See Healthwise Section pages 1-8
HEALTHWISE SPORTS MEI adds to its bulging trophy case
1985
Boys volleyball team just can’t be beat
2010
T UESDAY , S EPTEMBER 28, 2010
36 Pages
Page A26
YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT abbotsfordtimes.com
Abbotsford leads charge for police funding Mayor Peary heading to Whistler’s UBCM with more money on his mind CHRISTINA TOTH CToth@abbotsfordtimes.com
W
hen local governments ask for more provincial and federal funding for their
police departments, Abbotsford will be at the front of the line, said the city’s mayor. “I’ll be leading the charge,” Mayor George Peary said Monday as he prepared to leave for the Union of
B.C. Municipalities’ annual gathering, this year in Whistler. Crime is high on the city’s agenda since its census area was twice dubbed the ‘murder capital of Canada’ in recent years, with an unenviable murder rate due to increased gang activity involving infamous gang leaders such as the homegrown Bacon brothers.
“We’d love to see more provincial and federal funding for our police,” Peary said. Currently, Abbotsford allocates around $40 million of its operating budget to policing, close to onethird of the city’s 2010 $143-million operating budget. Abbotsford also collaborates with other municipalities in addressing serious crime to
make their combined resources more efficient. However, “we need more resources to battle organized crime. The problem transcends municipal jurisdictions, and there’s a role for provincial and federal governments to pay,” said Peary. see UBCM, page A6
Bad drivers blown off the road
CBC PRIME-TIME PEARY
CHRISTINA TOTH CToth@abbotsfordtimes.com
M
– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
CBC TV news anchors Tony Parsons and Gloria Macarenko, along wth sports anchor Shane Foxman, were in town Thursday to broadcast the evening news live from the Abbotsford Sports and Entertainment Centre. Here Mayor George Peary talks with Macarenko about crime and other issues in Abbotsford for the 5 p.m. news segment. Later, Abbotsford Police Chief Bob Rich spoke about crime in the community.
ission RCMP officers have been busy nabbing drivers for impaired or bad driving since new provincial legislation has given police more immediate powers to get reckless drivers off the road. In the past week, the officers handed out four three-day driving prohibition and seven-day impoundment IRPs, or immediate roadside prohibitions, which include a $200 administration fee and a $250 reinstatement fee, payable at the Motor Vehicle Branch. Officers also recorded two 90-day prohibitions and 30-day impoundments, one to a driver who blew over the legal 0.08 legal blood alcohol limit, (he got a $500 penalty) and one who refused to give a breath sample. There was also an impaired driving charge, five seven-day impoundments for vehicles, stunt driving and excessive speed. There has been grumbling about “new” limits of 0.05 but they’re not new, said Sgt. Miriam Dickson. “The way in which police officers determine the blood alcohol content has not changed, nor has the legal limit. The range of 0.05 is not new and has been the legal limit since 1977. The penalty and the immediacy in which it can be applied is all that have changed,” she explained.
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