Maple Ridge News, January 16, 2013

Page 1

B.C. Views Inconvenient truth of oil pollution. p6

Hunting allowed on municipal dikes. p3

THE NEws

Arts&life Invited to magical land of Oz. p18

www.mapleridgenews.com wednesday, January 16, 2013 · serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢

FHA extra cautious with flu Visitors must wear masks now at care homes by Ne i l Cor be tt staff reporter

Colleen Flanagan/tHe news

Rudy, largely confined to his couch, fell behind paying his Hydro bill, but blames a tenant for a usage surge. see video @ mapleridgenews.com.

Power turned off in cold Disabled man fails to pay hydro bills, spend four days in dark By Monisha Martins, staff reporter

S

eated in the corner of a Lshaped couch, wrapped in a pile of blankets, Rudolf holds a stick with a claw at the end and draws a semi-circle in the air. “This is my world,” he says with the hint of a Slavic accent, pointing to metre-wide area

around him. Rudy (last name withheld for security reasons) is unable to walk more than a few steps. It’s been six months since he’s left the confines of his cluttered couch. He suffers from Crohn’s disease, which has advanced to a stage where he needs an ostomy bag. His house in Maple Ridge is a mess. The living room that is his world is jammed with flats of soup cans, juice boxes, a computer keyboard, two heaters, a dusty entertainment unit, ceiling-high shelves stacked with video cassettes, books and scattered with

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other unidentifiable detritus from his life. Curtains of cobwebs hang from the ceiling. With a skinny tabby cat asleep on his knee, Rudy shivered under the blankets on Monday, waiting for his power to be turned back on. The 60-year-old disabled man spent four and half days without electricity as temperatures dropped below zero across Metro Vancouver. “I can’t believe they would do that,” he says. Rudy acknowledges he’s had trouble paying his B.C. Hydro bill

for the past few months. Rudy lives on his own. Through the week, he eats out of cans. On Sunday, a friend drops by with more food. Once a month, another acquaintance checks Rudy’s mail box, cashes his disability cheque and pays his bills. His Hydro bill, however, shot up in spring. He suspects a tenant who has been living on his property for the past five years hooked a trailer to the house and used power to grow or dry marijuana. see Power, p5

Index Opinion Letters Looking Back Arts&life sports Pets Classifieds

A terrible flu season has prompted the Fraser Health Authority to require everyone going to its nursing or retirement homes or assisted living facilities to wear a mask and practise stringent hand hygiene during their time there. Only those who have received a flu shot this year will be exempt. The new requirement includes all staff, volunteers and visitors. Fraser Health is asking people to avoid going to residential care and assisted living facilities if they are not feeling well. Already this flu season, 19 Fraser Health residential care facilities have reported influenza outbreaks, with “significant consequences for residents.” see Flu, p4

Sports: Maple Ridge’s Brad Hunt records two assists in weekend return. see p25

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