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Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Police bag items taken from a raid of a house at the south end of 224th Street on Wednesday.
Ridge house raided, again Same property site of previous meth incidents By M o ni s ha M ar tin s mmartins@mapleridgenews.com
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Anita Hauck with a shopping cart, on which she carries all of her possessions.
Drugs and stolen property were found in a house raided by police Wednesday for the third time in a year. Ridge Meadows RCMP used a battering ram to enter the residence at 11690 – 224th Street in Maple Ridge, just before 3 p.m. Five people were detained, but released soon after. “Those persons were identified and an ongoing investigation is required to determine if charges would be approved by Crown,” said Cpl. Alanna Dunlop. Located downtown next to TAGGS medical marijuana dispensary, the house was the site of a meth lab explosion in 2011 and a second meth-related accident in 2012, when a tenant was burned by chemicals. The RCMP’s street enforcement team conducted a similar search at the property last October. See Bust, 8
A permanent place to camp Homeless worried as shelter has lost its cold weather beds By Monisha Martins mmartins@mapleridgenews.com
A
nita Hauck has been called every ugly name imaginable. She is often referred to as “trash.” Sometimes people throw garbage at her.
“I’m invisible, well at least many of you want me to be,” says Hauck, a smart, well-spoken woman who is used to work at the Caring Place until her life spiralled out of control late last year. Hauck has become a sort of informal advocate for the people who live on the streets of Maple Ridge and is part of a contingent who are worried about where they will sleep once winter approaches. The Salvation Army’s Caring Place will not be receiving federal funding for 15 extra cold weather mats this year, which means Hauck and many of her friends will be forced to sleep outdoors.
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She predicts the homeless in Maple Ridge will only become more visible as they’ll have no alternative but to huddle in the doorways of businesses or parkades to stay warm. “The battle is for affordable housing,” said Hauck. “Someone goes to treatment, they need a clean place to live now. Anyone know where to get that at $375 a month?” Hauck is now proposing the city find a place for the homeless to camp permanently in Maple Ridge or at least until a solution is found. She envisions something similar to Dignity Village in Portland,
a city-sanctioned encampment of an estimated 60 homeless people that has crude, but functioning cooking and washroom facilities. She has support from many of the street-entrenched people in Maple Ridge. Ken, Anita’s partner, said they are hoping to gather a group of homeless people to ask the city for more affordable housing, and a tent city. They wanted to organize a group of about 100, but their last meeting had only about 15. He doubts there would be violence or problems in a homeless camp. See Homeless, 5
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