Tuesday April 10, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 29)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Proud Canadians: More than a decade after a media storm – sparked by the denial of landed immigrant nt status based on one family member’s Down syndrome ndrome – South Surrey’s Ross family continues to contribute ontribute to the community. seee page 11
Labour dispute casts pall as young athletes wait for news
School sports seasons ‘on thin ice’ Nick Greenizan Staff Reporter
One high school track-and-field meet has already been cancelled, and a handful more spring sports seasons are hanging in the balance, casualties of the labour dispute between B.C. teachers and the province. Already the Surrey track-and-field championships – set for May 4 – have been axed, with the Fraser Valleys still on the sched-
ule, but tenuously, according to just-retired on thin ice, for sure,” according to athletic Semiahmoo Secondary track coach Mau- director coach Adam Roberts, who volunteers as a rugby coach, reen de St. Croix. All spring sports – which ❝I’m not a political dude. I and a handful of schools also include rugby, soccer just love coaching the kids.❞ throughout the Fraser Valley have already cancelled and golf – are on the verge Adam Roberts seasons, including Sullivan of being cancelled for the Earl Marriott Secondary Heights in Surrey. remainder of the year, as Abbotsford, Roberts said, only has three teachers pull back volunteer services. Earl Marriott Secondary’s rugby season “is teams left in its junior league, “but we’re still
OK (in Surrey).” A final decision on the fate of the seasons won’t be known until an April 16 BC Teachers Federation vote on whether to withdraw all volunteer services, de St. Croix said. And though he didn’t want to wade too far into the debate, Roberts said he hoped school sports would be given the go-ahead. “I’m not a political dude. I just love coach see page 4
Child photos found
Guilty plea in porn case
Noah Snell photo
A yellow-bellied marmot eyes up one of many photographers who’ve documented its recent – and relatively unusual – appearance in White Rock.
Alien marmot hogs spotlight in White Rock Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
A critter native to the B.C. Interior is capturing the hearts of visitors to White Rock beach. The yellow-bellied marmot has been spotted near the East Beach boat launch several times in the past week, prompting an influx of emails and photographs to Peace Arch News. “It is a quite rare species in this area,” notes Noah Snell, a nature photographer who captured dozens of images of the marmot. Chris Rickwood spotted the visitor Friday. “Marmots are normally mountain animals,” Rickwood writes in an email. “Maybe this one hitched a ride on a freight
train as it travelled through the Rockies and got off when the train slowed down through White Rock.” While some suggested the mammal may be one of the at-risk Vancouver Island marmots, officials with the Marmot Recovery Foundation assured that is not the case. Foundation executive director Viki Jackson speculated the visitor – one of four marmot species found in Canada – inadvertently caught a ride to the coast in someone’s boat trailer. Regardless of how the marmot got there, White Rock resident Gloria Sales said she is concerned for its survival. Sales believes it is the same marmot she spotted last fall, noting the “dear little guy” has lost weight.
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“I can’t believe he survived the whole winter,” she told PAN Monday. “You can tell he’s got some fattening up to do.” Sales said she contacted Critter Care Wildlife Society about the marmot last fall, and plans to do so again, in an effort to ensure it doesn’t fall victim to resident eagles or other harm. But the society’s Melissa Allen said as long as the marmot appears healthy, the best thing people can do is simply let it be. “There’s no real way to catch a fully functioning, healthy wild animal,” Allen said. Sales said despite concern for its welfare, the critter’s appearance is a welcome one. “We get so much doom and gloom, it’s kind of nice to see something cute for a change.”
A White Rock man charged 18 months ago in connection with the discovery of child pornography on a home computer has pleaded guilty to accessing the illegal content. Garth Steeves entered the plea in Surrey Provincial Court March 2, court officials confirmed last week. He had been scheduled to go to trial this month on a total of three charges. According to online court records, no plea was entered on the two other counts – of making or publishing child pornography and importing or distributing child pornography – however, they are to be considered in pre-sentencing, set for May 14. Psychiatric/psychological reports are to also be considered at that time. Charges against Steeves were announced in October 2010, 5½ months after child pornography was found on one of two computers that were seized during a search of a White Rock home. The April 28 search by members of the RCMP’s Integrated Child Exploitation (ICE) and Technological Crime units was part of a year-long investigation that was conducted in conjunction with ICE and Toronto police. - Tracy Holmes
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