Ashlie is particu-larly concerned about alcohol pricing in bars and stores that seems targeted at kids. Often, low-alcohol drinks are more expensive and the strong stuff and it should be the other way around.

She and the rest of Maple Ridge

council want the provincial gov-ernment to enact policies suggest-ed by the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.

She doesn’t want the government to do another study – which could delay things another decade.

Another resolution asks the province to change the Land Ti-tles Act so that cities and towns can remove clauses that prohibit a particular use when a property is sold.

Often those covenants are put in place to prevent a retail com-petitor from later using the same property. However, the clauses can last for years and hurt munici-pal goals for development.

“That will be interesting to see how many other communities have that problem,” said Daykin.

Tough new drunk driving rules that came into effect across B.C. last week have Maple Ridge pubs scrambling to get customers to drink an alcoholic beverage.

“It’s like a switch went off on Monday,” said Todd Arbuthnot, who owns the Fox’ Reach Pub and Grill on Dewdney Trunk Road near 203rd Street.

“Business is way off as a result. People’s drinking habits changed immediately. They are either or-dering only one drink or not order-ing any.”

Under the new legislation, anyone with a blood alcohol level above 0.08 faces an immediate 90-day driving ban, fi nes of more than $ 4,000 and a 30-day vehicle impoundment – in addition to possible criminal charg-es.

The rules also created a “warn-ing” category for drivers with blood alcohol levels between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent.

Penalties include an immediate three-day driving ban and a $200 fi ne for a fi rst-time offence.

Alouette Taxi manager George Nestor said there was an increase in calls for service on the weekend, but it’s too early to tell if the laws are keeping drunk drivers out of their cars.

“The increase could have been because of the rain. I’d love to see some of these people off the road. They lose their reasoning when they are drunk.”

One local pub has even inquired about $5 taxi vouchers for its cus-tomers.

“There was no consultation,

which is upsetting. I’ve never seen any stats that say how many acci-dents there are when blood alcohol content is between .05 and .08,” said Arbuthnot.

“There are already criminal laws in place, enforce those laws. You don’t need to create another law.

They’ve given the police way too much power. They are the judge and jury and you have no recourse.”

The drop in pub patrons has prompted Arbuthnot to consider providing a free shuttle to ferry peo-ple to and from the Fox’s Reach.

He hopes to have the van in place

next week, running six days a week from 6 p.m. until closing.

“Unfortunately, the Fox’s Reach sits in area where there is not much housing,” Arbuthnot said. “It’s ei-ther [the shuttle] or lose my busi-ness.”

The province, though, has a goal: to reduce alcohol-impaired driving fatalities by 35 per cent by the end of 2013.

The goal was announced earlier this year in memory of Alexa Mid-delaer, a four-year-old girl who was killed by a drunk driver in Delta two years ago.

“Despite increased enforcement and signifi cant efforts to promote awareness, we’ve begun to see a rise in impaired driving across Brit-ish Columbia,” Solicitor General Michael de Jong said while intro-ducing the new legislation.

“That trend is unacceptable and that’s why we’re bringing in these new laws: to get impaired drivers off the road with clear, swift and severe penalties.”

Ridge Meadows RCMP, mean-while, nabbed their fi rst driver Fri-day, four days after the new rules came into effect.

Const. Michael Moore stopped the 25-year-old man from Burnaby at a road check around 11:15 p.m. on McMyn Road and Harris Road in Pitt Meadows.

Moore used a Breathalyzer to test for blood alcohol content, which re-sulted in a “fail.”

A “fail” indicates to police the per-son has 100 milligrams of alcohol in 100 ml of blood, or more.

The man had to surrender his driver’s licence for 90 days, while the 2009 Ford Focus he was driving was impounded for 30 days.

“No longer will people be able to start driving again after 24 hours of suspension. It is now a minimum of three days suspension,” said Insp. Derren Lench.

“As I’ve said before, don’t drink and drive as we will catch you.”

New drunk driving rules hurting pub


Fox’s Reach owner Todd Arbuthnot is starting a new shuttle service to for patrons.

‘Municipalities turned into default regulators’

Ridge Meadows RCMP nabbed fi rst driver on Friday under new legislation

Penalties A driver who provides a breath sample in the fail range on a roadside screening device (above 0.08 per cent BAC) will face: • An immediate, 90-day driving ban and a $500 administrative penalty. Currently, a driver who receives a 90-day ban may still drive for three weeks before that ban is in eff ect, and no adminis-trative penalty applies.• A driver’s licence reinstatement fee of $250 – up from the current $100.• A bill of about $700 for towing and 30 days of impoundment. • Mandatory participation in the existing Responsible Driver Program, which costs participants $880, and mandatory use of an ignition interlock device for one year, which currently costs $1,420.• Thus, one fail of a roadside screening device will cost a driver about $3,750 before they can legally operate a vehicle again, following any related suspension.

A driver who provides a breath sample in the warn range on a roadside screening device (between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent BAC) for the fi rst time in a fi ve-year period will face:• A three-day driving ban and a $200 administrative penalty. These will rise to a seven-day ban and $300 penalty for a second “warn” reading within fi ve years, and a 30-day ban and $400 penalty for a third “warn” reading within fi ve years. • A driver’s licence reinstatement fee of $250. This is a new cost for this driver, as the current reinstatement fee of $100 only applies to driving bans longer than 24 hours.• The possibility of three days of vehicle impoundment, which will cost about $150.


UBCM from front

Bill Walsh wonders when he’ll get his say.

The resident who lives at the corner of Lougheed Highway and 105th Avenue is aware of the open house on the future of Albion fl ats tonight, but he won’t be able to get there be-cause of the cancer he’s fi ghting.

On the other hand, he’s yet to hear from the consultant managing the public input process for the District of Maple Ridge as it starts plan-ning the future of Al-bion fl ats.

“No one seems to want to talk to me,” said Walsh.

But he hasn’t got only the future to worry about. The present is bad enough. For some

reason, more motor-ists continue to use his driveway on the corner of the highway as a turn-around point and he’d like that issue addressed as well.

Tonight’s meeting is the fi rst gathering open to the general public. People can drop in and look at interactive dis-plays and fl ip through background reports that looked at impacts on ag-riculture, transportation and commerce.

The meeting starts at 5 p.m. at the Arts Centre Theatre and continues until 9 p.m.

But residents who want to hear a presenta-tion about what could go in the agricultural land beside Lougheed High-way should be there by 6 p.m.

According to a socio-economic study on de-veloping Albion fl ats, Maple Ridge has the op-portunity to “combine a mix of uses in a progres-sive way while retaining some of the important natural features of the site.”

It notes, Albion fl ats is “very strong loca-tion from a commercial standpoint,” and that the district is under-served commercially, in particular the eastern part.

“Expanded recreation-al facilities on Albion fl ats would provide ad-ditional activity to the site, creating added syn-ergies for retail,” says the report.

However, it issues a warning as well, saying that before any retail de-velopment proceeds, the impact on Maple Ridge’s downtown revitalization needs to be analyzed.

Smart!Centres mall development company wants to put in big box malls in the area it owns within Albion fl ats.

Jackie Chow, with the local branch of the Van-couver Area Cycling Coalition, doesn’t favour big boxes being built there, but if they are, there have to be strong links for non-motorized traffi c.

“If that’s what the city [district] is going to concentrate on, I’m not sure how useful it will be to beautify the down-town.”

Albion fl ats planning now to publicPresentation on uses at ACT, 6 p.m.

