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Giving their Heart & Soul Connie Smudge, aka Chris Bolton, is one of the many drag acts taking to the stage for the annual AIDS charity fundraiser Heart & Soul.
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CHUNG CHOW/RICHMOND NEWS
It may be fall, but the flowers are still blooming at the East Richmond Community Garden, run by the Food Security Society. The garden, on Cambie Road, has 27 4-by-20-foot plots. The cost to rent a plot is $35 per year.
Pedophile’s fate to be decided BY MICHELLE HOPKINS
mhopkins@richmond-news.com
Convicted child sex tourist Christopher Neil appeared in Richmond Provincial Court Monday morning but the public won’t know the conditions of his release until today (Wednesday.) Although not charged, the former Maple Ridge resident and teacher will remain in custody until he appears in court Oct. 3 at 9:30 a.m. when a judge was expected to decide whether or not Neil should be released, and if so, under what circumstances. Neil has already spent four years in a Thai prison for sexually assaulting a 13year-old boy and his nineyear-old brother, and for see Neil page 4 $
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Clark aims to replace tunnel Brodie welcomes plan but wants more cash put into TransLink BY KELLY SINOSKI Vancouver Sun
Mayor Malcolm Brodie welcomes the premier’s plan to replace the aged and gridlocked George Massey tunnel, however, the job of getting people out of cars and onto transit should be the province’s first priority. “If the government wants to do something to address the issue now they would be announcing additional sustainable funding for TransLink to provide buses,” Brodie said. In response to Premier Christy Clark’s announcement Friday, Metro Vancouver mayors said the province has to work immediately on reducing the number of cars that continue to choke pressure points on the highway and on the tunnel’s on and off ramps. Both Brodie and Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender said the province should be looking at road pricing — charging drivers a fee for the distance travelled
— to generate money for transit and get people out of their cars. Brodie noted a new tunnel or bridge is going to cost at least as much as the new $3.3-billion Port Mann, and will likely be tolled, considering the province has done so with both the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges. TransLink has had to postpone several transportation projects, arguing it doesn’t have the money. Clark said replacing the tunnel would help ease one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the province, adding that the project, which would take at least 10 years to plan and design, would help accommodate another 300,000 people in the region by 2040. “Talk to anyone who drives through the George Massey Tunnel on their daily commute and they’ll tell you it’s a huge headache,” Clark said at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, adding a new crossing would also relieve an
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Champion attraction
With a group of competitive skaters that includes national junior men’s champion Mitchell Gordon, interest in being part of the Connaught Skating Club is near an all-time high.
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Index
News In Other Words Editorial Letters Sports Classified
8171 Westminster Hwy. (at Buswell, one block east of No. 3 Rd.) Walkway access also from Price-Smart Foods parking lot
Mon-Sat 8:45-6:30 Sun 10-5 (604) 780-4959
Westminster Hwy.
Buswell
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Richmond RCMP’s ball hockey team was knocked off again by a bunch of Grade 7 students, as the Mounties’ local hockey challenge kicks into its first season.
No. 3 Rd.
Beer, Wine, Pop, Juice, Water
RICHMOND BOTTLE DEPOT
“economic bottleneck” for Port Metro Vancouver. Clark said she plans to work with Richmond and Delta mayors on a replacement crossing, which could be either another tunnel or a bridge. It’s still way too early, she added, to say if it would be tolled. Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said she was delighted with the announcement Friday. “(The provincial government) certainly heard me and heard what the community has to say,” she said in a phone interview from London, England. Delta has long lobbied for improvements or a replacement for the 53-year-old tunnel, predicting the Deltaport expansion will result in another 1,700 daily truck trips through the tunnel within five years. Jackson has also warned the situation will be further compounded as the Tsawwassen First Nation pursues plans for a see Brodie page 4
Beaten up by kids...again
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