Progress
The Chilliwack
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Lynwood seniors help make Christmas bright for five families.
Creating a magical world at Christmas.
New trophy honours Bob Ames.
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, D E C E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 5
Drugs, cash and guns found as police raid five homes The RCMP had a busy Tuesday rounding up suspects and seizing firearms, property and illegal drugs as part of an extensive police investigation. Police from the Chilliwack RCMP Crime Reduction Unit supported by officers of the Crime Prevention Office, Serious Crime Unit, Traffic Services, General Duty and Agassiz General Investigation Section executed five separate Controlled Drug and Substance Act search warrants in Chilliwack. The warrants contained evidence gathered during a four-month investigation into a ‘Dial a Dope’ organization operating from two locations within the city. Police began the series of raids at a residence in the 43000 block of Alamada Street before moving on to the 9200 block of Hazel Street, the 7400 block of Leary Street, the 9100 block of Mary Street and the 7300 block of Lickman Road. Five people were arrested and police seized a large quantity of cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine, heroin, material believed by police to be for packaging of product, Continued: SUSPECTS/ p5
Part of what RCMP confiscated in Chilliwack on Tuesday. RCMP PHOTO
■ S NOWY P EAKS
Snow glistens on the tops of Mount Cheam (left) and Lady Peak Wednesday. Although Chilliwack has remained green so far this winter, Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning for the eastern Fraser Valley Thursday morning. GREG KNILL/ PROGRESS
Chilliwack mayor reflects on a year of progress Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Chilliwack residents may not be fully aware of the “true amount of work” city council managed in 2015, said Mayor Sharon Gaetz. “They passionately work hard to ensure Chilliwack is the best it can be, and I know we wouldn’t be where we are without such a dedicated team,” Gaetz said, during her 2015 Year-End Address in council chambers at city hall Tuesday. The mayor took a few minutes to thank council, volunteers
and staff and everyone else who toils on the city’s behalf. There is huge pride in the beautiful surroundings and that’s reflected in City of Chilliwack’s commitment to increasing and improving the quality of its green spaces. “One area of continued civic pride is our great outdoors,” said Gaetz. Chilliwack boasts 100 picturesque parks and 85 km of trails. “We have been working hard to ensure everyone can enjoy our green spaces.” The green space inventory in Chilliwack grew by 61.88 hect-
ares in 2015, according to the statistics included in the yearend report. “One notable addition was the opening of the Chilliwack Community Forest property as public green space,” said Gaetz. That community forest park land, with its new trail system created by Chilliwack Park Society, accounted for a whopping 54.4 ha of the total extra 61.88 ha of park land. Here are the other projects that saw added green space: • River’s Edge Development woodlot (1.4 ha) • Part 2 of Weeden Park in
Promontory (5.37 ha) • Allan Creek Park parcels in Eastern Hillsides (.71 ha) They also added a staircase to connect Teskey Way to Weeden Park trail network, and 12 new portable washrooms, with eight along the Vedder Trail. One of the more interesting factoids in the year-end review was the spike in ridership numbers for the FVX. Turns out an average of 300 people per day ride the Fraser Valley Express (FVX), which runs from Chilliwack to Corvath Station in Langley. Continued: 2015/ p6
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