Maple Ridge News, October 25, 2013

Page 1

Along the Fraser Dr. Fernandes all about family. p6

New gaming centre opens doors. p8

THE NEws

Gardening The bulbs that come back. p39

www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, October 25, 2013 · serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397

‘Don’t tweet while meeting’ No twitter ID allowed on district business cards by Ph i l M e lnych uk staff reporter

Colleen Flanagan/the News

Leah Hadden-Watts, partially paralyzed after a shooting in Kelowna, works out in the evening with her cousin and personal trainer, Korey Frostad.

Caught in the crossfire two years ago, Leah hadden-watts was caught in the middle of a gang war that left the notorious leader of the Red scorpions dead. After a bullet shattered her spine, she’s made a remarkable recovery. S tor y by Monisha Mar tins hen Leah Hadden-Watts shuts her eyes, she feels her legs floating, her limbs not quite part of her. When she dreams, she’s sprinting, bounding up stairs and navigating life

W

with her feet firmly planted on the ground. “I really do believe everything happens for a reason,” says Hadden-Watts, smiling serenely as the fall sun sets and shifting, ever so slightly, in her wheel chair.

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There are times, however, she wishes that she’ll suddenly wake up and walk right out of her nightmare. The summer of 2011 started out like every other for Leah, then just 21. She had completed a course to be an insurance broker and was waiting to start a new job. While she waited, she exercised. She ran between five and ten kilometres daily, and took yoga classes, sometimes twice a day. “Honestly, I was in the best shape of my life,” she says. On the weekend of Aug. 14, Leah

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headed to Kelowna, a town she often escaped to for getaways. As she checked into the Delta Grand Hotel, there was plenty to look forward to. The sunny Okanagan was a place for her to relax, to sun bathe on the lake, to let loose and dance. At 2:45 p.m., Leah got into a white Porsche Cayenne with Lyndsey Black and three other acquaintances – Larry Amero of the Hells Angels, James Riach of the Independent Soldiers and Jonathan Bacon of the Red Scorpions.

Opinion Letters Acts of Faith As we Age Driving Gardening scoreboard

6 7 22 23 25 39 49

Coun. Corisa Bell thinks it is possible to tweet and post to Facebook and still participate in a council meeting, and that Maple Ridge should move into the digital age. She recently put Bell forward a motion to have the district’s social media policy reviewed. That’s now under way, with recommendations expected in the new year. Bell got the topic on to the agenda Monday after asking to put her Twitter identification on her district business cards. But she’s been told that’s against council policy. Instead, only councillors’ e-mail addresses and phone numbers appear on the cards. Bell says that other municipalities allow politicians to add their social media identification. “For two years now, they have not allowed us to put our social media on our business cards,” Bell said. “It’s ridiculous we can’t put the way we communicate on our business cards. In my personal opinion, they’re missing out. That’s how people are communicating today.” Bell also wanted to send out a notification via Twitter and Facebook during a council meeting about recent changes to medical marijuana laws. But that was voted down. Bell says the district is over controlled and that it is too focused on legal concerns if councillors make personal comments. see Social media, p10

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