Health Care Plain, good old hand-washing key. p6
Turning around a very bad day p3
THE NEWS
Gardening The beauty in our own backyards. p29
www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, March 16, 2012 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢
Legion votes to sell tower by R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r f staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Julie and Danielle Raymond hold up a picture of Shannon at their home, still filled with memories of her.
A matter of trust S tor y by Monisha Mar tins
I
n the cul-de-sac where Shannon Raymond lived, you’ll see soccer balls placed in the windows of almost every home. Nearly four years after her death, the little kids she played with and baby sat aren’t ready to forget her. A year after she was gone, they scrawled in purple chalk
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“we miss you Shannon” on the road. Several people have questioned why Shannon’s mother Julie and her big sister Danielle still live in the house and street with so many memories. To them, though, the shadow box that holds her Westview
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high school soccer jersey, the bright pink scrap “Book of Me” near the fire place, her floppy teddy bear, her ashes mingled with those of her dad Chris and the countless photographs are deliberate mementoes to keep her spirit alive. It’s Julie and Danielle saying, emphatically, “I will retell your story,” “I think about you constantly.” Just 16, Shannon died on July 26, 2008 after taking two ecstasy pills during a birthday party for her friend Nicole Gieb. She made a trip to the mall with her mom in the morning
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to buy a pair of zebra-stripped sunglasses to match a red and black dress she’d picked to wear in the evening. Julie knew Shannon was heading out to a party on a bus that night – a travelling discotheque of sorts, popular with suburban teens, complete with plush seats, strobe lighting, mirrored ball and blaring dance music. She gave Shannon permission to spend the night at her friend Ashley Dunn’s house – the one whose dad was a police officer. “I trusted her and the people she was with,” says Julie. Shannon had known most of her group of friends since Grade 8, she had been on a party bus before and, Julie thought, she had no money, after spending her last $6 on the sunglasses. See Shannon, p14
Opinion Along the Fraser Parenting Acts of Faith Home&gardening Cycling Scoreboard
6 6 17 18 29 39 48
Residents of the Legion Towers seniors’ high rise are unsure about the future of their homes after members of the Maple Ridge branch of the Royal Canadian Legion voted Wednesday night to sell the building to pay for repairs to their other properties. “I’m very worried I’ll lose my home,” says Legion Towers resident Bob Kerfoot. “We’ve asked them to put it in stone to make sure the people in the Towers are protected and won’t get turfed out, but they’ve skirted around it. “When the crest comes off that building, it will be a sad day.” Legion president Jim McDonald said the Legion is doing its best to ensure that Legion Towers residents will keep their low-income rental units See Legion, p4
City seeks to turf gangsters from bars By Monisha Martins, staff reporter The City of Pitt Meadows will ask the province to give police the authority to remove gang members from restaurants and bars. Council is set to approve a resolution next week that seeks an amendment to the Liquor Control and Licensing Act to prevent anyone with gang emblems, stripes or colours from having a drink or meal at a licensed establishment. See Gangs, p3
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