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S StAr | Thursday, April 7, 2016
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Page 3: Rural homes plagued by B&Es
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Tripping the Light Fantastic
B&E ‘artist’ tears roof off bike shop By KURT LANGMANN Aldergrove Star
BOAZ JOSEPH PHOTO
Members of Aldergrove’s Studio One Dance Centre perform in the Group Contemporary category (age 13) at the Surrey Festival of Dance on April 3 at the Surrey Arts Centre. The festival continues until April 28.
Another leak found in water main By KURT LANGMANN Aldergrove Star
There has been another leak found in the new multi-million dollar water main extension from Metro Vancouver to Aldergrove. “The contractor has recently confirmed that a leak has now been detected at a pipe joint around 246 Street,” said councillor Bob Long this week. The contractor is now in the process of draining the system to be able to undertake the necessary repairs. “The cause of leak is unknown at this time, but investigation is underway, in collaboration with the consultants, contractors and pipe manufacturer. All of those parties will be present for the repair currently scheduled for early next week,” said Long. The water main extension is the single largest infrastructure project ever under-
taken by the Township of Langley, at a cost of $12 million. The new water main serves Murrayville, east Langley, Gloucester Industrial Estates as well as Aldergrove. The water main was to have been operational by this spring but has been delayed by the need for repair to a couple of serious leaks found in the system during tests. The costs of those repairs have been borne by the contractors and pipe suppliers, so far. Aldergrove and Gloucester is currently served by eight Township-owned water wells, and due to a declining water table, particularly in the dry summer months, there are severe water use restrictions required at times in Aldergrove. Once the new water main is operational, the Metro Vancouver water will be blended with the Aldergrove well water for provision to local water users.
This will ensure reliable supplies of water to the community as well as keep costs down as the Metro Vancouver water will be metered and paid for based on usage. This will also result in Aldergrove having the same water restrictions as the rest of Metro Vancouver, and Aldergrove will not have the severe stage 3 restrictions it has endured in recent summers unless those restrictions are also required in the rest of Metro Vancouver. The reliable water supply will also enable new residential development in Aldergrove, which has been hampered by capacity of water and sanitary sewer service. A new, multi-million dollar sewer main from Aldergrove and Gloucester to Metro Vancouver’s treatment plants was completed a couple years ago and is now operational.
Imagine coming to your work or home and discovering that someone had ripped off part of your roof in an attempt to gain entry. This is what Heath McKenzie found when he came to work at his Cranky’s Bike Shop on Monday morning. About 150 square feet of asphalt roofing and shiplap sheathing had been torn off the shop’s roof in two places, on the front of the old wood frame building facing 272 Street, in the 2900block of the busy, mostly-commercial retail street. The would-be B&E artist failed to gain entry for all his work that night. In the early hours of Monday morning residential neighbours were awakened by the sounds of dogs barking and wood cracking and splintering. Neighbours investigated and found a man trying to break into Cranky’s Bike Shop by removing a large portion of the roof. However, what initially baffled McKenzie is that he was told that police, acting on complaints from the neighbour about the noise, had Damage to Cranky’s Bike Shop apprehended the suspect in roof has since been repaired. the act of breaking in, yet he returned twice to carry on with the dismantling of the roof until 7 a.m., at which point he apparently gave up. “The suspect is known to police,” added McKenzie, who has now spoken directly to the police officer who was on the scene that night. The officer came back on duty Friday and explained what he had witnessed to McKenzie. Acting on the original call the officer found the man on the roof, who claimed to be helping a raccoon get down. The officer told him he had to get down and took him into custody but as there was no visible damage and commercial trespass is a bylaw offence, he was let go. When the officer was called the second time the man leapt off the roof and fled on foot. The officer then was called to a case in Langley city and was unable to respond to complaints about the man returning to Cranky’s roof. It was this time that the most serious damage was done to the roof. Police told McKenzie that the suspect is a homeless man with substance abuse issues who has been occupying the ATM lobbies of the local banks and credit union. “They hope to charge him with mischief and thereby get a mandatory psychiatric assessment, and hopefully a positive solution,” said McKenzie. McKenzie and his friends have restored the roof.
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(excludes Party Packages. Exp. Apr. 30, 2016)