Richmond Review

News Summaries

Student hit by car

A 12-year-old Lord Byng elementary school student is recovering from a concussion after he was struck by a car while crossing Regent Street at No. 1 Road last Friday at 12:45 p.m., according to Richmond RCMP traffic section Cst. Jim Brunton. A blue 1986 Dodge Aries, driven north in the fast lane of No. 1 Road by a 50-year-old Richmond man, struck the boy as he was crossing No. 1 Road from east to west near the school. The student was returning to school after the lunch break. Lord Byng principal Reuben Chan said he can't remember a similar accident at that intersection during the five years he's worked at the school. "It was quite a shock," he said Monday. "We took the opportunity to talk to the whole school about safety, especially now that it's dark after school."

Students lack confidence in police

Extortions are on the rise in Richmond schools, according to police. But how comfortable are students in going to police to deal with extortion threats? Not very, according to the 40 to 50 students interviewed at random from Richmond and Steveston secondary schools. Richmond secondary Grade 12 students Stephen Dorner and Andrew Dick, both 17, told reporters they would not go to police if they were extorted. Both said they would rather take care of the problem by rallying friends together and using their own muscle. "If you talk to police they're not going to do much about it. There's not much they can do unless there's proof, and until it happens you can't do anything," Dick said last Wednesday. "Sometimes it's best to deal with it yourself." Dorner said he feels safer knowing that his school has a liaison officer. But he isn't comfortable and confident enough in local police to deal with these types of heavy-handed threats. A group of seven Richmond high ESL students eating lunch at McDonald's Wednesday were visibly uncomfortable talking about extortion. None had encountered any threats locally, but they had heard of extortions in their home countries. One student, who didn't want to be identified, expressed no confidence in police in his home country of Taiwan. He said he would never go to police there if he was extorted. "No way. I'm too scared. (Taiwanese police) can't do anything about it. The gangs (in Taiwan) are too big." And although police are working to inform students about extortion in Richmond, he said he wouldn't go to police here either. Some Steveston secondary students feel the same way.

Groups of teens in grunge-wear kick hacky-sacks outside Steveston high school. Others soaking up what little sun is out or gap in groups. They look like they don't have a care in the world. But ask them about extortion, and some will tell you a frightening story. One 18-year-old Grade 12 student admitted she had a harrowing experience with a teenaged boy who tried to blackmail her into giving him potentially hundreds of dollars on demand. The blackmail came at a particularly bad time for her family, says Jane (not her real name) in her native Cantonese, because her mom had just lost her job. She recounts how a 17-year-old youth who lived next to her approached her one day last year asking her for "protection money," claiming she had told others he was her personal "protector." He wanted about $35 dollars for each of the dozens of times he claimed Jane used his name, and he warned her not to tell her parents or to go the police, or he would beat her up or pluck her from Aberdeen Centre mall one day. Jane was frightened for her life and told her parents, who in turn went to the police. Within 24 hours, the suspect was picked up. Jane and her younger sister, who had witnessed the event, defied their fears of reprisals and testified in court.

Expanding B.C.'s fishing opportunities is the goal of a Partners in Progress project announced Thursday by B.C. Fisheries Minister David Zirnhelt. Three Richmond-based companies will participate in 11 Partners projects that Zirnhelt hopes will help diversify the province's seafood industry and benefit coastal communities by making cultured prawns, Venus clams, dogfish, sea urchin and mackerel regular menu items for British Columbians. "These 11 projects represent exciting new opportunities in B.C. fisheries," Zirnhelt said. "The grants address tough environmental and resource management issues and encourage the development of species that already have proven market niches off-shore and can provide opportunities to develop domestic markets." Grants totalling almost $600,000 have been issued to the participating companies, adding to the $1.37 million in funding previously doled out for 41 fisheries-related projects since the Partners in Progress program began in 1994. "Fisheries on the West Coast is going through a lot of changes and the whole thing needs renewal," Zirnhelt told The Review on Thursday. "One thing we can do is get more value out of a greater variety of products. There are some 80 species of fish we could harvest, and we aren't harvesting all by any means. If we have slow-but-sure development, and research what's necessary for management, we set up a much more stable industry."

