Familiar flight path for Eagles page 31
The sounds of early intervention page 29
Tuesday September 25, 2012
Serving Surrey and North Delta
Girl set fire to friend over bike, court hears Attacker of 26-year-old disfigured last year faces sentencing
by Sheila Reynolds
MEHGAN PRONICK doesn’t want her
picture taken. The 26-year-old isn’t comfortable in front of a camera since she was set on fire last December, leaving her face disfigured and causing extensive scarring to the majority of her body. Still, Pronick, 26, walked into Surrey Provincial Court with family and friends Friday to attend the sentencing hearing for the girl who doused her with a flammable fluid and then used an aerosol can and lighter to torch her – all over a bicycle. Danielle Merasty, 22, pleaded guilty Top: Mehgan to aggravated assault this Pronick in summer in con2008, three nection with the years before Dec. 17, 2011 she suffered fourth-degree attack in North burns. Above, Surrey. her mother See VICTIM / Page 10 Laurie Pronick.
KEVIN DIAKIW / THE LEADER
Crews deliver new waste bins to Surrey households for garbage removal on Friday. A new garbage pick-up program begins on Oct. 1.
Get ready to Rethink your trash Some residents confused, angry as new garbage pick-up system looms by Kevin Diakiw RACKED WITH the pain of arthritis, 65-year-old Al Race has just managed to move his garbage cans to his laneway for pick-up. 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 because of his disability, his garbage service will effectively stop on Oct. 1, when the city’s new Rethink Waste Collection Program kicks in. However Rob Costanzo, Surrey’s deputy operations manager of
engineering, said Thursday 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 on Monday. The Leader has been inundated with calls and letters wondering how the system is going to unfold, or why it’s necessary at all. The change in trash pick-up 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 PUBLIC / Page 3
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