A 22-year-old Whistler male is facing charges of possession for the purposes of trafficking after being busted while attempting to host an unsanctioned snowboard competition on Blackcomb where the prizes were marijuana.
The police received a call about the "Ganjam" on Dec. 12 after it was posted on Facebook. Two plainclothes officers waited at the top of the terrain park on the day of the event when a man rode by on his snowboard saying "Ganjam, Ganjam." He rode down into the park where the police watched him open a backpack that contained cans of beer. He then opened the front pocket and showed another person a bag of marijuana. He then packed up and was preparing to ride down into the park when the police stopped him.
RCMP officers found him in possession of bags containing 8.4 grams, 3.2 gram, 3.00 grams and 3.6 grams of marijuana, plus another bag with 26 joints. He had some hash and a bong as well.
The male was released on a recognizance and will make his first appearance in court in North Vancouver on Jan. 30. Emergency beacon tripped
The Pemberton RCMP was called into action on Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. when an emergency beacon was activated in the Joffre Lakes Provincial Park area. They headed out to the area, only to find that a person had activated the beacon when he returned to his car and the locks were frozen. Concerned about the cold he activated the beacon, although he did manage to gain access to his car with help from another vehicle.
Police are reminding people to use emergency beacons sparingly and only in true emergencies.
Fight escalates in local hotel
On Dec. 15 at 10:55 p.m. the police were called to a hotel in the village after an altercation that occurred when two males and a female were leaving and got into an argument with another group of males. One of the second group of males threw a beer can, hitting one of the males who was leaving in the head.
The police were called again at 2:39 a.m. the next morning when the group containing the male who was struck in the head decided to retaliate. According to reports they went to the room belonging to the second group of males and confronted them.
One of the males had taken a fire extinguisher and hit one of the other males in the in the face with it. Another altercation took place at the doorway between the other male with a fire extinguisher, who discharged it into the room.
The males were in the hall when the police arrived, one of them still carrying the extinguisher. Another had a serious cut over his eye and an ambulance was called to take him to the Whistler Health Care Centre. Other males fled down the stairs. Police are now considering charges against the two 25-year-old Vancouver males.
RCMP look into alleged sex assault
The RCMP are not sure yet whether they will have enough evidence to proceed with charges in an alleged sex assault, which occurred in the early morning hours of Dec. 16 on the 2200 block of Lake Placid Road.
The victim called the RCMP at 4:30 a.m. She acknowledged going home from a nightclub with one male, then says another male in the residence assaulted her. She had been drinking and her recollection of the events of that night is "vague and blurry" according to police. All of the people involved in the case have been identified by police, who are continuing to investigate.
Vehicles broken into around Village
Police are reminding people never to leave valuables in sight in their vehicles after a string of vehicle break-ins on Dec. 16. The break-ins were reported on Chateau Boulevard, in Lot 1 and Seppo's Way, and in each case a window was broken to gain entry to the vehicle.
Various personal items were stolen from the vehicles such as purses, wallets and backpacks.
Police vehicles struck on highway
Two RCMP vehicles, one from Whistler and one from Squamish, were struck on Highway 99 last week in separate incidents. Both were responding to calls regarding vehicles that had gone into the ditch, and both were hit by vehicles that were travelling too fast, hit the vehicles in front of them and then hit the police vehicles.
The Squamish RCMP was responding to a call regarding a vehicle in the ditch on Dec. 16 at Highway 99 and the Culliton Creek.
A vehicle coming up the highway, a GMC Yukon, lost contrl and struck the pickup truck in front of it, then sideswiped the police vehicle on the side of the road. At that point, a third vehicle lost control and spun into the Yukon, almost hitting the police officer who had to dive into the ditch for safety. On investigation, the police determined that the SUV's tires were bald.
All of the vehicles had to be towed, and as they were waiting roadside yet another SUV approached, swerving into the southbound lane and back into the correct lane, narrowly missing another police officer and police vehicle.
The second similar incident was reported by the Whistler RCMP on Dec. 17, taking place at Highway 99 and the Callaghan Valley after a vehicle slid into the ditch.
The driver of the original vehicle, a 26-year-old from Burnaby, received a ticket for not driving with winter tires
While the police were attending to that, a vehicle struck another vehicle from behind while coming up the highway and hit the police vehicle. The driver of the offending vehicle received a ticket for following too closely for the conditions.
Nobody was injured in either incident.
