Maple Ridge News, February 29, 2012

Page 1

B.C. Views Taxing times for B.C. government. p6

Policy sought to protect gay teens. p3

THE NEWS

Heritage Old buildings, social media get heritage awards. p14

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Teachers’ right to strike taken away by R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r f staff reporter Teachers had their right to hold a legal walkout taken away Tuesday as the provincial government tabled legislation putting them back to work and ending their ongoing six-month job action. The provincial government introduced Bill 22 Tuesday afternoon. It suspends the teachers’ union strike action, while calling on a mediator to help the two sides reach a negotiated agreement. The legislation extends the previous teacher contract to cover the mediation period, with the goal of reaching a negotiated agreement by the beginning of summer. If there is no agreement, then the mediator will issue a report by June 30 with non-binding recommendations. See Teachers, p11

Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS

Drug bust RCMP officers seized 800 marijuana plants and were investigating after potentially hazardous materials found at a property in the 22500-block of 136th Avenue in north Maple Ridge on Tuesday. Police arrested three men. See story, p13.

Irving back behind bars The man who drove his pickup truck into a Maple Ridge sushi restaurant, killing two people and injuring six others, is back behind bars for another year, a B.C. Review Board decided Monday.

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closely the brain damage Irving suffered in a January 2008 fall and whether that affects his judgment. Lovett said there was a high likelihood of relapse and the January reading was the third instance of Irving drinking. Crown prosecutor Lyle Hillaby pointed out that Irving made it through the first year of conditional release because of tight supervision and family support. See Irving, p4

Index

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alcohol limit for driving. He had not been driving at the time. Deborah Lovett, representing the hospital, asked for the yearlong sentence because of Irving’s alcohol dependence and his problems with withdrawal. Irving had no alcohol in his blood at the time he crashed into Halu Sushi at Westgate mall, but experts agreed he was suffering from delirium tremens, caused by alcohol withdrawal. The hospital is awaiting further tests to evaluate more

Opinion B.C. Views Letters Anti-bullying Arts&life Sports Classifieds

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MARCH BREAK

by Phil M elnyc h u k staff reporter

Brian Craig Irving, 55, had been found not criminally responsible for the August 2008 crash and initially was sent to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. He was released in January 2009 under tight community supervision in Cranbrook, but against medical advice. But this January, in one of his regular blood samples that he was required to provide to the RCMP, his blood level read 0.4 – about five times the legal blood/

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Driver in Halu Sushi deaths started drinking again

MRSS hosted its annual Battle of the Bands competition on Thursday. See photos, p10

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