Fire Chief Asks Council To Seek UBCM Support For Tighter Regulations By Al Irwin An "alarming" six per cent of electrical power produced by B.C. Hydro is used for growing marijuana. That's a figure quoted by Langley Township Fire Chief Doug Wade in a report to council. Wade, in his report, sought council support for regulation of the sale of hydroponic growing equipment. He said the distribution of electrical components such as high intensity light bulbs, ballasts, transformers and timers used in illegal drug production contributes to electrical hazards in the Township. [continues 367 words]
An amendment to Langley Township's controlled substance property bylaw has been adopted by Township council. The amended bylaw creates a shorter notice period to property owners or occupants of property suspected of housing drug production facilities. Now, with 24 hours notice, Langley fire and bylaw officials, with Langley RCMP assistance, will be authorized to enter into suspected premises, to check for fire and electrical safety violations. Fees to the owner of a home found in violation will be $3,500 at minimum. [continues 264 words]
A $7,500 provincial government grant will assist Langley School District teach Grade 7 students drug awareness. Langley Township Mayor Kurt Alberts on Monday presented the cheque to Leslie Klein, program co-ordinator for the school district's Community Methamphetamine Response Funding Program. The grant will pay in part for the drug and alcohol worker who will teach students about the dangers of methamphetamine. Alberts said the Grade 7s were felt to be the most vulnerable, since they were making the transition from elementary school to high school. [continues 143 words]
Drug production in Langley Township homes and buildings will be targeted by a special team of fire, police and bylaw officers. Fees to the owner of a home found in violation will be $3,500 at minimum. Township Fire Chief Doug Wade says controlled-substance, fire services and electrical safety laws provide ample authority for safety inspections of suspected marijuana grow operations or drug production facilities. Authorities would be able, under an amended controlled-substance property bylaw, to serve 24 hours notice of a safety inspection, to the occupants of a Township premise. [continues 533 words]
Drug production in Langley Township homes and buildings will be targeted by a special team of fire, police and bylaw officers. Fees to the owner of a home found in violation will be $3,500 at minimum. Township Fire Chief Doug Wade says controlled-substance, fire services and electrical safety laws provide ample authority for safety inspections of suspected marijuana grow operations or drug production facilities. Authorities would be able, under an amended controlled-substance property bylaw, to serve 24 hours notice of a safety inspection, to the occupants of a Township premise. [continues 534 words]
Encroaching surveillance of citizens, by bylaw, the subject of a letter to Township council from the privacy commissioner, has been referred to staff for a presentation. Information and Privacy Commission David Loukidelis in a letter "strongly urges" council to consider repealing any existing bylaws which require local businesses to report personal information on customers, to the municipality or the police. Loukidelis makes an exception for pawnbroker and secondhand dealer bylaws. Loukidelis says that as bylaws forcing businesses to act as data collection agencies for government proliferated, he became concerned that their privacy implications weren't being considered. [continues 230 words]
Langley Township council wants to know what Fraser Health Authority is doing for drug- and alcohol- addicted youth. Councillor Jordan Bateman told council last week he wants to know what FHA does before he casts his vote on a motion by Councillor Kim Richter, to share costs of a treatment program with Langley School District. The program advocated by Richter was the subject of a presentation to council March 27, from Marilyn Benning, of the Day Evening Weekend Youth (DEWEY) program. Benning told council DEWEY was funded by Fraser Health. [continues 268 words]
A proposed amendment to the Township's property maintenance bylaw would force property owners to obtain a re-occupancy permit after a marijuana grow operation or crystal-meth lab bust. And the motion, from Councillor Jordan Bateman, asks Township staff to determine if a notification can be made, either at the Land Titles Office, or on the municipal tax roll, that a home has been used for illegal drug production. While the motion was approved unanimously on Monday, Councillor Mel Kositsky said Bateman, "in his enthusiasm, is attacking the provincial government" for dropping the ball on similar legislation and drug enforcement generally. [continues 103 words]
Langley Township council wants more information about a drug treatment program, both from staff and the school board, before it agrees to share costs with the school district. The DEWY (The Day, Evening, Weekend for Youth) program, was run as a pilot project here in 2004, under the Fraser Health Authority, for youth aged 13 to 18, addicted to any drug. Councillor Kim Richter had moved that council inform the school district of its willingness to partner on implementing a pilot DEWY program and to participate in a community-wide "Meth Watch" awareness campaign. [continues 120 words]
Methampetamine is a scourge on our youth and the production of it should be taken very seriously by our courts for that reason alone. Wasted young lives, crime and serious traffic accidents, spiralling health and welfare costs all spring from these meth labs. Tuesday, a fire in a meth lab on 56 Avenue near 198 Street graphically illustrated other threats the meth labs pose to society. Two Langley City firefighters were sent to hospital for observation after they were exposed to toxic fumes and experienced burning and rashes on their arms. [continues 202 words]
