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FRIDAY January 8, 2016 • www.langleytimes.com
NEWS Assessments Up, Way Up
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BUSINESS Small Family, Big Prize
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SPORTS Game on F
Time to fly
1981 • 35 YEARS • 201 6
A Look Back at the Changing Times
WEDNESDAY February 17, 2016 • www.langleytimes.com
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NEWS Road to Reconciliation
E N T E R TA I N M E N T Fashionable Fundraiser
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SPORTS Overcoming Injury
Quick arrest in Langley carjacking Abbotsford man faces trial in Feb. 9 incident in the 6300 block of 204 Street D AN FERGU SO N Ti m e s Re po r t e r
A suspect in a Langley carjacking didn’t get very far. Langley RCMP arrested the man on Feb. 9, a few minutes after he used an imitation firearm to force a Maple Ridge woman from her car. She was sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle waiting for her husband in the 6300 block of 204 Street at around 9:40 p.m. When the woman heard the driver’s door open, she thought it was her husband joining her. Instead, she heard an unfamiliar voice telling her to get out of the vehicle. When she looked up she saw the man had a firearm pointed at her. The woman pushed the gun away and got out. The suspect took off in the vehicle. About eight minutes after officers arrived at the scene, a report came in of a collision a few blocks away. The stolen car had crashed into a hydro pole in the 6200 block of 238A Street and the driver had fled on foot. A police dog found him hiding in a nearby garden shed. A search of the car found what police described as “a very real looking replica” gun. Dustin Joseph Murphy, 31, has been charged with robbery, possession of stolen property over $5,000, theft of a motor vehicle, use of an imitation firearm while committing an offence, driving while prohibited and failing to comply with a probation order. He is currently in custody and will next appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Feb. 22. “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this investigation where quickly evolving circumstances allowed for a speedy arrest,” said Supt. Murray Power, officer in charge of the Langley RCMP detachment. “It shouldn’t be lost on any of us that the victim’s experience for that period of time would have been nothing short of terrifying,” he added.
D A N FE R GUS ON Langley Time s
A GIFT FOR A FRIEND: Leanne Tocol (left) made her very first blood donation Saturday in Aldergrove to show support for Amie MacNeil (right). The two have been friends since elementary school. Tocol said she always intended to become a blood donor, but decided now was the time after learning that MacNeil had required substantial amounts of blood during emergency surgery.
Project will shift traffic to 16 Ave. Fraser Highway traffic to be reduced by linking Marshall and King roads near airport T YLER OLSEN Bla ck P ress
Abbotsford city council has approved a $9.1 million road realignment that will increase traffic on the 16 Avenue corridor through Langley Township while reducing it on Fraser Highway. The Jan. 17 decision to link Marshall and King roads near Abbotsford International Airport is expected to shift 3,000 to 5,000 vehicles a day from the Fraser Highway. A staff report to Abbotsford council said the “link is also part of a larger transportation strategy, which will complete the planned 16 Avenue corridor, crossing the City of Surrey, Township of Langley, and
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the City of Abbotsford, for approximately 25 kilometers.” Staff said the proposal would cost $5 million less than another plan that would have seen two existing stretches of King Road connected. That proposal had been part of the city’s long-term traffic strategy, but depended on the removal of gravel that was not expected to be completed for another 20 to 25 years. Residents of the Marshall Road Extension opposed the proposal because it would make what had been a dead-end route a through road with significantly more traffic.
Mayor Henry Braun said he understood residents’ opposition to the proposal. “If I lived on that street, I would have the same concerns,” he said. But for the city as a whole, the proposal makes more sense, he argued. “We don’t have a lot of options for eastwest traffic and that is where our congestion is.” He noted that of the two options before council, the Marshall Road proposal would cost less and take cars off Fraser Highway much quicker. The new proposal will keep the road to two lanes with a 50 km/h speed limit. Continued Page 5
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