INSIDE: Giants football teams discover Cornhuskers hit hard September 3, 2010
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Rooney putting on a show 24 Mickey 1985-
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LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Les investigation cost us $172,000
SCHOOLS GETTING READY FOR FIRST DAY BACK
Sanborn agrees to arraignment hearing on Oct. 1 BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
T
he cost of the investigation into former mayor John Les, senior city bureaucrat Grant Sanborn and land development deals at Chilliwack city hall was $172,643.41, according to the criminal justice branch of the B.C. attorney general. The total for the legal bill paid by the B.C. government to special prosecutor Robin McFee was released through a Freedom of Information request made by the Globe and Mail. Criminal justice branch spokesperson Neil MacKenzie did not provide a breakdown for the costs, which were
for McFee’s fees and expenses. As part of McFee’s investigation of city hall, the Vancouver lawyer examined “voluminous” amounts of evidence from the RCMP that included more than 80 land deals. Neither McFee nor Les commented on the cost of the bill. As a comparison, the Globe reported that previous FOI requests revealed the province paid $132,272 for an opinion on whether Air India bomb maker Inderjit Singh Reyat’s lawyer and his children should face fraud charges for putting family members on the legal team’s payroll, and $293,466.75 to consider polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore. Les became the subject of an RCMP investigation in 2007 for allegedly benefitting from deals when he was mayor. McFee concluded that city staff looked at provincial regulations and city bylaws as “guidelines only” and that a pro-development philosophy See LES, Page 6
Cougar’s killing spree ends with single bullet 75-kilogram ‘killing machine’ attacked 11 sheep BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
A Cornelia Naylor/TIMES
Robertson kindergarten teacher Nancy Arnold staples her bulletin boards into shape for the start of school next week. RCMP are reminding drivers that school zone speed limits also come into effect Sept. 7.
“very large cougar” was tracked and shot by conservation officers Thursday morning, a day after the animal killed 11 sheep on a Ryder Lake property. Environment Minister and MLA for the area Barry Penner was on the scene just after the estimated 75-kilogram,
five-year-old cougar was killed. “I suspect the cougar didn’t even know what hit him,” Penner told the Times Thursday. “He died instantly. We examined the carcass of the cougar on the ground and the shot apparently went right into the heart and exited through the back.” Penner said he was at home literally washing blood off his hands before he was scheduled to catch a flight. “The cougar was large enough that it could kill a black bear,” he said. “It was a fine physical specimen but also a very lethal and efficient killing machine.” The cougar was killed on the property See COUGAR, Page 6
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