EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Medicinal pot growers given legal reprieve Page 6
Another year of highs and lows for minor hockey Page 8
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 PM40008236
Vol. 59 No. 12 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Martin enters guilty plea Court: Colin Martin to be sentenced for drugrelated charges. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
What was supposed to be a three-week trial for convicted Malakwa drug dealer Colin Martin ended in two days with a guilty plea. On March 19, in Salmon Arm Supreme Court, Martin entered a guilty plea for charges of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. Sentencing is scheduled to take place in Salmon Arm on April 9. As of press time, the trial of co-accused Jason Airey on the same two charges was still in progress. He, Martin and Martin’s common-law spouse Jennifer Cahill were arrested in July 2010 after police raided the Malakwa home Martin and Cahill were residing in, as well as a workshop on an adjacent property. Investigating officers uncovered a bunker hidColin Martin den beneath the workshop containing approximately 3,000 marijuana plants. Court documents state officers seized from the residence two baggies of marijuana, a paper bag containing marijuana with the name “Colin” written on it, as well as documents and emails showing Martin, Cahill and their company, Gorge Timber Ltd., arranging for the bunker’s construction, and a Health Canada application for a licence to produce marijuana prepared in Martin’s name. Martin, Cahill and Airey were initially charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, production of a controlled substance and theft of telecommunication service. The charges against Cahill were subsequently stayed. Martin was also charged with breach of recognizance. Prior to his 2010 arrest, he had been out on bail while appealing a two-and-a-half year jail sentence handed to him in 2007 after he was found guilty on eight counts relating to a drug-smuggling operation between U.S. and Canada. Later this year, Martin is expected to be back in Supreme Court for a U.S. extradition hearing related to a more recent cross-border smuggling operation.
Take your pick: Anne Fitzpatrick plays trains with grandson Cash Knuff, visiting from Cold Lake, Alta., at the Sicamous Parent’s and Tots program held Friday mornings from 10 to noon at the Eagle Valley Resource Centre. Fitzpatrick used to bring her own children to the program, open for kids up to age five. Photo by Lachlan Labere
Man hospitalized following railway collision By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances behind a collision involving a train and a pickup truck that resulted in a 27-year-old Armstrong man being airlifted to hospital. Sicamous RCMP received word of the incident on March 18 at approximately 2:40 p.m. Sgt. Dave Dubnyk said investigating officers found a Dodge pickup sitting partially on the railroad tracks near Solsqua Road, about eight kilometres east of Sicamous. The train had hit the truck, its bed crumpled by the impact. “The early stages of the investigation indicate the truck was initially travelling eastbound on High-
way #1 when it left the roadway and became lodged on the tracks,” said Dubnyk. “The train crew was able to apply the brakes, thereby slowing it down considerably prior to the impact.” Canadian Pacific spokesperson Salem Woodrow said the train crew sounded the horn to alert the truck’s driver, but was unable to stop the train in time, adding it can take up to mile or more for a train to stop. RCMP, CP Rail police, BC Ambulance paramedics and the Eagle Valley Rescue Society arrived quickly on the scene and the driver, the truck’s only occupant, was airlifted to hospital in Kamloops with undetermined injuries. Investigation: CP Rail workers look over the Woodrow says CP Police Ser- scene of the March 18 collision between a train and vices continue to investigate the a truck on the tracks east of Sicamous. RCMP photo incident.