JANUARY
• A few weeks after the Semiahmoo First Nation’s Dec. 22 election, newly elected and re-elected leaders – including new Chief Harley Chappell – say they “want to move positively and work together” for the benefit of the First Nation.
• The City of White Rock says it will be March at the earliest before it will have enough information to decide what water-treatment technology will be used by its utility.
• The City of Surrey has gone through two-thirds of its seasonal road-salt supply, officials announce. With more snow on the horizon, a new strategy – a salt-and-sand mix – is employed.
• One hundred more teachers are eyed for the Surrey School District after the provincial government announces funding for up to 1,100 new teachers across B.C.
• The City of White Rock continues its search for a full-time director of planning and development services following months of temporary appointments, but city CAO Dan Bottrill refutes the notion that the position has been a “revolving door.”
• The third and fourth towers of Bosa Properties’ Miramar Village development are back on White Rock’s radar – the city announces a public information meeting is planned to discuss details of the project, which was originally approved in 2007.
• Residents of a condo building in the 1400-block of Vidal Street – including seniors – are upset with BC Hydro’s plan to temporarily cut power to connect electricity for a nearby complex.
• In a split decision, White Rock council gives third reading to official community plan amendments that would permit a four-storey, 28-unit residential project, from Oviedo Homes, at the southwest corner of Roper Avenue and Best Street.
• Drug overdoses killed 914 people in B.C. in 2016, and Surrey was one of three cities to see the highest increase in drug-related deaths, according to numbers released by the BC Coroners Service in mid-January.
• A Vancouver lawsuit makes the name of White Rock restaurant Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant an international talking point, after an attempt to establish a franchise in Vancouver is blocked by a strata council, claiming that a word in the eatery’s name is offensive.
• “Marine Drive is dying,” says White Rock Coun. Bill Lawrence, after Pearl Bistro and Oyster Bar becomes the latest waterfront establishment to close its doors.
• The mother of Dario Bartoli, who was killed two years before, sues the province and a 9-11 dispatcher for wrongful death, alleging incorrect coding led to an 11-minute delay in paramedics arriving.
• Surrey Coun. Mary Martin is excused from attending meetings for six months to deal with health issues.
• Surrey School District will receive $217 million in provincial funding to build new schools and expand existing ones.
• A tragic mass-shooting at a Quebec City mosque resonates with Surrey residents – city hall flies its flag at half-mast, community groups gather to mourn and RCMP increase patrols of local mosques. In a related story, protesters line the roadway leading to the Peace Arch border crossing, in opposition of the U.S. travel ban.
FEBRUARY
• In response to a Peace Arch News article published in January – in which restaurateurs along White Rock’s waterfront blamed pay-parking, in part, for off-season struggles – the majority of city councillors insist the parking issue is not to blame.
• The future of a Crescent Beach church is in the hands of the Vatican, it is announced, as local parishioners attempt to save the Holy Cross Church building – which is in need of “significant repairs” – from closure.
• Two dogs are rescued from a condominium fire in South Surrey’s Morgan Crossing complex, after a fire broke out in the third-floor unit.
• A report from Discover Surrey executive director Cathy James suggests White Rock needs to better develop its tourism product before focusing on marketing efforts to increase traffic along the waterfront.
• A pilot escapes with minor injuries after an ultralight plane crashes in a South Surrey field. The plane lost power shortly after taking off from King George Aviation, an ultralight airstrip near Colebrook Road.
• Brown water flows from White Rock taps – a problem the city attributes to a contractor who opened a valve at the Merklin reservoir without authorization. The city apologizes via a message on its website.
• B.C.’s top cop, E Division Cmsr. Craig Callens, apologizes to a former administration manager of the White Rock RCMP detachment, nearly six years after Jordan Murray-Wahl was banned from the premises for alleged breaches of procedure. The claims were called “unfounded” by the RCMP in an official statement.
• A tenant of White Rock’s ‘Whaling Wall’ building says she is permanently closing her business due to safety concerns. Shannon Marie of Lit Hair Salon cites drug use and people sneaking into the building – as well as a lack of heat – as reasons for her exit.
• White Rock RCMP investigate after a woman is arrested for shoplifting, after being found in possession of “many items, new with tags, from various businesses” on the Peninsula.
