S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
$
$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 26 NO. 22
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Man wants cops charged By MARGARET SPEIRS A MAN already in a legal battle to reclaim more than $20,000 he says was illegally seized during a raid on his house here in April now wants the officers involved charged. Darrell Genaille says officers used excessive force in executing a search warrant he also says had expired by the time officers entered his 4600 Block Davis Ave. home on April 10. “I would like the RCMP members to face the same charges as everyone. Being on the job does not give them the right to ignore laws that they are to uphold,” says Genaille in a complaint filed with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. In his complaint, Genaille said RCMP came in through the back door of his residence “yelling search warrant and entered with firearms drawn.” He said both he and his girlfriend, Desiree Bolton, complied with orders to lay on the floor. “The RCMP proceeded into the living room pointing their firearms at our children and yelling at our 15-yearold to lay down, at that point Desiree yelled that they were children, and then the male RCMP officer stepped on Desiree's back...” Genaille says in his complaint. It adds that Bolton suffered a sore back as a result. Genaille and Bolton were arrested and taken to the RCMP detachment. Genaille alleges the search warrant was supposed to have been executed between 8:55 pm and 10 pm on April 10 but that officers entered at 10:10
pm, 10 minutes after it expired. The local RCMP detachment has acknowledged Genaille's complaint and has told him it will be reviewed. Information regarding the complaint forms part of court filings by Genaille to reclaim $21,380 in Canadian currency and $100 in American currency seized during the raid. The filings are tied to a court action being undertaken by the provincial government's Civil Forfeiture Office to keep the money authorities believe is connected to the narcotics trade. Terrace RCMP in a release following the April raid on Genaille's house said officers seized drugs, drug paraphernalia, weapons, cell phones, and an amount of money. It said charge recommendations for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking against a 35-year-old woman from Gitaus and a 40-year-old man from Terrace were forwarded to federal prosecutors. Prosecutors did not approve the charges and provided no specific explanation of their decision. Police then asked the forfeiture office to seize money. The office began a supreme court action to follow through. The forfeiture office is a provincial agency empowered to seize assets including money, cars and houses believed to have been obtained through illegal means. The forfeiture office has applied to the court for the money to be held by the court until it's decided whether the money will be forfeited, which is standard procedure.
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Fall fair nikolas hamer shows off Midnight, a Bantam Cochin, to visitors in the 4-H building at the Skeena Valley Fall Fair Sept. 7. People from around the region came out to view the exhibits and see the animals at the Thornhill community grounds over the weekend.
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Parents asked to pony up for bussing By ANNA KILLEN PARENTS of children enrolled in schools outside of their designated neighbourhood received an unwelcome surprise among the usual notices that came home on the first day of school last week – a letter from the school district demanding $20 a month or $200 a year in or-
der for their child to take a bus. Particularly affected were parents with children attending Ecole Mountainview and Uplands, both located on the bench. The fee, said Coast Mountains School District (CMSD) school superintendent Nancy Wells, is to help balance the school district's budget. Nearly $2.2 million this
year is marked for student transportation costs. “All over the province now there's all sorts of things happening with the cost of bussing because it's so expensive and all of our budgets are so tight,” said Wells. “Some districts have instituted what you call a total fee for service, so if you ride a bus you pay
to ride the bus, period.” She said the school board “did not want to go there,” but decided on implementing a fee for students enrolled outside of their neighbourhood schools instead. “We have kids in the horseshoe that go to Uplands, and we have French immersion students from all over everywhere that go to
Ecole Mountainview,” said Wells. The notice indicates the fee is for “students enrolled in schools outside of their catchment areas,” leading parents of students at Ecole Mountainview, which is French immersion, to argue the school is not a neighbourhood school and that its catchment area is the entire city and surrounding area.
Her passion
Buyout doubted
Roller riot
Local student becomes ambassador for French language here \COMMUNITY A16
Fortune Minerals v.p. is confident in eventual approval for project \NEWS A9
First roller bout was just the ‘nightmare’ Terrace had been waiting for \SPORTS A26