THE NEWS/files

A study says the Albion flats are a strong location for commercial development.


Businesses in Maple Ridge and Pitt Mead-ows are being asked to jump on to the bicycling bandwagon and say how they think cycling is good for sales.

“Business should realize that improved cycling infrastructure in the downtown area will benefi t business – because it makes the downtown more acces-sible for everybody – not just people with cars,” said Jackie Chow.

Chow, with the local branch of the Vancou-ver Area Cycling Co-alition, launched the Businesses for Bikes program Tuesday.

It’s a plan to gather a group of businesses who support cycling, who in turn can help other businesses attract the two-wheeled set.

The Downtown Maple Ridge Business Im-provement Association sent out the notice as an information item, but it’s too soon to say what kind of encouragement, if any, cycling will get in Maple Ridge.

“It’s just something to see how or what kind of support,” said Ineke Boekhorst, executive-director with the BIA.

One of the main ob-jections to bike lanes is that it takes away park-ing spaces and impedes access to local shops.

But Boekhorst pointed out there’s lot of park-ing in the downtown, although it may not be on Lougheed Highway or 224th Street. “I think we need to see what the businesses think about it and what is their re-action to it.”

She sees a steady in-crease in people getting around on two wheels. “I just see in the future, people are going to bike.”

However, bike lanes aren’t even included in the newly renovated parts of downtown.

“Our problem is a lot of our shops are on Dewdney Trunk Road and Lougheed High-way,” on TransLink’s major road networks, said Chow. The trans-portation agency is re-luctant to give up space on those roads for bike lanes.

What could happen in the future, though, once the Haney Bypass is widened its entire length to four lanes, traffi c volume could be

reduced on Lougheed Highway through down-town. That could allow angle parking to be in-stalled on Lougheed, leaving room for a bike lane from 222nd Street to 228th Street, says Chow.

“All this money is be-ing spent on beautifying the downtown area and we still have all these cars going through there and they’re not slowing down too much.”

It’s not a pleasant place for people to be, she adds.

“If you make the shop-ping streets more peo-ple friendly, it will help the shops.”

Herman Thind, own-er of Opa Souvlaki in Meadowntown Centre in Pitt Meadows, says

cyclists are a big part of his business.

They arrive from the suburbs surrounding the mall and via the bike path along the south side of Lougheed Highway.

“We fi nd we get a lot of traffi c from people who ride in from the surrounding areas.”

The mall has easy ac-cess for cyclists and there are bike stands at points around the mall with management con-sidering adding more.

One problem, though, is bicycle access from Maple Ridge. Thind suggests just a bike lane on Lougheed High-way from Maple Ridge would help.

People who join the Businesses for Bikes program (there’s no

cost) will get a guide showing how to market their business to cy-clists and get noted in the Vancouver Area Cy-cling Coalition’s news-letter.

According to the coali-tion, information from Metro Vancouver’s bike to work week shows:

• average wage of a bike-to-work week par-ticipant is $50,000;

• 27 per cent of those participating earn more than $75,000;

• fastest growing seg-ment of cyclists are women and those ap-proaching retirement;

• cycling is the fastest-growing method of trav-el, according to the City of Vancouver;

• removing parking spots increases visibil-ity for stores nearby.

Businesses can benefit from bike lanesVancouver cyclists start Businesses for Bikes program


Jackie Chow of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition sits amongst cars on Lougheed Highway near 224 Street.


THE NEWS/opinion

VICTORIA – Sci-entist-activist David Suzuki was billed as the keynote speaker at a recent rally at the B.C. legislature to oppose construc-tion of Site C, a third hydroelectric dam on the Peace River.

Suzuki did not ap-pear, so I wasn’t able to determine how he would square his presumed opposition with his furious ad-vocacy for greenhouse gas reduction.

In April, his foundation responded to the B.C. government’s announcement that it would proceed to the environ-mental assessment stage on Site C with a series of recommendations. Those included further environmental assess-ment (now underway), a province-wide study of B.C.’s renewable energy plans and review of the social and cultural impacts on the Treaty 8 First Nations in the region.

The Treaty 8 group, funded by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, par-ticipated in a 15-month study of the project. The rally marked their deter-mination to reject it.

Roland Willson, chief of the West Moberly First Nations, described a hid-den agenda to develop the huge Horn River natural gas deposit in B.C.’s northeast corner.

“They say it’s for 500,000 homes, but the day after they announced Site C, they announced a power line going up to the Horn River,” Willson told the rally. “That gas is going to go to the

Alberta tar sands and devastate the Alberta tar sands area and the First Nations people that live over there.

“It’s going to go to dirty coal in our area. It’s going to go to California where they need to turn on their air conditioning because they’re too lazy to open windows down there.”

B.C. Green Party leader Jane Sterk agreed.

“I think it’s about opening up the Horn River gas basin and the tar sands,” Sterk told me. “And secondly, it’s about trying to create the myth that we’re selling green power to the U.S.”

The B.C. Green Party opposes all new hydro development. Sterk advocates wind and solar power, precisely the kind of intermittent sources that Site C would facilitate by providing steady backup power.

No one mentioned the planned gas pipeline and port facility to export liquefied gas from Kitimat, where it would displace dirtier fuels in South Korea and elsewhere, or the proposed new gas processing plant near Dawson Creek that will burn gas to generate its power because there isn’t enough hydro power to supply it.

Coal mines continue to be developed in northeastern B.C., and without hydro supplies available, they’ll buy it from dirtier sources.

NDP energy critic John Horgan, on record for years as supporting the clear engineering case for Site C, re-ceived a warm welcome. He called for a scientific and economic, rather than emotional or political decision on the project.

Treaty 8 regional chief Liz Logan

warned of mercury in fish as a result of the dam. That’s the kind of claim that is seized upon by environmental campaigners such as the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club of B.C., who helped organize this rally.

It’s true that flooding vegetation promotes bacteria that bring naturally occurring mercury into the food chain. It’s also true that this declines as the vegetation decays, as a 2008 study of whitefish and bull trout in the Peace River tends to confirm.

It’s also true that mercury occurs in fish all over the world, and in terms of actual mercury concentrations, Logan and others in the region should be more concerned about canned tuna purchased at grocery stores in Fort St. John.

But you won’t hear much about cli-mate change or science in this debate. It’s all about the politics.

Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press

and BCLocalnews.com(tfl [email protected])

Politics and the Peace River dam

Not so socialIngrid RiceNews Views

Published and printed by Black Press at 22328 – 119th Avenue, Maple Ridge, B.C., V2X 2Z3

@ Online poll: cast your vote at www.mapleridgenews.com, or e-mail your vote and comments to [email protected]

This week’s question: Would you support the recall of local MLA Marc Dalton?

B.C. Views Tom Fletcher

Suddenly the social media don’t seem so social anymore.

Last weekend, a teenage girl was beaten to death in a North Delta park; her friends immediately launched tribute pages in her memory on the so-cial networking site, Facebook. The heartfelt post-ings were soon interlaced with tawdry photos and other malicious nonsense.

The previous week, the sexual assault of anoth-er teenage girl at a party in Pitt Meadows became Facebook fodder, as witnesses posted photos and hurled attacks on the victim’s character.

A new documentary fi lm, Catfi sh, chronicles the unsettling relationship formed over Facebook be-tween a freelance photographer in New York City and the family of an eight year-old girl in North-ern Michigan who adapted one of his photos into a painting.

