midweek edition WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3, 2010
Vol. 101 No. 88 • Established 1908 • East
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Egg-static review Lions down Demons
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Cops offer reward for information in falling death VPD tip line focuses on women
Mike Howell Staff writer
VPD Chief Jim Chu on Monday unveiled the Guardian Project tip line while advocates Mona Woodward (left) photo Dan Toulgoet and Winona Williams spotlighted the death of Ashley Machiskinic.
The Vancouver Police Department announced a $10,000 reward Monday in an effort to determine how and why a 22-year-old woman fell to her death in September from the window of a Downtown Eastside hotel. The reward was announced in conjunction with the VPD’s move to set up a telephone tip line for people wanting to report crimes against women in the Downtown Eastside, including any information related to the death of Ashley Machiskinic. Police have been unable to conclude whether Machiskinic’s death Sept.15 was a suicide, homicide or
an accident. The aboriginal woman’s body was discovered in an alley outside the Regent Hotel, near Main and Hastings. Staff Sgt. Joanne Boyle of the VPD’s major crimes section said investigators have interviewed people who were in the hotel on the night of Machiskinic’s death but are still at a loss to say how and why she died. “Investigators are just as frustrated as the community is in this because we aren’t able to say definitively what happened,” Boyle told the Courier after Monday’s press conference on a sidewalk at Main and Alexander, a few blocks from where Machiskinic died. See TIP on page 4
Funding cuts threaten job support program for destitute Kettle Friendship Society provides housing and mental health services
Cheryl Rossi Staff writer
It’s a dirty job, but Peter Louis likes picking up used condoms, needles and garbage for $10 an hour. His work hours, however, are about to be reduced. He dons a safety vest that reads
Community Clean Team twice a week and sweeps up garbage around Commercial Drive, where he lives. The Kettle Friendship Society at 1725 Venables St., which provides housing and mental health services for those in need, runs the Clean Team. The Com-
mercial Drive Business Society pays half the wages. “Keeping my own neighbourhood clean is actually rewarding,” said Louis, who’s been part of the Clean Team since it started in 2000. “This is actually a useful job… you become one of the regular fixtures yourself [in the neigh-
bourhood].” Louis says the $360 he earns each month helps him care for his cat and buy fresh vegetables. “You get a life instead of living in absolute grinding poverty. I don’t have to line up at food banks, which is so nice,” he said. He pays more than half of his dis-
ability benefits to his nearly $500 rent. “There’s one gal here and this job makes all the difference for her being able to have something to do with her kids. Think about it, you’ve got kids and you can’t go bowling, you don’t have the money, it’s terrible.” See LACK on page 4
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