9/8/2010Chilliwack Bust Meth Lab, Arrest Three for Unlawful Confinement
What started with a call to police about a distraught woman, lead to a meth lab bust, and three people getting charged.
September 2nd Chilliwack RCMP got a call about a woman who appeared to be abused.
The Serious Crime Unit was called in, and the investigation lead them to a clandestine lab on Aitken Road.
Nothing was cooking at the time, but it had been used.
The victim, a 32 year old woman from Surrey was allegedly held against her will in a manner that Police described as a brutal attack which included weapons, threats, and physical abuse.
Jorg Rattenburg of Surrey, Vernon Hill of Chilliwack and Snjezana Rajcic are charged with amongst other things, Assault Causing Bodily Harm, Assault with a Weapon, Utter Threats and Unlawful Confinement.
All are being remanded in custody while they wait for their respective court appearances.
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9/8/2010Library Hosting Global Warming Discussion
Gwen O'Mahony says global warming is too important to ignore -- so people should go to the Chilliwack library to learn more.
The spokesperson with environmental group Eco-Logic B-C says they're holding a 45-minute session on the issue tonight.
O'Mahony says renowned Doctor Tim Cooper, head of Physics at University of the Fraser Valley is giving the talk.
She says the session is free and starts at 7pm.
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9/8/2010UFV AG Proff Not Surprised by ALC Issues
Tom Baumann says he isn't surprised by the auditor general's findings that the Agricultural Land Commission needs improvement.
The professor of Agriculture at the University of the Fraser Valley says he hasn't looked through the entire report from John Doyle.
But he says it's not shocking that the A-L-C is still facing the same challenges as it was in the 90s.
He says moves to put more power in Municipalties hands three years ago only weakened the ALC.
Baumann says he's watched prime farmland in the Fraser Valley turn into buildings over the last couple of decades.
He says opportunities to build up and protect agricultural land have been wasted.
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9/8/2010Chilliwack Daycare Not Happy With Full Day K
Chilliwack is just one city in BC that offers full-day kindergarten at some schools.
Next year all kindergarten classes in the province will go the whole day.
The provincial government and some school board members are singing the praises of the new system.
But a daycare in Chilliwack is a little put out.
Connie Boyko with Happy Hearts Daycare says they're worried the kids aren't prepared to spend a full day at school.
And she says they've lost teachers and kids this year because of full-day K.
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9/8/2010Chilliwack City Hall: Is There an App for That?
The City of Chilliwack is about to upgrade their hardware.
And they're not choosing just any old computers, city staff and councillors will get new iPads.
Mayor Sharon Gaetz says it's part of a plan they've had for some time to become paperless.
The city expects to save about 8 grand a year by not having to print out several copies of the hefty council agendas.
No word on how much the devices will cost.
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9/8/2010First Nation Fishery From Mission Downstream Closes Tonight
Recreational anglers still have two weekends to reel in sockeye salmon in the Fraser River.
Barry Rosenberger with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the recreational fishery ends on September 19th.
The commercial fishery from the mouth of the Fraser to Mission closed yesterday.
The First Nation economic fishery closes at 6 tonight between Mission and Hope.
That fishery past Hope is open until Friday.
Rosenberger says the recreational fishery will be open until September 19th.
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9/8/2010Mobile Daytox Program has Arrived
The new mobile detox and daytox home program is now a reality in Chilliwack.
It's designed for people who need to beat the drugs and booze, but who don't need to check into a traditional detox center.
A nurse or careworker checks in regularly to make sure they're okay, and plugged into the different services in the community.
Fraser Health says this will help reduce a lot of the barriers recovery patients face.
Referrals to the program can be made by individuals, family members, physicians, hospital withdrawal management facilities, or other service providers, via the toll free number 1-866-795-0600.
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9/7/2010Back to School Traffic in Chilliwack Should Be Smooth
Mayor Sharon Gaetz says there are no full road closures in Chilliwack this morning.
But while traffic might be smooth as the back to school run starts up once again, she is reminding people to watch their speed.