Another fi lm, about to be released, tells a fi ction-alized account of the founding of Facebook, por-traying its young founder as a bit of a social reject with real live human beings.

In Arkansas, a radio sports reporter was recent-ly fi red for, among other things, posting deroga-tory comments about her new community on her Twitter page.

While the internet has opened up vast new ways for people to connect and share information, such unbridled freedom brings with it a level of respon-sibility.

Unfortunately, the relative anonymity offered by the World Wide Web and social sites like Fa-cebook, MySpace and Twitter, where anyone with enough imagination to create a username and password can easily concoct an entirely fi ctional personality, also opens the web to miscreants with mischief and malice on their minds.

“Trolls,” as they’re commonly called, rarely think about the consequences of their actions. They stir up virtual trouble just for the thrill of eliciting a reaction. They spread rumours, relay gossip, demean or degrade just because they can.

The results of their keyboard tapping can destroy reputations, relationships, careers, even lives.

Perhaps in this time of social media, it’s also time for a refresher on social and personal re-sponsibility.

– Black Press

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Ser ving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows since 1978

THE NEWS ”It’s also true that mercury occurs in fish all over the world, and in terms of actual mercury concentrations, Logan and others in the region should be more concerned about canned tuna purchased at grocery stores in Fort St. John.”

Letters to the editor should be exclusive to The News and address topics of interest to residents of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Include full name and address, as well as daytime phone number for verification. Keep letters to 500 words or less. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

@ E-mail letters to [email protected].

Letters welcome

EDITOR, THE NEWS:Re: Fate of Albion hall

hangs in the balance (The News, Sept. 24).

Regarding the claims that the Albion Community As-sociation is unable to at-tract new members, I have to agree completely with the sentiments of resident Elizabeth Taylor.

She states, “The newcom-ers don’t even know about the ACA.”

And she is completely cor-rect.

Since moving to Albion last year, the Albion Com-munity Hall has been a mysterious little building next to the local elementary school. I drive by it at least twice every day, and have often wondered what goes on there.

Other than the name placard, there is no other signage, no indication of events, no information about what goes on there, who’s in charge or where to go for more information.

The hall and the associa-tion have absolutely zero Internet presence.

I’ve searched a couple of times and cannot even fi nd it on the District of Maple Ridge’s website.

The list of Community Halls starts with CEED and ends alphabetically with Whonnock.

Albion is not mentioned at all.

Due to the age of the build-ing, I originally surmised it was just a neglected histori-cal relic, left behind because someone hasn’t taken the time to knock it down yet.

I have since seen it open, very occasionally, with par-ents whisking young chil-dren into the door.

My more recent thought was that it was annexed by the elementary school.

So it came as a big sur-prise when I read the article and discovered that there’s an entire organization, one

with a long (albeit declin-ing) history, in charge of the site.

I was more surprised still that the Albion Community Association has been look-ing for volunteers.

Booking agent Patti Wood claims that efforts have been made to attract in-volvement, but such efforts have been completely invis-ible.

While I have no doubt they’ve placed ads, my guess is that they were eas-ily lost among the din of our advertising-inundated world.

Why isn’t there more in-formation posted on the building itself? Why is there no website?

Such things could easily be done by the handful of remaining volunteers for very little money.

Perhaps that is a fi rst step in getting the ball rolling.

Or perhaps, now that I’ve put fi nger to keyboard, I’ll give them a call and offer to volunteer myself.

After all, thanks to the ar-ticle in The News, it’s not a

mystery anymore.EARL R. THURSTON

MAPLE RIDGE

New centre for AlbionEDITOR, THE NEWS:

Re: Fate of Albion hall hangs in the balance (The News, Sept. 24).

For 83 years a band of determined and dedicated volunteers have take care of Albion Hall. They are about to make an important deci-sions about its future.

I hope the Albion Hall association will consider handing over the deed and property to the municipal-ity, contingent on its reloca-tion, and begin the process of building a vibrant com-munity centre.

The hall was built in 1923. Back then, the land was do-nated and the settlers of Al-bion, few in numbers, used their ingenuity and farming know-how to construct it.

In 1977, the Whonnock Women’s Institute turned over the deed and property for Whonnock Hall (built in 1912) to the municipality.

The people of Whonnock Lake, population 4,000, then rolled up their sleeves, and after 10 years of fundraising and with involvement from all three levels of govern-ment, Whonnock Lake Cen-tre was built.

The same could be done in Albion.

It’s time for Maple Ridge council to get involved and help make this happen.

Let’s demolish Albion Hall, sell the land and use the proceeds towards a new community centre for Al-bion. Save the wooden fl oor and incorporate it in the new centre.

The Albion Community Association and municipal-ity could be partners on this project.

A three-acre parcel at the corner of 102nd Avenue and 244th Street has been for sale for a long time. It was originally part of the Jackson farm. It would be a perfect location for a com-munity centre, not the farm itself, though.

B. EALES

MAPLE RIDGE

EDITOR, THE NEWS:Re: Dalton on MLA recall list (The News, Sept. 22).Before this whole mess with the HST goes completely off

the rails, I believe it is time for a reality check.Reality one: Even if it is true that the Liberals actually lied

before the election, just hinting during the election campaign that they were exploring the possibility of implementing the HST would most likely have meant defeat at the polls. Can you think of any party that would do such a thing?

Reality two: Certain people, spoiling for revenge or wait-ing for a political opportunity, jumped at the chance to rile up the public with their anti-HST campaign, not conducting a survey with options, but asking a single question: “Are you against the HST?”

Because no-one wants any new taxes, the only real surprise was that just 750,000 were claimed to have signed up, which in the meantime has dwindled down to about 550,000.

Reality three: Does anyone really believe that Bill Vander Zalm is honestly against the HST?

As an astute businessman, he knows full well the benefi ts of the HST over and against the previous two-tax system with its many costly duplications.

The question therefore arises, what is his hidden agenda? Not being open about his real motives is called lying by

omission, which is exactly what he is accusing the Liberals of. The same goes for the NDP – it will never tell you that its only agenda is to defeat the Liberals in the next election. We can also be sure that the NDP will not repeal the HST, if the party gained power. But even if the New Democrats did, we would see other large tax increases, in order to fulfi ll all the party’s election promises.

To add to that, we just heard Carole James say publicly that the NDP is staying out of the recall issue, and that is categori-cally not true.

The conclusion here is that the lying, or not telling the whole truth becomes a moot point.

Reality four: If those who have political infl uence were tru-ly concerned for the people of B.C., they would have worked with the government to make the HST more acceptable, for instance by suggesting to lower the PST by one or two per cent and going more across the board, thereby cutting a lot of administration costs and at the same time making the HST much more palatable to the people. In fact, not doing that is one of the mistakes the government made, in my opinion.

Reality fi ve: Even now, by and large, life goes on as before. We still sit in our line-ups for our $4 or $5 lattés, still feel en-titled to a weekly expensive meal in a high-class restaurant and still need our expensive entertainment, all the while complaining about that added tax instead of cutting back a little on our self indulgent habits and thereby actually com-ing out ahead.

WALTER VERWOERD

MAPLE RIDGE

HST is goodOn HST letters, I am amazed at the number of people

who seem to feel that because a large number of people sign a petition to say that they do not like taxes that a tax should be removed. Where do these anti HST people think money is going to come from?

These same people want to waste more tax dollars in forcing needless by-elections. Wait for the election call and you can then vote for your candidate that promises you everything you want to be paid for by lowering taxes. I have yet to see one of these angry people even suggest some logical alternative. It is always, ‘they lied to us.’

