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ALDERGROVE Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 56 Years
| Thursday, November 20, 2014
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Hockey to Benefit Homeless Cause!!
Page 6: Thanks for Remembrance Support
PAGE 15
The Simple Joys of Paddling
Froese elected to second term New faces at Langley Township council table By DAN FERGUSON Aldergrove Star
KURT LANGMANN PHOTO
A Fort Langley Canoe Club voyageur canoe team paddles together in unison in the Bedford Channel. See feature story on paddling opportunities with the club on page 7, also Yukon Quest marathon story on page 9.
Fence fight in protected forest Aldergrove Star
Complaints about tree-cutting in a newly protected forest have prompted a review of a fence construction project by the Township of Langley. The complaint about the work in the 25-acre Glen Valley Gray Pit Lands in the McLellan Park Forests on 257A Street comes from Watchers of Langley Forests (WOLF), the residents’ group that fought to preserve the site. WOLF spokesperson Kirk Robertson said members of the group discovered an excavator had “cut what can only be described as a wide swathe of destruction along a significant part of the border” between the forest preserve and
Township-owned land. “Trees have been knocked down and the ground cut up,” Robertson said. In response to a Times query on Wednesday, Ramin Seifi, the Township general manager of engineering and community development, said survey work was being carried out by the Township to install a chain link fence between the forest and the Township property, “which is an active area for municipal operations with restricted public access due to liability concerns.” Seifi said the necessary right-of-way consent was obtained from adjacent property owners to accommodate the installation.
“I have asked staff to undertake a site review to ensure work is progressing according to plan and with minimal impact to the surrounding area,” Seifi told Black Press. Robertson said the extent of tree-cutting was “way beyond minimal.” Just over a year ago, money to purchase the land was donated by Ann Blaauw and children John, Janet, and Jennifer, in memory of their late husband and father, Thomas Blaauw, a longtime resident of Langley who passed away in August of 2012. The $2.5 million deal saw Trinity Western University (TWU) buy the propSEE: Page 3
Langley Township voters have elected three new faces to council, ousting incumbent councillors Grant Ward, Bev Dornan and Steve Ferguson and voting in Petrina Arnason, Blair Whitmarsh and Angie Quaale as their replacements. Mayor Jack Froese was elected to a second term, fending off an attempted comeback by Rick Green, the mayor he defeated in 2011. On election night, Froese celebrated his win with supporters at the Fort Langley Golf Club. “Tonight the mayor’s office is signed, sealed and delivered,” Froese said. “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today, and today the voters went out and prepared for the future of Langley by having their voice and choosing who they want to be on council and to lead Langley.” Froese praised the defeated incumbents as “good people who have served Langley for a long time and have done an excellent job.” “I know Steve [Ferguson] has been the longest-serving councillor and worked hard all his career for Langley,” Froese said. “Bev has put her heart and soul into it and Grant, another long-serving councillor, they have tried to make decisions that were in the best interests of the community and we’re going to miss that,” said Froese. For the Unelection Campaign mounted by some local residents who wanted five of the incumbents gone,
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the results were not everything they were seeking, but they were still pleased. “I think we were fairly successful” said Unelection spokesperson Andy Schildhorn, who noted that three of the candidates the group endorsed, David Davis, Kim Richter and Petrina Arnason, were among the top vote-getters, finishing first, second and fourth. As well, the three defeated incumbents were among those given failing grades by the Unelection website, which recommended against voting for them. Schildhorn told The Times the Unelection Campaign will continue, but could “morph” into something else over the next four years. He wasn’t specific. “We are here and we will be attending council meetings,” Schildhorn said. The new faces on Langley Township council all attributed their victories to sustained, ground-level campaigning. New councillor Arnason, who won on her third bid for office, said after the last election, she spent a lot of time working with community groups and attending council meetings to be ready for office. “People know I will hit the ground running,” Arnason sad. As a daughter of longtime Langley Township councillor Muriel Arnason, she said having “the Arnason DNA” helps, as well. In response to a Black SEE: Page 3