• An application for White Rock’s Bin 101 Wine and Tapas bar for a liquor-license amendment – which would allow for a 10-by-10-metre dance floor – draws the ire of neighbours, who worry the change would transform the restaurant into a “nightclub.”
• Nearly two years after her triathlon bike was stolen, South Surrey’s Jackie Davidson gets it back. Steven James bought the bike from someone on a Cloverdale street for $200. James scoured the Internet, found PAN’s 2015 article about the theft and tracked down Davidson on Facebook.
MARCH
• After a nine-year fight against a drug company over her daughter’s heart defect, South Surrey business owner Faith Gibson is part of a group awarded a $6.2-million settlement.
• A motorized paraglider falls hundreds of feet onto a Semiahmoo Bay sandbar after the aircraft’s motor fails. The sister of the injured man later tells PAN her brother underwent a number of surgeries to repair multiple broken bones and it’s “a miracle” he survived.
• A Waterfront Task Force is created to address sagging business in the Marine Drive neighbourhood.
• After 39 years in White Rock’s uptown district, Laura’s Fashion Fabrics announces it will close.
• Forge Properties scales down a contentious proposal, now calling for a 10-storey, 25-unit building in the 14800-block of Thrift Avenue.
• Two people are arrested after a “dramatic” traffic stop in White Rock leads to police – with guns drawn – seizing illicit drugs and cash.
• BC Coroners Service investigates the sudden death of two seniors in a White Rock home. Officials determine a gas leak was not the cause.
• The public gets its first view of a draft of White Rock’s new 170-page official community plan. Later, members of the city’s economic investment committee say the city suffers “because it lacks atmosphere” and has a design that “lacks direction.”
• After a six-month dispute, remaining residents at Seacrest Motel and RV Park agree to move off the property prior to a ruling from the Residential Tenancy Branch.
• South Surrey’s Madison Stewart, 16, is named Miss Teen Canada, calling the honour “like a dream.”
• Residents who live near South Surrey’s Campbell Heights express concern over Weir Canada’s rubber plant and its request to release emissions.
• Federal and provincial governments announce a joint-funding contribution of $11,790,150 to the city of White Rock for planned arsenic and manganese water-treatment facilities.
• Semiahmoo First Nation tests its new tsunami-alert siren system, which causes panic for some White Rock residents, as the broadcast voice message does not make it clear that the alert is only a test. The City of White Rock criticizes the move, citing “a lack of communication,” while SFN officials say both Surrey and White Rock were told in advance of the test.
• White Rock resident Erika Johanson asks for an apology from Mayor Wayne Baldwin after it is determined by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner that the city breached her privacy when, while speaking to a PAN reporter, Baldwin confirmed Johanson was among five residents whose emails he asked to have blocked.
• White Rock Christian Academy breaks ground on a long-awaited rebuild, which will see a new facility built on its current site.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces a review after one of his MPs, Nicola di Iorio, asks Conservative MP Dianne Watts, “Where’s your pole to slide down on?” when Watts’ cellphone ringer played a “jaunty” tone.
• A 36-year-old man is dead after an early-morning altercation in Cloverdale in which the victim was stabbed with “an edged weapon.”
• A police audio recording from the morning Hudson Brooks was shot and killed by the RCMP in 2015 surfaces online, and confirms that the South Surrey man “did not stand a chance,” according to his mother. The recording includes a statement from a female officer indicating, “(I) think I shot myself.”
• Longtime Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg bids farewell to the legislature, after announcing in 2016 that he would not seek re-election.
APRIL
• In response to media attention on merchant vacancies, White Rock Business Improvement Association holds a ‘Drive is Alive’ event to bolster the waterfront strip.
• After nearly 2½ years in custody, Brody Robert Paterson, the man accused of first-degree murder in the 2013 killing of 28-year-old Craig Widdifield in a South Surrey parking lot, is found not guilty.
• Fire breaks out above White Rock’s Cosmos Greek Restaurant on Marine Drive, displacing 26 residents.
• Homelessness in White Rock/Delta has increased by 142 per cent over the past three years, according to findings from the 2017 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count.
• White Rock council goes against recommendations from city staff, giving initial readings for a 13-storey, mixed-use building next to Peace Arch Hospital, with the provision that affordable housing be explored.
