Thursday April 19, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 32)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
Centre stage: Because We Dream, a song penned by Loverboy’s Doug Johnson that celebrates youth athletes, is also giving a boost too young singer Payton Rector. see page 311
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Barricades installed as BC Hydro customers battle smart meters
Residents aim to take back the power Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Wireless opponents are taking their stand against BC Hydro’s installation of smart meters up a notch, moving to prevent their analogue meters from being replaced. Citing concerns that the new meters will impact their health, invade their privacy and drive up their power bills, some opponents of the program have taken to wrapping or caging the equipment with a protective barrier.
“I can’t have a smart meter on this house,” said South Surrey resident Lynda Honing, explaining that all three issues factored into her decision to cage the meter that tracks her family’s power use. “If they put one on my house, I’ll get someone to take it off.” But officials with the utility company say there is no need for the extreme measure. Most people taking the step are basing the decision on misinformation, said BC Hydro
communications manager Cindy Verschoor. The meters “communicate” with the power company for a total of 2.74 seconds over 48 hours, don’t collect any more information on customers than the old meters and, once fully in place, will actually provide more accurate billing, Verschoor said Tuesday. Barricading them can cause more problems than it prevents, she noted. “We’re delivering electricity to the home see page 8
Tracy Holmes photo
Lynda Honing caged her analog meter.
Head injury in blowout
Cycling senior airlifted Alex Browne Staff Reporter
Tracy Holmes photo
Ryan Ashe – who’s lived on the streets of White Rock for years – must move from his latest encampment, bordering a Johnston Road bus stop.
Homeless man to be moved from bus-stop area after numerous complaints to city
‘What makes them more important than me?’ Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
A man who has called various corners of uptown White Rock home for more than a decade will be made to move this week. Mayor Wayne Baldwin said the city has no option but to have Ryan Ashe relocate, after fielding more than a dozen calls daily over the past two weeks regarding his settlement at a bus stop near Johnston Road and Thrift Avenue. “We’re getting a lot of complaints,” Baldwin said Monday. “We just can’t have somebody camping on the street.” Ashe disagrees. “Why would I want to move?” he said Tues-
day morning, when told of the complaints. “We all get complaints. I get complaints every day. I just ignore them. “There is no issue, and since there is no issue, why should there be any complaints?” Baldwin said the situation arose after blue construction fencing went up around the lot at the intersection’s northeast corner. Ashe had in recent months been staying in landscape shrubbery at the farthest northeast tip of the lot, his belongings tucked away from the sidewalk and, for the most part, out of sight. But that changed when Ashe was forced to vacate. He set up camp just metres away, by the bus shelter on the east side of Johnston Road.
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His belongings were piled immediately adjacent to the shelter, covered with tarps that are secured with Zap Straps to the temporary fencing. Baldwin noted shopping carts of Ashe’s belongings often clutter the sidewalk, and callers – women in particular – have reported feeling like they can’t use the shelter to wait for the bus. “We’re going to have to move him,” he said. Acknowledging that Ashe has been a fixture of sorts in White Rock for years without issue, the mayor said it was Ashe’s takeover of the shelter and sidewalk that prompted the latest decision. Before, “it wasn’t in everybody’s face,” Baldwin said. “Now it is.” see page 4
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A 76-year-old man is listed in critical condition after falling from his bike when it blew a tire near 184 Street and 32 Avenue early Tuesday morning. The man, originally described as an 82 year-old by Surrey RCMP, was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital shortly after the accident and was still in the intensive care unit at press time Wednesday. Police said the accident occurred around 7 a.m. and traffic was reduced to one lane only in the vicinity for two hours afterwards. “The cyclist was not hit,” said Cpl. Barb Creighton, adding the man, who sustained head injuries, had not been wearing a cycling helmet. “He was out biking at a high rate of speed, downhill, when his front tire blew.” Creighton said the man was projected over the handlebars and landed headfirst on the ground. “It’s the law to wear helmets, and it’s for cyclists’ safety,” she said. “A lot of people don’t wear helmets, but this is a good example of why they should.”
EXPANDING TO OUR NEW LOCATION AT 32ND AND CROYDON DRIVE, OPENING MAY 22, 2012