Gaetz says it's been easy to go a little faster through school zones over the summer.
But she says on all school days even if it doesn't look like there are kids there, people should turn down the speed.
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9/7/2010Several BC Residents Killed in Car Crashes on Long Weekend
Several BC residents died in car crashes over Labour Day long weekend.
On Friday night a North Vancouver man was killed and his pregnant wife injured when a car allegedly hit theirs in Washington state.
Also in Washington, a woman on her way back from a concert was ejected from a car.
Another person died Sunday afternoon in a head-on collision on Lougheed near Mission.
And a Kamloops man died on highway 5A near Princeton late Saturday night.
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9/7/2010Third Year UFV Student Has Advice for First Years
Aleesha Switzer says University is supposed to be two things: Fun and educational.
She says figuring out how to properly balance the two is the tricky part.
Switzer starts third year at the University of the Fraser Valley today.
She says she wishes someone had explained balance to her two years ago.
Her advice for first years is to pay attention to work and play.
She says to get your social life going there are tons of clubs you can join to make friends.
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9/7/2010BC Auditor General Finds Issues with ALC
BC's Auditor General says not much has changed with the ALC in the last fifteen years.
John Doyle put BC's Agricultural Land Reserve under the microscope over the last few months.
He says the challenges it faced in the mid nineties still exist today.
He says there is a lack of knowledge regarding the boundaries of the ALR and the included lands' suitability for agricultural use, inadequate compliance and enforcement activities,the commission's self-identified limitations to meet its goals through the application process,the commission's insufficient involvement in long-term land use planning with local governments,a need for more adequate evaluation of the results of its decisions.
Plus he found inadequate compliance and enforcement activities amongst other things.
He says the big one is the amount of land in the actual reserve itself.
He says there is still 4.7 million hectares, same as 30 years ago.
But now the vast majority is the second tier stuff in the Northern half of the province.
A lot of the prime land in the south has been scooped up for development.
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9/7/2010Chilliwack Makes it to Second Phase to Become Canada's Ultimate Fishing Town
Chilliwack is still in the race and voting starts today.
Our town was chosen as one of the top ten fishing towns in Canada.
Now Brian Coombs, executive director of Tourism Chilliwack says go to fishchilliwack.com to start voting.
Coombs says the contest runs for another three weeks.
He says the top town gets 25 grand and a 30-minute show to promote fishing in the area.
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9/7/2010Commercial Sockeye Fishery About to Dry Up
The clock is running out for commercial fishermen from the mouth of the Fraser River to Mission.
That commercial sockeye salmon fishery shuts at 7am today.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it's necessary to protect the incoming coho salmon.
The endangered coho are expected to number about 30 thousand, compared to the record 34-million-strong sockeye run.
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9/6/2010Eureka Filming in Chilliwack
Eureka is back.
The Sci-Fi TV series is filming parts of its fifth season in Chilliwack this week.
The show will take over the blocks of Wellington avenue, Main Street, Mill Street and the alley behind Graham's Gifts periodically from today until Thursday.
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9/5/2010Chilliwack RCMP Caution Driver Safety in School Zones
Chilliwack RCMP are reminding drivers to ease up on the lead foot as kids hit the books.
Corporal Lea-Anne Dunlop says drivers should plan ahead before school starts this week.
She says people tend to forget about the school zones along their regular routes during the summer. She says people need to brush up so they know when to slow down as school starts back up on Tuesday.
Dunlop is also reminding drivers not to use any electronic devices while behind the wheel.
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9/5/2010Costly to Scrap HST
BC's New Democrats don't like the HST but say abandoning the tax before an agreement with Ottawa ends in 2015 will be difficult.
The province got more than a billion dollars from the federal government for signing a five-year tax agreement, and an early exit could mean some or all of that money would have to be repaid.
Finance critic Bruce Raulston says if the NDP wins the election in 2013, it would take steps to scrap the HST, but probably not before 2015.
To do so, he says, would just be too expensive.
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9/5/2010Canada On the Warpath for Asteroids
Canada's preparing for a key role in the search for asteroids and other objects in space that could threaten the planet.
