INSIDE: Man behind eagle feathers sting now facing charges Pg. 7 August 31, 2010
T U E S D A Y
take pounding in Vic 11 Huskers 1985-
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LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Amber Alert works
Two teens charged in Yarrow school fire Molotov cocktails used to start multiple fires
Grandfather ‘flattened’ during violent attack that saw 12-yearold boy abducted
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
T
wo teenagers have been charged with starting a fire that damaged Yarrow elementary school and an adjacent portable that housed a daycare centre. Eighteen-year-old Aaron Toka of Yarrow, and 19-year-old Taylor Neilson, of Aldergrove, have both been charged with arson. They have been released from jail, with multiple conditions, and are scheduled to reappear in Chilliwack provincial court Sept. 14. Toka and Neilson are accused of using Molotov cocktails to start multiple fires around the school in the early morning hours of Aug. 17. The fire caused an estimated $200,000 in damage to the school property. “This type of crime is simply not tolerable and the police wish to thank the public who provided information that aided in this investigation,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop. As for the damaged school, both it and the day care should be ready for students come next week, according to school district superintendent Corinne McCabe. “We will be back in business for school opening next week,” she told the Times on Monday. “They’re just working out the details on the replacement portable and there has been considerable work done inside the school to deal with water damage and to deal with external damage from the fire.” Repairs to the school’s gymnasium have been taking place faster than expected, with the floor being lifted and dried.
Fish
on!
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
A
Paul J. Henderson/TIMES
One of hundreds of anglers brings in a sockeye salmon on the Fraser River in Chilliwack on Friday. BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
A
s millions of sockeye salmon make their way up the Fraser River, hundreds of sport fishermen—or “sporties”—who can’t get enough of the bounty line the banks of the river and haul in the once-in-a-lifetime return one by one. The hottest spot around seems to be Peg Leg bar accessed off McSween road where more than 100 men, women and children
were shoulder to shoulder in just one short section Friday afternoon. The sportsfishing protocol of yelling “fish on” was rendered nearly irrelevant as there was nearly always a fish on someone’s line. One after another, an angling ballet was on display as a fisherman (or woman) who had hooked a fish moved down the queue under some lines, over and behind others, to land the salmon in a calm shoreline spot.
1 2 - ye a r- o l d C h i l l i w a c k b oy returned home safe and sound Sunday evening, just hours after his violent abduction prompted a rare Amber Alert and a valleywide search. Police say the boy’s father, paternal grandfather and another relative stormed into the Second Avenue home of the boy’s maternal grandparents at around 1 p.m. The three men assaulted the grandparents and kidnapped the boy, who cannot be named under a publication ban expected to be issued Monday. “I just got flattened and then I had two more guys on top of me, all three of them beating on me, pulling my wife’s hair, punching her, choking her, as well as me,” the maternal grandfather told a Global BC TV crew that evening. “In the meantime, [the boy] is screaming.” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop said that at the time of the incident, the boy was scheduled to be in the care of his grandparents. The grandparents sustained minor injuries in the incident but were able to give a description of the men to police, who then
See FISH ON, Page 4
See AMBER, Page 10
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