Conservation: Feeding pattern of bearrs thrown off ff. 8 ff
Arts: History of hunting for gold. 16
Community: New route for Fox run. 3
We d n es d ay, Au g u s t 26, 2015 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (de li ve r y) 6 0 4 - 4 6 6 - 6 3 9 7
Dozens of needles found at once Residents are the ones cleaning them up By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
The week was only a day old and already Jesse Stretch had made a significant haul. Stretch has taken it upon himself to pick up used drug needles from around Maple Ridge, and armed with gloves, steel-toed boots and a grabbing tool, he makes regular patrols of parks and streets. But in a few minutes on a Monday, Stretch was rewarded by being able to remove several dozen needles at a time. Someone had dumped a pile of garbage and used needles and their wrappers behind a row of stores along Lougheed Highway at 216th Street. See Needles, 10
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Big air Teagan Carnegie, 14, gets big air off a jump at the Albion bike park on Monday.
City wants Sally Ann out B y P h i l M e l nychuk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Council has asked B.C. Housing to stop funding the Salvation Army shelter.
Maple Ridge council has asked B.C. Housing to end its shelter contract with the Salvation Army’s Caring Place. “Council has advised the Salvation Army of our decision and expressed heartfelt thanks for their years of service to our com-
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munity,” Mayor Nicole Read said Monday. The Salvation Army operates a 25-bed emergency shelter that allows people to stay as long as a month, with the hope they access services or treatment. “What we have seen in the conversations in the community is that our citizens have lost faith in the Salvation Army as well,” Read said in a release. “It is time to act.” “We are on the ground dealing with this everyday. We’ve had so many connections with the resi-
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dents.” Read said the Salvation Army’s Caring Place, at the Haney Bypass and Lougheed Highway, does good work. “But at the end of the day, we cannot pretend we do not have a huge camp of homeless people on Cliff Avenue right now. And something is not working.” The purpose of a shelter is to take in someone in need and move them on to services and housing, she added. “We don’t feel that the Salvation
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Army has necessarily set up the model to deal with this street-entrenched population. If they were going to be able to connect them with services and housing, that should have happened a long time ago. “But we’re not having success with this population that’s on the street right now.” Instead, the city is going to focus on opening its temporary shelter, which will allow it to move people off Cliff Avenue. See Shelter, 5
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Come out and Support us! Bring your Classic Cars, Muscle or Show Cars to A & W 228th - from 5 pm to 9pm August 27th. Happy Cruisin! A&W 228th & Lougheed Hwy • A&W Haney Place Mall • A&W 20468 Lougheed Hwy • A&W Fremont Village Port Coquitlam