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Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T U E S D AY, M AY 8 , 2 0 1 2
Tycrop reveals expansion plan for Rosedale Company hopes to consolidate work sites Robert Freeman Black Press Tycrop Manufacturing is getting ready to invest $30 million to clean up it’s “scattered” Rosedale facilities and turn it into one “modern” plant that will improve worker safety and present a more attractive face to the community. Tycrop co-owner Scott Mason said the plant has outgrown its current one-acre site, having doubled its output of equipment like high-pressure pumps for the energy sector over the last four years. He said the plant’s staff of 300 is also expected to double. Co-owner Gary Teichrob said all the plant activities that currently take place outside the buildings will move inside, one of the new buildings to be located on a nearby property in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Teichrob said no application has been made to the Agricultural Land Commission, but “at the end of the day there will be no loss of farm land” plus a “net benefit” to the agricultural community. Mason said the company is working with “a number of different people” in Chilliwack to meet those goals, but declined to identify them at this time. “There’s nothing concrete yet, there’s no firm decisions,” he said. Both men said that residents who are organizing opposition to the company’s intention to apply for exclusion of the farm property are jumping the gun. Teichrob said Rosedale was built around industry, the first being a blacksmith shop that serviced farmers. He said if the expansion plan proceeds, the community will benefit from a more attractive tree-lined plant, with employee parking off local roads and with a community walkway. The company also plans to make part of its new office space available for community services like banking. rfreeman@theprogress.com
Jon Order’s lawyer Laird Cruickshank speaks with media outside the Chilliwack Law Courts on Monday afternoon. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Hang gliding pilot released from custody Robert Freeman The Progress Jon Orders, the hang-gliding pilot charged with obstruction of justice after a fatal tandem flight April 28, was released from custody Monday in Chilliwack. Orders, 50, was granted release by a provincial court judge Friday, but remained in custody over the weekend until he perfected $5,750 cash bail and surrendered passport and citizenship documents. Evidence submitted by Crown and defence lawyers at the bail hearing cannot be published by court order. Crown counsel opposed the release, but Judge Roy Dickey said the Crown had not convinced him their concerns were
strong enough to continue holding Orders. “I have determined that the risk can be dealt with in terms of the conditions of his release,” the judge said. In addition to turning in passports and citizenship documents, the conditions included no travel outside B.C., no operation of a hang-glider or paraglider, attend all court hearings in person, no contact with several witnesses and report regularly to a bail supervisor. Lenami Godinez-Avila, a 27-year-old from Mexico, fell to her death during a tandem hanggliding flight with Orders that took off from Mount Woodside just before noon April 28. When police charged Orders had swallowed a camera
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memory card that might hold evidence, the story captured world-wide attention and speculation. Order’s lawyer Laird Cruickshank told The Progress after the Friday hearing that his client may want to comment down the road about the media coverage, but “I’m concerned about his emotional well-being; that’s been more the focus than what others are saying about him.” Meanwhile, Orders’ certification as a hang-glider instructor has been suspended by the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada and an investigation launched. Investigations by the RCMP and the BC Coroners Office continue.
RCMP Const. Tracy Wolbeck said a team of investigators is looking into the case, but she would not comment on possible further charges. “We’ll have to see where the evidence leads us,” she said. “The RCMP priority is exclusively to answer the questions we all have, particularly those of the family,” she said. “They have come to Canada in search of answers to provide some clarity regarding the death of their daughter.” Martin Henry, a master-rated pilot with over 30 years experience, is the lead investigator for the association, with assistance from Jason Warner, the association’s safety chair. Continued: FLYING/ p12
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