New plans for downtown coming in new year Mission council approved a zoning amendment last month that would ban pharmacies and medical clinics from setting up shop in the community's downtown core, at least until downtown revitalization plans are put into place next year. However, the district is now facing a lawsuit by the party that wanted to open a pharmacy at 33133 First Ave., the former site of the community policing station. Council made their decision at a special meeting Aug. 9 to support the zoning change, in a 5-2 vote. Opposing the exclusion were councillors Jenny Stevens and Nelson Tilbury. Both councillors were uncomfortable supporting a motion they believe was based on unsupported rumours the proponent intended to sell medical marijuana, and dispense methadone and needles to addicts. [continues 535 words]
Grow-Ops Targeted, Legal or Otherwise Mission RCMP are warning people who grow medical or illegal marijuana that they and their plants may be targets of organized crime, or "grow rips." "We really do believe it's an organized group of individuals targeting all types of marihuana grow-ops in Mission. We're concerned because we've observed a growing level of violence during grow rips," said RCMP Cpl. Sharon Siluch. Criminals are prepared to use force in order to subdue occupants and steal the pot crops, she said. [continues 273 words]
Hep C Council Of BC Hoping To Spread Information In Abby Nov. 5-7 Identifying harm reduction strategies and how they impact individuals with chronic disease will be a component of the upcoming Hepatitis C Council of BC conference in Abbotsford. Overall, the three-day conference from Nov. 5 to 7 will focus on effective prevention of hepatitis C in order to save lives. As such, the theme challenges the city's 'harm reduction bylaw,' a zoning bylaw that bans services for intravenous drug users such as free-standing methadone clinics and clean needle exchanges. [continues 472 words]
City public safety agencies are taking another look at Abbotsford's public safety bylaw, in light of a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling last month that city inspectors who search houses for marijuana growing operations without warrants violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The local bylaw has helped cut the number of fires from marijuana grow-ops from 15 in 2003 down to zero last year, said deputy fire chief Mike Helmer. City safety inspectors will continue to apply the bylaw, albeit with some adjustments, he said. [continues 339 words]
Abby Has B.C.'S Third Highest Hep C Rate, Mayor Peary 'Wants to Be Open-Minded' Carrying mock coffins and hoisting signs that read 'Harm Reduction Saves Lives,' more than 80 activists from Vancouver and Abbotsford rallied at the civic square on Tuesday to draw attention to the city's high Hepatitis C infection rate, and what they called its 'harm production' bylaw. According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, Abbotsford has the third highest rate of Hep C infections in B.C., where the numbers are already double the national rate. [continues 551 words]
Sent Packing, Joints In Hand Free Marc Emery' supporters made themselves comfortable in Abbotsford MP Ed Fast's office on Tuesday, to protest the extradition of the Vancouver pot advocate. While the pungent odour of dried marijuana filled the waiting area, about nine of Emery's supporters strummed guitars, sang activist songs, took photos and rolled joints on the table in the MP's waiting room. The sit-in had the air of being relaxed and fun, but the protesters said they were there to make a serious point. [continues 428 words]
Mobile Needle Truck Could Beat City Bylaw Abbotsford's drug users plan to march on city hall today with coffins and a 'die-in' to draw attention to the consequences of an Abbotsford bylaw that advocates say does more harm than good. The city's 'harm reduction-free' bylaw runs counter to accepted public health policies and puts the general community at risk, said Ann Livingston with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). "If you want to spread disease, you would not want to have a needle exchange. It's mean-spirited and odd. It defies logic," she said. [continues 355 words]
Missing Papers His Saving Grace An attempt to evict Abbotsford pot activist and perennial political candidate Tim Felger from his Essendene Avenue "bookstore" fell flat when the lawyer for the building's owner failed to produce a writ of possession. On Jan. 25 building owner Dan Banov obtained a court order under the Commercial Tenancy Act and the Business Corporations Act to have Felger removed 33772 Essendene Ave., after March 1. Banov told the Times earlier he agreed to let Felger use the property to use in a campaign to end the prohibition of marijuana, a cause Banov also supported. The two were candidates for the Marijuana Party in 2005. But Felger didn't pay his rent, and Banov said he owes at least $52,750 in back rent as of October 1, 2009. [continues 215 words]
Claims Pot Activist And Former Mayoral Candidate Owes $52,000 Tim Felger, Abbotsford's self-proclaimed pot activist and a perpetual local candidate in elections at all levels, has been ordered to leave the Essendene Avenue commercial site he's occupied for about four years. Dan Banov, the owner of the property at 33772 Essendene Ave. in Abbotsford, says Felger owes him $52,750 in back rent as of October 1, 2009. On Jan. 25, under the Commercial Tenancy Act and the Business Corporations Act, Justice Erik Verhoeven ordered Felger to vacate the premises and hand it over yesterday to APIP Holdings Ltd., which is Banov's company. [continues 532 words]
It is right that Auditor General Sheila Fraser should investigate how and why the RCMP in B.C. commissioned studies into Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection facility. We need to know who ordered the studies, and why the RCMP seems so eager to overstep its law enforcement mandate and enter into the realm of political lobbying. There is much evidence to suggest the RCMP and the federal government are far from objective regarding Insite. In 2006, the RCMP commissioned four reviews of clinical studies on Insite, open now about five years. The last one was written by Colin Mangham, the director of research for the conservative policy group the Drug Prevention Network of Canada - founded by former Abbotsford anti-drug crusader Randy White - and was highly critical of the positive results claimed by Insite. [continues 451 words]