• Stephen Morse receives a 13-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexual assault, aggravated assault, break-and-enter, unlawful confinement, robbery and wearing a mask during a crime, in connection with a 2015 attack on a 70-year-old in her South Surrey home.
• Some 350 people pack the Centre for Active Living at Centennial Park for the first celebration of the 60th birthday of White Rock.
• Independent candidates running for the South Surrey-White Rock constituencies take issue with a scheduled “all-candidates” forum planned by Peninsula Homeless to Housing, because not all candidates were invited.
• The City of White Rock is ordered to release information to resident Ross Buchanan on its decision in 2013 to establish a city water utility. The city attempts to block the order, in spite of a further judgment against it from the OIPC.
• The mother of a Surrey woman who was killed by a drunk driver in 2011 speaks out against the federal government’s plan to legalize marijuana, predicting it will lead to impaired driving.
• More than 400,000 people attend this year’s Vaisakhi Parade in Surrey, setting a new attendance record.
• It is standing-room-only in Gracepoint Community Church’s downstairs hall, as South Surrey and White Rock provincial candidates discuss poverty, homelessness and affordable housing.
MAY
• An appeal of a decree to close Holy Cross Church in Crescent Beach is rejected, but while the decision out of the Vatican causes “shock,” those behind efforts to keep the heritage site operational say the fight is not over.
• White Rock Coun. Bill Lawrence, who was attacked physically and with racial slurs outside his Marine Drive pub in 2016, says he is disappointed to hear that one of the two men charged will not spend time in jail.
• Travis Selje, 17, is remembered as an amazing athlete and star student after he dies following a collision at 176 Street and 64 Avenue.
• Peace Arch Hospital Foundation’s premier gala event notches a record, raising $480,000 for a new hospice residence.
• Reports of an “orange goo” on White Rock’s West Beach brings city and fire officials to the waterfront to investigate.
• Jeffrey Caillé – charged with killing White Rock resident Bruce Ridout in August 2014 – is found not criminally responsible.
• White Rock resident Arlen Hodge is sentenced to five years in connection with “one of the biggest drug busts” in Newfoundland history.
• The BC election results are in: South Surrey-White Rock elects BC Liberal Tracy Redies; Surrey South elects BC Liberal Stephanie Cadieux; Surrey-Panorama elects NDP Jinny Sims; Surrey-Cloverdale elects BC Liberal Marvin Hunt; Surrey-Newton elects NDP Harry Bains; Surrey-Fleetwood elects NDP Jagrup Brar; Surrey-Green Timbers elects NDP Rachna Singh; Surrey-Guildford elects NDP Garry Begg; and Surrey-Whalley elects NDP Bruce Ralston.
• The sister of a youth who was badly burned at a bonfire party at Stokes Pit warns partiers of the dangers.
• RCMP search for witnesses after a man is badly beaten in front of a South Surrey pub.
• White Rock council approves more than $8 million in debt to help fund two key projects – arsenic and manganese treatment facilities for the city’s water supply and a multistorey parking facility for the waterfront.
• While more teachers are expected at Surrey schools for the fall, thanks to the Supreme Court ruling that restored class composition, there will actually be a drop in learning-support teachers.
JUNE
• Homeowners concerned with substantial increases to their property assessments learn of the impact, as tax notices are delivered. Surrey is expected to be “inundated” as 58,000 receive noticeably higher bills.
• The family of San Li Liao, 54, hold a news conference at Surrey RCMP headquarters to appeal to anyone “with any information at all” in her disappearance to come forward.
• A “targeted” shooting in South Surrey ends in a police standoff that lasts several hours. A 70-year-old man is charged.
• Frederic Dwayne Wilson, charged in connection with a May 2016 police raid on a White Rock home, pleads guilty to four of 15 charges – three related to drug trafficking and one related to firearms.
• In petitions to B.C. Supreme Court, lawyers for the City of White Rock and Metro Vancouver Regional District ask for more than simply a judicial review of release of material on White Rock’s decision to purchase its water utility from Epcor.
• Semiahmoo First Nation is one of 33 B.C. communities the federal government will help with funding announced for water infrastructure.
• A Fraser Health public board meeting ends on a murky note after several White Rock residents press the health authority for answers on the dirty water coming through local taps on a regular basis.
