Peace Arch News, July 05, 2012

Page 1

Thursday July 5, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 54)

V O I C E

O F

W H I T E

R O C K

A N D

S O U T H

Homeward bound: Former Florida Panthers defenceman Jason Garrison, a White Rock native, will play a little closer to home this fall after signing a contract with the Vancouver Canucks. see page 31

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

‘Ludicrous’ to claim defendants were just smuggling car parts, judge says

Border guard guilty in drug scheme Dan Ferguson Staff Reporter

A Surrey border guard who waved a cocaine-laden SUV through the Pacific Highway crossing has been convicted of drug smuggling, breach of trust and accepting a bribe as an officer. The written ruling convicting Baljinder Kandola, 39, was released Friday by B.C.

Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly, who also convicted Richmond resident Shminder Johal on related charges of smuggling and offering a bribe to an officer. They were among three men arrested Oct. 25, 2007, after police found 11 boxes with 208 bricks of cocaine worth $5-6 million inside a GMC Yukon Denali that passed unchecked through the South Surrey border crossing

into Canada. The third man, Richmond Herman Riar, was earlier sentenced to 12 years in jail in January 26, 2010 by a Surrey provincial court judge, after pleading guilty. In finding Kandola and Johal guilty, Romilly dismissed the claim advanced by defence lawyers that the pair were only smuggling car parts and had nothing do with the cocaine that was being transported in the SUV that

Riar was driving at the time of the arrests. Romilly called that suggestion “ludicrous.” Sometimes using blunt language, Romilly ruled that the evidence of 25 witnesses and 140 intercepted phone calls proved the three men had a scheme to get large amounts of cocaine through the Canada-U.S. border undetected. see page 4

Cowichan politics

Surrey schools superintendent takes place of fired trustees Dan Ferguson Staff Reporter

Freeway rollover

Shane MacKichan photo

An air ambulance helicopter prepares to rush an injured man to Royal Columbian Hospital from South Surrey Sunday evening. The rollover crash took place southbound on Highway 99 just before the Serpentine Bridge near 136A Street around 9 p.m. The victim’s condition was said to be serious. Video online at www.peacearchnews.com

Surrey business group adds to Canadian groundswell of support

Blaine train station picks up steam Dan Ferguson Staff Reporter

The international campaign to reopen the historic train station in Blaine, Wash. gathered a little more momentum in recent days. First, Blaine city council last week formally endorsed a passenger train stop for their community, then the Surrey Board of Trade followed suit. Then, this week, the Surrey Board of Trade

SANDPIPER

announced it has passed a resolution of support for a “minimum stop” by the Amtrak Cascades just south of the U.S. border. The support follows votes by city councils of both White Rock and Surrey earlier this year backing the proposal. Blaine council members voted June 25 to support the establishment of an Amtrak passenger rail stop there and to send a letter to Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire and

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B.C. premier Christy Clark. The resolution also calls for a third, mid-day passenger train service between Vancouver and Seattle to complement the current morning and evening runs. The council vote endorses preservation of the boarded-up 100-year-old train station in Blaine, but makes it clear that is not the only option for the city. see page 5

Spring & Summer SALE up to . . .

Surrey School District superintendent Mike McKay was named official trustee of the Cowichan school district on July 1, after the provincial government fired the nine school trustees for submitting a deficit budget. “It’s regrettable that the Cowichan Valley board chose to put political advocacy ahead of their obligation to submit a balanced budMike McKay get,” Education Minister George superintendent Abbott said in a statement Sunday morning. “I know (McKay) will be a great asset to the Cowichan Valley in this role and I am very pleased that he has agreed to take on the responsibility.” Surrey school chairperson Laurae McNally told Peace Arch News that Abbott contacted her a few days before the firing to advise her of McKay’s possible appointment. “He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that,” McNally said Tuesday. McNally said she informally advised the other trustees, and there were no objections. see page 4

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