Exposure To Vapour Injures Two, As Area Is Evacuated A pair of Langley firefighters were taken to hospital for treatment after smoke from a methamphetamine lab Tuesday caused the evacuation of roughly 43 Langley residents. The incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. Firefighters were called to a fire alarm at a house in the 19900-block of 56th Ave. They entered a shed in the backyard of the house and discovered a vinyl or plastic sheeted area. While cutting the sheeting to get at electrical wiring to see behind the screen, two firefighters were exposed to a vapour, Fire Chief Jim McGregor said. [continues 66 words]
Port Coquitlam wants tougher legal consequences for marijuana grow operators, and a majority of Langley Township councillors agree. But veteran Councillor Muriel Arnason said tougher jail sentences are not the answer. She explained that her late son John had use marijuana medicinally, on a prescription, and it was "good medicine." Arnason argued that only way to stop grow operations was to "take the profit out." Council on Dec. 13 received a letter from Port Coquitlam Mayor Scott Young, who cited a study on grow-op risks, done earlier this year by University College of the Fraser Valley professor Daryl Plecas. [continues 308 words]
A Langley man acquitted of drug impaired driving in a fatal accident must abstain from both drugs and alcohol during a two-year probation. And the 19-year-old, sentenced Monday on two charges of dangerous driving causing death, and another of causing bodily harm, must provide a breath, blood or urine sample on demand to probation officers for analysis. Meanwhile, federal legislation is in the works to give police officers greater authority in obtaining a blood sample on suspicion of a driver's impairment by drugs, says Crown Counsel Winston Sayson. [continues 392 words]
Proposed federal legislation may make it easier to charge and convict drivers impaired by marijuana and other drugs. In early November, federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler re-introduced a bill which had died on the order paper when the federal election was called earlier in the year. Bill C-16 (previously Bill C-32) would amend the Criminal Code to give police the authority to demand physicaltests and bodily fluid samples from drivers suspected of being impaired by any drug, whether over-the-counter, prescription, illegal or legal, and make it an offence to refuse such demands. [continues 227 words]
A bylaw to amend the zoning of the site of a rural addiction recovery centre received third reading from Langley Township Council last week. The bylaw was opposed by Councillor Muriel Arnason, who told council she was opposed to septic tanks. "The fact is they have a lot of animals (and) they have a lot of people (at the centre)," Arnason said. Wagner Hills Farm Society is seeking an amendment to the existing Community Care Facility P2J zone, to expansion of the addiction recovery program's care, treatment, board and lodging beds to 50, from the current 23. [continues 172 words]
Landlords beware. Marijuana grow operations and other illegal activities not only ruin houses, they run up a tab for Langley Township taxpayers. The time and expenses Langley Township pays include the salaries and other costs attributed to fire and police officials - and building inspectors to ensure the buildings are made safe again for occupancy. Now the Township has a new tool to get back all costs associated with investigations, inspections and structure and property remediation. Even noxious substances down the septic tank will be looked at. [continues 430 words]
Running a meth lab in the basement of a church-owned house in Langley has netted the operator a five-year penitentiary term. Neil Brent Bermack, 41, was sentenced Monday in Surrey, by B.C. Provincial Court Judge Patrick Hyde, for production, and possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking. Hyde had found Bermack guilty June 3, after police raided the house, in the 5600-block of 200 Street, on Feb. 20. Crown counsel Steven Price asked for the maximum 10-year sentence or "approaching the maximum." [continues 676 words]
A trial that began last October, involving the traffic accident deaths of two Langley youths, concluded Tuesday. The judge has reserved a decision. The driver in the single-car crash was 16 at the time of the accident on April 4, 2002, and cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. His passengers, both 16, Dayton Unger, an Aldergrove Community Secondary School student, and Simon Featherston, a student at D.W. Poppy Secondary, died after the 2000 Ford Mustang went off the road in the 6300-block of 264 Street. They were riding in the rear seat. Another young passenger in the front survived, along with the driver. [continues 716 words]
Blood sample evidence in a crash which killed two teens was called into question during the defence's final submission Monday. In B.C. Provincial Court in Surrey, defence counsel Allan Hoem asked the court to acquit on both the impaired driving and dangerous driving charges. He is acting on behalf of the accused, a 19-year-old Langley man who was 16 when his 2000 Mustang went off the road in the 6300-block of 264 Street, after passing another northbound car on a hill, at around 10 p.m. April 4, 2002. [continues 747 words]
A man convicted for marijuana production, who may get to keep the proceeds of his crime, represents just the tip on the iceberg, says Langley - Abbotsford MP Randy White. On March 22, Langley resident Phu Son, 48, pleaded guilty to producing a controlled substance, marijuana. Son, who owns a house in Abbotsford, and whose wife and son each own a house, in Aldergrove and Langley, came to Canada in 1994 with no money, and has been on welfare for the past 10 years, according to White. [continues 407 words]
