B.C. Views Old man take a look at your facts. p6
Support to study Evergreen line link. p3
THE NEws
Arts&life Speed Control tours Maple Ridge. p15
www.mapleridgenews.com wednesday, January 22, 2014 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Council keeps Pelton land on list
Pitt pride Pitt Meadows secondary students support the host school’s senior boys’ basketball team during a tournament game against the Mount Boucherie Bears on Friday. See story, p17. Colleen Flanagan/thE nEwS
Pursuing it for industrial development is ‘risk-filled’ by Phil M elnyc h u k staff reporter
Maple Ridge council is keeping the Pelton tree nursery property as one option for growing its industrial base. The land on the northeast corner of 203rd Street and Golden Ears Way – more than 250 acres, all in the Agricultural Land Reserve – is one of eight areas eyed for commercial/industrial use as the district tries to broaden its tax base. A staff report on the Pelton property says its “prime location” on the road leading to the Golden Ears Bridge should be considered a “long-term venture,” if the seven other areas have been ruled out. Much of that Pelton land was sought for exclusion from the Agricultural Land Reserve in 2010, but the was application was rejected. Proximity to the bridge was said to be no justification for removing farmland. See Pelton, p3
Urban poachers injure deer Buck shot with a crossbow, but arrow stuck in its side by M o n i s h a M a r t i n s staff reporter
Conservation officers in Maple Ridge are on the hunt for poachers who shot a deer with crossbow last week, leaving the buck injured with an arrow sticking out Colleen Flanagan/thE nEwS of his side. Karen Morris took a picture of a deer with The maimed ungulate has been an arrow lodged in its body near her home. hiding in a thicket of trees near
AC TREE C
RE
Call Bob - Your Certified Arborist FREE ESTIMATES - FULLY INSURED
BOB FITZ-JAMES ....... 604-467-0333
Horsemen’s Park, off 224th Street, since Thursday. “It is extremely wounded and will eventually end up dying a slow and painful death,” said Mark Isaaks, who spotted the deer on his property last week. “The arrow has broken off now and there’s yellow puss oozing out of the wound.” Isaaks recently spotted men dressed in camouflage and armed with cross-bows walking through the park and private property. He wants his neighbours to watch out for “these villains.”
Index Opinion Letters Regional Arts&life Sports Looking Back Classifieds
Hunting is prohibited within urban boundaries, but the ban does little to deter poachers bent on breaking the law. Isaaks used to see four bucks and five does on his five-acre property off 227th Street, near Abernethy Way, but the population has since dwindled to two deer. “It bothers me to know that people are hunting early in the mornings even before we get up to go to work,” said Isaaks, who is frustrated that conservation officers haven’t euthanized the deer. “If we were all watching, then
this wouldn’t happen.” His neighbour, Karen Morris, who managed to snap a photograph of the injured buck, also wants the conservation service to intervene. “The deer seems to be quite sick as when he walks he throws up. This deer should be put down, but we have not heard back from [conservation],” she added. B.C. Conservation Services reports officers are aware of the injured deer and have tried to locate him. See Deer, p8
westcoastautogroup.com 6 7 12 15 17 19 20
LOCATED AT THE NORTH END OF THE GOLDEN EARS BRIDGE
WEST COAST
TOYOTA
19950 Lougheed Hwy., Pitt Meadows Toll Free
1-866-910-1579
WEST COAST
WEST COAST
20000 Lougheed, Pitt Meadows Toll Free
20370 Lougheed Hwy., Maple Ridge Toll Free
1-866-334-2119
FORD LINCOLN 1-866-772-1929
WEST COAST
NISSAN
19625 Lougheed Hwy., Pitt Meadows Toll Free
1-866-208-8820
WEST COAST
KIA
19950 Lougheed Hwy., Pitt Meadows Toll Free
1-866-334-8581