Poppy Off To Provincials
FRIDAY May 15, 2015 • www.langleytimes.com NEWS It’s Hall Good
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Pesticide notices prompt concern
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BUSINESS Sweet Success
SPORTS Lightning Weather Storm
Drugs appeal dismissed
Pumped Up for Spring
MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
NO SPRAYS WILL BE USED IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST APHIDS, TOWNSHIP SAYS DAN FERGUSON Times Reporter
When some ominous-looking notices of pending pesticide use went up in a Brookswood neighbourhood, there was a flurry of phone calls, emails and social media postings by people who thought the Township was planning to spray a residential area with potentially hazardous chemicals. The announcements, stapled on some ash trees near 43 Avenue between 209 to 211 Streets, did not mention spraying, but they also didn’t make any reference to the Township plan to use tree injections instead of spraying to fight an aphid infestation. Tree injection is a process where small holes are drilled into a tree so a pesticide or fertilizer can be inserted under pressure. The written notices were posted Tuesday, the day before the planned application of Orthene. The “Notice of Pesticide Use” included a warn-
ing against entering the treated areas “during application” of the pesticide. Area resident Michelle Connerty said it was an alarming thing to see on her street, especially when she looked up Orthene online and found it “can cause breathing issues and irritate eyes and throats of those who inhale it.” She said her initial posting on a Brookswood Facebook page drew over 100 comments almost instantly. The next morning, she phoned the Township and was told there would be no spraying, a point that she feels should have been mentioned on the notices. “The uncertainty about how it was going to be applied was huge for us,” Connerty said. By Wednesday afternoon, Township Recreation, Culture, and Parks director David Leavers issued a statement saying the notices referred to an injection program, not spraying. Continued Page 5
D A N FE R GUS ON Langley Time s
Two-year-old Emily Gomez was fascinated by the hand water pump at the demonstration garden of the Derek Doubleday Arboretum. The Langley child was attending the garden opening day on Sunday, May 10.
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The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed a Langley man’s appeal of his jail sentence for drug trafficking and firearm convictions. Brendan Paterson, 30, was sentenced to four and a half years in jail for nine charges of trafficking and firearm convictions in B.C. Supreme Court in May 2013. The Langley man appealed his conviction and lost. In a May 13 B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, Justice Bennett found that the trial judge in his case was correct to agree that the police entry into his home was justified and didn’t violate Paterson’s Charter rights. It was in 2007, when police were investigating a dropped 911 call. Police came out to Paterson’s 88 Avenue Walnut Grove apartment. They smelled marijuana and questioned him about it. Paterson said he had three roaches inside. The police entered to seize the roaches, where they then saw a handgun and pills. They obtained a search warrant and, upon executing it, found drugs and various firearms, including semi-automatics, a revolver, cocaine, meth, bullet proof vest and $30,000 cash. Police learned that Paterson’s girlfriend had called 911 crying and saying she had been injured while she was in his apartment. She was taken away by ambulance before police arrived.
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