I am just glad the government changed its mind on the HST. It took a responsible look at best solution instead of easiest political solution. Trying to make angry people happy will only see them fi nd something else to be angry about.

DAN BANOV

MAPLE RIDGE

Time for a HST reality check

What is Albion hall used for?

‘Stop saving farmland that can’t be productive’EDITOR, THE NEWS:

Re: Ridge the next South Bronx (Letters, Sept. 10).

Why is a senior from San Francisco writing a letter of support for the pro-farming group in Maple Ridge?

Mission and Pitt Mead-ows are both smaller cit-ies with smaller popula-tions than Maple Ridge, yet these more progressive cities have more shopping and jobs than Maple Ridge. Why?

The answer is a small group of naysayers sup-ported by a few councillors and an MLA. Only an elec-

tion will change the course of Maple Ridge.

Maple Ridge is about to become Mayberry. Yes, the probability is very high be-cause Mission is very close to having another major shopping centre to include Walmart and Winners.

Port Coquitlam also has major shopping on the drawing board. The chance of any major shopping com-ing to Maple Ridge is slim.

There is also a new indus-trial park just south of the Lougheed Highway at Mis-sion.

What if we had local jobs?

Enter the Pelton project, and 1,600 jobs.

I must also note a long list of other benefi ts for our community too numerous to mention here, including increased tax revenue.

Steve Pelton has said he used greenhouses because the soil is poor quality and will not support a typical farming operation and his past tree farming operation was no longer viable,

This is true for the majori-ty of Maple Ridge farmland. Blueberries and cranber-ries require high amounts of water and thrive in these

heavy clay-based soils. Maple Ridge will never see cultivated fi elds of produce like that found east of Mis-sion, Abbotsford, Delta and Surrey. Therefore feeding us locally is not an issue.

Stop saving farmland that can’t be productive. We have too much farm-land that can’t pay its own taxes through the process of farming.

Embrace change, for with-out change we will wither and die as a viable commu-nity.

JIM BULPIT

MAPLE RIDGE

THE NEWS/files

Albion hall is run by the Albion Community Association.

THE NEWS/letters

Incidents of school vandalism dropped sharply over the past summer, and school dis-trict offi cials aren’t quite sure why.

Through July and August, School District No. 42 reported 109 in-cidents of vandalism at local schools, the lowest tally since 2004. July saw just 47 incidents report-ed, down from 73 the year before. In August, there were 62 incidents of vandalism reported, down from a peak of 107 in 2006.

“It’s delightful not to have that unnecessary work,” said the district’s maintenance manager, Jim Pasquill. Instead of painting over graf-

fi ti or replacing broken windows, the district’s maintenance staff can focus on improving schools, he added.

“We have limited re-sources to start with, so vandalism really takes away from what we can do,” he said.

With plenty of hot, sunny days throughout July and August, Pas-quill said he would nor-mally expect to see an increase in vandalism.

“We usually see a drop if there’s been pouring rain or snow,” he said. “Nice weather usually means there are more kids out.”

However, Pasquill is shy about taking credit for the decline, as the district hasn’t done any-thing different this sum-mer to attribute for the decline.

“It would be nice to understand the causes and effects clearer, to know what is working and what isn’t,” he said. “But I certainly hope the steps we’ve taken are doing some good.”

Among the district’s efforts to combat van-dalism are high tech so-lutions like metal rolling shutters to protect win-dows, as well as video surveillance, motion de-tectors, automated sprin-kler systems, and the Mosquito teen deterrent – a device that emits an obnoxious high-pitched noise audible only to young people. The dis-trict also operates a 24-hour vandalism hotline and forwards reports of vandalism to the dis-trict’s security fi rm or the RCMP so they can respond.

Pasquill speculated that the opening of the Golden Ears Bridge may also played a role in the decline.

“Perhaps some of these people who like to vandalize schools are doing it over there now,” he said.

Vandalism costs the school district close to $600,000 annually, enough money to hire eight to 10 teachers. Fighting vandalism isn’t cheap either. Metal roll-ing shutters can cost $1,000 per horizontal metre, and a single Mos-quito unit can run $900 per unit, plus installa-tion.

• If you witness an act of vandalism or theft on school property, call the district’s anti-vandalism hotline number at 604-466-4357.

School vandalism drops over summerb y R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r fstaff repor ter

“This case is a horrif-ic illustration of what drinking and driving can result in and the entire incident was preventable. The two passengers who sur-vived are undoubtedly haunted by memories of that night, and a

family has to deal with the untimely death of their young daughter and sister.”

Meanwhile, Wood-thorpe’s family is us-ing their loss to raise awareness about drinking and driving.

Her older sister Jen-nifer is working on

a presentation with Mothers Against Drunk Driving that she intends to deliver through local schools.

“It is important for us to raise awareness,” said Woodthorpe’s mom Barbara.

The family is angry with Livingston and

said he has yet to apol-ogize for their daugh-ter’s death.

“I wouldn’t mind getting one,” Barbara Woodthorpe said.

The family hopes criminal charges send a message to people who get behind the wheel drunk.

“It is easy to lose someone in an in-stance. It’s quick, un-expected and shock-ing,” she added.

Family ‘wouldn’t mind’ an apologyCharges from front

Bike stolen from porch

Ridge Meadows RCMP are looking for a yellow and grey mountain bike that was stolen off the porch of a home on Wednesday.

The bike was taken from the 24300-block of 102B Avenue in Maple Ridge.

The theft hap-pened sometime between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The bike was se-cured to the porch by a chain, which was also stolen.

The Cohen Commis-sion of Inquiry into the Decline of the Sockeye Salmon is stopping in Maple Ridge today, as guests of the Alouette River Management So-ciety and Katzie First Nation.

“It’s a step out of their main thrust of the inquiry,” which is to determine what led to the collapse of the sockeye salmon run in the Fraser River in 2009, and years previous, said society spokesman Geoff Clayton.

“Now they have to extend their agenda, as to why 2010 was such a success.”

This summer’s sock-eye run surprised every-one. The run of about 30 million sockeye was the largest in decades.

Clayton said the Alou-ette River Management Society could be seen as a unique partnership that’s rebuilding stocks. Fisheries and Oceans Canada pays for the Allco hatchery, located at the north end of 248th Street.

B.C. Corrections pro-vides the labour to operate the hatchery, while the Water Use Plan agreement with B.C. Hydro, which has a dam on the Alouette, ensures a steady fl ow of water in the South Alouette River.

“If there are some successes, it probably behooves the commis-sion to understand what builds stocks as to what collapses them,” Clay-ton said.

“We’re very honoured and pleased that they see our institution as

being noteworthy of a visit.”

The commission drops by to the closed event at 11:30 a.m. and will have lunch at the Rivers Her-itage Centre building.

Commission members then will tour the B.C. Hydro dam that created Alouette reservoir in

1925-26. There, they will also be shown the po-tential location of a new fi sh way that ARMS wants beside the dam, to allow sockeye to en-ter the lake so they can complete their spawn-ing cycle.

ARMS says the pro-gram to release juvenile

kokanee, or what could be land-locked salmon, down the spillway of the dam so they can swim to the Pacifi c Ocean and return years later is a success and has re-es-tablished a sockeye run in the South Alouette River after more than 80 years.

Cohen commission meets with ARMS

THE NEWS/files

Brent Moore and his father Steve try to release salmon from one of their nets during the record Fraser River sock-eye run this past August.


