METH DUMP FOUND NEAR SCHOOL

Another meth lab dump was discovered south of Cloverdale Friday just
a few hundred metres from a rural elementary school.

Four blue barrels were found in a ditch in the 18500-block of 28th
Avenue, little more than a stone's throw from East Kensington
elementary at the corner of 28th and 184th Street. Police say the
dump site was reported around 8:30 a.m. as students were walking to school.

A guard was put on the site to keep the public away. Authorities
planned to wait until school was out Friday afternoon before removing
the barrels.

"They are not spilled; they're fully contained. There's no danger to
the school, so we will wait until school's out then deal with them,"
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Roger Morrow said.

This discovery comes on the heels of two other meth lab dumps found
north of Cloverdale on Feb. 6, one at 182nd Street and 70th Avenue,
the other in the 7300-block of 194th Street.

Two local women whose children attend East Kensington expressed
dismay at the most recent find in their neighbourhood.

"I've lived here for 12 years. It used to be a quiet area, but not
anymore," said Charlene Paulsen, who lives not far from the school.

"In the last few years, it's gotten pretty bad. I've seen stolen cars
burned here. People dump their stolen goods in the bush and come back
later to pick them up and now we've got a meth dump."

Deanne Maxson has four kids in the elementary school. She said meth
lab operators might think it's safer to dump their chemicals out in
the country, but said it's not.

"They need to understand it's just as dangerous here as it is at
132nd Street and 72nd Avenue. A lot of these kids walk to school.
What would have happened if one of those little guys had run over and
popped one of those lids?"

Both women said they've seen drug deals made in the little parking
lot across 184th from the school and said they're upset at the
intrusion of crime into their formerly quiet rural neighbourhood.

"It's scary," Paulsen said.

"We have a locked gate, a dog and everything and my husband's car was
stolen right off our farm. The criminals are coming here and they're
getting braver."

Morrow said there doesn't seem to be any connection between the two
dumps found last week and the latest. The first two were quite close
together, he said, and it's likely the same people are responsible for both.

"Where this one came from, I don't know," he said of Friday's find.