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Thursday March 20, 2014
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Senior beaten and robbed in Newton 72-year-old man attacked in park during the day by Kevin Diakiw A SOUTH ASIAN senior was taken to hospital after a brazen midday beating to his face and hands in Newton last week. It’s an assault that bears an eerie similarity to a previous attack on a hockey mom a short distance away. Surrey Mounties are asking for public assistance after a 72-yearold man was beaten and robbed at 1 p.m. on Thursday at Newton Athletic Park. Police responded to the call for assistance in the 7300-block of 128 Street to find the elderly man suffering from injuries to his face and hands. See POLICE / Page 4
PHOTOS COURTESY SURREY FIRE DEPARTMENT
A kitchen crammed with pot plants and grow lights (left) and a bathroom filled with wires and power outlets are just a couple of examples of how residential homes in Surrey are being used to grow medical marijuana.
City cracks down on pot homes Remediation work must be done on former medical marijuana grow-ops by Kevin Diakiw MEDICAL POT grow-ops in residential LEADER FILE PHOTO
Police are looking for a man in his 20s in relation to an assault on an elderly man on Thursday.
homes have to be shut down as of next week (April 1), and the City of Surrey will be following up to make sure the houses are safe. People ignoring the city’s requests for remediation work may face thousands of dollars in inspection costs.
The clean-up initiative comes as Health Canada ends the ability for people licensed to use medicinal marijuana to grow it at home (see story, page 3). Medical pot now must now be purchased from regulated commercial producers. In Surrey, about 1,000 homes have been used to grow pot for medicinal purposes, according to Surrey Deputy Chief
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Dan Barnscher. He told the Surrey Police Committee Monday that the city knows the locations of 309 of the homes. Some of the risks associated with decommissioned marijuana grow operations include chemical residue, mold in the walls and unsafe wiring. See UNPAID FEES / Page 3
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