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FIVE YEAR DISAPPEARANCE ANNIVERSARY
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012
Mission’s Jeffrey Surtel was last seen in 2007 leaving his home PAGE 4
License legal grows ops as a business: Adlem BY JEFF NAGEL AND ADRIAN MACNAIR Black Press
Eight B.C. mayors have joined a coordinated campaign to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana to combat gang violence and other drug-related crime, but Mission’s top municipal politician disagrees with his colleagues. Three of the mayors are from the Lower Mainland — Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, Burnaby’s Derek Corrigan and North Vancouver City’s Darrell Mussatto — while the other cities represented are Vernon, Armstrong, Enderby, Lake Country and the District of Metchosin. “It is time to tax and strictly regulate marijuana under a public health framework,” the mayors said in a letter distributed by the Stop The Violence BC campaign addressed to Premier Christy Clark, NDP leader Adrian Dix and BC Conservative leader John Cummins. It notes pot is more readily available to youth than tobacco, while smoking rates have been cut through public health regulation, not prohibition. “Regulating marijuana would allow the govern-
ment to rationally address the health concerns of marijuana, raise government tax revenue and eliminate the huge profits from the marijuana industry that flow directly to organized crime.” But Mission Mayor Ted Adlem isn’t buying that argument, saying Robertson and Corrigan are playing a political game, hoping that legalization will solve the crime problem. “I understand there are a ton of people that use it but if you support legalization of marijuana based on the fact that you’re trying to eliminate the crime involved, you’re barking up the wrong tree,” he said, adding that will only lead to arguments that every illicit drug should be legalized. Adlem said the bigger problem in Mission is the large number of legal medical marijuana growops operating without a business licence, calling the largely unregulated practice “a scary situation.” Adlem would like to see the grow-ops licensed as a business, pay taxes, and be subjected to the same two fire inspections
MILLS TO BE INSPECTED All sites across the province will be scrutinized after WorkSafe BC made an announcement following the recent deaths in a Prince George mill explosion. PAGE 3
MISSION SIGNS CONTRACT Local policing will continue to be provided by the RCMP after Mission agrees to contract. PAGE 9
HARRIS GAVE TO MISSION Former mayor Bill Harris passed away recently, leaving behind a legacy of service. PAGE 5
AN EMERGING TALENT A Mission actor has been getting some time on the silver screen recently.
High-flying skills Dylan Newman shows off his aerial BMX skills on a Mission trail this past weekend.
See ONLY Page 3
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BOB FRIESEN PHOTO
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