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air.com chilliwackf , 2012 10 - 12 August
Progress Tuesday
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Chilliwack Fair
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Your guide to the 140th annual Chilliwack Fair.
Selling tea to support freedom.
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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, A U G U S T 7 , 2 0 1 2
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Defence union turns up heat on MP Strahl Robert Freeman The Progress
Jared Gibbard of the Chilliwack Cougars (right) fails to tag out a Kelowna Cubs player at first base after he tries to steal second base during the Peewee AA provincials at Fairfield Island on Thursday afternoon. The game was one of many taking place in Chilliwack on the weekend. Chilliwack Minor Baseball also hosted the Midget AAA provincial championships. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
A last-ditch effort to stop the closure of the Canadian Forces’ Area Supply Unit in Chilliwack is being mounted by the Union of National Defence Employees. And Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon MP Mark Strahl is being “targeted specifically” by the union to reverse the decision, Mark Miller, UNDE vicepresident in B.C., told The Progress last week. Strahl should be fighting to keep the ASU open, he said, “instead of kowtowing to the various doctrines of the prime minister.” “I’m targeting him specifically (because) he’s got the only (ASU) where there’s an actual closure taking place,” he said. Strahl was not available to comment on the political heat the union is mounting through the newspaper advertising campaign. Continued: ASU/ p11
BC gang activity wilting under police heat Robert Freeman The Progress Gang activity in B.C. has wilted under the heat of Lower Mainland police forces, including the Chilliwack RCMP, says UFV criminologist Darryl Plecas. While the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit has put a “significant dent” in gang leadership, according to CFSEU spokesman Sgt. Bill Whelan, Plecas said “proactive” policing by municipal police forces like those in Chilliwack, Abbotsford and West Vancouver has given new recruits second thoughts
about the gang lifestyle. “They are non-stop in their face,” Plecas said, about how police forces are using “sophisticated analytics” and intelligence software to keep tabs on offenders and to discourage them from a life of crime. B.C. crime stats have fallen by one-third since 2002, Abbotsford posting a “spectacular” 50 per cent cut — one of the highest in the world, Plecas said. Chilliwack’s crime stats have also dropped — property crimes by 24 per cent in the first year of a new policing strategy, with steady declines thereafter. Serious crimes
like assault have also declined, although robbery stats remain stubbornly flat. Plecas and police officials from Chilliwack, Abbotsford and West Van are heading to the United Nations this week to talk about B.C.’s success at an International Police Executive Symposium where cops from around the world talk about how they are sticking it to the bad guys. Plecas said the key in B.C. — where gangs wars once seemed out of control — is making sure the police have the resources to do the job, and switching to “proactive”
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rather than “reactive” strategies. “I predicted four or five years ago they would whack these gangs big time because I knew what the police were putting into place,” Plecas said. One tool was the CSFEU that draws on municipal police forces from around the province to focus on gang activity. Whelan said putting away leaders of the Red Scorpion and UN gangs — last month UN co-founder Doug Vanalstine pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges, landing him behind bars where Chilliwackraised co-founder Clay Roueche has
been residing since February, 2011 — has made others skittish about stepping up to be the new leaders. Roueche was sentenced to 30 years in jail; Vanalstine to 12 years. In Abbotsford, once called the “murder capital” with 35 dead in 2009, Bacon brothers Jamie and Jarrod, associated with the Red Scorpions, were arrested in 2009 and now the latter is serving a 12-year-sentence on drug charges and the former is in jail facing murder charges in the Surrey Six case.
4th Anniversary Celebration DOOR PRIZES!
10% OFF ALL DAY (excluding orders)
Saturday, Aug. 11 BBQ HOMEMADE SAUSAGE & BURGERS, 11AM - 2 PM
Continued: JUSTICE/ p3