Tuesday March 26, 2013 (Vol. 38 No. 25)
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
One game away: The Surrey Eagles are on the verge of advancing to the third round of BC Hockey League playoffs after two wins in South Surrey last weekend. › see page 29
Threat to suspend licences follows teen’s death in Surrey
Four-year sentence for ‘traumatizing’ crime
Blood leads to would-be robber
Party-bus operators warned Jeff Nagel
Alex Browne
Black Press
Staff Reporter
A man who has admitted he entered South Surrey’s South Point Pub last year wearing a mask and waving a loaded pistol will serve another three years in jail for the crime. Robbie Lee Morris was handed a four-year sentence in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster last month by Justice Robert Crawford, after pleading guilty to possession of a loaded, restricted and unlicensed firearm. Crawford credited Morris one year for time served. Crawford noted the New Year’s Day incident, in which shots were fired, had “traumatized” one participant and could have had tragic results. Fortunately, he said, Morris was on the receiving end of the “donnybrook” that ensued when he walked in on a male and female employee cleaning up after New Year’s celebrations in the early hours of Jan. 1. The female employee’s boyfriend was also in the pub at the time, Crawford said, and “threw himself ” at Morris, who may have been under the effects of alcohol. Although shots were fired, Crawford said, Morris appeared to have been disarmed in the subsequent scrap. In addition, Morris was punched, gouged in the eye and smashed over the head with a bar stool, and it was his blood that marked his path when he fled from the pub and over a nearby fence. DNA was matched with federal databank records which led directly to Morris, who has two prior convictions for robbery. He was arrested in June 2012. › see page 2
BORDER GOLD CORP.
Ice time
Boaz Joseph photo
Langley’s Keith Rosenberg and his daughter, Claire, 6, enjoy the artificial-surface outdoor skating rink set up on the weekend at The Shops at Morgan Crossing. Donations for skate rentals were accepted for Semiahmoo Secondary students.
Transportation Minister Mary Polak says party-bus operators in B.C. have been warned they must obey laws that ban liquor consumption by their passengers or face costly licence suspensions. But at the same time, Polak says the province is reviewing the current regulations to check whether they still make sense. A commercial vehicle like a limousine or a bus is considered a public place in B.C. so boozy revellers on board are drinking in public contrary to the Liquor Control and Licensing Act and can be subject to a $230 fine and liquor pour-outs. Any drinking in a moving vehicle is also against the Motor Vehicle Act and is a violation of the operators’ licences under the PassenMary Polak ger Transportation Act. transportation “I have made it very clear minister to the operators I have absolutely no difficulty pulling their licences if it’s found any one of them is not in compliance,” Polak said. That message was delivered to operators at a meeting Thursday by officials of B.C.’s Passenger Transportation Board. It comes several weeks after 16-year-old Ernest Azoadam died after riding on a party bus where alcohol was plentiful, despite operator claims it doesn’t permit alcohol or drugs. Police were called Feb. 15 to a gas station in east Newton, where the Vancouver Island student was found unresponsive. Stretch SUVs or buses are often outfitted with nightclub lighting and may act as rolling parties, particularly for those under age, rather than deluxe transportation to an actual event. “It’s kind of tough to swallow that (operators) are saying ‘Look it’s not our fault’ when their advertisements in many cases imply alcohol is going to be part of the celebration these folks are going to be paying for,” Polak › see page 2
What’s your New Year’s resolution? How about eating more fruits and veggies?
See page 4 For more information, please visit www.kinsfarmmarket.com/greenfighters