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Two men charged after gun pulled at nightclub Two men are facing multiple charges after allegedly pulling out guns in a Chilliwack night club. RCMP were called to the Echo Room in the 9200 block of Main Street just before 2 a.m. on May 22. Echo Room employees had asked the two men to leave the night club. At that point, police say one of the men pulled out a 9-millimetre handgun and pointed it at the employees. Both men eventually left the Echo Room, and were found by police a short time later. Fifty-three year old Edwin Ted Shipley had the gun on him when he was arrested, police say. He has been charged with pointing a firearm, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and willfully resisting and obstructing arrest. Twenty-seven year old Kevin Douthwright has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon, unauthorized possession of a firearm and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Both men are from Chilliwack. Shipley and Douthwright have since been released on court ordered conditions, and now await a future court appearance. “This incident reflects the value and success of the Chilliwack Bar Watch program,” said RCMP Cpl. Len vanNieuwenhuizen. “This program seeks to exclude persons with affiliations to organized crime or a history of violence, in an effort to maintain the safety and security of patrons and the general public. Participating establishments have ‘Bar Watch’ signage posted to identify their participation. This program helps to ensure that individuals whose behaviour poses a risk to public safety do not bring that risk to these establishments and the innocent patrons present.”
Sam Mohan (left) and Kim Lloyd visit with client and methadone user Kevin Point inside Chilliwack’s mobile clinic, a renovated bus, run by Pacific Community Resources Society. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Mini mobile clinic to serve Chilliwack addicted Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
A big blue bus is ready to roll through Chilliwack as a mobile clinic to serve the needs of street people in the downtown core. Called the Fraser Healthy Options Clinic, the modified passenger bus will be replacing the blue needle exchange van that used to operate weekday afternoons in the Empress Lane parking lot, run by Pacific Community Resources Society. While debate over harm reduction rages on in Abbotsford, Chilliwack has quietly supported its own needle exchange program for 20 years,
with firm backing from city officials, the BIA and business community. It also attracted broad-based support from the community, and has a solid record of keeping dirty needles off the streets. “In some years, the Chilliwack program collected more needles off the streets than it handed out,” said manager Kim Lloyd, adding that when any cleanup crew members find a syringe downtown, it gets returned right back to them. About 400 people are part of the HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C program in Chilliwack which includes IV drug users, the homeless, and sex trade workers.
Last year the needle exchange program logged about 2,500 visits, since many individuals would pick up supplies for multiple users in their households, said Lloyd. Some would come from communities like Agassiz or Boston Bar. The newly renovated bus with a colourful local landscape design on the side of it, promises to be an improvement over the old van. “Our clients used to have to stand outside no matter what the weather,” said program supervisor Sam Mohan. “Now they can come inside and sit down with us. We’ve got space for expanded outreach and education, testing and immuniza-
tions, and more supplies and free offerings like clothing and toiletries.” Staff finally made the transfer of program files and supplies from the van, to the mini mobile clinic on the bus last week. PCRS ran the HIV-Hep C program from downtown storefronts near Five Corners for more than a decade, before moving it to Southgate Mall, said Mohan. The needle exchange went mobile in 2006 and has been operating out of a Dodge van since 2009. “It was supposed to be temporary, for only two years,” said Mohan. “But it turned out to be more than four years.”
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