INSIDE: Accused Abbotsford cop going directly to trial
Pg. 3 T U E S D A Y
July 23, 2013
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Hadwin teeing up at Glen Abbey
abbotsfordtimes.com
Pot debate heating up again
Pot activist coming to Abbotsford Wednesday to plant seeds for legalization of marijuana ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
pot activist with approval from Elections BC to collect signatures for a provincial referendum to legalize marijuana is coming to Abbotsford Wednesday. Dana Larsen, director of Sensible
BC, is coming to the city to convince local supporters and volunteers to canvas for signatures in Abbotsford for the marijuana referendum campaign. The petition, which would function the same way as the HST campaign that went to referendum, would have 90 days to collect sig-
natures from 10 per Sensible BC pollcent of the voters in “We’ve done polling . . . ing indicates 70 per every riding, start- and the majority of selfcent of B.C. residescribed conservative ing on Sept. 9. dents support the If successful, the voters, 57 per cent of decriminalization g ro u p’s p e t i t i o n them, supported decrimi- of marijuana, said would be put to refLarsen. nalization.” erendum in 2014. “The question S e n s i b l e B C ’s – Dana Larsen for us is, are there draft bill aims to enough British decriminalize marColumbians who ijuana and to stop police and the feel passionately about this issue for courts from expending resources to us to find the many canvassers and crack down on adults for simple pot volunteers we need?” he said. possession, said Larsen. At least 50 Abbotsford volunteers
would be required to collect enough signatures locally, said Larsen. It will be a challenge but not impossible to get the requisite signatures in a city that has a reputation for being very conservative politically, said Larsen. Roughly 400,000 signatures will be required across all the electoral districts in the province. “We simply need a 10 per cent minimum in each district to make it to the referendum,” he said. see POT, page A4
Arson suspected as cause of local youth home fire Female suspect already in custody ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
A
bbotsford police took a youth into custody after a suspicious fire started at a group home on Sunday afternoon. Const. Ian MacDonald said that police were called out to a residence on Sentinel Drive near Gladys Avenue around 3 p.m. “There was nothing extraordinary about the call that brought us there in the first instance,” said MacDonald. “But when a female youth exited her room along with
billowing smoke, that was pretty extraordinary.” Officers called the fire department and evacuated the house and took the young woman, who is under 18 and suspected of starting the fire, into custody, said MacDonald. The Ministry of Children and Family Development is now involved, as are Fraser Health mental health services, he added. Five youth between the ages of 12 and 18 live at the Sentinel Group Home, but only three were there when the fire broke out on Sunday, said Janna Dieleman, manager, donor and community relations at Abbotsford Community Services. see FIRE, page A4
– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Abbotsford police took a youth into custody after a suspicious fire damaged a group home on Setinel Drive on Sunday afternoon. Abbotsford Fire Rescue and police were on scene (above) Monday morning investigating. Most of the damage to the home was contained to the main floor of the house. At left, a view of the house from the street.
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