A man was arrested by police early Mon-day after he was found asleep in a Maple Ridge backyard.

Police said the tired 49-year-old was found at a home on 228th Street and offi cers soon learned he was violat-ing several conditions imposed in Richmond Provincial Court.

The conditions re-quired him to reside in a recovery house, have a social worker with him and carry a copy of the court order with him at all time.

The man was held in police custody for a court appearance later in the day.

Jeweller B&EA large jewellery

display case was sto-len during break-in early Monday in Maple Ridge.

Police were alerted to the theft around 5 a.m. after an alarm was triggered at Gold Rush Jewellers on 224th Street.

The front door lock had been removed.

Police are now ask-ing the public who may have witnessed the theft to come forward.

Insp. Derren Lench said it would have taken two or more people and

a large vehicle to move the display case.

Drunk driversRidge Meadows

RCMP are investigat-ing two crashes that took place Sunday, pos-sibly caused by drunk drivers.

The fi rst crash hap-pened at around 1:40 a.m. at the intersec-tion of 207th Street and Dewdney Trunk Road. Police suspect the 21-year-old Maple Ridge man behind the wheel was impaired.

Insp. Derren Lench said the man was un-able to provide breath samples due to inju-ries he sustained in the crash.

Police were able to get samples of his blood, which will be analyzed before charges can pro-ceed.

The second crash oc-curred just after 10 p.m. on Lorne Avenue in Ma-ple Ridge. A car col-lided with two unoccu-pied, parked vehicles.

The driver got out and tried to run away, but police caught up to him a short distance away. The 39-year-old Maple Ridge man showed signed of bring drunk, so he was taken to the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment, where

samples of his breath were analyzed at 2.5 times the legal limit of .08 per cent.

House B&EA television, a com-

puter and money were stolen from a Maple Ridge house Friday during a break-in.

Ridge Meadows RCMP said the theft happened sometime between 4:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

The front door had been forced open.

Offi cer saves lifeQuick actions by a

Ridge Meadows RCMP offi cer helped saved the life of an distraught woman on Friday in Maple Ridge.

Const. Jonathan Ca-ron was one of the fi rst offi cers to arrive on scene after police were called to a house on Cedar Way just before 8 p.m. to deal with a woman who was threat-ening to harm herself.

He forced open a closed door to get to the woman and immediate-ly saw she was bleed-ing from a self-infl icted wound.

Caron used his fi rst aid training to reduce the blood loss and stayed with the woman until the B.C. Ambu-lance Service took her to hospital.

“Our member used

his training to assist this person, possibly saving her life as a re-sult,” said Insp. Derren Lench.

“Because of his quick actions, she is expected to make a full recovery from her injuries and get professional help for her mental state. I also want to commend the woman’s friend who contacted us. His good decision to call also aided in saving this woman.”

Man loses carA 37 year-old-man

caught driving without a licence has lost his car for a month.

The man was spot-ted by offi cers with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team who saw him driving erratically on Dewdney Trunk Road.

The car was fol-lowed to a house in the 12000-block of 223rd Street, where it stopped.

A uniformed offi cer with Ridge Meadows RCMP was called and quickly learned the man’s driving privileges were suspended by the Motor Vehicle Branch.

Stolen truckRidge Meadows

RCMP are looking for a stolen pickup truck.

RCMP arrest man sleeping in backyard

See Police, p13

Beacon signal helps locate fallen hikerThe truck was taken

around 2:35 a.m. Friday from a house on 227th Street in Maple Ridge.

The truck is a grey 1988 Nissan pickup, with British Columbia licences plates BX0342.

Car theftsRidge Meadows

RCMP are investigat-ing two thefts from cars parked in the Meadow Vale Shopping Centre, near Roosters Cabaret.

The thefts happened between 2 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday. A large quantity of tools, expensive sunglasses and other personal items were stolen.

Tamper theftA 1,000-pound road

tamper was stolen last week from a construc-tion site in Pitt Mead-ows.

The yellow Bowmag tamper was taken from a property on South-gate Road near Airport Way between Monday, Sept. 20 and Thursday, Sept. 23.

• Anyone with any in-formation is asked to call RCMP at 604-463-6251. To remain anony-

mous call CrimeStop-pers at 1-800-222-8477. CrimeStoppers will pay a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and convic-tion.

Senior ticketedA Pitt Meadows man

who failed to yielded to a motorcyclist, causing a crash last Wednesday afternoon, was ticketed by RCMP.

Police said the 73-year-old made a left turn in front of the motorcycle on Ken-nedy Road at Lougheed Highway around 12:30 p.m. His actions caused a collision between the bike and his car.

A 52-year-old Port Co-quitlam man, who was riding the motorcycle, was taken to Ridge Meadows Hospital by the B.C. Ambulance Service.

TV stolenA large fl at screen

TV was stolen from a Maple Ridge house Wednesday during a break-in.

The theft happened sometime between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on 128th Avenue. Police said the

a laundry room window on the side of the house was forced open.

Hiker foundA man was rescued by

search crews Tuesday, Sept. 21 after he fell off a trail in Golden Ears Provincial Park.

The 25-year-old alert-ed authorities around 7:45 p.m. by activating a personal rescue bea-con.

Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue man-ager Rick Laing said the beacon’s signal was picked up by a plane fl y-ing over the park, which relayed the information to Victoria’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Meanwhile, RCMP also received a phone call about the injured hiker.

Search crews plotted the beacon’s coordi-nates and determined the signal was coming from Hiker’s Beach on Gold Creek.

Ten search and rescue members as well as fi ve fi refi ghters from the Maple Ridge Fire De-partment hiked into the park to complete the rescue.

The hiker from Ab-botsford was found suf-

fering from head and leg injuries. He was assessed on scene and carried out to an ambu-lance that was waiting in the park’s East Can-yon parking lot.

Locker theftsRidge Meadows RCMP

are alerting users of the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre to several thefts from lockers.

On Tuesday, Sept. 21, between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., a locker in the men’s change room was broken into.

The man’s clothing and belongings were taken by the thief, in-cluding the keys to his pickup truck.

The thief then stole the man’s truck, which was found by police the next day in the parking lot of a Pitt Meadows restau-rant.

Wire theftCopper wire was stolen

from a closed saw mill in Maple Ridge last week.

Police said the theft happened on River Road sometime between mid-night and 8 a.m. Tues-day, Sept. 21.

A hole was cut in the perimeter fence.

Police from p12

Charges of animal cruelty are pending against the owner of a suspected puppy mill in Ab-botsford, after the B.C. SPCA seized 14 badly neglected dogs on Friday.

The dogs include shih tzus, chihuahuas, pugs and terrier crosses. The B.C. SPCA said in a press release issued Monday that the owner of the seized animals owns a pet store and has also bred dogs in other lo-cations, including Chilliwack and Maple Ridge.

Two of the other sites are also under SPCA investigation.

“These people are well known to us and we have dealt with numerous complaints about

sick and neglected animals in their care,” said Marcie Mori-arty, general manager of cru-elty investigations for the B.C. SPCA.

She said the SPCA is required by law to fi rst issue orders and allow the owners an opportu-nity to improve conditions.

“In the case of these individu-als, we have issued numerous orders relating to animals with health and dental problems and animals in need of veterinary care, but they have complied with the orders so we could not take further action.”

Moriarty said the seizure of the dogs on Sept. 24 was initi-ated by a call from a member of the public.

An investigation revealed the owner was known to the SPCA and the animals were living in

distress. A warrant was then obtained.

