B.C. Views Farmland fate a test for parties. p6
Pitt ‘airport of entry’ bid rejected. p4
THE NEWS
Arts&life First Nations artists share their craft. p35
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, June 4, 2014 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Lockout cancels track meet Teacher involvement in grad ceremonies in doubt by Nei l Corbe tt staff reporter
The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows elementary school district track meet has been cancelled due to the labour strife between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the provincial government. The lockout says teachers cannot work at recess or lunch hour, and must leave school 45 minutes after classes end. The lockout includes a 10 per cent payroll deduction. Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association president George Serra said the union did not order the track meet cancelled. “I provide the information as to what the risks are, and the teachers make the decision,” said Serra. The risk is that if a student was injured while a supervising teacher was locked out, that teacher would not be covered by the school district’s liability insurance policy. See Teachers, p3
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Soap box hero Dayton McKellar, 7, races the Batmobile down North Avenue during Ka-Vroom, the Maple Ridge secondary Soap Box Derby, on Saturday.
We were best friends: Deboo Jury to hear a confession in Brandon Howson murder by M o n i s h a M a r t i n s staff reporter
Sports: Local athletes reach podium at provincial track championships. See story, p39
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A Maple Ridge man is claiming that he killed his best friend to save his own life. Adam Arthur Ronald Deboo barely moved during testimony given in New Westminster Supreme Court on by the Crown’s last witness – Sgt. Adam McIntosh, a police officer who eventu-
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ally extracted a confession from him about the homicide of Brandon Howson. “Me and Brandon are best [expletive] friends. I know a lot about that guy … a lot of dirt,” said Deboo, according to a transcript read by McIntosh during the second-degree murder trial. Deboo, 35, was arrested in February 2012, three days after a passerby found Howson lying face down in a cranberry field at the end of 224th Street, by 144th Avenue. Police allege Deboo killed the 26-year-old on Jan. 31, 2012 on
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the border of Pitt Meadows, stabbing him up to 80 times with a machete purchased from Canadian Tire. After dumping Howson’s body, Deboo allegedly drove Howson’s SUV to Stave Lake, where he torched it. He was arrested after police caught him speeding near Spence’s Bridge, and held on an allegation of breaking a no-contact order with his spouse. Deboo was eventually charged with second-degree murder. He has chosen a trial by jury and claims he killed Howson in self-
defence as he feared for his life and that of his family. In video and audio recordings played for the court, Sgt. McIntosh, an officer with the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, took his time to make Deboo comfortable before drawing out the confession, which the jury has yet to hear. He took Deboo on four cigarette breaks during the course of the interview, got him a foot-long sandwich from Subway and tried to bond with Deboo by sharing a few personal details from his life. See Trial, p10
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