Tuesday November 18, 2014 (Vol. 39 No.92 No.92) 2)) 2
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
‘Butterfly’ effect: A Surrey mom is sharing her son’s story of living with epidermolysis bullosa – a littleknown disease characterized by skin as fragile as butterfly wings. i see page 1
Mayoral challengers express surprise at outcome; mayor-elect Hepner says it was predicted
Second straight sweep for Surrey First Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Boaz Joseph photo
Mayor-elect Linda Hepner on election night, backed by outgoing Mayor Dianne Watts.
Linda Hepner is Surrey’s next mayor and her Surrey First team has swept council. Hepner received 50,782 votes, almost doubling those garnered by former Mayor Doug McCallum, who took 27,982 votes. Barinder Rasode came in just behind McCallum with 21,764 people voting for her. Surrey First also had a lock on all council seats, putting a spread of more than 7,000 votes between them and their nearest competitors.
“Surrey has spoken loud and clear,” Hepner told the crowd of more than 400 gathered at the Central City Brew Pub on Saturday night after the polls closed. “They want us to go forward, not back.” Hepner told Black Press she was delighted but not surprised, indicating the coalition’s polling had been predicting the outcome. McCallum said he was surprised by the outcome, but added voters had chosen the Hepner plan over his, which “is the public’s right.” Rasode also expressed surprised, but said that despite the loss, she will remain a vis-
ible presence on the civic scene. She plans to keep her One Surrey team intact and said she may well be back on the ballot in 2018. “If you see my name on any ballot ever again, it will be at the municipal level,” Rasode said, noting that for now, she’ll be focusing on the issues facing the city. “I still believe very strongly that the issue of public safety has to be addressed… The second issue is, when we talk about transportation, we need to make sure we get a ‘yes’ vote on the (TransLink) referendum.” i see page 2
Kwomais Point rescue
Councillor shakeup
Man falls down cliff
Baldwin voted back in
Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
A man in his 20s suffered serious back and leg injuries in a fall from cliffs near Kwomais Point, above Boundary Bay, Friday afternoon. It took efforts by several agencies – including RCMP, firefighters, paramedics, the Coast Guard and BNSF – to get him to safety. Surrey firefighters were alerted to the incident, near 128 Street and 13 Avenue, just before 4 p.m. Nov. 14 by B.C Ambulance Service. “From the sounds of it, he may have been in a tree and then fell… (or) he may have been just looking at the trees and stumbled,” Deputy Chief Dan Barnscher said. “Regardless, he ended up about 20 metres down the embankment.” Eighteen firefighters, including the department’s eight-member technical-rescue team, were dispatched, along with police, paramedics, and Coast Guard hovercraft and RCM-SAR5 (Crescent Beach) auxiliary crews. BNSF halted rail traffic along the line to ensure the evacuation route was clear and safe. The injured man was located just above the railway tracks, in thick blackberry bushes. i see page 9
Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Curtis Kreklau photos
Surrey firefighters, including a technical-rescue team, work to extricate an injured man to an air ambulance.
Watch for our
Christmas Flyer Corner of 192nd St. & 48th Ave., Surrey
in today’s paper
Santa Arrives Magically! Friday, November 21 at 6pm Pick up your FREE MAGIC GLASSES at Customer Service. Make a FREE CHRISTMAS STAR MAGIC WAND* at the Craft Workshop from 4pm to 8pm. *Quantities are limited
White Rock residents voted Saturday to stay the course in the seaside city, re-electing Wayne Baldwin to the mayor’s chair. Preliminary results, after polls closed at 8 p.m. Nov. 15, indicate the former city manager – first elected mayor in 2011 – won 3,225 votes Saturday, nearly doubling challenger David Bradshaw, who received 1,640 votes. Official results are to be announced at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Baldwin, who was at city hall when the results came in, said he was not surprised by his win. “It’s up to the electorate,” he said. “Quite frankly, I think the people made the right choice.” Bradshaw couldn’t be reached for comment on election night. Monday morning, he was terse. “I think your paper is totally devoted (to) and influenced by the powers that be,” he told Peace Arch News. “I have nothing to say to you.” The councillor lineup received a shakeup, with three new faces: onetime councillor Lynne Sinclair, Megan Knight and David Chesney. i see page 4