The Chilliwack Progress from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada • Page 1

TO THE! 24 Pages 650 GST Included "TT commonwealth microfilm JM 901 10 AVE SW CALGARY AB T2R 0B5 Wednesday, September 27, 1995 emiuuMKCicq Sex offender blocked from Yarrow By Robert Freeman Progress sources say Yarrow residents kicked up a fuss when they learned the man was going to be released next month to live with his parents about half a block away from the Yarrow Elementary school on Wilson Road. A community meeting was planned, but that's now on hold as parole bureaucrats have apparently decided Yarrow isn't the best location for the offender to return to him because "I would resist it as well." He said statutory release from jail "doesn't necessarily indicate" any improvement in the man's behavior. Les said he believes there should be "concrete" evidence of rehabilitation before convicted sex offenders are released back into the community. "There are far too many examples of (sex offenders) getting out and reoffending," he said. that might want to know about this will be informed, but it's not the policy or the practice in this country to announce where (a convicted sex offender) is going under the law as it now stands." A source told The Progress that the man will probably be released into an "adult community" in Chilliwack because it was felt that arrangement is more appropriate than living at his parent's home in Yarrow.

Finlay also said he could not disclose what conditions the man will be released under, but generally offenders on statutory release are "closely watched" to prevent them from returning to "the crime cycle." Ferndale assistant warden Myron Tokarek said the prison has no choice but to release the man on the statutory release date Oct. 3. Chilliwack Mayor John Les said public resistance to the move in Yarrow resistance doesn't surprise The man began a four-year sentence on Jan. 29, 1993 on charges of committing an indecent act, exposing himself and two counts of sexual assault. Federal corrections officials -who are gagged by privacy laws -refused to confirm if the man is slated to move to Chilliwack.

"We will notify the police where he's going," said Corrections Canada spokesman Dennis Finlay. "We will ensure that any victims Staff Reporter Yarrow residents have managed to bounce a convicted sex offender from their community before he even arrived. But Chilliwack may now become the new home of the man who's about to be released from a federal institution. ears, rar reet murder 4 Q4- suspect Massive search ends in cupboard By Mark Faikenberg Staff Reporter A full-scale search for a missing girl ended happily Tuesday with the discovery of the tot snoozing in a cupboard. The search started when four-year-old Kimberly Joselyn Fontaine was reported missing from her Seabird Island home about 6: 10 p.m.

Monday. She had last been seen near the home about 5 p.m., and seemed to have vanished into thin air. A makeshift headquarters was set up at the Seabird Island Fire Hall and more than 140 volunteers, including neighbors on Seabird Island and Search and Rescue teams from Kent-Harrison, Chilliwack and Hope scoured the area for eight hours. Not a trace was found. But about 2:20 a.m., a Hope Search and Rescue member returned to Kimberly's house the search's start point and within minutes found her sound asleep in a cupboard.

"I'm sure glad that they got her," said Agassiz RCMP Staff Price. He said searchers had combed the house five times, looking under; beds, behind furniture, in closets, be- fore the discovery was made. "Who would ever expect in a cupboard?" said Price. 'V Courtroom drama heightened with foul language, increased security By Robert Freeman "I Royal Hotel about a block away from the Empress in downtown Chilliwack. Charged with first-degree murder is Chilliwack resident Roberto James Curti, 37.

He is also charged with assault with a weapon for allegedly stabbing another Empress patron on the same day. Curti, complaining of a headache and his face scraped and bruised, was greeted by a courtroom full of James' friends and family during a brief appearance in Chilliwack provincial court Monday. At one point the accused lifted his middle finger and swore at the crowd. Two court sheriffs stood inside the prisoner's box with Curti while another stood between the crowd and the accused and one more stood by the courtroom door. When defense lawyer Suzanne Paterson asked the court for medical attention for her client, who may have suffered a concussion, someone in the crowd muttered "cut off his head." One of the spectators later said outside the courthouse that he came to see justice for native people is done.

Curti was held in custody until a bail hearing Oct. 16 when he will also deal with earlier charges of theft under $5,000, break and enter and narcotics possession. Staff Reporter Police are investigating the fatal stabbing of a Chilliwack man at the Empress hotel Sunday evening. Lenny James, 37, died at Chilliwack General Hospital after he was stabbed several times in the chest as he sat at a table in the Empress beer parlor at about 6:15 p.m. Sunday.

According to an eyewitness, James never had a chance to stand up from the table when a man suddenly lunged at him with the knife. "He shouted something like 'You want to go the witness said about the man, who stabbed James several times in the chest with a knife about four to six inches long. Two men sitting at the table with James tried to subdue the attacker, but he managed to slip away and fled from the hotel. A suspect was later picked up by police outside the Photo by Rick Collins Sheriffs escort murder suspect Roberto James Curti out of the Chilliwack courthouse on Monday. UCFV looks to the future Theatre is the showcase feature of the University-College's new multipurpose building iiiiiiiiii i mi ii mil ii minium.

-j RAhrRVALlnv m- jnarw sa II i 1 V. II I 1 i I I 1 I -4 I i. NDP government's commitment to a permanent, modern campus in Chilliwack. "I think of how easy it would be to say 'no, the old five-year temporary building can last another five said Streifel, adding that instead, "we're well on our way to establishing the best educational facilities in the Fraser Valley." Planning is now underway for the next phase of construction at the Chilliwack campus, which will include new library facilities and administration offices. "The campus is finally taking shape," said Bate.

Photo by Mark Faikenberg Theatre student Lori Rippin and Mission-Kent MLA Dennis Streifel unfurl the flag at UCFV's new multi-purpose building. $38,000 grant from the Rotary Club, make the will easily put those days to rest. Theatre student Richard Peters said he was "very happy" to see a "facility that is able to equal the talents" of the theatre department. Peters added he's performed in several dozen spaces, and "overall this is the best." The multi-purpose complex also includes a new cafeteria, bookstore and student services area that houses registration, counselling and the student union centre. There are also several new classrooms, computer labs and areas for office careers, human services and continuing education.

Construction on the multipurpose complex began 18 months ago. Mission-Kent MLA Dennis Streifel said funding for the complex shows the By Mark Faikenberg Staff Reporter Students at UCFV's Chilliwack campus have gone from the Edsel of theatres to the Rolls-Royce. The spanking-new theatre replacing the campus' cramped, make-do facility was unveiled Friday during opening ceremonies for the university college's multi-purpose complex. UCFV acting president Dick Bate told an audience of about 100 people that the $10 million structure had been "a dream for many, many years." He said when UCFV was founded two decades ago, the province said the Chilliwack campus' "temporary buildings would last "perhaps five years." "Perhaps the old phrase 'better late than never' is true," Bate said. The jewel of the complex is the new 206-seat theatre, complete with make-up rooms, rehearsal halls and a well-stocked green room.

The new facilities replace the claustrophobic confines of the campus' old theatre, in which audience body heat sent temperatures soaring and undersize chairs terrorized playgoers' backsides. But the new seats, paid for by public donation, including a 4. .4 INDEX About Town B5 Classified C4-7 Community B1-5 Editorials A4 Letters Obituaries B3 Sports B6-8 Weddings C1-3, 7,8 PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER The Fifth Estate CBC airs its two-hour retrospective of The Fifth Estate. Where to turn? A special counselling service for expectant mothers is in demand. Road trip blues Chilliwack Chiefs come up with only two of a possible six points during road games Locker room scrap A 15-year-old girl is barred from her male teammates' dressing room.

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