Thursday May 17, 2012 (Vol. 37 No. 40)
V O I C E
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W H I T E
R O C K
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S O U T H
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Run for the roses: Former South Surrey resident Mario Gutierrez drops in on some old friends to share the tale of his journey from a small town in Mexico to winning the top prize in this month’s Kentucky Derby. see page 33 Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography
Commendations fail to assuage regrets that he couldn’t save woman from attacker with axe
Newton senior rejects ‘hero’ label Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Evan Seal photo
Narinder Nayar tried to grab assailant.
Carrying an axe and knife out of view, the man walking into a Newton newspaper office last July looked like any other customer. Then, according to witnesses at the Sach Di Awaaz Newspaper office at 128 Street and 82 Avenue, the man saw 24-year-old Ravinder Kaur Bhangu and began to strike her with the axe. She tried to block the descending blade with her arms and started to scream. Standing about three metres away, 70-yearold Narinder Nayar moved to stop the attacker. “I heard someone is crying (and) I rushed to that,” the volunteer photographer said in
an interview Tuesday, adding he yelled at the man: “What are you doing?” Nayar tried to grab the assailant, but received a sharp blow to his left shoulder from the axe. Undeterred, the senior came again at the attacker, who chopped at him a second time in the back of his shoulder with the axe. Nayar remembers wondering why he was drenched with sweat, only learning later he was covered in his own blood. Weakened and in pain, he fell back and went to call for the owner of the newspaper. When he returned, the young woman whom he considered a daughter was motionless on the ground, her attacker subdued by police.
Nayar was taken away by ambulance and treated for his wounds. He learned later that Bhangu was dead. On the back wall of Nayar’s Newton basement suite, several plaques and commendations hang in honour of his actions that day. He would trade them all, he says, if he could just bring Bhangu back. “She was extremely good as a human being. She respected me just like her father,” he said. Nayar used to put in full days at the newspaper. On the day of the murder, he was sorting through photographs to choose which ones would run in the next edition. see page 4
Hansen offers support
Kindred visitor Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Much has happened in recent weeks to lift the spirits of a White Rock man who was paralyzed last month in a freak hockey accident. Richard Morrison has been switched from a respirator to a “trach” tube, which has increased his ability to communicate by enabling him to mouth words. He’s also spent precious time with his children, and has stabilized enough to start receiving visits from close friends. And while he’s still got a long road ahead of him – one that includes learning how to adjust to life dependent on an electric wheelchair – a visit this week from Canada’s Man in Motion, Rick Hansen, was “for sure” a boost the 47-year-old needed. “Rick is just so inspirational. I think Richard really needed… a reminder that he’s not the only one going through this and that it will be OK,” his wife, Sheila, said the next day. “Just to hear from somebody else who’s been there. None of us can really understand what he’s going through.” Morrison, 47, broke his neck in
Contributed photo
Man In Motion Rick Hansen drops in on the family of Richard Morrison, who was suddenly left a quadriplegic in an April 21 hockey accident. two places April 21, when he went into the boards head-first at Burnaby’s 8 Rinks arena during a dropin hockey game. The injury rendered the wellliked father of two a quadriplegic and sparked an outpouring of support. Donations have come in from across the world and efforts to spread the word have included a mention by Hockey Night in Can-
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ada broadcaster Elliotte Friedman. Monday’s visit with Hansen, who is paralyzed from the waist down, was arranged by Amy Baumann, the City of White Rock’s co-ordinator for the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay end-of-day celebrations (set for 5-8 p.m. Saturday, at the White Rock Community Centre). The visit to Morrison’s room in Vancouver General Hospital’s spi-
nal unit was also a treat for Morrison’s children. Johnny, 6, “knew all about him,” Sheila Morrison said of Hansen, who gave the youngster The Boy in Motion, the children’s book that tells Hansen’s story. She said her husband and Hansen chatted privately for a bit, and she could tell the conversation resonated.
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“I know that Richard felt a lot better after he was there, definitely made him feel a lot better about things.” Family friend and neighbour Kathy O’Connor was on-hand to capture photos of the visit, which she described as “amazing.” “It was very encouraging to him, you could tell,” she said. see page 4
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