• Following a state-of-the-city address by Mayor Linda Hepner that revealed her desire to fast-track a water-park resort in South Surrey, Great Wolf Lodge vice-president Keith Simmonds confirms the company is considering the area.
• The City of White Rock invites the public to report rumours on a new webpage, Rumours and Misperceptions – Eliminating Misinformation.
• Surrey-White Rock’s newest BC Liberal MLA Tracy Redies acknowledges criticisms regarding the similarity between her party’s throne-speech promises and those put forward by the NDP and Green parties were “things that we were hearing on the doorstep.”
• Buildings at the main gateway to White Rock are demolished, making way for a 23-storey rental highrise for seniors by PARC Retirement Living.
• White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin shuts down a council meeting after a session of public questions and comments on the city’s 2016 Annual Report becomes increasingly acrimonious.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigate the death of a harbour seal found on White Rock’s East Beach with plastic wrapped around its neck.
JULY
• The South Surrey father of a woman killed in a small plane crash in the Okanagan five years ago says the launch of a national pilot education program inspired by the incident is a “good start” in preventing further tragedies.
• Coun. Lynne Sinclair says she is not happy with White Rock’s untidy maintenance of boulevards, road-ends, parks and main business streets – and the lateness of the arrival of the city’s decorative hanging baskets in its 60th year – and questions maintenance priorities.
• A 56-year-old South Surrey man is in critical condition following a crash in which his motorcycle rear-ended another vehicle near the North Bluff Road-Oxford Street intersection.
• South Surrey born-and-raised pharmacist Craig Plain – who for many years worked with his father Dwight at the Ocean Park Rexall Drugs – helps save lives on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with a BC Centre for Disease Control program to make the overdose antidote naloxone more accessible.
• Critics of White Rock’s pay-parking policies unite around an online plea by Hailey Bradford – a South Surrey resident who works as a server in a restaurant on White Rock’s Marine Drive – for a White Rock resident to rent her a parking space.
• Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner says she is ashamed and angry after an innocent bystander is struck by a bullet in a drive-by shooting in Newton. The 64-year-old woman, visiting from Ontario, is grazed by the bullet and sustains superficial injuries.
• South Surrey’s Chey Alvarez, 21, is living a “medical nightmare” after a bite from an apparent brown recluse spider in June led to flesh-eating disease and the amputation of her leg. Two fundraisers are organized to assist her with medical costs.
• White Rock residents use the public hearing on the revised official community plan to express their dismay at plans for a multistorey waterfront parkade, arguing that locals would see only disadvantages and no benefits, while accusing council of keeping them in the dark about the plan.
• South Surrey residents express gratitude when council – following a public hearing on a subdivision in a quiet neighbourhood on 8 Avenue – urges city staff to find an alternative to “punching through” an extension to the avenue.
• A crew of seven from Surrey’s fire department arrives in Williams Lake to help fight wildfires that have displaced more than 14,000 people from the Interior.
• A man is arrested in a berry field in the 3200-block of 176 Street, following an extended incident involving an assault and theft of a pickup truck in Maple Ridge. Police find the suspect pushing a wheelbarrow full of items away from the burning truck.
• White Rock residents continue to oppose a waterfront parkade plan at a public information meeting, with opponents citing traffic and safety concerns, while Tyson Blume, owner of Uli’s Restaurant, says the parkade is an “absolute necessity.”
• The trial of South Surrey’s Lisa Batstone, accused of killing her eight-year-old daughter in December 2014, is pushed to Sept. 10, 2018 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, following a request by Batstone’s lawyer over the objections of Crown.
• Surrey has three MLAs in the cabinet – Bruce Ralston (Surrey-Whalley) as minister of jobs, trade and technology; Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton) as minister of labour; and Jinny Sims (Surrey-Panorama) as minister of citizens’ services – following the swearing in of NDP Premier John Horgan.
• In spite of spurious and facetious posts to the City of White Rock’s rumours and misperceptions webpage, city chief administrative officer Dan Bottrill says the initiative, one month in, is already helping stop the spreading of unfounded rumours.
• White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin says slow negotiations with Epcor have prevented the city from disclosure of the reasons for the decision to purchase the water utility, which included “$1 million leaving the city for Edmonton (annually) in perpetuity.”