She said the dogs seized were living in poor conditions and some of them had badly matted fur. They were also suffering from untreated health issues that included eye infections, dental disease and badly over-grown nails.

Moriarty said the seizure highlights the need for better municipal legislation to stop the sale of puppy mill dogs.

“Unfortunately, there is cur-rently little to stop unscrupu-lous breeders from exploiting animals for profi t when they can sell their puppies through local pet stores, classifi ed ads and online sites.”

The B.C. SPCA investigation continues in the suspected pup-py mill.

SPCA seizes 14 dogs from puppy millOwner also bred dogs in Maple Ridge

Free pizza during Fire Prevention WeekYou could win a free pizza next

week if your fi re alarm is work-ing.

Fire Prevention Week runs Oct. 3-9, during which fi refi ghters will accompany Panago delivery driv-ers on random orders.

If the customer has a working smoke alarm and can demon-strate a family escape plan, their Panago order will be free.

If not, after they pay for their Panago order, the fi re fi refi ght-ers will install a working smoke

alarm for them and provide infor-mation about family escape plan-ning.

The 2010 Fire Prevention Week theme is “Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With.”

This theme is timely for Brit-ish Columbia with the legislation change that occurred in the late spring requiring smoke alarms in all homes.

During the week, the newly ren-ovated Fire Hall No. 1 will host an open house on Saturday, 11 a.m.

to 4 p.m.The Maple Ridge fi re depart-

ment will also sponsor its annual Fire Chief for a Day contest.

Also, Community Safety Stars will be honoured – those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to promote, teach and support fi re and life safety in Ma-ple Ridge.

Also, the department is encour-aging all residents to take part in the Great Canadian Fire Drill. Register at www.safeathome.ca.

Community Calendar

Community Calendar lists events in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Notices are

free to local non-profi t groups courtesy of The News. Drop off details to 22328 119 Ave., fax to 604-463-4741 or e-mail [email protected] at least a week before the event. Include a contact name and number. (No submissions by phone.) Listings appear as space permits. For guaranteed publication, ask our classifi ed department at 604-467-1122 about non-profi t rates.

Wednesday, Sept. 29• The Maple Ridge Public

Library is hosting its third annual Chocolate Festival from 4 to 5 p.m. Bring your sweet tooth and enjoy an hour of fun fi lled chocolate activities and games. Kids Grades 5 and up welcome. Please register at the second fl oor information desk, or call the Maple Ridge Public Library for more information.

• The Pitt Meadows Public Library is holding a family games night from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. There will be a variety of board games set up for everyone to use, and some light refreshments.

• The Maple Ridge Public Library is running a Teen Movie Night from 6 to 8 p.m. Enjoy a fun evening with a free movie and some popcorn.

All movies will be rated PG or PG-13. Please register at the second fl oor information desk, or call 604-467-7417 for more information.

Thursday, Sept. 30• The Ridge Meadows

Seniors’ Society is holding an open house at the Pitt Meadows Seniors’ Lounge at 1 p.m. The lounge is located at the Pitt Meadows Recreation Centre, 12017 Harris Road

• The Wellness Connec-tion presents an informative and interactive evening at the Pitt Meadows Public Library, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Participate in a Nia demon-stration lead by instructor Sharolyn Wandzura, sample tasty snacks provided by nutritionist Val MacDonald, and fi nd out about a new way to exercise using nordic walk-ing poles with trainer Kelly O’Halloran. Free admission. Call 604 808-6309 or visit wellnessconnectionbc.com for more information.

Saturday, Oct. 2• Alouette Field Natural-

ists travel to Iona Beach Regional Park for shore birds. Meet at Harris Road and Dewdney Trunk Road at 9 a.m. to car pool. Call Kees at 604-463-8743 for more information.

Collette Trudeau admits she still has a lot to learn about her culture – one that’s steeped in history, fi lled with tales about pioneers and Prairie places with strange

names like Batoche.“I want to know about my heritage and where I come from,”

says the 25-year-old Maple Ridge singer-songwriter, who only found out she was Métis from a teacher in elementary school.

Her mixed Aboriginal-European ancestry wasn’t something her family discussed or even knew about.

Since then though, Trudeau been wearing the Métis badge with pride, now works with Métis Nation B.C. and has even danced a few jigs.

“I’ve embraced it,” she says. “The step I took in making it all happen has helped my family rediscover their heritage as well. I had the option of continued to live my life as French-Canadi-an-German, but I’ve chosen this path where I self-identify as Métis.”

It’s perhaps why a nomination for an Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award for best rock CD has her beaming.

She shares the fi eld with several established First Nations artists including Eagle & Hawk and a garage rock, power-pop band from South Dakota, who have been around for more than a decade, The Reddmen.

“There are some talented Aboriginal artists out there who aren’t mainstream musicians,” says Trudeau.

“I want to be the one who forges ahead and says, ‘I’m Métis, I’m aboriginal,’ and still appeal to a wider audience.”

And Trudeau has tasted the fruits of chart-topping success.

As the lead singer for teen punk-pop band LiveonRelease, whose breakthrough single I’m Afraid of Britney Spears made the soundtrack of Dude, Where’s My Car?, she can’t help be-ing a little skeptical.

“That wasn’t on my own terms,” Trudeau saysb of teenage stardom. “This time it’s on my own terms and it’s going to be a true product that belongs to me and that’s kind of exciting.”

Trudeau’s self-titled album is 10 song opus written between 2003 and 2008.

Since forging ahead with a solo career, her music’s been place in TV shows like South of Nowhere and movies including The Breakup Artist. I Don’t Wanna Know has found its way onto ra-dio stations Top 20 charts across Canada. Her song Freeze will be in the fi lm Dancing Ninja, starring David Hasselhoff.

Trudeau says it’s been a learning experience working with seasoned producers and songwriters including Sean Ho-sein, Dane Deviller, Steve Smith, Anthony Anderson, Eddie

Schwartz, Brian Howes and Michael Hektoen.She is in the process of signing with RockSTAR Music Corp.

– the company behind Elise Estrada and Loverboy – who dis-tributed through Universal Canada.

“I’ve gone from sitting in my room and writing whatever came to my mind. To learning how to write from profession-als and making sure I’m telling a story,” she says.

• Collette Trudeau will perform at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award in Winnipeg, Nov. 5. The show will air on APTN.

Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS

Collette Trudeau sit in front of a mural in Maple Ridge painted by her friend Kris Kupsky. She will perform at the APCMA Nov. 5.

THE NEWS/arts&lifeSection coordinator:Monisha Martins 604-467-1122 ext. [email protected]

Art shared from Across The River

Contributed

Julie Borne’s raku sculptures capture West Coast themes of forests and marine life.

Two Langley-based artists with dis-tinctly different yet complimentary styles have teamed up for a month-long exhibition of their art.

The exhibition is titled Across the Riv-er in celebration of the link formed be-tween Maple Ridge and Langley by the Golden Ears Bridge which has trans-formed these once-distant communities into close neighbours.

The exhibition of art by Deborah Strong and Julie Bourne explores themes of nature and the animal world.

Strong works in two divergent media:

hand-painted silk and coloured pencil, and throughout her art career has fo-cussed her work on animals–from dogs and cats to an array of wild birds and other creatures.

Bourne is a clay artist whose raku sculptures capture West Coast themes of forests and marine life as well as horses and other subjects.

A touch of whimsy can be observed in the work of both artists.

The coming together of Strong and Bourne will result in an appealing, somewhat playful exhibition of two- and

three-dimensional work that will de-light viewers.

