Tuesday April 29, 2014 (Vol. 39 No. 34)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
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S O U T H
S U R R E Y
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Cup runneth over: The game took overtime to decide – after a last-minute try by Earl Marriott capped a late comeback – but in the end it was the underdog Semiahmoo Totems who claimed rugby’s Sandcastle Cup Thursday. i see page 23
Surrey mayor: ‘I don’t know what’s around the corner’
Dianne Watts says no to fourth term Surrey poll tests name recognition
Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Looking as relaxed as she has in years, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts sat in the meditation room of her Cloverdale home and said what many predicted, but none have been able to confirm until now. “I’m not running for mayor this fall,” Watts told Black Press in a oneon-one interview Thursday, prior to making a formal announcement Saturday at the grand opening of the new city hall. Her reason for leaving, she said, is simple – from the time she was elected mayor in 2005, she has made it clear she would serve no longer than three terms, and is coming to the end of that self-imposed limit. As to where she’ll be going next, she insists she’s unsure. “I don’t know what’s around the corner,” she says. “It’s just a new chapter. I find that settling.” The room she sits in was once a home office where she burned the midnight oil on civic business. It’s now been stripped of the desk; the only piece of furniture remaining is a large meditation chair. Buddha statues line the shelves and the walls are home to Tibetan mandalas and quotes from Einstein and Zen Master Tich Nhat Hanh. Watts says several political opportunities lie before her, but she’s not ready to jump at any of them. i see page 2
Boaz Joseph photo
Dianne Watts speaks publicly about leaving the mayoralty, Saturday at the official opening of the new city hall.
Surrey Coun. Barinder Rasode has some of the highest name recognition going into this year’s election, according to a poll released Monday. Vancouver polling firm Insights West released results of a study conducted between March 21 and March 23 among 507 Surrey residents over 18 years old. The poll asked residents how familiar they were with potential mayoral candidates, Couns. Barinder Rasode, Tom Gill, Bruce Hayne and Linda Hepner. According to the poll results, Rasode leads the group with seven per cent of respondents saying they were “very familiar” with her. She was followed by Gill at six per cent, Hepner (five per cent) and Hayne (three per cent). However, when the responses of “very familiar” and “somewhat familiar” are grouped, Hepner leads the pack at 30 per cent, followed by Rasode and Gill both at 28 per cent and Hayne trailing at 16 per cent. Those are the kinds of numbers the Surrey First team will be looking at as they gather to decide i see page 4
49-year-old driver ‘well aware’ he was speeding through intersection of last year’s fatal crash
Ministry alerted as boy found in 181 km/h Ferrari Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
RCMP photo
Ferrari was impounded for seven days.
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A driver received a hefty fine Aug. 19 for travelling through South Surrey at more than 100 km/h over the posted speed limit. But the Langley man may have more to worry about than the $483-fine and the fact his 2005 Ferrari F430 was impounded. RCMP ‘E’ Division spokesman Cpl. Robert McDonald said Thursday that police have also alerted officials with the Ministry of Children and Family Development to the incident, as a 10-year-old boy was discovered in the car.
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“We’ve been in touch with them; they’re aware of the situation,” McDonald told Peace Arch News. The 49-year-old driver, whose name has not been released, was clocked at 181 km/h as he travelled south on 176 Street at 32 Avenue – where the posted speed limit is 80 km/h. McDonald said officers were taken aback when they saw a child in the vehicle. “I don’t know how someone could put a child at risk like that,” he said. The car had apparently been purchased just two days prior to the offence. The driver
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told police he was “just testing it.” Pulled over without incident, the driver was issued a $483-fine – the highest possible fine for speeding – under the Motor Vehicle Act. According to ICBC’s website, he may also have to pay a driver-risk premium; charged to drivers who meet criteria such as having an excessive-speeding conviction. McDonald said the driver was “well aware” the intersection he raced through was the scene of a horrific accident last year, in which five members of a Newton family were killed. i see page 4