The Chilliwack
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From Russia, with skates.
Massive reunion set to rock Chilliwack.
Musically speaking with Graham Yates.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T U E S D AY, F E B R U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 3
Action wanted on illegal dumping
Agricultural land could see medical grow-ops: legal opinion
Garbage, junk, animal carcasses and spent shells spoil Vedder trails Alina Konevski The Progress
On a clear day, the West side of Vedder Mountain overlooks the farmland and rolling hills of the Fraser Valley below, and houses a robust network of trails that outdoor enthusiasts have been using for generations. But anyone escaping to the area will be assaulted by ugly piles of construction materials, discarded animal skins and bones, bags of personal garbage, toxic grow-up waste, and a shooting range with thousands of shells, some live. Stepping around the mess, local groups, such as the Vedder Mountain Trails Association (VMTA) and the Yarrow chapter of Back Country Horsemen of B.C., have been coming to the area to enjoy the trails for years. And so have individual groups of motorized ATV and dirtbike riders. As have people with guns seeking free target practice within an easy drive of the city. Now, driving up the nameless forest road that stems off of Old Yale Road in Abbotsford, just on the edge of Chilliwack, every small clearing yields a different pile of illegal garbage. There is the mattress and construction materials section, the household waste section, and the animal bones section. On occasion, there can also be an old appliances area, and one for stolen cars. Four kilometres from the main road is the big attraction: the shooting range. Taking up the length of what was once a trail access route at the base of a majestic mountain peak, sheets of old metal and beer bottles form targets at the end of the hundreds-metre-long alley. At its entry is a pile of thousands of shells from large and small caliber guns, shotguns, and AK-47 assault rifles, the latter prohibited in Canada. Farmers and other residents along Old Yale and Majuba Hill Roads have complained about the noise and security. And the shooting presents a real danger to recreational trail users. Continued: SOLUTIONS/ p5
Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
Chilliwack council has weighed in with an official response to the federal government on the subject of medical marijuana licensing. The 75-day comment period ends on Feb. 28, and proposed Health Canada changes for medical marijuana access regulations are expected to be in place by April 2013. The shift in regulations will see an end to personal growing by licence-holders in favour of a system of commercial grow-ops run by licensed growers. Council approved a recommendation to research the proposed changes by the federal government to see if Chilliwack’s building regulation bylaws and business licensing bylaws will require amendments, “to ensure that the proposed commercial medicinal grow operations are constructed and monitored in appropriately zoned areas; and further, that the safety and security of its citizens be considered its main focus and priority.” Coun. Chuck Stam said he supported the recommendation at the council meeting last Tuesday but felt “this discussion was bigger than any one municipality,” arguing it should also go to the Union of B.C. Municipalities. Council has received a legal opinion recently that medical grows would be permitted in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and in turn that might “put pressure” on the ag community, Stam said. The Chilliwack Agricultural Commission was another entity that should be consulted to get their views on the matter, he suggested.
Vedder Mountain Trails Association president, Dr. Mark A. Steinebach (left), joins Rose Schroeder, president of the Yarrow chapter of Back Country Horsemen of B.C., at the illicit shooting range on the West side of Vedder Mountain.
Continued: INPUT/ p11
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