Both hope that lovers of art, animals and nature from both sides of the Fraser River will enjoy this exhibition.


Singer proud of where she comes from

ReceptionMeet the artists at an opening reception Friday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Across the River runs until Oct. 30. The gallery is located at 22409 McIntosh Avenue in Maple Ridge Info: 778-848-5708.

Métis singer Collette Trudeau’s nomination for an Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards is just another step on a journey of self discovery

Vote for ColletteHelp Collette Trudeau win Best Rock CD by voting for her at aboriginal-peopleschoice.com/artists/colette-trudeau. Voting ends Oct. 6.

“I want to be the one that forges ahead and says I’m Métis, I’m aboriginal.” Collette Trudeau, singer-songwriter

The sound of a piano mingles with the steady rumble of traffi c on Har-ris Road, adding music to a corner that’s quiet for the past year.

“It’s birthing life into this old house that has this fabled history in the community,” said Robert Hornsey, who offi cially opened the Bergthor-son Academy of Musi-cal Arts’ Pitt Meadows location over the week-end, with his wife Judith Bergthorson.

Located in the historic Struthers House at 12229 Harris Road, the acad-emy will offer all the programs its currently does in Maple Ridge - music and vocal lessons as well as its popular Academy of Rock.

The house is being rented to the music academy for $1,469 per

month and will be ad-justed by the city annu-ally by three per cent.

Setting up shop in the city, however, has been almost a year in the making for the school.

It was delayed by a spring fi re that de-stroyed part of the house, that was built in the 1930s by William Struthers and his wife, Maggie Cutler.

The City of Pitt Mead-ows bought the house in

1994.“It’s almost like this

house was built for this. It is a great fi t,” said Hornsey.

The house now boasts six teaching studios and three Heintzman pianos.

Judith Bergthorson al-ways intended to open a satellite location for her music academy in Pitt Meadows.

“The location is really consistent with our out-look on ambience and

the learning environ-ment,” she said.

“We really believe peo-ple learn best when they are in a comfortable environment. We spe-cifi cally chose that place because we wanted a place that was warm, welcoming and homey.”

• To fi nd out more about the Bergthorson Academy of Musical Arts, call 604-467-6613 or visit www.bergthorson.com.

Arts&Life

Breathing life into an old houseThe Bergthorson Academy brings music to the Struthers home


Judith Bergthorson and Rob Hornsey at the Bergthorson Academy’s new location in the Struthers House in Pitt Meadows.

Hear ClassicAlbums Live

The wildly popular Classic Albums Live series begins its West Coast tour of The Beatles’ Abbey Road at the ACT this weekend.

Founded in 2003 by Craig Martin, Classic Al-bums Live takes the greatest albums and recre-ates them live on stage - note for note, cut for cut, using the best musicians.

“Think of it as a recital,” says Martin. “These albums are historic and stand the test of time.”

Forgoing costumes and impersonations, Classic Albums Live has found success in concentrating solely on the music.

“We don’t dress up or wear any sort of costume. All of our energy is put into the music. We want the performance to sound exactly like the al-bum,” says Martin.

Abbey Road is the 11th studio album by English superstars The Beatles. Though work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the fi nal al-bum recorded by the band, Let It Be was the last album released before The Beatles’ dissolution in 1970.

Abbey Road is regarded as one of the bands most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a unit at the time.

“Abbey Road is the perfect album to introduce the series with,” says Martin. “Everyone knows and loves this album. I’ll have ten of the world’s greatest musicians on stage faithfully recreating the album.”

The next album to tour will be Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which hits The ACT on April 16 next year.

• Classic Albums Live: The Beatles’ Abbey Road plays The ACT Saturday at 8 p.m. For tickets, vis-it theactmapleridge.org or call 604-476-2787.


Hear country musi-cian Roger Schmidt live in a showcase at the Terry Fox Theatre this weekend.

Schmidt, who re-cently moved to Maple Ridge from Port Co-quitlam, released the album Horns and Ha-

los earlier this year. His single The Right Way is currently in rotation on 30 stations across Canada ,includ-ing Country 107.1 in Abbotsford.

His next single, Mon-ey Tree, is set to hit the airwaves at the end of

the month.Schmidt will share

the stage Kerry Lee Manuel, Steven Koenig, and Angelina Cosens at the Vancou-ver Independent Music Showcase, which will

be emceed by magician Rod Boss.

• The showcase plays Saturday at the Terry Fox Theatre, 1260 Riv-erwood Gate, Port Co-quitlam. Tickets are $20 and $13 for students.

If you are in the mood for some classic rock this weekend, you’ll be able to feed that crav-ing as tribute bands Thunderstruck and Steel Wheels get set to rock local pubs.

Performing for the past decade, Thunder-struck bills itself as “the premier AC/DC tribute on the market today.”

From Angus’ school boy outfi t and signa-ture Gibson SG guitar to a singer who sounds just like Brian Johnson and Bon Scott, you’d be forgiven for doing a double take.

The band’s awesome stage show including pyrotechnics, ringing Hell’s Bells and cannon shots.

Their set covers the entire gamut of AC/DC’s career and fea-tures classics like Hells Bells, Thunderstruck, Touch Too Much and Girl’s got Rhythm.

Featuring Guy Turn-bull, Ted Croft, Al Sirett, brothers Dean and Gary Way, Rolling Stone’s tribute Steel Wheels has been per-forming together since 2002.

The band recently added sax player Ryan Glasgo (Los Furios) and vocalist Elaine Ma-gus to its lineup, for a live show that’s unique and authentic.• Thunderstruck plays 10 p.m. Friday at Club Climax, 11935 207th Av-enue, Maple Ridge. For tickets, call 604-465-3131.

Steel Wheels play two free shows Friday and Saturday at The Haney

Public House, 22222 Lougheed Highway in Maple Ridge.

Arts&Life

Tribute bands set to rockCatch AC/DC and Rolling Stone covers in Maple Ridge this weekend

Ridge country muso plays showcase

Contributed

Thunderstruck plays Club Climax on Friday.

Community Calendar

Ongoing• Singles dance, at various locations,

every Saturday night. Includes dinner and a live band. For more information call Doris at 604-465-4412.

• Is your weight aff ecting your life? Contact Overeaters anonymous. No fees, do dues, no weigh in, no diet. Meeting

time is every Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. and every Thursday at 7 p.m. at Maple Ridge Public Library’s Alouette Room. For more informa-tion call 604-878-4575.

• Pass the dreary winter days by bringing the kids to the Pitt Meadows Public Library for French storytime every Friday at 10:15 p.m. Kids of all ages and stages can

enjoy a variety of stories, rhymes and songs at our weekly storytimes. The storytimes are free and do not require registration.

• The Maple Ridge Skating Club is accepting ongoing registration for CanSkate, Skate Canada’s national learn-to-skate program designed for beginners. Registra-tion will continue throughout the Fall/

Winter season until sessions are full. For more information about rates and times, visit www.MapleRidgeSkating.com.

• The Maple Ridge Legion euchre club is looking for players. The club meets Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at the legion, corner of Brown Avenue and 224th Street. Call Irene at 604-465-1956 for info.

THE NEWS/sportsSection coordinator:Robert Mangelsdorf 604-467-1122 ext. [email protected]

In a see-saw battle that featured 13 goals, it was fitting that Ridge Meadows Flames forward Danny Brandys should score the winner Saturday night against the North Delta Devils.

