Thursday April 18, 2013 (Vol. 38 No. 32)
V O I C E
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Fit to be tied: The BC Hockey League’s final is all square through four games, after the Surrey Eagles lost two straight road contests to the Penticton Vees this week. › see page 35
Intelligence community rethinks how to police Saturday’s Vaisakhi parade and other major events
Boston bombing puts Surrey on alert Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Surrey RCMP are preparing for upcoming major events with new vigour after two bombs were detonated Monday at the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed and 175 injured, 17 of whom were in critical condition after two shrapnel-packed bombs went off near the finish line of the iconic marathon. While 18 runners from Surrey and their
supporters took part, no Canadians were reported injured in the apparent terror attack. Soon after news broke of the event, Surrey RCMP intelligence officers were on high alert, readying for large events coming to this city, such as Surrey’s International World Music Marathon in September and this weekend’s Vaisakhi parade, which is expected to draw 200,000 people to the streets of Newton. “As a result of (Boston’s bombing), we’re watching very closely,” said Surrey RCMP Sgt.
Drew Grainger, who co-ordinates policing for Surrey’s major events. “We’re in close contact, more than ever before… with the intelligence community, locally as well as internationally.” Boston officials said there were no prior indications of any threat, a scenario Grainger describes as “your worst nightmare.” “After what happened in Boston, we immediately put that machine into motion,” Grainger said. “We were in touch with our intelligence community right away. We
made some operational adjustments to the plan we have for Vaisakhi to change some of the tactics we would be using.” Some of those tactics will mean a larger police presence at the parade, which begins Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar Temple, 12885 85 Ave. “We’re good at these major events,” Grainger said, adding Surrey events get bigger every year and are known throughout the region as safe and peaceful festivities.
Final reading passes
New regs approved, but still in flux Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Contributed photo
Father Gordon Bylo takes a self-portrait as he picks up son Brian from the Fraser Valley Regional Correctional Facility.
Treating an invisible condition In this final installment in our mental-health series, reporter Kevin Diakiw looks at perceived solutions
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fter 75 days of incarceration, Brian Bylo stepped out of a provincial jail this week and into a sunbathed path leading to his father’s car. Bylo was released from the Fraser Valley Regional Correctional Facility after being locked up. Again. He’s been to jail 30 times in the
last four years, mostly for missing court dates and appointments with probation officers, as well as some petty-theft offences. The 30-year-old, who suffers from schizophrenia, made the unfortunate choice in 2008 to dabble with illicit drugs. Now, with coexisting conditions (addiction and schizophrenia), he is bounced between emergency wards that want him to deal with his addiction, and treatment facilities that find it difficult working with serious mental illness. On Monday, stabilized on medication, he was picked up by his
father, South Surrey businessman Gordon Bylo, who will take his son for a court-ordered stay at VisionQuest Recovery Society, a recovery centre in Chilliwack. Gordon hopes this time, Brian can get a handle on long-term healing. With his dual diagnosis, Brian is one of society’s hardest to help. Over the last six weeks, Black Press has examined the effects of mental illness on the system as a whole – from policing and the courts, to treatment centres and hospitals, to families and the sufferers themselves. › see page 8
HARD to HELP A Black Press special series examines the shattering effects of mental illness
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White Rock council has given the thumbs-up to an omnibus bylaw that includes new regulations for operating vacation rentals in the city and building on West Beach. The vote to move Bylaw 2000 forward does not, however, mean discussion on those matters is over. In fact, Mayor Wayne Baldwin’s message to developers eyeing projects in the West Beach area was clear: “There will be no developments that will be allowed to go through until we deal with this.” Bylaw 2000 updates and replaces Bylaw 1591, which was adopted in 1999; it also reflects changes to the city’s Official Community Plan. In recommending support for final reading, director of development services Paul Stanton asked that staff be given time to research concerns raised by residents. At a March 25 public hearing, bed-and-breakfast representatives expressed concern that the regulations prevent vacation rentals from running simultaneously with a B&B. › see page 4