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News ; ae ™=*Review Wednesday, March 28,1990 — A8

Cigarette raid no pre-Christmas bonus =

UP THE POLE securing a lead line was a B.C. Hydro
lineman last week as cables were pulled through the
section from the south side of Bevan Avenue on Fifth
Street right through to the north side of Beacon
Avenue, as the underground wiring program contin-
ued. Huge, truck-mounted winches were used to pull
the cable through new underground pipe.

He needed money for Christ-
mas, SO a Sidney man joined in 4
break-in at Sidney Super Foods
and almost escaped with nearly
$10,000 worth of cigarettes, pro-
vincial court heard Thursday.

But the culprits tripped an alarm
and police picked up one of the
pair near the store right after the
break-in.

David Bradley Blair, 19,
appeared in Sidney provincial
court to be sentenced for the Sept.
24 break-in. He pleaded guilty to
the charge.

A probation officer suggested in
a pre-sentence report that Blair go
to jail, but Judge Stephen
Denroche placed him on two
years’ probation and ordered him
to do 60 hours of community
service work. =

He also ordered Blair to abstain
from alcohol and non-prescription
drugs, accept counselling, includ-
ing debt counselling, and sug-
gested the man find a different
group of friends.

“I don’t know how many
chances you expect to have but
you're fast running out of them,”
Denroche said. Although the
offence was the first adult charge
for Blair, Denroche noted the man
had been before the court as a
juvenile on four similar charges in
the past.

“I don’t want to see you back
here. I don’t want to sentence you
again but if I have to sentence you
it won’t be a slap on the wrist and
a little more probation,” the judge
waned.

Defence lawyer Mayland
McKimm said the break-in was
not planned.

Blair and a companion had been
walking on the roof of Sidney

Super Foods, a pastime for Sidney
youths, when they found a hatch
which could be easily opened and
entered the store, McKimm said.

When police attended at 3:14
a.m., alerted by an alarm, they
spotted Blair crouched beside a
cigarette rack, Crown counsel
Edward Ormheim said.

Blair was found on Second
Street behind the store. Nearby
police found three garbage bags
full of cigarettes and a trail of
cigarettes leading back to the store.

The store reported over $8,000
worth of cigarettes recovered but
nearly $1,800 worth still missing.

The second person involved,
spotted by police in the store, was
not apprehended, Ormheim said.
Blair refused to identify the other

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culprit for police.

McKimm said Blair thought all
the cigarettes were recovered.
“They were liberally scattered like
bread crumbs from the scene to
where they were found.”

Some kitchen gloves taken from
the store and worn during the theft
were recovered by police, Orm-
heim said. The garbage bags uscd
to haul the cigarettes were also
taken from the store. :
- McKimm said Blair has a prob-
Jem with alcohol and was intoxi-
cated the night of the break-in.

“He wasn’t that drunk,”
Denroche said, noting Blair had
climbed to the roof of the store,
entered the roof hatch and then
climbed from the roof to the
ground in an effort to escape
police.

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