|
|
|
| Top Story | More News | Crime Report |
A Richmond woman called police after an uninvited guest dropped in for dinner Thursday night. The woman, 34, found a 1.4-metre boa constrictor on her dining room table at about 9 p.m. and immediately call 911. The snake had slipped away from a neighbor's apartment, but was returned by police. No charges were laid against the reptile.
The 12 B.C. Supreme Court jurors who will decide the fate of second-degree murder suspect Steven Charles Wilson continue to deliberate in Vancouver. The jury began deliberating this week after hearing more than two weeks of testimony involving the murder of Michelle Fiddick. The mother and Vancouver-area prostitute was stabbed six times and killed in July 1996. Her burned body was found in a south Vancouver park. Crown Counsel Patti Tomasson told The Review that the sequestered jury requested Thursday that some evidence be read back to them. Wilson contends that he is innocent, and that it was his friend, New Westminster's Michael James Roberge, who killed Fiddick. Roberge testified against Wilson after entering into an immunity agreement with the Crown. If convicted, Wilson faces a maximum life sentence.
Richmond-based Whitewater West Industries is one of the companies behind a proposed $150-million theme park for New Westminster. The largest water-park designers and manufacturers in the world, Whitewater has a business relationship with SeaParks Entertainment and Attractions Corporation, the firm that put forward the proposal. SeaParks has entered into a preliminary agreement with Ward Enterprises, a company that is proposing to build a floating riverboat casino near New Westminster Quay. The theme park is intended to compliment the casino. "Our intention is to create, in the areas adjoining the Riverboat Casino site, a vibrant daytime, nighttime theme park environment that pulses with energy and excitement appealing to all age groups and interests," the press release states.
Charges have not been laid against the 18-year-old driver of a car that struck and killed Richmond's Danielle Lafond. RCMP Sgt. Willy Laurie said police are continuing their investigation. It could take more than a month before a decision is made on whether to charge the Pitt Meadows man. Lafond was killed Tuesday at around 3 a.m. as she sat on a Railway Avenue sidewalk with three friends, waiting for a taxi. Police suspect the driver fell asleep behind the wheel before the car swerved across two lanes and struck the youths. One girl suffered a broken arm, and another boy was injured when his foot was run over by the car. An avid dancer and gymnast, Lafond was a member of RGA Dance Xtreme, which won the national dancing championships in three categories recently in New Westminster. A memorial service for the teen was held earlier this week at Richmond Funeral Home.
Richmond RCMP are looking for the family or friends of a man seriously injured in a car accident last Thursday morning. Pavel Habr, 63, was hit by a truck while he was cycling near Jacombs and Cambie Roads around 9:30 a.m. Habr, who police believe is on holidays from Prague, Czechoslovakia, suffered serious head injuries and has been unable to communicate. Police suspect he has been visiting family or friends in Richmond or Vancouver. "Nobody has come forward," RCMP Sgt. Willy Laurie said Monday. Anyone with information about Habr is asked to call Richmond RCMP at 278-1212.
Newsprint and office paper will likely be banned from Greater Vancouver's garbage facilities as of this November. A committee of the region's mayors and councillors last week approved the ban, which follows a similar, 18-month-old prohibition on cardboard at landfills, incinerators and transfer stations. The existing ban works by forcing waste haulers to pay a 50-per-cent surcharge on their dumping fees if their garbage loads are found to be 10-per-cent cardboard or more. As of November, waste facilities are expected to start weighing the combined total of newspaper, office paper and cardboard, with the same 10-per-cent maximum applying to the aggregate of all three materials. A six-month grace period would begin in November for the expanded ban, during which violating haulers would get a warning. After that the 50-per-cent surcharge would be levied, increasing the cost from $65/tonne to $97.50. The ban is recommended for final approval at the end of July.
Dauphin-Swan River MP Inky Mark will be speaking at a town hall meeting at Steveston community centre on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6:45 p.m. The Reform Party of Canada municipalities critic, Mark is the former mayor of Dauphin, Manitoba.
A service first provided to domestic airport passengers has now been offered to international travellers. FastTrack, an airport service aimed at speeding up first-class and premium passengers' transit through the airport's security screening, is now available to international passengers of participating airlines. "(Vancouver Airport) wanted to expedite passengers through security checkpoints, and local airlines were asking for a dedicated express route for their premium passengers," Airport Authority's Susan Stiene said in a press release.
Richmond-based hi-tech firm MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) will be leading a $1.2 million project aimed at helping detect the leading cause of adult blindness in North America. MDA will be heading the Canadian team hoping to develop an intelligent telemedicine system to provide information for the detection and diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, the firm announced last week. The project will incorporate space technology to improve access and quality of health care to Canadians, according to an MDA press release. Canada's remote northern aboriginal communities will be the focus of the project. Those citizens are three to five times more susceptible to the disease than any other segment of the Canadian population.
Balwant Sanghera wants one of Richmond's electoral boundaries tweaked a bit. He told the travellng Electoral Boundaries Commission that arrived in Richmond Monday that he wants some minor adjustments for the East Richmond riding, mainly giving the smaller Steveston riding some of East Richmond's population. The East Richmond riding's border should encompass the area from the south arm of the river, beginning in east Richmond, running west all the way up to No. 3 Road. It should then run north on No. 3 Road to Granville Avenue, east on Granville to No. 4 Road, and north on No. 4 Road all the way to the north arm of the river, Sanghera said. Both East Richmond and Richmond Centre have larger populations than the Richmond-Steveston riding, Sanghera said. Sanghera in his spare time is a member of the NDP's East Richmond constituency association.
Richmond and other local municipalities should get a small break early next year on their garbage disposal costs. The GVRD is expected to introduce a yearly rebate on the dumping fees it charges city-contracted haulers at its various waste facilities. Designed to settle a debate over the GVRD's so-called tipping fee, currently $65 a tonne, the rebate would parcel out any year-end surplus back to the municipalities on a population basis. Based on current estimates, that would net a city of 100,000 people about $85,000. Richmond's population hovers around 160,000. Each city will choose how to use the extra cash.
| Top Story | More News | Crime Report |
