Kwerky Contestants PAGE 15
FRIDAY November 27, 2015 • www.langleytimes.com
4
NEWS Bear Necessities
BUSINESS Mr. Mike’s Has Game
144
SPORTS Taking Flight
24 4
‘More than a former gravel pit’
Standing Vigil
Langley Township councillors tour site proposed for controversial commercial truck park DA N F E R G US ON Time s Re po rte r
DAN FER GUSON L an gley Tim es
Rhonda Hildrum, from Ishtar Victims Support, speaks during a candlelight vigil at McBurney Lane in Langley City Wednesday night to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. About 50 people attended, including Langley-Cloverdale MP John Aldag and Langley City mayor Ted Schaffer. The event was organized by Soroptimist International of the Langleys and Ishtar Transition Housing Society.
Fake firearm used to rob restaurant Rather than pay his bill, police allege a customer opted to hold up Langley Earls
M O N I Q U E TA M M I N G A Tim e s Re po r t e r
A 27-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged in two robberies, including one where his friends left him to pay the bill at Earls restaurant in Langley. Gregory James Fader has been charged with one count of robbery using an imitation firearm and another count of robbery. The first robbery took place on Nov. 17, when police allege Fader approached the cashier at the customer service desk in Langley City Save-On-
Foods and demanded the cash from the till. Cash was given to the robber before he fled the store. Later that night, Fader was at the Earls restaurant with a group of acquaintances. The rest of the group left Fader in the restaurant to settle the bill, Langley RCMP said. Police allege that rather than paying the bill, the man produced what appeared to be a firearm and demanded cash. When employees did not provide any, he allegedly took several bank deposit bags from a desk and fled. It’s believed the bags contained
over $1,000, said police. Later that evening, officers saw a man who matched the description provided by the victims in each robbery. Fader was arrested and brought back to Langley detachment cells. Fader has been remanded in custody and is scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court today (Nov. 27). He is also facing break-and-enter charges along with two other charges related to an alleged crime that took place in May in Langley. One woman has already been sentenced to one day in jail for that crime.
Save $150 on the Miele Complete C2 Limited Edition
ONLY
$379 While supplies last. See in-store for details.
www.biggarysvacuums.com
Langley: - 19638 Fraser Highway Visit#1us in store at 604-530-7501 19638 Fraser White Rock: #600 - 15355Hwy. - 24 Ave 604-531-7614
Critics of a proposed 77-acre commercial truck park on the Surrey-Langley border say the site is more than just a former gravel pit. They made their case Wednesday afternoon to a group of Langley Township councillors who took a tour of the location at 16 Avenue and 194 Street. The visit by Langley councillors Kim Richter, Petrina Arnason and David Davis was arranged by Brian Coote of the Friends of Hazelmere/Campbell Valley group, along with David Riley from the Little Campbell Watershed Society and Kirk Stevenson, who lives beside the proposed facility on 16 Avenue, near the Langley-Surrey border. Township senior longrange planner Russell Nelson also attended. Coote said the organizers did not invite Surrey councillors to the tour, because they doubted they would attend. They might issue an invitation another time, he added. Coote told the Township council members that it was wrong to describe the
site as a “discarded gravel extraction pit.” Roughly half of the site is actually farm land, the result of landscape restoration work on the gravel pit once the digging was finished. “It’s agricultural land, productive land,” Coote said. The land has been used as a working farm to raise llamas, Stevenson said. The other half of the site is still an active excavation, but it is supposed to be filled in once it’s been completely emptied, the critics said. Stevenson, who lives in one of several houses that overlook the filled-in site, said the parking project poses a safety threat. “No one wants to live next to that (traffic generated by the big rig parking lot),” Stevenson said. “I’ve got four kids under nine, riding their bikes around.” The councillors also heard from Riley, who said contamination from the trucks could damage the Little Campbell River and contaminate groundwater in Langley’s Brookswood neighbourhood. Continued Page 5
DON’T LET YOUR DEBT EAT YOU ALIVE! BOOK A FREE
Turn the tide with a Consumer Proposal. CONSULTATION We can cut your debt by up to 80%. 205 20651 56 Ave, Langley (604) 539-0200 www.sands-trustee.com
Licensed Trustee in Insolvency and Restructuring.