With 11 points in seven games to start the season, Brandys has quickly emerged as the Flames’ No. 1 scorer, earning first star honours in the 7-6 road win last weekend.

“He has really turned it up a notch,” said Flames head coach Tavis Eaton. “I think he’s shown he’s one of the best players in this league.”

Brandys’ game-winning goal

capped a five-point weekend for the 19-year-old forward.

Eaton said Brandys has tradition-ally played the role of set-up man, but this season he is being encour-aged to shoot the puck more. The strategy seems to be working, as Brandys is now tied with Dustin Cervo in team scoring, with five goals and six assists.

Linemate Cervo helped set up Brandys on the game-winning goal, a two-on-one that helped put away the league-leading Devils for good Saturday night.

“It wasn’t the best played game, but a win is a win,” said Eaton.

Cervo opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the game, only to see the Devil skate down the ice and even things up just seven seconds later.

The back-and-forth scoring would continue most of the night. The Flames pulled ahead 3-1 early in the second, but the Devils an-swered back two and a half min-utes later, tying the game. A pair of

goals later, and the game was tied 4-4 heading into the final frame.

Julius Ho gave the Devils their first lead of the night just one minute into the third period, but again the lead would not last long, as Ryan Stew-art evened things up for the Flames. Mi-chael Nardi scored his sixth goal of the season for the Devils on the power play, before Brent Fletcher tied things up three minutes later.

With five minutes left, Brandys notched what would stand as the game-winner, as goaltender Ty-ler Klassen was able to stand his ground and preserve the lead to final buzzer.

The win helped salvage the week-end for the Flames, who started out flat Friday night at home,

falling behind 4-0 to the Delta Ice Hawks after the first 15 minutes of play. Klassen got the hook after allowing two goals on five shots in the first four minutes of the game.

Spencer Marro didn’t fare much better, allowing two

goals on eight shots.After a time-out to settle down the squad, the Flames went to work, chip-ping away at the Ice Hawks’ lead. Brandys was able

to notch a pair of goals before the pe-

riod was up, cutting the Ice Hawks’ lead to

two.However, the Flames faced a

set-back when Matthew Keller was tossed for fighting at the end of the first period, resulting in a whop-ping seven minute power play for the Ice Hawks to start the second frame.

The Meadow Ridge Knights had a success-ful weekend on the grid-iron, as the community football program’s atom, peewee, and bantam teams each posted wins.

The bantam Knights emerged the victor from a classic trench battle as they beat the Mis-sion Niners 16-8 thanks to strong play on both sides of the ball along the line of scrimmage. The Knights’ defence was able to turn back the Niners on third down as time expired, clinching the win. Brett Boyce, Mike Kalmykov and Donavan McNee lead the Knights defence while Adrial Sellers was among the standouts on offence. The Knights are in action again this weekend when they take on the Chilliwack Giants.

In atom action, the Meadow Ridge Blue Knights extended their winning streak to four straight games by post-ing a 35-13 win over Mis-sion’s atom squad. Scor-ing for

the Knights were Cade Cote and Blake Alford, while Dryden Pollon and Jaydeep

Sachar lead the de-fence. The Knights are back in action this Saturday when they take on North Langely at Samuel Robertson Technical.

The peewee Knights also remained undefeat-ed, thumping the Nin-ers’ peewee program 29-0. Taylor Makris lead the way with a pair of touchdowns, while Mat-thew Volpiana had a strong game at quar-terback. Will Chartrand and Sean Roy were keys to the Knights shut-out victory on defence. The Knights next play host to the Chilliwack Giants this weekend in a battle of undefeated teams.

The junior bantam Knights were involved in an offensive shoot-out with Mission, but we unable to score on their last possession, falling 40-36 to the Niners.

The Knights’ midget squad fell to 1-3 on the season after losing 31-9 to Cloverdale.

Big wins for Knights squadsS t a f f R e p o r t e rMaple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News

Flames burn Devils in North Delta

b y R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r fstaff repor ter

Ridge Meadows Junior B squad downs league-leaders 7-6 in wild road game

Pitt Meadows falls to Handsworth in first conference test

See Flames, p25

The Pitt Meadows Ma-rauders got soaked on the field and the scoreboard

Friday afternoon, as they fell 29-6 to No. 3-ranked Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver in their first game of Mainland AA Conference varsity football action.

A torrential downpour greeted the team when they arrived on the North Shore, playing havoc with the Marauders’ passing game, according to coach Dave Holleran.

“It was very hard to throw in ... and we had three or four dropped balls in a row,” he said. “That killed two or three of our drives.”

Malcolm Williams scored the lone touchdown for

the Marauders, on a throw from quarterback Danny Childress.

The Marauders’ running game didn’t fare much bet-ter.

b y R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r fstaff repor ter

See Marauders, p26


Stick SirenJustine D’Amico of the Abbotsford Sirens carries the puck during first period play against the Boracchas at Planet Ice in Maple Ridge on Sunday afternoon.

Eaton opted to put Klassen back between the pipes for the second period.

“We brought [Klassen] out to settle him down and get his thoughts to-gether,” said Eaton. “He didn’t get a lot of help either. The defence was missing their assign-ments, and the forwards weren’t back-checking.

“But he played unreal after that.”

Klassen shut the door for the remaining two periods, turning aside 27 shots.

Lucas Douglas was able bring the Flames within one with his goal at the beginning of the third period. It would not be enough, however,

as the Flames were un-able to equalize with the extra attacker on the ice for the fi nal minute of the game.

• The Ridge Meadows

Flames face the Port Moody Black Panthers this Friday at home at Planet Ice in Maple Ridge. Game time is at 7:30 p.m.

Sports

Flames face PoMo Panthers at home FridayFlames from p23


Shocking playChristina Hamdon (right) of the Pitt Meadows Shock boots the ball away from Kelsey Merritt of the North Co-quitlam Fusion in Metro Women’s Soccer League U-21 gold division action at Pitt Meadows Athletic Park Sunday afternoon. The teams played to a 1-1 tie.

Sports

JV Marauders notch first win“We have to have our passing game

working,” said Holleran. Spreading out coverage will provide the running backs with more space to work with, but only the passing game is deemed a threat by the opposition.

“Those are catches we have to make.”

While Holleran said he was satisfi ed with how his offensive line played, the defensive line still needs work.

“They had a hard time throwing against us, but unfortunately their running game worked really well,” he said. “Teams are getting smarter, they are watching the tape and they are targeting players.”

Holleran said he will be re-tooling his defensive line in the coming weeks ahead of the Marauders next

league game on Friday, Oct. 8 against the Langley Saints at home.

“Handsworth is a very good team and they executed very well,” he said. “But they killed us. We just have to go back to work.”

Pitt Meadows’ junior varsity team won it’s fi rst game of the season last Wednesday, downing the Abbotsford Collegiate 14-6.

“Everyone left it on the fi eld that day,” said assistant coach Curt Gowl-er. “No egos, just pure positive atti-tudes.”

The team was to face the Samuel Robertson Technical Titans Tuesday night, in the two local football pro-grams’ fi rst meeting.

The junior varsity Marauders next home game is Tuesday, Oct. 5, against the Langley Saints.

Marauders from p23

Jacob Currie of the Pitt Meadows Marauders

junior varsity football team runs in the ball for

a touchdown against Abbotsford Collegiate last

week with the help from a block from Jacob Gowler

(left). Pitt won the game, their first

conference game of the season, 14-6.

contributed

Sept. 29, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News

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Transcript of Sept. 29, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News