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SPORTS
Tall order for high school football team 1985
2010
New program joins ranks with gridiron greats
F RIDAY , A UGUST 27, 2010
36 Pages
Page A33
YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT abbotsfordtimes.com
Pair pinched in Canada’s largest poppy bust
Seven-acre field had up to 60,000 plants BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
C
hilliwack Mounties made the largest opium poppy plant bust in Canadian history Monday, discovering a seven-acre field with as many as 60,000 plants. When police arrived they found two men tending the fields. A 31-year-old Abbotsford man and a 24-year-old Mission man were arrested and are likely facing charges of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. While opium can be used to produce heroin, police believe the plants were grown to produce doda, a powder that is combined with tea or hot water. The drink, which produces a quick high
– PHOTO SUBMITTED/FOR THE TIMES
Police harvest Canada’s largest known poppy crop earlier this week near Chilliwack. A man from Abbotsford and another from Mission were arrested at the scene. The seven-acre field contained as many as 60,000 plants, which are being pulled before going to seed. and a sense of well-being, is popular with certain South Asian communities. Cpl. Kurt Bosnell with the RCMP’s drug section said that after police learned of the field, they began investigating whether the plants grown were, in fact, opium pop-
pies. “There’s very few instances where this has occurred in Canada before so it took some time in order to confirm exactly what it was,” said Bosnell. “One of the things that we were looking
for was the presence of the opium flower. Once we started seeing these buds, they’ll actually open up into nice bright pink and purple flowers.” see POPPY, page A7
Fire destroys rural temple Suspicious end to heritage landmark
JEAN KONDA-WITTE JKonda-Witte@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Abbotsford firefighters sift through debris after an early morning fire Thursday destroyed the Sant Baba Vasakha Singh Sikh Society temple. The blaze at the heritage building on Townshipline Road is deemed suspicious and is under investigation.
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beloved rural heritage landmark was lost in a devastating blaze yesterday morning. Pe o p l e d r i v i n g t h r o u g h Ma t s q u i Pra i r i e o n Tow n shipline Road may never have noticed the small cluster of buildings at the corner of Glenmore Road in rural Abbotsford, but for 100 or so parishioners, the fire that destroyed their Sikh temple early Thursday morning has left holes in the hearts of many.
“I’m really sorry, I [was] crying at home,” Kulvir Sandhu said, her eyes welling with tears. She was driving by Thursday morning with her family to have a look at the charred re m a i n s o f t h e Sa n t Ba b a Vasakha Singh Sikh Society temple where she has been coming with her children for more than 15 years. “This place – my children love it. I love it too.” Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service responded to the structure fire at 31957 Townshipline
Road at 4 a.m. to find the old wooden building fully engulfed with heavy smoke and flames shooting through the roof.
“It [the temple] reminds you of the old pioneers. There’s just something about it.” – Doug Rennie neighbour
The temple, one of three buildings on the site also known at the Gurmat Center, was destroyed. see FIRE, page A3
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