INSIDE: Missing man feared roommate whom cops had released Pg. 3 F R I D A Y
December 24, 2010
4 N E W S ,
SPORTS,
WEATHER
&
Young boy shows true spirit of giving
E N T E R T A I N M E N T chilliwacktimes.com
Mountie facing serious charges BY ETHAN BARON The Province
A
Cornelia Naylor/TIMES
John and Angela Hinton, their two daughters Annika, 6, and Brittany, 5, and five-month-old son Logan–winners of this year’s Chilliwack Times Fix Auto Christmas Car Giveaway–pose with friends and participating businesses in front of the family’s fully refurbished 2003 Chevy Cavalier.
Perfect Christmas present
BY CORNELIA NAYLOR cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com
T
here may still be tough t i m e s a h e a d f o r Jo h n Hinton and his family, but car troubles won’t be among them. This week the family of five was handed the keys to a fully refurbished 2003 Chevy Cavalier as this year’s winners of the Chilliwack Times Fix Auto Christmas Car Giveaway. “I’m speechless,” said Hinton
Annual Chilliwack Times Fix Auto car giveaway puts smiles on the faces of deserving local family
during the surprise presentation Tuesday. “I don’t even think I can drive. I’m shaking.” It’s been a hard year for the Hinton family. One year ago this week, Hinton slipped from a truck while unloading garbage at the dump and fell 20 feet into a concrete pit. Besides a painful two-week
recovery right in the middle of the Christmas holidays, the accident meant the beginning of serious financial problems. Unable to continue his job in the scrap removal business because of ongoing health problems, Hinton struggled to provide the basic necessities for his wife, Angela and their two daughters, six-year-old
Annika and five-year-old Brittany. “I h a d t o e m p t y t h e g i r l s’ piggybanks and I had to use that to buy food and fuel,” he said, “and it made us realize what we take for granted in life. It’s been tough.” Things would get tougher. In July, his son Logan was born
Surrey Mountie and Chilliwack businessman has been charged with marijuana trafficking and more than a dozen gun offences. Const. David Clarke, 35, is charged with selling marijuana and possessing stolen pot along with stolen ID documents and police property. Additional charges relate to alleged possession of a semiautomatic FN FAL assault rifle, a Glock 9mm pistol, a Colt pistol, a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, a RemingtonMohawksemi-automatic rifle and ammo magazines. Clarke has been a Surrey RCMP member for four-and-a-half years. He also runs a Chilliwack-based business called LEO Productions. His company’s website, www. leoproductions.ca, says, “we specialize in bringing in speakers and hosting seminars that are geared toward law-enforcement officers,” and features photos of what appear to be an RCMP cruiser and an RCMP-issue service pistol. The site provides a mailing address in Chilliwack, at a Corbould Street property shown by provincial land titles records to be co-owned by Clarke, who lists his occupation as “public servant.” The majority of the offences with which Clarke was charged, including the marijuana trafficking, are alleged to have been committed in Chilliwack, according to court documents. “They are serious charges,” said B.C. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Rob Vermeulen. “It’s disappointing any time we see a police officer charged. It’s disappointing not just for the
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