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Abbotsford school board approved the budget for the next school year at their Monday night meeting.

Secretary Treasurer Ray Velestuk says it’s pretty much a status quo budget with just a few changes.

“We’ve obviously made provisions for any of the new initiatives that we’ve put in place, and the board has approved a number of new initiatives for 2012/2013. We’ve been able to meet all of the cost and funding pressures that were previously identified.”

The budget pulls 2.4 million dollars out of the surplus to make sure everything is balanced.

However Velestuk says the District has a very healthy surplus right now.

The Abbotsford Downtown Business Association is pretty excited about the new tenant coming in.

Aldergrove Credit Union has bought the ground floor of an office building going up at the corner of Gladys and Essendene.

Downtown business association president Paul MacLeod says it’s something that’s needed.

We have a lot of ma and pa businesses down here who need banks, we have lawyers who daily go to the banks, and the banks have slowly moved out of town. We’re left really with only one chartered bank here. So this is a real plus for the historic downtown of Abbotsford.

The building should be finished early next year.

Metro Vancouver’s proposed waste to energy facility is going to be a huge project if it does go ahead, and Metro now wants some federal and provincial help to build it.
Even though the project details haven’t been finalized, they’ve applied for funding through P3 Canada, since the deadline is coming up and they want to get the application in for consideration.
Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan has said he thinks the cost of financing the project will be too high if Metro uses a public private partnership model.
Metro’s Zero Waste Committee chair Malcolm Brodie tells us that is a valid concern.

“It’s very unlikely that the private sector can provide financing for this project, which would be more cost effective than what the public can do through the municipal finance authority.  But I have no aversion to leaving the financing piece in there so it will get full analysis.”

Brodie says Metro is also looking at a P3 model for the design, build, and operation components.

ICBC is giving drivers, cyclists and pedestrians a visual of where they need to be more careful on their commute.

ICBC’s Mark Jan Vrem says their new interactive maps show the worst intersections for accidents over the past 5 years.

“We get requests for this kind of data all the time, from the media, from the public, from various stakeholders. So knowing that the data is useful for our customers and our stakeholders we’ve decided to make the database available to them in a very user friendly fashion.”

The worst intersection in Abbotsford is Sumas Way at Lonzo, right by the westbound onramp with 611 crashes over the last five years. Runner up is the Mount Lehman freeway onramp.

In Chilliwack Luckakuck and Vedder is tops, with 333 crashes. Promontory and Vedder is second.

And in Mission the intersection of highway 11, Lougheed highway, and the Cedar Valley Connecter is the runaway winner with 489 accidents.

You can view the maps at icbc dot com through the newsroom link under Stats and facts.

A man was killed in a  serious two vehicle accident in Abbotsford Monday afternoon.

The accident happened on highway 11 near Bateman road, closing the highway until further notice.

The victim is a 51 year old man from Coquitlam, police have not released his identity yet.

The accident also sent a 26 year old Abbotsford woman to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

It looks like the crash happened while the woman was trying to turn left on to Bateman road.

Police continue to investigate and say they will be looking at the speeds involved and the cycle of the traffic lights.

A Monday car crash in Mission resulted in the death of a 57 year old Mission man.

About noon police got a call about an SUV that had gone off the road on Dewdney Trunk near Welsh avenue.

When police arrived they found David Kernovich inside.

No cause for the crash has been determined so far.

RCMP figure the crash happened some time between 11 and 12  on Monday, and are looking for anyone who saw what happened.

Mill Lake park will soon have a new addition, as work began Monday on a new garden labyrinth.

Shirley Charles from the Labyrinth of Hope Society says she thinks people will walk the paths at all hours of the day, whether as a simple refuge for relaxation or as a path to emotional healing.

“People come in, they want to finish their day, they come in for an evening walk. Peole in the morning they want to open their day with basically a nice gentle silent walk through the pathway.”

Once completed it will be about 7500 squarefeet of garden with herbs and flowers, and fully wheelchair accessible.

Crown has decided to lay more serious charges than those originally recommended against an RCMP officer involved in a fatal crash near Agassiz last year.

On July 12th Constable Jordan Braid was driving out to a call when he was involved in a collision with another car on Lougheed highway near Bodnar road.

According to an investigation by Abbotsford Police, Constable Braid did not have his emergency lights running and allegedly crossed into oncoming traffic.

The driver of the other vehicle, 20 year old Steve Genberg, died a few days later in hospital.

In March Abby police recommended charges of driving without due care, but on Friday Crown swore in charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

At Monday’s Council meeting the issue of harm reduction strategies took centre stage, bringing out strong feelings on both sides of the issue.
Currently the City has a bylaw banning harm reduction strategies like needle exchanges.
Brian Gross from the Supporting Wellness and Reducing Harm Committee gave an impassioned speech.

“Harm reduction acknowledges that rubbing someone’s nose in their weaknesses does not make them stronger.  Harm reduction introduces positive change into people’s lives.  Every time an injection drug user unwraps a clean rig, they have an opportunity to think about why.”

Meanwhile Chuck Doucette from the Drug Prevention Network of Canada had different thoughts.
Doucette says a lot of the strategies don’t reduce harm, but rather prolong the misery caused by addiction.
He also says properly funded prevention and abstinence programs are the way to go.
Fraser Health presented a plan to bring in needle collection initiatives and needle exchange sites.

However mayor Bruce Banman says Fraser Health didn’t bring enough to the table.

“It’s fine for Fraser Health to ask us to re-look at this, but to not offer a detox centre as part of the solution…that just doesn’t wash with me.  They need to be part of the solution, and we need a detox centre in this city if it’s that important to them to have this reduction.”

Council will seek more public consultation before deciding what they want to do with the bylaw.

Bears are out and about, looking for food after the winter slumber, and Mission Bear Aware is asking that people manage attractants that might bring them to town.
Coordinator Brian Cummings says one of the big ones is leaving garbage out overnight the night before pickup.

“We have a bylaw in Mission where it’s unlawful to place your garbage, compost or recycling out for collection the night before.  We do night time tagging raids.  We will go around and leave you a note on your door reminding you.”

Other attractants are bird feeders left out, fruit fallen off trees, and barbeques that haven’t been cleaned.
If you do see a bear where they’re not supposed to be you should call the RAPP line at 1 877 952 R-A-P-P.