ALDERGROVE STA AR Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 55 Years
| Thursday, September 19, 2013
Dahlia Blooms Take the Prize! Prize!
Check our website daily for updates, breaking news and more: www.aldergrovestar.com om
Page 13: Kodiaks open up with one of each Hay! Let’s Have Some Fun!
PAGE 5
Donor pays $2.5m for future parkland in Glen Valley Funds earmarked for Aldergrove recreation centre By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
HARRY HUNT PHOTO
Aspen Thorpe, aged one and a half, of Aldergrove, plays in the hay at the 35th Country Celebration at Langley’s Campbell Valley Regional Park over the weekend. Mount Lehman’s annual oldfashioned fall fair returns this Saturday, Sept. 21, with more family-style fun, food, music and games.
The fate of a 25-acre parcel of Langley Township forest land has been decided with the announcement, Sept. 11, of a $2.5 million deal that sees Trinity Western University (TWU) buying the property from the Township using donated money from the Blaauw family. TWU has promised no housing will be built on the site. Money to purchase the Glen Valley Gray Pit Lands in the McLellan Park Forests on 257A Street was donated by Ann Blaauw and children John, Janet, and Jennifer, in memory of their late husband and father, Thomas Blaauw, a long-time resident of Langley who passed away in August of 2012. The agreement between the university and the Township includes a restrictive covenant which only allows buildings that “enhance the use of the conservation area on the property” in the words of a TWU press release.
Under the terms of the covstate for “generations to come.” enant, the Township and gen“This is a wonderful outeral public are to have access come that will benefit the to the site for environmental entire community and the research, education, and recre- environment,” Froese said ational purposes. in a written statement issued Located near near 84 Avenue Wednesday. and 260 Street, the 25 acres “People in our community were placed on made it very clear the market by that they valued the Township in this land and felt January of this it should be conyear to help fund served,” he added. a new community Councillor Micentre, swimming chelle Sparrow pool and ice rink expressed concern in Aldergrove. the deal could still It was the Townallow the property ship’s second to be developed in attempt at selling the future. Thomas Blaauw land in Glen Valley Sparrow said beafter a plan to market 21 acres cause the restrictive covenant of Township-owned forest on only applies to the deal and 84 Avenue between 252 and not to the land, if the univer254 Streets was cancelled in sity sells the land in the future, July of 2012 because of a camthe new owners could build paign by Watchers of Langley housing on the site. Forests (WOLF), a residents’ The Township does have the group that has been campaign- right of first refusal to buy the ing to preserve the entire forland back if TWU ever decides est region. to sell. Township Mayor Jack Froese However, if the municipal said the sale agreement will budget is too tight, the 25 SEE: Page 3 keep the land in its natural
Stolen-property offender sentenced to two years By VIKKI HOPES Aldergrove Star
A New Westminster man who pleaded guilty to a series of stolenproperty offences has been sentenced to two years in prison. Ivan Logan Johnson’s prison term will be followed by two years of probation. He was given credit for the one
year he has already served in jail. Johnson, 33, was arrested with co-accused Dave Yaroslawsky, 31, of Surrey on March 2, 2012 after a standoff at the Super 8 Motel on Glover Road in Langley. The men were in possession of so many stolen items that police had to create a slideshow on their website to allow the public to look though the
items and determine what belonged to them. Police recovered everything from stolen jewelry, including lockets and rings, to coins, stolen ID and electronics. The police then held a day where victims of break-ins could come to the detachment and view the property.
Power your car. Is it time to renew your vehicle insurance? Renew your vehicle insurance with Aldergrove Insurance and you could win a $75 gas card! Visit one of our offices today!
The items had been stolen mainly from homes in Abbotsford, Surrey, Langley, Hope and Chilliwack. Yaroslawsky has pleaded guilty to 32 charges – mainly for stolen property – and is scheduled for sentencing in November. During his sentencing hearing on July 31, the court heard that he had accumulated so many stolen items
that he had rented a storage locker in Aldergrove to stash it. Numerous items were also found in his vehicle at the Super 8 Motel, as well as in his motel room. He claimed that he was a “fence” for the stolen property and was not involved in the break-ins. – with files from Monique Tamminga