• A 59-year-old White Rock resident perishes in Semiahmoo Bay after a late-night swim, according to RCMP, who said the man was seen by officers and witnesses swimming toward the pier breakwater but had not appeared to be in distress.
• White Rock council moves the waterfront parkade proposal to a public hearing, in spite of a loud protest rally by irate residents on the lawn of city hall.
• Police tape off part of South Surrey’s Bakerview Park following the discovery of a man’s body in the southeast corner near 18 Avenue and 154 Street. A spokesperson says the man was known to police as a local homeless person who may have been camping.
AUGUST
• RCMP identify five victims of targeted shootings in Surrey, all of whom have refused to co-operate with police, saying “these intended victims themselves have become a risk to the safety of our city.”
• Residents of the Hawthorne Park neighbourhood in North Surrey say they’re not being given enough time to gather 30,372 votes for a petition to halt a city plan to cut two roads through the park.
• The body of Surrey’s Kiran Dhesi, 19, is found in a burned-out SUV in the 18700-block of 24 Avenue.
• Work on the upgrade to White Rock’s Memorial Park – including a reconfigured park, wider promenade and new washrooms – seems to be moving ahead, with a contract for $4,508,490 awarded to Fricia Construction, and work scheduled to begin in September, after Labour Day.
• Three shooting incidents in less than 24 hours have Surrey residents in Clayton Heights, Newton and Fleetwood worried that their neibghourhoods are no longer safe.
• The City of Surrey confirms it has submitted a grant application to help fund a study of relocating rail traffic off the Semiahmoo Peninsula waterfront.
• Peace Arch Hospital holds a groundbreaking ceremony for the newest addition to the facility – a 200-bed residential care unit including a 15-bed hospice residence – at 17 Avenue and 156 Street, due for completion in 2019.
• The 12-year-old baseball players of the White Rock All-Stars are set to represent Canada in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. after a win in the Canadian Little League Championship final in Medicine Hat, Alta.
• The City of White Rock confirms that three key staffers – engineering and municipal operations director Greg St. Louis, facilities manager Bob Ambardar and special events co-ordinator Amy Baumann – will be leaving their jobs.
• A Surrey RCMP raid on a home in the 1700-block of 156 Street nets guns and drugs and results in the arrest of a 39-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman.
• White Rock RCMP seek witnesses after a 26-year-old Surrey man is stabbed in an altercation outside the Oceanside Yacht Club, formerly The Hemingway, on Marine Drive. Police say the victim is in serious but not life-threatening condition; a 21 year-old Abbotsford man turns himself in to police in connection with the incident.
• White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin says he is looking at U.S.-based BNSF Railway shouldering some of the costs of moving the major rail route off the South Surrey and White Rock waterfronts, following a study to be joint-funded by both cities.
• Financial-disclosure information published following the provincial election shows that BC Liberal candidates spent more than their competitors from other parties in South Surrey ridings.
• White Rock retiree Ian Moore Wilson is confirmed as one of 13 killed in a terror attack in Spain, when a van plows into crowds of pedestrians on Barcelona’s popular Las Ramblas thoroughfare. His wife of 53 years is seriously injured in the attack.
• Popular discount store Deals World is scrambling to find new premises after receiving notice it must vacate its Johnston Road premises – to be redeveloped for a residential-commercial building by Solterra – by the end of December.
• The second of two men charged with attacking White Rock Coun. Bill Lawrence and uttering racial slurs pleads guilty to assault charges in Surrey Provincial Court. He receives a suspended sentence and 12 months probation, though he will have a criminal record.
• The City of Surrey agrees to negotiate a servicing agreement with the Semiahmoo First Nation with a focus on water and sewer infrastructure. The First Nation, which until now has received services from the City of White Rock, has been on a permanent boil-water advisory since 2005.
• Kate Hunter, Lily Cox and Georgia Springate, all 11-year-old members of the Crescent Beach swim club, are lauded for their lifesaving skills after pulling two struggling swimmers, a young woman and a teenager, from the waters off the beach.
• After famed environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki weighs in on the Hawthorne Park controversy, Surrey Coun. Mike Starchuk says he is surprised Suzuki is accusing the city of not living up to its environmental commitments, claiming there is a bigger picture than one single issue.
