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A new documentary asks the burning questions about hell.
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Forging false credit cards ‘growing’ crime in Chilliwack, say RCMP Robert Freeman The Progress
Forging false credit cards from stolen personal identification is a growing crime trend in Chilliwack, says RCMP Cpl. Kurt Bosnell. But the perpetrators aren’t using the forgeries to live the high life, he said, but rather to feed their drug habit, which, for some reason, is almost always crystal meth. “Why not heroin?” he asks. So, while law-abiding Chilliwack residents are sleeping, jacked-up crystal meth addicts are prowling the streets at night looking for something to steal to buy the next hit — and your personal identification is as good as a stereo and a lot easier to carry. Many of the thousand personal ID cards seized in a police search of a residence in the 4600-block Yale Road last Wednesday was traced back to items reported stolen in home breakand-enters and thefts from vehicles around the Fraser Valley dating back to 2009. “They’ve been collecting this information for a long time,” Bosnell said. They also had card readers at the residence capable of reading and transferring encrypted data stored on the magnetic stripe of credit cards, he said. With that information, and more, if needed, from a stolen point-of-sale terminal, they can remove the name embossed on the front of a credit card, and have the makings of a brandnew — but totally forged — credit card. How to protect yourself? “The big thing is, protect your personal ID,” Bosnell said — and he means everything. Those Happy Birthday reminders on Facebook, for instance, are one more bit of personal information a thief using computer software can use to build a false credit card. The stolen ID cards found at the Yale Road “card dump” included credit cards, drivers licences, B.C. Care cards, SIN cards, status cards, even school and firearms licences, and an identification card from the Philippines, Bosnell said.
Healthy babies mean a healthier future Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
A mobile outreach to serve needy families in outlying areas is what the new Meadow Rose Society is striving to become. The Chilliwack-based group provides everyday necessities for raising healthy kids under three, from diapers, creams, powders and pablum, to vitamins and fresh fruit. “Meadow Rose was founded on the belief that all children deserve a good start for a bright future,” said executive director Kathereen Kessler. Some families are struggling. Prices are on the rise. There is little money left sometimes for the basics. “The Meadow Rose Society
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Kathereen Kessler is the founder and executive director of the Meadow Rose Society. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
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is here to ensure that children under three are not casualties of these harsh realities,” said Kessler. She and an office staff member work in tandem with a board of directors. The society has applied for charitable status with the future vision of expanding to a mobile outreach service to rural areas like Agassiz, Hope, Yale and Boston Bar. “Families in outlying areas may feel the pressures of raising young children in difficult times even more keenly than those living in cities,” she said. “Isolation from urban centres can leave those who are already struggling to provide for their families with a gap that Meadow Rose can help fill.”
Karen Kellett, a social worker who has used Meadow Rose services, can’t say enough good things about their work and its impact. “I understand when families live in poverty, as many families do now because of the economy, feeling useless and guilty because they can’t afford formula or diapers is devastating. She offered the example of a single mom of two very young boys, struggling to feed her family. She was so thin she was almost anorexic because the choice she had was to either feed the children, clothe and diaper them — or eat. “Welfare didn’t give her enough to do both. Her choice of course was to put her children first.”
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If Meadow Rose manages to bring its outreach services to areas like as Hope, Boston Bar, Agassiz, “the families will be thankful, grateful, be able to provide for their children in a healthy and good manner. “True generosity with no strings, in this day and age, is rarer than finding a purple elephant in my backyard. Because these families are unable or unwilling to move to an urban area should not mean they have to do without. It should not mean they are less than, even though they may feel less than because they can’t afford the basics.” The operation is dependent on donations and proceeds they’ve earned from hot dog sales. They provide milk for Continued: BABIES/ p16