Tuesday Feb. 14, 2012 (Vol. l. 37 No. 13)
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
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In kindness: The South Surrey/White Rock Oneness Gogos are spending Random Acts of Kindness Week thanking the community for helping raise more than $100,000. see page 11
T-shirt slogans rile court
Judge dresses down gallery
Evan Seal photo
Carla Henderson & Paul Thomson.
Valentine’s surprise
Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
‘We don’t need luck’ Evan Seal Black Press
I
t was a dark, wet Tuesday night on Dec. 7, 2010, and Paul Thomson had just sat down at a computer at Semiahmoo House Society to surf the web. It was a regular evening routine for Paul, as he enjoyed the quiet time by himself. The last few years had been challenging for the lifelong Surrey resident. In October 2003, while driving home from work, vere Paul was overcome by a severe pain in his head. The details that followed remain a mystery to Paul, however, he remembers waking up in hospital and being told he had been involved in a car accident. While behind the wheel, Paul suffered an intracranial hemorrhage resulting in a build-up of blood in his skull that caused serious brain damage. He spent three months in a coma and seven months in hospital learning how to eat, walk and talk again. His battle back had been inspiring to many, but in recent years, Paul had become more withdrawn, and his physical and mental progress seemed to plateau. see page 4
All that jazz
Boaz Joseph photo
Marshall Herridge plays the bass behind trumpeter Alex Webb with the Semiahmoo Secondary Grade 12 Combo during the 30th annual Envision Jazz Festival at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel Saturday. The three-day festival featured 2,500 secondary school musicians and evening performances by jazz professionals, as well as award and scholarship presentations.
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A court appearance for a White Rock woman facing multiple dog-theft charges was short last week, but the presiding judge made sure to let opponents of Janet Olson know that disrespect for the legal process won’t be tolerated. Several attendees seated in the Surrey Provincial Court gallery Thursday wore white T-shirts with the phrase ‘Stealing pets is not rescue’ on the front and ‘Return our family members now’ on the back. Judge Ellen Gordon admonished them for their attire. “For those of you that ❝If you want are in here, the T-shirts to watch… don’t help,” Gordon come dressed said. “If you want to watch… come dressed like normal people.❞ like normal people.” Olson, founder of A Ellen Gordon Better Life Dog Rescue, Surrey judge was one of two women arrested in November in connection with what police described as “an elaborate dog-theft investigation” into allegations a rescue group was stealing dogs from backyards across the Lower Mainland. At the time, police said investigators observed Olson and co-accused Louise Reid enter a Coquitlam backyard and walk away with a bulldog named Samson. Olson – who has acknowledged she took Samson – was also charged with theft and fraud in connection with the alleged theft of a Jack Russell terrier in Surrey on April 13, 2011. Last month, following a flood of tips to police, several more charges were sworn against Olson, in connection with incidents between Nov. 14, 2009, and Dec. 21, 2011 in White Rock, Surrey, Richmond and Abbotsford. A Richmond woman, Michaela Schnittker, was also announced as facing charges. see page 2
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