Tuesday March 5, 2013 (Vol. 38 No. 19)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
Top of the world: Erin Little took her passion for hiking to new heights with a charity challenge on Mount Kilimanjaro. The animal lover raised $10,000 for the BC SPCA with her climb up the world’s tallest free-standing mountain. › see page 11
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
City staff to investigate purchase, as Epcor proceeds with Total Water Quality Management project
White Rock ponders water-utility buy Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
City officials are looking into whether White Rock should try to buy its water utility. The council decision – made during a closed meeting Feb. 25 – was announced Friday afternoon. It comes in the midst of water-supplier Epcor’s application to B.C.’s deputy comptroller of water rights for approval to carry out $11-12 million in upgrades to the city’s water system.
The Edmonton-based company’s Total Water Quality Management project also aims to abide by a Fraser Health order to chlorinate the system by 2016. “The timing is right,” city manager Dan Bottrill told Peace Arch News of council’s move. “Epcor is looking at doing significant infrastructure improvement. If the City of White Rock was ever thinking of acquiring the utility, the time would be now, before (Epcor) makes that investment.”
Staff have been directed to develop a business case to determine if the city should enter purchase negotiations. Bottrill said the process will not only examine the cost but also how the city would operate the utility. Epcor officials were given a heads-up prior to the decision being made public. Company spokesman Tim Le Riche said nothing formal has taken place, but “we’ll examine any materials they have or take part in any discussions that they ask us to.”
“For us, it’s business as usual for now. We know we’re doing the right thing when we’re going through the Total Water Quality Management project process with the regulator.” Friday was also the deadline for interested parties to file submissions in the hearing process; Epcor has until March 8 to respond. The city’s submissions include a request to postpone the regulator’s decision until the business case is complete, a process that’s expected to take 90 days.
Hunt targets Panorama
Provincial run for councillor Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Marvin Hunt is prepared to sit as MLA and serve as Surrey councillor at the same time, should he be elected to the provincial legislature. The 23-year veteran city councillor announced Thursday he will represent the BC Liberal party in SurreyPanorama in the provincial election May 14. The riding is without an incumbent, as MLA StephaMarvin Hunt nie Cadieux is Surrey councillor switching to Surrey-Cloverdale, which is being vacated by retiring Kevin Falcon. Hunt said he was approached last week by his longtime friend, Sukh Dhaliwal, to run in Surrey-Panorama. Dhaliwal had announced he would run for the Liberals there but stepped aside when it was revealed he was facing charges under the Canada Tax Act for failing to file taxes for one of his companies. Hunt told Black Press it was a difficult decision because he believes he is having great success on council. › see page 4
Cyclical behaviour
Dan Ferguson photo
Whenever the mood strikes – and when better than when the sun is out? – cycling enthusiasts, including this trio spotted along 32 Avenue in South Surrey Sunday, have plenty of scenic routes to meander on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Rain is forecast for today and tomorrow, but those who missed out on the sun can take heart that sunny skies are expected for Thursday and Friday.
Convicted driver turns to highest court after losing appeal in death of toddler
Berner win would ‘blow away’ Crown Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
The woman whose impaired and dangerousdriving convictions in the May 2008 death of toddler Alexa Middelaer were upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeal has now asked the country’s highest court to hear her case. Crown counsel John Gordon confirmed Thursday that Carol Ann Berner “has applied (to the Supreme Court of Canada) for leave to appeal from the decision.” He is not convinced she will succeed.
“I would be blown away if they were to grant leave on this application,” Gordon said, noting such applications are typically only granted if “the Supreme Court of Canada thinks… there’s issues of national or public importance, or if there are conflicting decisions on what the proper legal principles are coming from other provincial courts of appeal.” “There aren’t,” he said. “The governing legal principles are well-established.” Berner’s lawyer, David Tarnow, said he has “a good argument” to support the application,
which was made Feb. 5. “We now await their decision.” Tarnow acknowledged that only a small percentage of such applications are successful. Berner was found guilty in July 2010 of two counts of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm and two counts of impaired driving causing death and bodily harm, after losing control of her car on a Delta street, striking and killing four-year-old Alexa and seriously injuring her aunt. › see page 4
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