B.C. Views Ottawa takes lead on skills training. p6
Student speaking out against bullying. p3
THE NEws
Sports Speed skater second at westerns. p23
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Bill Evanow shows his scar from being bitten by a police dog.
RCMP sued for police dog bite working group set up to establish training standards by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
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Premier Christy Clark walks in downtown Maple Ridge with Liberal MLA Marc Dalton (right) and candidate Doug Bing.
‘Road pricing a tax on ‘burbs’ TransLink funding shortfall a regional problem: premier by Phil M elnyc h u k staff reporter
Maple Ridge residents will keep paying the tolls while those on the other side of the Fraser River will still get a free ride, according to the premier, who made a campaign stop in Maple Ridge on Monday. Liberal leader Christy Clark said universal road tolls applied to ex-
isting roads and bridges would be unfair to residents in the suburbs. “If you’re living in Maple Ridge and you’re commuting into Burnaby every day,” you don’t need to pay charges on every major road or bridge used, particularly those that were built two or three decades ago. “Just the concept of it, I don’t think B.C. can afford right now,” she added. “Universal road pricing is basically a tax on the suburbs.” But such a system could make it more fair for local residents,
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said NDP candidate for Maple RidgeMission, Mike Bocking. It does seem like Maple Ridge and Surrey residents have been singled out for more Bocking user-pay for projects. Clark was in Langley, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge, and accompanied by local candidates
Doug Bing and MLA Marc Dalton, met with business people, stopped at The Create Shop pottery and glass studio, and the Delizie Italian Cafe and the Remax real estate office on Dewdney Trunk Road. While TransLink’s Mayor’s Council grows increasingly frustrated about finding ways to pay its bills, Clark reiterated that it’s a regional problem. Any funding source must be affordable, supported by the public and regionally based, she said. See Premier, p15
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hen Bill Evanow flexes his thigh muscle, the flesh dimples, displaying a divot the size of his fist. “You can see my thigh bone,” he says, slowly turning his leg to show where a police dog bit off a chunk of his hamstring two years ago. On a rainy spring night in March 2011, Evanow was only trying to help RCMP catch a car thief, who had led police on a chase from Mission into downtown Maple Ridge. Even with its tires deflated by a spike belt, the truck made its way from Wilson Road to downtown Maple Ridge. Police finally boxed the truck in a few blocks away from Evanow’s house, but the man managed to slam his way out of the blockade, eventually ditching the truck in Evanow’s driveway. As a police helicopter shone a light into his back yard, Evanow saw the thief running past his window. He grabbed a snow shovel and decided to pursue the man. “I thought the cops were right there.” Evanow tripped the thief as he ran through his yard and chased him as he leaped over a wire fence towards a parking lot off 223rd Street. See Dog bite, p11
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