GUILTY PLEA EXPECTED Accused in Mission murder in court today
DECORATIONS SENIOR WINS AND DONATIONS GOLD BAR Mission man decorates house, collects food
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Resource list created thanks to seniors’ survey
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CCNA
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Friday, December 4, 2015
SERVING MISSION SINCE 1908
Deroche pot dispensary busted Rally planned in support of couple who volunteered to run compassion club Kevin Mills Mission Record
Bob Woolsey doesn’t understand why Mission RCMP have targeted his medical marijuana facility in Deroche. The 64-year-old and his 57-year-old wife Dawn Parker were taken into custody by the RCMP on Nov. 25 after police raided their home, trailer and several other structures. Woolsey said he and his wife are the volunteer managers of the BC Pain Society’s Compassion Club in Deroche.
The couple opened the club on Feb. 1 and have about 400 clients, all of whom have medical marijuana prescriptions. He said the raid was a shock. “At approximately 9 a.m., at least 12 armed and vested RCMP arrived at my country home with warrants.” During the takedown, Woolsey said he and his wife were handcuffed and transported to “individual, concrete, ice-cold cells in Mission RCMP headquarters.” He called the conditions deplorable for people of his age. Woolsey said RCMP seized hundreds
of items, including two used vehicles, vending machines, a juicer, cash, communication devices, laptops, computers and other items. He said police also took his “legal medical cannabis grow.” Woolsey, who suffers from chronic pain, has had a prescription for cannabis for 10 years. He said he now no longer has the medication for his pain and neither do his clients. “This is a pretty strange situation. If this was 1975 I would have believed it, but it’s
2015 and I can’t believe they’ve done this,” he said. When the club first opened, Woolsey said, despite it being illegal, he was assured by the RCMP that the club would be tolerated as long as he “stuck to a strict criteria of patient intake.” He said he has not sold anything to minors or anyone who didn’t have a medical permit. But after the raid, Woolsey said he was told by police that an anonymous tip was Continued on A3
BATTLING CLIMATE CHANGE
Neil Smith (left) organized a group of about 50 people on a march through downtown Mission on Sunday morning. The event was held to create awareness for climate change and the Paris Climate Summit in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking part. Participants marched from the West Coast Express station through town and ended at the parking lot in front of Welton Tower, where Smith spoke to the group about the importance of ensuring community leaders work towards battling climate change. BOB FRIESEN PHOTO
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