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ALDERGROVE Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 56 Years
| Thursday, June 25, 2015
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Lovely Garden at ‘Messy Church’
Alleged ‘856’ gang members face charges By MONIQUE TAMMINGA Aldergrove Star
PATSY HOMAN PHOTO
‘Messy Church’ youngsters were watering and checking out their beans at their section of the church community garden with Carol Tindall, coordinator at St. Dunstan’s Church. The children share a raised bed with the Sunday School children who planted peas. Story, page 4.
Plenty to do on Canada Day By KURT LANGMANN Aldergrove Star
Aldergrove Legion is hosting its annual free Canada Day family party on Wednesday, July 1, and it’s open for all in the community, not just Legion members and their families. A special feature of this year’s event is an “old-fashioned sports day” on the Legion’s back lawn. From noon until 4 p.m. youngsters will compete in a variety of events such as a water balloon toss, three-legged, sack and wheelbarrow races and an obstacle course, for prizes. A Canada Day cake will be served at no charge to all guests, and hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks will be sold at bargain prices from the Legion barbecue. Soft drinks and water will also be available at the outdoor family party. There will be children’s entertainment and activities outdoors in the fenced lawn
area and inside the Legion hall there will be dancing for adults to the music of Landslide from 3 to 7 p.m. Children’s entertainers include Rosie Ribbonstar performing at 12:30 p.m., Andrew the Magician performing at 2 p.m., and balloon artist Mr. Flowers Jr. creating from noon to 3 p.m. There will also be a bouncy castle, along with free flags, flag “tattoos” and face painting. There is no admission charge to the Legion’s Canada Day party and it is open to all citizens. Locals may also celebrate Canada Day in historic Mount Lehman (founded 1874) at the Mt. Lehman Community Hall, 6418 Mt. Lehman Rd. (at the intersection of Mt. Lehman and Taylor Roads) in north-west Abbotsford. There will be cinnamon buns for breakfast purchase starting at 8 a.m. along with complimentary coffee or tea at the
Community Hall. The parade starts at 9:30 a.m. from the Mt. Lehman Credit Union, 5889 Mt. Lehman Road. Mt. Lehman Road will be closed to motorists between Harris and Taylor and Ross and Taylor Roads (except parade traffic) from 9 to 10 a.m. A cake and festivities will follow at the Mt. Lehman Community Hall. If you would like to participate in the parade by driving your car, motor cycle, tractor, bicycle, float, walking or roller blading please meet at the Credit Union at 9 a.m. Langley’s Canada Day event will be held on Wednesday, July 1 at Willoughby Community Park, 7888 - 200 Street. The event is sponsored by JR FM radio station and the Township of Langley. It runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and admission and parking are free. SEE: Page 4
Charges have been laid against two alleged senior members of the 856 gang in connection to alleged drug trafficking activities in Langley. Leonard Pelletier, 48, has now been charged with five counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. Jason Francis Wallace, 26, is charged with six counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. In July 2014, three alleged high-ranking members of Aldergrove’s 856 gang were arrested and B.C.’s gang unit shut down their drug making facility at a mansion on an acreage in Langley. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit seized $400,000 worth of cocaine, meth, heroin, oxycontin and a large quantity of drug-making paraphernalia from a 10,000-squarefoot home in the 4600 block of 236 Street. The home, which was cut up into apartments, housed a 20-tonne press to make the cocaine bricks and other illicit drugs and paraphernalia. Among the drugs, police seized 44 kg of super buffer, which is used to dilute cocaine so they can “double their profit.” The buffer was actually pig dewormer. The July 2014 seizure was one of the largest CFSEU has carried out and police believe this will put a big dent in the 856 gang’s business and operations. The three Langley men arrested at the scene were 23, 25 and 47. They were released pending charges, said Sgt. Lindsey Houghton at the time. The 856 gang, named after the telephone prefix for Aldergrove, started a decade ago “as a bunch of young punks and thugs in Aldergrove doing street-level drug dealing,” said Houghton. But they have grown and continue to recruit new members from Aldergrove, he confirmed. They aren’t at the level of other gangs in the area like the Red Scorpions, but have become the dominant drug trafficking gang in the Yukon, Yellowknife, NWT, parts of Alberta and Fort St. John. “They will muscle their way into a market that is kind of untapped and take it over,” said Houghton. In April, weapons, drugs and cash were seized and arrests made in the Yukon, tied to the 856 gang. Among the items seized were ‘856’ black T-shirts. In 2007, Pelletier and his teenage son were shot at and run off the road in his Hummer while he was driving his son to D.W. Poppy Secondary. The drive-by shooter was never caught. At that time, police said the Pelletier family had gang ties. Wallace was sentenced to house arrest for stabbing another teen at a Brookswood Secondary grad party in 2007. Wallace had reportedly crashed the party. The 18-year-old victim was also shot in the buttocks, but the shooter wasn’t identified.
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