Native Community Fights Back Members of Leq'a:mel First Nation and their friends were out Friday night, warning drug dealers their activities aren't welcome in the Deroche community. The band members, who live about half an hour east of Mission, donned red T-shirts and brandished signs saying 'Say no to crack,' and 'Our children, their future.' Leq'a:mel chief Alice Thomson said last week her First Nation community was fed up with "shady characters" and traffickers coming to their rural reserve, offering drugs. [continues 111 words]
Members Rally Tonight To Protect Community The residents of the Leq'a:mel First Nation have a warning to drug traffickers - stay away. That message will be made loud and clear tonight, when band members rally on the Lougheed Highway in front of one of the band's sites east of Mission. They'll be wearing red T-shirts and waving signs to get attention. "Our community members are fed up with the drug dealers in our community," said Alice Thompson, chief of Leq'a:mel First Nation. [continues 358 words]
Abbotsford provincial court Judge Donald Gardiner dismissed evidence against Jonathan Bacon and two others Friday morning, saying that the Abbotsford Police did not have the grounds for the search warrant that led them to a cache of guns and drugs. Bacon, 27, Rayleene Burton and Godwin Cheng faced up to 15 charges each of drug trafficking and possession of prohibited weapons. The charges against all three were thrown out. On Aug. 25, 2005, the Abbotsford Police searched an Abbotsford townhouse where they seized two handguns, two machines guns, two silencers, body armour, cocaine, ecstacy, pot and nearly $100,000 in cash. They said it was one of their largest drug busts at the time. [continues 197 words]
Prison Guard in Hot Water for Reporting Abby Incident Babies are being used to smuggle street drugs into federal prisons, including Matsqui Institution, says the union representing correctional officers. Now an Abbotsford guard may face discipline after he reported concerns about the safety of two babies. Corrections officials say the officer, Terry Leger, breached inmate privacy rights when he made the report in November, said Gord Robertson, president of the B.C. region of the Union of Canadian Correction Officers. "CSC basically said the privacy of the inmate trumps the well-being of the child," said Robertson. [continues 397 words]
Police Say Law Is 'A Great Tool' Two homes in Abbotsford used to house large marijuana grow ops were the first locally to be seized under the province's Civil Forfeiture Act, Abbotsford police Chief Const. Ian Mackenzie said Thursday. The Abbotsford police department's drug squad found almost 4,000 marijuana plants at rural homes on Simpson Road and on Willet Road recently. The houses were sold, mortgages paid off and $230,000 paid to the B.C. government under the act. [continues 190 words]
ABBOTSFORD - Two homes used to house large marijuana growing operations were the first in the community to be seized under the province's Civil Forfeiture Act, Abbotsford Chief Const. Ian Mackenzie said Thursday. The department's drug squad found almost 4,000 pot plants at rural homes on Simpson Road and on Willet Road recently. The houses were sold, mortgages paid off and $230,000 paid to the B.C. government under the act. "We recognized early on that this new law would be a great tool for police to hit back at organized crime," said Mackenzie in a news release. [continues 93 words]
They Had Faced Drug And Firearms Charges At least one of the six men slain in a Surrey penthouse on Oct. 19 had stood before an Abbotsford court on criminal charges. RCMP officers noted at a Tuesday press conference that four of the men had previously faced charges ranging from firearms possession to drug trafficking. The other two men - Ed Schellenberg and Chris Mohan - were innocent bystanders who were going about their daily lives when they were caught in the slaughter, police said. [continues 222 words]
People smoking crack behind a daycare, in full view of the young children. An endless flow of unsavoury characters in and out of a rundown fourplex. Other shady sorts stripping wire in the back of an empty derelict house that no one seems to own. The mail is scattered, the trash is piling up and transients use the lot as a toilet. This is the picture of the north end of Vinewood Street, which has become a magnet for drifters, debris and drug addicts, says Joe Yakmission, an area resident and father of two children. [continues 437 words]
The prohibition of street drugs creates a venue that supports gangs and makes criminals rich. That's the message offered by Tony Smith, a 23-year veteran of Vancouver City Police. He and retired provincial judge Jerry Paradis spoke at Tuesday night's drug debate at Abbotsford's city hall, calling for the end to the prohibition of street drugs such as heroin and marijuana. They say drugs should be regulated by the government and taxed like alcohol. Both are members of LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a 5,000-member organization of current and former judges, police officers, lawyers and others in North America who support drug regulation rather than prohibition. Their argument is that drugs are too dangerous to be in the hands of criminals. [continues 159 words]
Drugs - keep them illegal, or regulate and tax them. If you have an opinion, organizers for this upcoming debate on street drugs in Abbotsford are still looking for panel members to participate. The two-part debate will discuss the current illegal status of street drugs and alternatives to their prohibition, said Tim Felger, local marijuana activist and debate organizer. The debates take place at 7 p.m. on May 22 and on June 12, at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, [Abbotsford City Hall], at 32315 South Fraser Way. [continues 277 words]
