Chilliwack Progress, February 19, 2016

Page 1

Progress

The Chilliwack

Friday

22

3

Sports

News

13

Life

BC Games

Goose

Health

Archer takes aim at BC Games bullseye.

After six years, Goose the cat returns.

Chiefs help deliver mental health message.

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, F E B R U A R Y 1 9 , 2 0 1 6

More charges laid in alleged drug ring Arrests stem from police raids in multiple Chilliwack locations last year

Continued: CHARGES/ p7

Arrest warrants have been issued for Lucas Thiessen(left) and Dana Schaper-Kotter.

%off

50 Retail 85¢ Box $1.00

PLUS PST

Alarmes Batteri expires

0

Sept. 3

Lincoln Froese, 8, with mom Roxanna Froese, came to city hall to ask council to bring back the Hope Slough to its former glory. They brought in a photo of the Froese brothers with their dad in the slough to show council. JENNIFER FEINBERG/ PROGRESS

Budget plan goes back for a little retooling Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Budget meetings at city hall can be a bit of a snoozefest. But council chambers was packed Tuesday night — for the second year in a row. Even the youth voice was represented as eight-yearold Lincoln Froese made an impressive plea to council to support the once glorious Hope Slough in the budget. Chilliwack council was supposed to vote on the 2016 budget, after holding a public information meeting, and listening to the views of the public. Instead, in a surprise move

led by Coun. Sam Waddington and Coun. Jason Lum, they convinced the rest of council to refer the financial plan back to staff for some retooling. “I intend to honour that process,” Coun. Waddington said about the high level of engagement. “I’m not comfortable passing the budget,” without altering it, if need be, to reflect the surge of public involvement and interest in the process. “Maybe there are things we can do in the interim,” he said. All six councillors voted to bring the budget and financial plan bylaw back again for consideration in two weeks. In the interim, they may tweak the

details if it’s decided that input or ideas from the public should be reflected or incorporated into the budget. Several suggestions came out of the public budget meeting Tuesday such as more RCMP, bike lanes, and trails, as well as heritage protection, revitalization of the Hope Slough and more. The huge level of public interest at the annual budget meeting was called “unprecedented” by one councillor, and a brand-new online “engagement tool” garnered 92 responses from the public. The user-friendly online “engagement tool” asked citizens a series of budget-related

questions to gauge priorities, to which they could indicate which ones they were willing to pay the same taxes for, or higher. About 10 people spoke at the podium, while another four sent written submissions. First up to the mike, first and second, were perennial budget commentators Bryden Nelmes and Gary Raddysh. Nelmes was generally supportive of the city’s financial plans, but had some ideas to improve the online engagement tool. “I found the engagement tool really easy to use,” he said, adding that if someone Continued: BUDGET/ p11

LOCAL OWNER. LOCAL EMPLOYEES. Because when it comes to your safety... LOCAL MATTERS. CALL US FOR A FREE QUOTE C

604.792.8055

09/15F CS4

More charges have now been approved against five individuals involved in a 2014 Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) investigation into the alleged drug trafficking activities of a Chilliwack-based crime cell operating primarily out of B.C.’s north. The investigation resulted in the arrests of several people and the seizure of millions of dollars worth of illegal and potentially deadly drugs from several Chilliwack locations. In February 2015, the CFSEU-BC executed search warrants on two properties in Chilliwack and arrested four males and one female. The search of two residences and three storage lockers resulted in the seizure of eight firearms, prohibited magazines, silencers, and more than $200,000 in cash. Also seized was over $2 million dollars worth of drugs, which included a large quantity of the dangerous drug Fentanyl. In December of 2015, Crown counsel approved charges against three of the men originally arrested in connection to this investigation. This week federal Crown counsel has approved a total of 50 more criminal charges against five additional men arrested in this investigation. Charges have been approved against Jordan Anthony Ramos, a 26-year-old from Chilliwack. Ramos is charged with four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He is currently in custody in Grand Prairie, Alberta on unrelated charges.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.