Abbotsford News, August 07, 2015

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ALL ABOUT PHYSIQUE After claiming top honours at Vancouver Pro/Am, local bodybuilder sets sights on pro circuit A19

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Homeless court case wraps up Decision expected to take months Tyler OLSEN Abbotsford News

Controversial actions of city employees and police officers don’t impact the constitutionality of several bylaws being challenged in court, City of Abbotsford lawyer James Yardley argued Tuesday during the final stages of a trial to determine whether those bylaws breach the rights of homeless men and women. A group of homeless activists – the B.C./Yukon Drug War Survivors (DWS) – allege several of Abbotsford’s bylaws are unconstitutional. Represented by the Pivot Legal Society, they say a combination of the city’s bylaws – which prohibit unauthorized camping in city parks – and a lack of housing options put homeless people at risk and infringe on their right to security of person. They also say city staff have tried to make life difficult for the homeless. On Tuesday during his final arguments, city lawyer James Yardley urged Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson to consider the bylaws in isolation from evidence that police officers pepper-sprayed and slashed the tents of the homeless, and that city officials spread manure on the site of an encampment. Yardley said the bylaws did not authorize or prompt those specific acts, which he said were isolated events by a limited number of people. “They were one-offs,” he said. Those acts, he said, weren’t the focus of the trial. If they were, he said the city would have presented its own evidence surrounding them. He also said the DWS Continued on A6

Pellet gun attack arrest Man, 21, faces charges in random assaults

Vikki HOPES Abbotsford News

Police have arrested a 21-year-old man in relation to a series of random pellet gun attacks that occurred in Abbotsford over a 10-day period last month. Const. Ian MacDonald said charges being considered against the man include mischief and assault with a weapon. He cannot be named until charges are formally laid.

MacDonald said investigators are working to identify and locate at least one other person involved in the assaults. He said the arrest came as a result of “extensive media and social media coverage” and witness reports, including video footage that an individual took in central Abbotsford during one of the incidents in which no one was injured. Photos taken from the video show a man in the Continued on A6

A4 Annual international event gets underway on Friday with twilight show

SUBWAY ROBBERIES A4 Handgun used in pair of thefts at food outlet in Abbotsford

PEDESTRIAN STRUCK A10 Elderly man remains in hospital in serious condition after pickup truck incident

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