Community: Not just the samee old agricultural fair in Albion. 4
Artts: Hotel California at Caribbean Fest. 19
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Federal funds for Albion fields Gravel fields to be converted to artificial turf By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Only a few weeks after Maple Ridge applied for a federal grant to improve Albion Sports Complex, the city has learned it will get the entire half million dollars. Council told staff June 15 to apply for the grant from the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program. The money will be used to convert two, under-used full-sized gravel soccer fields into smaller artificial fields. MP Randy Kamp and Mayor Nicole Read both announced Friday that Maple Ridge will get $500,000. What’s still to be resolved is the actual layout of the artificial turf areas. See Fields, 9
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
James Brieley (left) and Moises Chavez play keepaway on a gravel field at Albion Sports Complex on Monday.
‘Leave policing to police’ RCMP are worried about vigilantes By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Ridge Meadows RCMP are telling Cliff Avenue residents who are fed up with the homeless campsite in front of their houses that they know they’re frustrated and angry, but don’t become vigilantes. “Many of them are angry to the point where they’re actually start-
ing to take matters into their own hands,� said Supt. Dave Fleugel. He made the comments Monday on Global BC’s news show Unfiltered, which featured interviews with him and Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read. “Leave the policing to the police,� Fleugel said. Police are ready and able to respond to calls for service, which have increased in the area behind the Salvation Army’s Caring Place, this year compared to last. “We’re coping with it. We can’t
continue to cope with it forever. It has to come to a successful resolution,� Fleugel said. RCMP civilian spokesman Dan Herbranson echoed Fleugel’s response Tuesday. “We monitor Facebook and from time to time people indicate they may take the law into their own hands,� he said. “If people plan on taking the law into their own hands, they’ll find themselves charged. When we’re enforcing the laws, we’re enforcing the laws for all people.�
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Area resident Matthew Bosco said groups of people are walking or driving around the streets near the camp just to show that people are watching. “I think most definitely they have taken things into their own hands. I don’t know if you’d call it vigilantism. If we go out and see a shopping buggy in the middle of the street, that looks like stolen goods in it, we will clean it out.� But no one’s going to put their lives at risk or create a confrontation. See Camp, 3
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Service calls to RCMP regarding the Cliff Avenue area have increased.
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