The Canadian Space Agency hopes to launch a 15-million-dollar satellite next March that will be the first orbiter dedicated to finding near-earth objects.
The United Nations is studying a report prepared by Canadian and US astronauts that outlines plans to detect dangerous objects in space and knock them off any collision course with the planet.
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9/5/2010Surrey Mounties Look Into Pedestrian Death
Mounties in Surrey are investigating the death of a pedestrian in a hit-and-run incident.
The man was struck on Fraser Highway early yesterday.
Police believe he'd just gotten off a bus when he was killed.
They also say the man may have been involved in a fight on the bus.
TransLink spokesman Drew Snider says the victim, who's believed to be about 19, broke a window on the bus before running off.
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9/4/2010False Alarm at Island 22
A mistaken eyewitness sent search and rescue racing to Island 22 in Chilliwack yesterday.
Someone called 911 to report a plane crashing near the Fraser River.
Search and Rescue showed up to find a float plane had landed safely, and intentionally, on the water.
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9/3/2010Environment Minister Says Cougar Had to Die
Chilliwack Hope's MLA says killing a cougar in Ryder Lake was necessary because of its aggressive behaviour.
Barry Penner was there when conservation officers shot and killed a cougar yesterday morning.
The cougar had killed 11 sheep, an entire flock, the day before.
Penner says with school starting up, children in the area will be on the street waiting for the school bus, and he says the cougar was too much of a threat.
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9/3/2010New Cultural Center Needs Volunteers
They're looking for a few good men and women.
Theresia Reid, booking manager at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre says they have around 40 volunteers but they want a base in the hundreds.
Reid says they're looking for people who'll work backstage and front-of-house during shows.
Reid says they're looking for people of all ages with a wide range of experience.
And she says a side benefit is volunteers often get to see the shows for free.
Visit the Cultural Centre box office, call or email to sign up.
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9/3/2010Mountie Chopper Helps with Stolen Vehicle Arrests in Chilliwack
Mounties took to the air yesterday and broke up two vehicle thefts, one of which was in Chilliwack.
Just before 2:00 morning, Mounties spotted a stolen Ford F350 on Highway One near Langley.
The Helicopter was called in and tracked it eastbound all the way to Chilliwack.
The pick up was dumped near number 4 road.
The two people inside then jumped into a Jeep that was apparently waiting for them.
Chilliwack RCMP and Abbotsford Police set up a road block near the Lickman exit.
A 32 year old man and 22 year old woman were arrested.
Stolen vehicle and erratic driving charges are recommended.
The two were also wanted for outstanding warrants
The second bust started in Surrey and ended in Vancouver.
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9/3/2010Agassiz Inmate Takes Thesaurus Battle to the Top and Wins
An inmate in an Agassiz prison will soon be able to find a different word for victory.
Ken MacKay asked to buy a $23 thesaurus, but officials at the Mountain Institution told him he couldn't because then he would have too many personal items in his cell.
MacKay appealed the case all the way to Federal Court, arguing a thesaurus is exempt from the limit because it's a textbook.
But corrections officials argued the reference book isn't educational.
The judge ruled it was unreasonable for the prison to decide a thesaurus isn't a textbook.
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9/3/2010Sparkes Corn Barn Shuts 80% of Stands Because of Weather
It'll be warm again today but last week's cooldown is affecting some of Chilliwack's finest.
The owner of Sparkes Corn barn says they've shut 8 out of 10 of their corn stands.
Ian Sparkes says the corn isn't ripening as quickly as usual because of cooler August temperatures.
He says they hope to have 4 stands running after next week, and until the end of the month.
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9/3/2010Jenn Bigham Wants Chilliwack to Board the Bus for her Chilliwack Public Transit Week
Chilliwack's Transit Activist is pushing for a transit week in town.
Jenn Bigham wants people to take the bus and only the bus next week.
She says she wants to make more people aware of how inadequate the system is so more people speak up about it.
Bigham's been crusading for a better bus system in Chilliwack since earlier this year.
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