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Drinking calls down on New Year's Eve

RCMP arrest 20 people for public intoxication, fewer than any New Year's Eve on record
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It wasn't a quiet night by any stretch, but New Year's Eve 2010 was quieter than usual for local RCMP.

Over the course of the night the RCMP arrested 20 people for being drunk in public or disturbing the peace and creating a disturbance, which includes four females and two youths. One of the women arrested for being drunk in public gave police a fake name and was given a $500 fine for obstructing a police officer on top of the $115 ticket for public intoxication given to the others.

That's almost half the 2009 tally of 39 arrests and significantly down from the previous low of 32 in 2008.

"It's nice to see a reduction in the amount of public intoxication," said Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair of the Whistler RCMP. "That can be attributed to year after year ensuring that the public gets the message that it's (First Night in the village), an alcohol-free family event."

The police did hand out 92 tickets for possession of open alcohol, and there were nine traffic tickets - two for no insurance and seven for moving violations.

There were a number of other incidents as well.

One fight between two Lower Mainland males was reported before midnight on New Year's Eve, which resulted in a third person receiving a cut on the arm that required stitches. The two males were arrested for being drunk in public.

It was initially believed that a knife may have been involved, but it was later discovered that the third male received the cut from some glass on the floor of the nightclub.

At 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, a member of the public called in a driver impaired by drugs. The police located the driver in the Whistler Health Care Centre parking lot and observed signs of impairment. A 47-year-old Whistler male admitted to consuming magic mushrooms. He was given a 24-hour driving prohibition and a ticket for driving without consideration.

At 2:52 a.m. the RCMP received a report of a stolen vehicle from Mt. Currie, which they intercepted heading southbound on Highway 99 near the Village of Pemberton. A 31-year-old male was arrested without incident and charged with stolen property and driving while intoxicated. He also received a 90-day driving prohibition and 30-day vehicle impoundment. The RCMP discovered that he was also in breach of two conditions set by the courts, and was held in cells until Jan. 4 when he was brought before a Justice of the Peace.

At 2:55 a.m. a police road safety check at Highway 99 and Village Gate Boulevard observed a vehicle heading southbound on Highway 99 make a right turn onto Village Gate and turn around before heading back northbound on the highway. The police intercepted the vehicle and a 56-year-old male from Vancouver blew a "warn" on the roadside screening device. He was given a three-day driving prohibition and three-day impoundment.

At 11 a.m. on New Year's Day the RCMP attended a local hotel to assist in the removal of three males from Port Coquitlam who had trashed their room. The males agreed to pay damages of roughly $3,000 and no charges were laid.

 

Doorman punched

At 7:19 p.m. on Jan. 1, the Whistler RCMP received a report that a doorman at a local nightclub was punched by one of seven men after the doorman refused to let one of the men into the bar with his passport as identification.

It was later revealed that the men were known members of an Indo-Canadian gang that is of interest to the Integrated Gang Task Force. Most of the gang members seen in Whistler last weekend were from North Vancouver.

The RCMP attended the nightclub and discovered that the men had left. Later, some police officers who had gone off-duty spotted the men entering another nightclub and contacted the police. The pub asked the police officers to escort the men from the premises, at which point they went out and attended yet another nightclub. The gang task force attended that establishment, and once again the men were ejected from the premises at the request of the management. By then it was 1 a.m. and the men gave up on trying to get into any of the local bars.

 

Police investigating theft of $8,000

On Dec. 30 the RCMP got a call from a local hotel in regards to a theft of cash from one of its guests.

According to the report, the man had left the hotel the previous week, but forgot the bag he had left in the hotel safe. The hotel retrieved the bag, which contained the man's passport and $8,000 in cash, and kept it at the front desk before arranging a courier to the city. When the bag arrived the passport was there but the cash was missing.

The RCMP are investigating.

 

More fraud victims come forward

Two more victims of a rental fraud involving a property on the 6100-block of Eagle Drive have come forward in the past week, bringing the number to 20.

According to RCMP, the two individuals gave a male occupant $500 to secure a sublet of a room in the house but when they arrived to move in they discovered that the room was already rented. People paid between $250 and $500 to the suspect, who is described as having a British accent. The police are still gathering evidence and continuing to investigate.

 

Man arrested for breach of conditions

At 10:47 a.m. on Jan. 2 the police responded to a complaint from the 2000 block of Castle Drive regarding a male who was drinking, which is in breach of his parole conditions. The police attended, but when they arrived the 28-year-old Burnaby male had already left.

Shortly afterwards they received a complaint that a young male was being vocally abusive to others at Lakeside Park. They arrested the man for breach of probation. He was taking to the RCMP cells to await a hearing from the Justice of the Peace. Charges are pending.

 

Snowboarder likely drowned

The B.C. Coroner's Service has yet to issue a final report on the death of 20-year-old Cooper Plaxco, the California man who went missing in the Crystal Chair zone on Blackcomb on Christmas Eve. He was found dead the next day in Horstman Creek off the Zig Zag ski run. The coroner's service did an autopsy last week and preliminary indications suggest that he drowned.

The male was found more than five metres below the snow line, in the creek between Zig Zag and White Light. The area is well-travelled as it leads to the Crystal Chair. But Plaxco was in the area by himself after splitting off from two friends. He was reported missing roughly an hour later, at 4 p.m. A search was started