Along the Fraser Cells of city-filled sludge along dikes. p6
Home care rules isolate pet owner. p3
THE NEws
Community Caribbean Festival back for 13th year. p12
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Off-leash park plagued by glass, possible poisoning nine incidents report to parks dept., dog feces smeared at Cliff Falls by Nei l Corbe tt staff reporter
Someone is spreading glass on the ground in the off-leash area at Volker Park and a dog may have been poisoned there. On Thursday, Tina Deoliveira was again combing the ground for bits of glass at the popular dog park, located at 21113 – 123rd Avenue in Maple Ridge. Her routine involves taking her beagle Scrappy to the park every morning, and she has always enjoyed that time of her day. “It’s a really nice dog park – they [district staff] have done a fabulous job,” she said. “It’s a nice place to hang out with other people who have dogs, and the dogs play. “But at least twice per week now, I come to the park and I end up picking up glass.” She can’t stand the thought of some unaware pet owner having their canine companion injured by the glass, so her morning leisure time often now spent cleaning up. “Someone either doesn’t like dogs, or doesn’t want the dog park here,” she said. See Dogs, p3
Colleen Flanagan/tHe neWS
Scrappy, a two-year-old beagle, was fortunate not to have stepped in broken glass his owner, Tina Deoliveira, picked up throughout the off-leash area at Volker Park. And it wasn’t the first time.
Fourth chlorine leak evacuates pool WorkSafe report finds failings, changes considered by Phil M elnyc h u k staff reporter
The Leisure Centre in Maple Ridge was evacuated again on Tuesday after the fourth chlorine leak at the indoor pool in three years. The evacuation follows a leak in the chlorine room on Jan. 31, after which a WorkSafe B.C. report found a faulty chlorine monitor
and that recreation staff weren’t checking them as often as required. “Three leaks in the last two years, that’s just nuts,” said Brian Northam, a health and safety officer with the Greater Vancouver Regional District Employees Union and who was at the Leisure Centre on Tuesday. “The leak should never have been able to propagate to the required emergency response,” involving the Maple Ridge fire department. Lifeguards and staff emptied the pool at about 5:30 p.m. after an alarm sounded indicating a chlo-
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rine leak, triggering the evacuation. Chlorine gas is injected into the pool’s water supply from compressed chlorine gas tanks in a separate room in the southwest corner of the Leisure Centre. No one was injured in the incident. But it could have been more serious, said Northam. According to the website Toxipedia, chlorine gas can be smelled at 3.5 parts per million and can be fatal after a few breaths at 1,000 parts per million. Chlorine also was used
as a chemical weapon by the Germans against the Allies in the First World War. “If this gets on your skin, you’re going to blister.” If you breath it in, Northam added, death could result. He said each workplace has to be able to do its own evacuation procedures. “What happens if the fire department had a three-alarm fire?” Staff did evacuate the pool, said recreation director Wendy McCormick. See Chlorine, p5
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Brian Northam, a health and safety officer, worries the leak could have been more serious. Wonderful Kanaka Ridge
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