SEPTEMBER
• A 22-year-old man shot dead in his Cloverdale driveway is said by police to have been involved in shootings as far back as 2015. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team notes Pardeep Singh had been offered RCMP protection in the past, after being involved in four shooting incidents in less than 24 hours.
• The Surrey School Coalition – a group of Surrey parents, business people, developers and community associations – urges the new provincial government to come to the table with innovative ideas of how to eliminate portable classrooms from the district.
• White Rock sets a temperature record for Labour Day, at 30.8 C – beating the previous record of 30 C for the holiday established in 1949.
• Two long-established Semiahmoo Peninsula businesses downsize operations, as Black Bond Books closes its 24 Avenue location, citing access and traffic issues, and Potters closes its Ocean Park garden centre, citing market conditions.
• Surrey RCMP issue an advisory and an appeal for information after an Earl Marriott Secondary student reports being grabbed by a man on her way to school through a nearby park on the first day of fall classes.
• Residents take to the streets to protest the impending removal of a row of mature trees in the 1500-block of Johnston Road, in front of the construction site for the 23-storey PARC Retirement Living development. The city, however, says they posed a safety hazard.
• A plan to build 145 single-family homes in the Hazelmere Valley – part of property owned by Hazelmere Golf & Tennis Club – is closer to reality, as Surrey council gives an OCP amendment and a zoning amendment bylaw third reading.
• Residents continue to hammer city plans for a waterfront parkade at a three-hour public hearing on the project, claiming that engineering work already underway makes the project seem like a “fait accompli.”
• White Rock’s Memorial Park upgrade project grinds to a halt before groundbreaking ceremonies begin, as Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell and councillors Joanne Charles and Roxanne Charles present a cease-and-desist order, saying they had not been adequately consulted about construction work taking place on ancestral lands that may include sites of archeological significance.
• Raymond Lee Caissie, 46, pleads guilty in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster to second-degree murder in the 2014 killing of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch, a Sullivan Heights Secondary student. He receives a sentence of 17 years without parole.
• Public hearings on two highrise projects planned for Lower Johnston Road – a 14-storey, mixed-use development on the Deals World site and a 12-storey, mixed-use development on the Leela Thai site – draw 200 people.
• A man and a woman face charges under the federal Fisheries Act, after police are alerted to people breaking claws off live crabs and throwing them back in the water off White Rock pier.
• One of two highrises proposed for Lower Johnston Road and a 13-storey development near Peace Arch Hospital are approved by White Rock council, along with zoning amendments, a road-closure bylaw and a development permit for the waterfront parkade project.
• Organizers say the Sept. 17 Terry Fox Run in South Surrey was the most successful in its 20-year history, raising $37,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
• A new Catholic high school for South Surrey – the St. John Paul II Academy – is to begin operation at the Star of the Sea site in September 2018, with construction of permanent premises at 24 Avenue near 182 Street.
• South Surrey-White Rock MP Dianne Watts announces she is resigning her federal post for a bid to become leader of the BC Liberal party.
• Translink announces a pilot project for double-decker buses on South Surrey routes, including the 351 and 354.
• Surrey RCMP investigate four shootings in three days in three neighbourhoods – Newton, west Cloverdale and South Surrey.
• The City of White Rock conducts a door-to-door survey to investigate how many dogs are in the city, and in which areas – including the pier and promenade – owners might like dogs allowed, although officials deny that such plans are currently contemplated.
• Data from the 2017 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count reveal there are at least 114 seniors living on Surrey streets, and six in White Rock.
• Resident Ross Buchanan, whose water tests show trace amounts of herbicide glyphosate in White Rock water, disputes the city’s claim there is none.
OCTOBER
• South Surrey worker Jordan McIldoon is among Canadians killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas that targeted attendees of a country-music festival.
• A U.S. woman dies after her family’s vehicle rolls into a water-filled ditch alongside King George Boulevard, after reportedly swerving to avoid a motorcyclist who made a lane change.
• Charges are laid against a Surrey man in connection with a pair of shots-fired incidents a day apart targeting the same South Surrey house.
• A pickup truck crashes through the gates of a South Surrey housing complex, following reports of a possible impaired driver.