With the blinding glare of headlights coming at her in the rainy night, Robin May said she could think only of her husband Rick. "I didn't want him to lose both of us," May, who is four months pregnant, said Friday. "Everything happened in slow motion - it was unbelievable." What started out as a leisurely trip to the corner 7-Eleven store to satisfy a craving for jalapeno dogs turned into a near-death experience for the 31-year-old Richmond woman last Tuesday evening. She was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in the intersection of No. 2 Road and Steveston Highway. May, who stands 4'11" and weighs 110 pounds, was walking north on No. 2 Road and was crossing the Steveston Highway intersection on the walk signal at about 7:30 p.m. A white sports car drove up and appeared to stop on No. 2 Road while waiting to make a left turn east onto Steveston Highway. "I watched him and he didn't start at all," May said. "All of a sudden, he just gunned it and started coming at me.

Armed thieves demanding "circuit boards" and microchips from a city business made off with about $300 cash they stole from bound staff members and a customer late last Thursday afternoon. Two men, one wielding a knife and one with a handgun, entered Althon Technologies at 218-13986 Cambie Rd. at 5:15 p.m. "I had to tour along the warehouse with one of them," Althon Technologies manager Anthony Chan told The Review Monday. "My three employees and one customer were tied up and I was tied up before they departed." Chan said the two men used masking tape and telephone cords to bind him and the four other terrified victims. Richmond RCMP Cpl. Maria Nickel said that although the thieves demanded circuit boards, they were actually looking for mother boards (the main component of a computer). The culprits refused to believe the wholesale company didn't stock the parts they were searching for. "It appeared they knew nothing about computer parts," Chan said. "They kept asking if we were telling lies but we didn't have it."

Richmond seafood processing plants will soon be exploring uncharted waters as a result of provincial initiatives announced Thursday. Partners in progress will dole out grants totalling $581,793 to fund 11 fisheries projects. Christine Rushforth, fisheries ministry communications co-ordinator, said Thursday the program is designed to complement traditional markets, such as salmon and herring fishing. "The whole point is to diversify the product base and increase the opportunities for employment in coastal communities," she said. Richmond-based Sea Plus Marketing Incorporated and Tri-Star Seafood Supply have teamed with three Nanaimo companies and the provincial government to develop spot prawn farms for British Columbia. Ray Leitch, president of Sea Plus Marketing, said the move echoes a global concern over decreasing prawn stocks.

A Richmond couple and their infant daughter returning from a shopping trip were accosted by gun-and-knife-toting carjackers in the garage of their Penny Lane home Wednesday evening. The three culprits demanded the keys to the family's new 1995 Mercedes B320 and took off in the car. "We figure they were waiting around the side of the house," Richmond RCMP Cpl. Maria Nickel told The Review Friday. "When he used the automatic garage door opener, (the suspects) walked in behind him before the door went down." When they got out of their vehicle, the family was confronted by one masked male holding what appeared to be a .38 caliber handgun and two others armed with knives. It was a slow start for the bumbling thieves, however, as they were unable to find the Mercedes' ignition key on the key ring and finally forced the vehicle owner to start his own car. "I think they wanted that specific car," Nickel explained. "We've had a few other high-end vehicles that are going (to thieves)."

If Coun. Doug Sandberg has its way, the committee dealing with a possible ban on indoor smoking in the Lower Mainland will have a rough ride. Sandberg volunteered to sit on the organizing committee that will see the city participate in a regional plan to consider whether it wants a 100-per-cent smoke-free indoor air bylaw. City council approved the city's participation by passing a recommendation to do so by Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt. Sandberg was outspoken in airing his views against the ban. "People will just not go out," Sandberg told fellow councillors. "They'll stay at home and have a can of soup at home," he added. "Businesses don't need this kind of pressure." The initiative would delay the whole process, and a decision on a ban might not happen for the next few years, Coun. Lyn Greenhill told council. "I'll vote for it," Sandberg said. "If it'll delay the process two to three years, I'll be happy to support it."