METH LAB BARRELS FOUND IN DITCH NEAR SURREY SCHOOL

SURREY - Another methamphetamine lab dump was discovered Friday south
of Cloverdale 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
find 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," Surrey RCMP Cpl. Roger Morrow said.

The 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 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.

Deanne Maxson has four children in the school. She said lab operators
might think it's safer to dump their chemicals in the country, but 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?"

Morrow said there doesn't seem to be any connection between the 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.