B.C. Views B.C. oil spill study misinterpreted. p6
Port Haney hotel takes another step. p10
THE NEws
Arts&life Grapes of wrath back on the road. p19
www.mapleridgenews.com wednesday, October 23, 2013 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
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A man known to police was taken to hospital after being shot in the leg.
Man shot on Maple Ridge street by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
Twisted John McKeown dressed as Hannibal Lecter, welcomes those brave enough to his haunted house, at 11885 Springdale Drive. It’s open on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 6:30-8 p.m. until Halloween night. Admission is free, although donations are being accepted for the food bank operating out of Pitt Meadows United Church – 12109 Harris Road.
One man was injured in a brazen shooting on a Maple Ridge street Sunday night. Several gun shots rang out around 7:45 p.m. in the 22400 block of 121st Avenue in the district’s downtown core. A man, who lives nearby, ran out of his house after he heard the shots. “A car squealed away and a big dude, 220 pounds ... comes walking down the middle of the street, shotgun in his right hand and cocks the gun,” said the man, who watched from 30 metres away.
Colleen Flanagan/tHe newS
See Shooting, p15
Eyes in sky over downtown Ridge Security company buys two aerial drones by P hi l M e l nych uk staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/tHe newS
John Griffiths, president of Westridge Security, prepares his unmanned aerial drone in Memorial Peace Park on Tuesday.
In a few weeks, an eye in the Maple Ridge sky will find lost hikers, inspect fires, watch out for bylaw breakers and could even help out police in touchy hostage scenarios. Two remote-controlled drones will give a local company, Westridge Security Services, that
ability, making it among the first in B.C., if not the country. “There’s nobody I know who’s doing that,” said Westridge owner John Griffiths. “To actually have a drone registered to a security company, we’re the first ones.” Griffiths bought the first drone, a QA V 540 a few months ago. It’s a smaller machine that cost about $4,000, was designed to fly in bad weather and could come in handy locating people lost in Maple Ridge’s mountains and forests. Recently, Westridge got another,
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“It’s a brand new part of the business that we’re offering now,” he said. “It’s basically for hire for search and rescue, for law enforcement … rescue services,” Griffiths added. “So if you’re flying over a house, you should have a good reason why you’re doing that, really. The only way we’d be doing that if there was a home that was on fire and the fire was absolutely massive and the fire department called us, that’s the only time you’d see us over your house.” See Drones, p9
Index
Wonderful Kanaka Ridge
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the sophisticated, carbon-fibre DJI S800, a $12,000 model with eight arms and eight propellers, which allow it to carry up to seven kilograms of freight, such as food, medicine or a radio. Both have a flying time of about 40 minutes, with a range of about five kilometres, depending on the equipment carried. When it comes to how far up the drones can fly, the sky’s the limit. Griffiths had the hardware on display in Haney Place Mall this past weekend and wowed the RCMP’s emergency response team.
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