Thursday February 14, 2013 (Vol. 38 No. 14)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
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
A century ago: Historians Lorraine and Hugh Ellenwood recount the year 1913 in White Rock, which marked the start of something big. › see page 11
Bus driver attacked
Escape leaves locals in dark
Eyes on the ball
Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
A Delta man appeared in court Wednesday on multiple charges, including robbery and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, in connection with a single-vehicle crash in South Surrey last week that knocked out power to more than 4,000 area residents. The crash occurred on 40 Avenue, just east of King George Boulevard shortly after midnight Feb. 7. Events that led to it began about seven hours earlier in Langley, when police with that city’s Street Enforcement Unit took note of a Ford truck that had two fuel containers in its box. › see page 4
Katelyn Watt, 4, catches a ball thrown by her father, Spencer, in the gym of the South Surrey Recreation Centre on Saturday during free Healthy Hearts Family Day activities.
Boaz Joseph photo
Health concerns rejected by school district as ‘unfounded’
Wi-Fi opponent wants schools to be hard-wired Sarah Massah Staff Reporter
A South Surrey parent is urging others to join a campaign to ban wireless Internet in schools, citing concerns over the well-being of students. Carl Katz – an IT technician and founding member/director of Citizens for Safe Technology, which has been battling the installation of smart meters across B.C. – said he hopes to raise awareness about the impact of Wi-Fi in schools and encourage parents to speak out. “My daughter, who is turning 11 in a few weeks, is sensitive to the Wi-Fi. She is at Peace Arch Elementary and has nausea and dizziness,” Katz said, noting he, too, is electrohypersensitive to the radio waves used in
Sarah Massah photo
Parent Carl Katz says the proliferation of wireless communication shouldn’t be in schools. high-speed data transfers. “Given that parents of children who are electrosensitive in the Surrey School District are either pulling their children out of school or leaving them in with grave
concern because they don’t have the option of home-schooling them, why are there no options for these children? They just upgraded the Wi-Fi in the school and I’ve lost more than a few sleeps over it.”
Surrey School District communications manager Doug Strachan said he knows of just one case in the district in which students were pulled from class due to Wi-Fi concerns. Strachan said many of the fears are unfounded and can be attributed to skewed information. “There’s a plethora of information out in the Internet about Wi-Fi, but a lot of people zero in on – and have their fears heightened by – studies that say electromagnetic radiation has been declared a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. But if they dig deeper, they will see the electromagnetic radiation is in the same classifications as alcohol and talcum powder,” Strachan said. › see page 4
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