• After 33 years at White Rock’s Hillcrest Mall, Buy-Low Foods closes due to impending redevelopment of the site.
• Policed announce charges of sexual assault, sexual touching and threats against Surrey pastor Samuel Emerson and his wife, Madelaine Emerson.
• Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner says it may be “the right time” to consider relocation of BNSF’s train tracks off the Peninsula waterfront.
• Longtime Kiwanis Club members reminisce on the newly disbanded club’s six decades of service.
• A budgie found in Sunnyside Acres settles in with a new flock in Squamish, following a Surrey woman’s efforts to find its owners.
• A pro-soccer stadium is pitched for city-owned land in Surrey.
• Good Samaritans nab a purse-snatcher who targeted a 95-year-old woman in White Rock.
• White Rock business owner Youssef Khattab is frustrated by flooding at his King Koin Laundromat that he blames on city infrastructure.
• Residents of a South Surrey housing co-op fear the property could soon be sold for redevelopment.
• The provincial transportation ministry says there is “no timeline” for upgrades to the Highway 99 and 32 Avenue interchange.
• White Rock psychologist Jennifer Mervyn is named a ‘difference maker’ in Canada, by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, for her work helping transform indigenous youth mental health.
• Officials with Come Share Society say seniors are calling “almost daily” asking for help locating affordable rental housing in the area.
• Twenty-eight-year-old Nicholas Khabra is killed and a woman, 24, injured in a “not random” shooting in the 14300-block of Crescent Road.
• A parent group pledges to file a human-rights complaint against Surrey School District after it was told it could not rent the Bell Performing Arts Centre for a rally to inform parents about efforts to stop an LGBTQ program.
• Annual Pumpkin Run raises $90,000 for an all-abilities park in White Rock.
• The Mounties’ hate-crimes unit investigates after a swastika is spray-painted on a tree and a boulder in White Rock’s Bryant Park.
• Surrey’s Task Force on Gang Violence Prevention, announced in August, meets for the first time.
• White Rock notches a temperature record, with the mercury rising to 22 degrees on Oct. 29 – the warmest that date has been in 86 years.
NOVEMBER
• Surrey Schools Coalition encourages parents to put pressure on the provincial government, during a rally outside Earl Marriott Secondary in South Surrey.
• A rainstorm prompts Surrey and White Rock extreme-weather shelters to open.
• The NDP announces annual campaign donation limits of $1,200 per donor, to limit “the influence of big money on local elections.”
• Surrey Board of Trade celebrates businesses, with Sara Hodson, founder and president of South Surrey’s Live Well Exercise Clinic, named Business Person of the Year, and South Surrey’s Forte Law named New Business of the Year.
• Peninsula United Church launches ThirdSpace, an inclusive hub that officials say challenges the “crisis of isolation” by helping people strengthen their relationship with community.
• A man working in the 5200-block of 184 Street is treated for burns after the utility bucket he is in contacts 25-kilovolt electrical lines.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces Dec. 11 as the byelection date for South Surrey-White Rock, giving just over a month’s notice.
• A South Surrey plan to build an independent school and townhouses on 30 acres that were once eyed for a casino complex fails on a 5-3 vote.
• Residents rally outside Surrey City Hall to voice their displeasure over the city’s crackdown on secondary suites in Clayton.
• A 61-year-old Richmond man is airlifted to hospital with “serious to critical” injuries following a head-on collision between a Purolator truck and a Toyota Corolla in the 4200-block of 152 Street.
• A City of Surrey document shows the city’s parkland has increased every year since 2011.
• No injuries are reported after a TransLink bus goes off Highway 99 following a collision with a camper that was pulling a trailer.
• Conservatives choose former national revenue minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay for the Dec. 11 South Surrey-White Rock byelection.
• A one-year-old girl is revived after being pulled from a South Surrey pond by a construction worker.
• Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer make appearances in White Rock-South Surrey to promote their respective candidates.
• White Rock mayor says a lack of advance notice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to the waterfront city was “disrespectful and a total breach of protocol.”
• Two drivers are taken to hospital following a dramatic three-vehicle crash at 24 Avenue and Croydon Drive.
• White Rock council endorses a planned parkade at four storeys in height and a cost of $12.5 million.
