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Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • F R I D AY, J U LY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5
Chilliwack crime stats inch upward
■ P RACTISE M AKES P ERFECT
Jessica Peters The Progress
The RCMP’s E division marching troop held a drill rehearsal at Chilliwack’s Pacific Region Training Centre Tuesday afternoon as they prep for the 2015 Okanagan Military Tattoo, being held Saturday and Sunday in Vernon. The 6-7 minute routine to the tune of The Tragically Hip’s Blow at High Dough included traditional .303 Lee Enfield rifles firing blank ammunition. ERIC WELSH/ PROGRESS
Tunnel touted for toadlets of Ryder Lake Jennifer Feinberg The Progress There’s a spot on Elk View Road where tiny toadlets no bigger than a dime were being crushed by vehicles as they tried to migrate across the road. A new amphibian tunnel completed in June in the hills above Chilliwack should help. “One of the really neat aspects is that this is a solution that other communities can implement as well,” said Joanne Neilson, executive director of Fraser Valley Conservancy. There’s province-wide concern about declining amphibian spe-
cies in areas where development is springing up around wetlands, so the tunnel structure is being touted as a potential model for other groups to follow to reduce mortalities. B.C. communities might one day look at culvert replacement in a more toad-friendly way. Last month special fencing was used to guide the toads and frogs through the newly built culvert for the first time. FVC officials, and project partners are now getting ready to cut the ribbon on the collaborative project at Ryder Lake Hall, at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 8. Western toads, along with
other species like Red-legged frogs, Pacific Chorus frogs, Longtoed salamanders, Northwestern salamanders, and Roughskin newts have all been spotted trying to cross the roads. The counts
Why did the toad cross the road? He didn’t have a tunnel.
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and hotspots for various amphibian migrations were obtained through research by volunteers and staff. Nighttime road surveys of amphibians helped them find migration corridors so they’d know exactly where to place the new crossing structure, which was installed on Elk View Road near Ryder Lake Road. The toadlets typically migrate en masse back to the forested areas from the breeding areas shortly after leaving the tadpole stage. In past the FVC obtained road closures with the help of Continued: TOADS/ p12
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Crime seems to be on the rise in Chilliwack, based on numbers released by Stats Canada this week. The numbers released reflect the year 2014, and include five years of reporting to keep the numbers in context. Of the five years reported, 2014 had the highest incidence rate, with 8,904 separate violations (excluding traffic violations). That’s equal to a 5.76 per cent increase from the previous year. The total number of people charged with criminal offenses was also at a five year high of 929, up from 854 the previous year but close to the 2011 total of 916. Of those charged, 68 were youth ages 12 to 17, slightly lower than the 74 charged in 2011. But in the face of what seems like rising crime, Stats Canada reports that Chilliwack’s violent crime per capita is slightly decreased, .29% from 2013 to 2014. There were 1,082 actual violent crime incidents, 320 adults charged with violent crime, and 33 youth. The list, available on the Government of Canada website, breaks down rates for each violation of the Criminal Code. In 2008, they began adding sexual violations against children, making it one of the newest available statistics. There were 16 incidents of sexual violations against children in Chilliwack in 2014, up from 10 the previous, but slightly down from 19 and 20 in the prior three years. Seven people were charged in those incidents, all adults. Break and entering charges remained fairly steady compared to previous years, with 724 actual reported incidents. A five year low of 37 adults were charged (same as 2011), but the number of youth charged for break and entering jumped from a scant few every year, to seven in 2014. “We experienced a slight increase in reported crime rates, and crime severity,” said Cpl. Mike Rail. “This was due to an increase in reports of theft of $5,000 or under, breaking and entering and theft of motor vehicle. We are continuing to work with our key partners on a wide variety of initiatives to prevent crime.”