INSIDE: Our precious water resource starting to feel the strain Pg. 7 May 4, 2010
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LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
‘Unfair’ violation of rules BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
M
ore details have emerged linking Chilliwack MLA and former mayor John Les to at least three properties involved in boundary adjustments in agricultural land that violated the rules. The properties were identified in a damning Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) report that
Neighbour says subdivision approval for John Les property was the wrong decision found 66 boundary adjustment subdivisons made in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in Chilliwack between 1991 and 2009 were “inconsistent with the regulations.” The ALC investigation followed
public revelations two years ago that Les was being investigated by the RCMP to see whether he “improperly benefitted from any commercial transactions involving land developers.” One of those properties co-
owned by Les is on Rosebank Place and was involved in a boundary adjustment subdivision that “created rural residential parcels at the expense of the farm parcel.” See UNFAIR, Page 3
Photo courtesy of Canadian Military Engineers Collection at the Chilliwack Museum and Archives
A portrait of Lt. Col. Coulson Mitchell.
‘Dagger through the heart’
JAZZ FESTIVAL STOMPIN‘ HOT
Theft of war hero’s brass plaque stuns sappers BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
T
Ken Goudswaard/TIMES
Trumpet player Brittany Waslen of Chilliwack’s very own Stompin’ Hot Jazz band wowed those attending the weekend’s Chilliwack Jazz Festival.
he theft of a brass plaque honouring a Chilliwack war hero is “disgraceful,” according to one of those who helped raise the money for its placement. Sometime between April 19 and 26, thieves stole a large plaque that paid tribute to Lt.-Col. Coulson Norman Mitchell, an engineer who won the Victoria Cross in Europe and helped build All Sappers’ Memorial Park in Chilliwack. The theft “was like a dagger through the heart,” according to CFB Chilliwack Memorial Society founder Jim Harris. “I immediately thought, what kind of a message is this sending to our currently serving See DAGGER, Page 4
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