THE WEDNESDAY
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Continuing bullying talk
Grease is the word
SEE LIFE, PAGE A15
SEE ARTS, PAGE A20
JAN. 23, 2013 www.tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/A10 Letters/A11 A Good Read/A18 Sports/A23
Buzz on biz The Tri-Cities experienced some modest growth in the number of business licences issued in 2012 and a Canadian retail business group says it’s cautiously optimistic about the year ahead following some difficult years. See page A3 Rame Edwan, barber shop owner (left), and Nabaz Arif say business isn’t bad in Port Coquitlam. The annual summer car show helps bring customers, the streets are clean and safe, and word of mouth brings them customers. For most small businesses, however, 2013 will be a year of slow growth, according to the Retail Council of Canada. DIANE STRANDBERG THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Former teacher pleads guilty to old sex charges
Brushes battle ice bombs Port Mann Bridge to get custom snow sweepers
By Diane Strandberg
By Jeff Nagel
THE TRI-CITY NEWS
BLACK PRESS
A teacher whose last job was at Citadel middle school in Port Coquitlam has pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting two young people in Coquitlam during incidents that date back more than a decade. Russell Lance Read entered guilty pleas last month and is expected to be back in B.C. Provincial Court March 18 for sentencing, according to Neil MacKenzie of the Attorney General’s criminal justice branch.
The cables that hold up the Port Mann Bridge will be outfitted with devices to clear snow buildup and prevent a repeat of the falling “ice bombs” incident that terrorized motorists shortly after the bridge opened late last year. The custom snow sweepers are two feet long and consist of a
see READ HAD BEEN, page A5
set of wheels, scrapers and brushes, and will be raised and lowered along the cables during wintry weather to remove any ice and snow buildup. They’re being installed on 152 of the 288 bridge cables that cross the roadway starting this week. Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n Minister Mary Polak said they’ll initially be positioned at the bottom of the cables and be manually winched up to the top and dropped back down to clear snow when required. “It clears off all the snow in a gradual man-
TRANSPORTATION NEWS Metro Vancouver mayors want the province to explore vehicle levies to help fund TransLink: see pg. A7 ner, which was intended in the first place,” she said. Later, they’ll be positioned at the top of the cables and then dropped down and back up by remote control when needed. “The initial solution may not be that elegant,” Polak said, “but we wanted to make sure we
have a solution for the public.” More than 250 vehicles were reported damaged Dec. 19 by ice that fell from the bridge’s cables, which cross over traffic lanes, unlike the ones on other local suspension bridges. Polak said the sweepers are just one of the preventative solutions
engineers are testing to ensure bridge users are safe from falling snow and ice. Four hydrophobic, silicon-based coatings are being tested to determine which performs best. The intent is to coat all the cables this summer and make snow or ice more likely to slide off. A de-icing solution has also been found that can be sprayed on the bridge cables, although Polak referred to it as more of a “last resort” as it likely means a planned closure of some lanes. see CONTRACTOR, page A4