Richmond Review, January 10, 2014

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Nominations being accepted for Ethel Tibbits Women of Distinction Awards 11

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Cambie to connect with International Space Station 3

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RICHMONDREVIEW.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2014

28 PAGES

Delta man facing 16 charges in crime rampage

Maple leaf now world famous Would-be challengers vie for maple leaf supremacy, but competitors have yet to measure up

by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter

by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter Hugh McRoberts classmates delivered the news to Arzoo Tanwar last week. Her family, well, it was famous. Her Grade 8 chums made the discovery while leafing through a fresh copy of Guinness World Records 2014. Inside is the Richmond family and its record-breaking icon of Canada: a maple leaf broad enough to be named largest in the world. The family of five officially set the record in 2010 after enduring a rigorous verification process that included the support of Richmond East MLA Linda Reid. Once the certificate arrived from the Guinness organization, it found a home below the framed maple leaf in the Tanwar family room. The “Largest Maple Leaf” record first appeared on the Guinness website but, until now, never in the famed hardcover book. Mom Ekta Tanwar said with so many records being set, the family figured the foliage feat wasn’t destined for print. “We were just happy when we got the certificate,” she said. “It was quite a fun thing for us and our kids.” Learning last Friday the

Matthew Hoekstra photo Jai, 4, Radha, 8, and Arzoo, 13, in their Richmond home with the family’s record-setting maple leaf.

landmark leaf made it to print proved good timing. Just hours after daughter Arzoo told her family, another maple leaf made the six o’clock news. A Victoria woman was claiming to have found one bigger. Not so, as it turns out. The Tanwar leaf is 53 centimetres (20.86 inches) wide and 52.2 centimetres (20.55 inches) long. The stem itself measures 32.5 centimetres (12.79

inches)—a measurement the Victoria woman included in her length calculation. Plenty of other would-be record breakers have surfaced since the Tanwar family’s feat. But so far, none have measured up—or gone through the required rigorous review. Yet it was another claim of maple leaf mastery that originally prompted the Tanwar family to pursue the world

record. Vikas had found the leaf near Spanish Banks in Vancouver in 2009. After reading a newspaper story about a boy’s claim of having the largest leaf, the landscape designer pulled out a ruler. The Tanwar family leaf was much larger, putting the official Guinness record in sight. Will the record ever be broken? “Well of course. Records are

made to be broken. But it is not us that decides that,” said Ekta. “I’m sure there must be some leaf out there bigger than this, but the question is, has it been found?” The record is one of two Guinness records set in Richmond. The other, “Most people in a nursery rhyme singing relay,” was achieved just last summer at the Richmond Maritime Festival.

A Delta man is now facing 16 criminal charges, a number that may still grow, in connection with Sunday’s violent crime spree across three cities that began in Richmond. Jonathon Gerald Leblanc, 30, is charged with robbery, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in connection to a stabbing and carjacking at a home on Deerfield Crescent. The victim of the stabbing remains in hospital, in serious but stable condition, according to a resident of the home who saw him for a few minutes on Wednesday. The homeowner answered a knock at the front door around 6:45 p.m. Sunday, and was overpowered by a man who held a screwdriver to his neck until a family member handed over a key to a Honda Accord parked outside. The homeowner was repeatedly stabbed by the home invader, with at least one of the injuries piercing his heart, necessitating open-heart surgery Sunday. Provincial crown spokesperson Neil Mackenzie said Leblanc is also charged with: •robbery, assault causing bodily harm, and assault with a weapon against a second victim; See Page 3

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