Tuesday
September 25, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 77)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
A new chapter: With 19 surgeries under her belt, fiveyear-old Ellaray Lewis has reached her fair share of milestones. She and her dad Craig couldn’t be more thrilled about one this month – kindergarten. › see page 12
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
Highway 99 interchange in design stage, as 24 Avenue junction remains on backburner
Ministry moves on 16 Avenue on-ramp Dan Ferguson Staff Reporter
Preliminary work on one of two longdiscussed highway interchanges in South Surrey is underway. While the design process that will produce a four-way interchange at Highway 99 and 16 Avenue has begun, a long-sought-after exchange linking 24 Avenue to the highway remains on the backburner.
The 16 Avenue plan was revealed in a letter delivered last week to residents of the Cherry Brook mobile home park at 16 Avenue and 162 Street. “The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and the City of Surrey are pleased to announce that they will be jointly funding a new interchange at Highway 99 and 16th Avenue,” said the message dated Sept. 14 and signed by Jay Porter, senior project manager
with the provincial ministry. “The project will provide improved access to Highway 99 and the community of South Surrey/White Rock and includes on and off ramps in all four quadrants of the intersection.” Porter adds that the project is currently at “the preliminary design stage” and promised there will be consultation with affected residents.
The letter came with a map showing the southbound off-ramp running behind the mobile home park. It was a surprise to Cherry Brook resident Pat O’Connor, whose backyard will border the off-ramp. “I’m a bit concerned it will devalue the property,” O’Connor said. “Can you imagine the traffic on 16th? It’s going to be awful.” › see page 2
Appeal denied
He ruined my life: beating victim Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
The appeal of a man who beat his cousin with a pipe and left him for dead at the side of a South Surrey road nine years ago was dismissed in short order Thursday. In a brief oral judgment, B.C. Court of Appeal Justice David Frankel told Daniel Lewis Allan he “can see no basis” to dispute the inferences or determinations of the trial judge who, in April 2006, found Allan guilty of six charges in connection with the brutal attack. The appeal, Frankel noted, was “essentially an attempt to re-argue the case.” To succeed, an appeal must identify that legal error was made by the trial judge. Thursday’s unanimous decision by three justices was reached without hearing from Crown Jennifer Duncan. “We don’t find it necessary to call upon you,” Frankel told Duncan, after giving Allan – who was representing himself – the morning to state his case. Allan, 56, was arrested in 2003, following the Aug. 29, 2003 kidnapping and assault of his cousin, Allan Sutton. › see page 3
Kevin Diakiw photo
A city crew delivers new waste bins to Surrey households on Friday for garbage removal. A new garbage pickup program begins on Oct. 1.
Criticism of new garbage program based on misconceptions, says city staffer
A ‘huge leap in the right direction’ Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Racked with the pain of arthritis, 65-year-old Al Race has just managed to move his garbage cans to his laneway for pickup. Starting next week, however, he says he’ll have to haul three large bins to the front of his house over uneven terrain, which his joint pain precludes him from doing. Race said that because of his disability, his
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garbage service will effectively stop on Oct. 1, when the city’s new Rethink Waste Collection Program kicks in. However, Surrey’s deputy operations manager of engineering, Rob Costanzo, said Thursday that Race will be looked after. A special service for people in need will have haulers bring the bins from the side of the house to the front for him. Race isn’t the only resident concerned or
confused about the city’s new garbage system, which launches next Monday. Local media have been inundated with calls and letters (see page 11) asking how the system is going to unfold, or why it’s necessary at all. The change in garbage pickup is part of Metro Vancouver’s regional waste strategy, which has an aim of raising its recycling rate to 70 per cent by 2015. › see page 4
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