• Surrey School District Supt. Jordan Tinney confirms that replacing its pool of on-call teachers is “a significant challenge.”
• Federal government officials announce in Surrey plans to spend $327.6 million over five years to reduce gun violence and gang activity.
• Woodward Hill residents blame a Surrey pathway that connects the city’s courthouse/police complex to their community for increased crime in their neighbourhood.
• Two Surrey residents face 157 charges relating to a string of break-ins, theft and fraud, after video-surveillance led police to a hotel room.
• The City of White Rock sets its sights on political T-shirts after Coun. Grant Meyer raises concerns with White Rock Farmers’ Market vendors wearing them during civic election season.
• The City of Surrey reveals three possible locations for a proposed sports stadium.
• White Rock city staff report that three dozen mature trees adjacent to the Oxford Reservoir are to be removed to make way for the new water-treatment plant.
• Former Surrey temple president Baldev Singh Kalsi – charged with second-degree murder in connection with the July 2014 death of his wife, Narinder, in South Surrey – pleads guilty to manslaughter.
• An overnight standoff with an armed man in the 2200-block of 174 Street in South Surrey ends peacefully.
• The promoter of a ‘Ladies Night’ planned for a waterfront restaurant in White Rock says the male-dancing portion of the event will be moved to a private location, following the revocation of a permit.
• Work to replace the South Surrey Bailey bridge is put on hold pending environmental approval from the province.
DECEMBER
• Surrey property taxes are expected to climb by 3.8 per cent in 2018.
• Longtime Marine Drive restaurant, Giraffe, closes its doors after 28 years on White Rock’s waterfront.
• Surrey high school student Raphael Alcoreza dies after collapsing during a basketball game at Holy Cross Regional High School.
• A truck hauling overheight “car-crushing” equipment impacts the 152 Street overpass, causing significant damage that closes the northbound lane “until further notice.” Transportation ministry officials say it will take a “couple of months” to repair.
• Surrey council halts its crackdown on illegal suites, following controversy over its focus on East Clayton.
• Ten years after the slayings of six men in a Whalley penthouse suite, a B.C. Supreme Court judge stays charges against Jamie Bacon, due to “privileged information that (Bacon’s) counsel cannot use in his defence, which impacts Mr. Bacon’s fair trial rights.”
• The province announces a $24-million elementary school for South Surrey’s Grandview Heights area, and a $9-million addition to Pacific Heights Elementary.
• White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin’s four-page, 1,100-word letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – in which he criticizes “disrespectful behaviour” – is leaked.
• Liberal candidate Gordon Hogg defeats six other candidates in the South Surrey-White Rock byelection, ending a 64-year Liberal drought.
• Police announce that the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the file of missing Surrey woman San Li Liao, who hasn’t been seen since May.
• One man is taken to hospital following a “targeted” shooting in the 17000-block of 21 Avenue in South Surrey.
• South Surrey business owners say they are feeling the impact of Dec. 4 damage to the 152 overpass, as traffic flow along the corridor continues to be restricted.
• White Rock businessman Kelly Breaks quits the city’s cultural advisory committee over council’s approval of highrises that he says “will severely impact the future of this (city’s) arts & culture business.”
• Two-and-a-half years after police shot and killed her son Hudson in South Surrey, Jennifer Brooks learns that one officer has been charged.
• Health Minister Adrian Dix announces that concept planning for a new hospital in Surrey is underway.
• The father of a man found dead in Bakerview park in July says he is still waiting for answers regarding how his son died, and expresses frustration over a lack of help for parents trying to help their adult children who are dealing with addiction.
• Former RCMP spokesman Tim Shields is found not guilty of sexual assault, following a trial in Vancouver Provincial Court.
• A 14-year-old Earl Marriott Secondary student reports she was assaulted in a park near the South Surrey high school on her way to school. Police release a description and composite sketch of the suspect.
• Surrey-White Rock MLA Tracy Redies wades into White Rock water issues – writing to White Rock’s mayor, Fraser Health’s president and CEO and the City of Surrey – in an attempt to clear up questions for a constituent regarding water quality and safety.
• The City of White Rock is planning a 3.97 per cent increase to property taxes in 2018.
• White Rock fire crews were in the 1300-block of Johnston Road Dec. 27 after a blaze broke out outside Deals World.