Harbour City Star from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada • 5

NEWS TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2009 THE STAR 0 5 i 'i i Alleged gang associate faces charges rr rin (o) We want to hear from you. Send your comments on this story to lettersnanaimodaitynews.com. Letters must include your first and last names, your hometown and a daytime phone number. LUNNEY STAFF REPORTER A Nanaimo man and alleged Red Scorpion gang associate is among several people facing charges in connection with a notorious gangland massacre that has become known as the "Surrey Six." Cody Rae Haevischer, 24, faces six counts of first-degree murder. Four of the victims had gang links: Cory Lai, 21, Michael Lai, 26, Edward Narong, 22 and Ryan Bar-tolomeo, 19.

The other victims, Christopher Mohan, 22 and Ed Schellenberg, 55, were innocent bystanders. Haevischer also faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. All six men were shot in the head execution-style in a Surrey highrise in October 2007. Haevischer is scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court today, under heavy security. He was arrested at gunpoint by emergency response team members in Houston, B.C.

on Friday. Nanaimo RCMP say he is known to regularly visit the city to see family or party but prior to his arrest, according to Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team, Haevischer did not live in Nanaimo. Police have monitored his whereabouts when he is in the city. Haevischer is also known to be a longtime friend of the Abbotsford gangster brothers James, Jonathon and Jarrod Bacon, even partying in Cancun, Mexico with the trio and other Red Scorpion associates.

Politician raises issue Thursday in House speech DARRELL BELLAART STAFF REPORTER Armed with the knowledge that exists today, Charles Darwin may not have written the theory of evolution, Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney told the House of Commons this week. "Any scientist who declares that the theory of evolution is a fact has already abandoned the foundations of science," Lunney said in the House on Thursday. Given what is known today, he added: "Darwin would be willing to reexamine his assumptions." The MP raised the issue two weeks after Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear, a Christian, sidestepped questions about his belief in evolution. Lunney's brief speech contained references to controversial theories espoused by Robert V. Gentry, a creationist, Seventh-day Advent-ist Church member and nuclear physicist.

Gentry concluded, after studying radiohalos, microscopic zones of damage found around radioactive crystals in rock, that the rock must have been formed in minutes, not the generally accepted millions of years. Gentry's theory, discredited as pseu-doscience by the mainstream scientific community, has spawned a new field of study for creationists who take the story of Genesis literally. ment is doing the right thing for science and technology to support scientists." Goodyear had already come under attack for cutting Canadian research funding in the last federal budget. While Otto said she respects the rights of others to hold their own personal beliefs, she called it "pretty horrific" if the federal science and technology minister can't accept the theory of evolution. "It's like the government official in charge of science is going against what the majority of scientists believe the world is like.

It would be one thing if it didn't have huge ramifications. If we get this wrong, we're hampered in our ability to develop cures for diseases. "Right now, we're using evolutionary tools to predict how they'll evolve. That's the key to developing vaccines." Calls to Lunney went unanswered Thursday. On Friday, staff members at his Ottawa office said he was unavailable.

When asked where Lunney was, Dale Wolley, his administrative assistant, said: "He's not available to your beck and call," and refused to answer. Curtis Hansen, his constituency assistant in Nanaimo said Lunney was expected in the riding Friday afternoon and would give convey the message, but Lunney did not immediately return the call. DBellaartnanaimodailynews. corn 250-729-4235 i WITH FILES FROM CANWEST NEWS SERVICE of things. For example, they can't make sense of why the flu virus changes and the way they do change.

They can't make sense of why, if you look at the genome of certain organisms, they are similar." Science, which is based on logic, also evolves, and Otto said the problem scientists have is what to accept as indisputable fact. For example, the belief the sun will rise in the morning is based on empirical evidence: It rose today, yesterday and every day before. "I have less doubt that evolution explains the organisms we see around us," Otto said. "I have more doubt about the sun rising tomorrow, because I don't know that will happen." Scientists say the evidence for evolution grows with every new look at DNA, the material that makes up the building blocks of life. The latest research shows a strand of human DNA shares about 94 of the same sequences as that of chimpanzees.

On March 18, Goodyear sidestepped questions in Toronto about whether he believes in evolution, saying: "My personal beliefs are not important. What is important is that this govern Lunney also made reference to plate tectonic and fossil evidence theories some Christians consider proof of creationism. He gave the speech in Ottawa at 2:10 p.m. Eastern Time but has been unavailable for comment since then, despite repeated calls. Sarah Otto, a University of B.C.

zoologist and evolution expert, said Lunney's views clash with a mounting body of scientific evidence. At some point, all science relies on a basic foundation of faith, but the evidence is growing in support of the theory that all life on Earth evolved oyer thousands of millennia from a single organism. "It is not correct that the majority of science is moving away from evolution," Otto said. "Scientists more and more are understanding evolution as a way in which they can interpret patterns they see in the biological world. Without evolution as a guiding principle, they can't make sense of a bunch The Qrand Hotel, Bernard Collebaut Chocolate the Lifesty ove and the Nanaimo M.CA, present: 4 A Sweet EateF Murrelet Place more than a Home, it's a Lifestyle.

Enjoy all that Comox has to offer and take advantage of Murrelet Place's convenient location, adjacent to shopping, park trails and more. Patio Home living allows you the time to do what you want, when you want. Now that sounds like fun. Patio Home Living from S3b350 Sunday, April 12 0 10 am-2 pm featuring i 2 Bedroom Den and 3 Bedroom Plans if $29.95 Adult $17.95 Kids 12 and under f-- $5 from each adult ticket and $3 from each kids' tickets ivill be donated to the Nanaimo SPCA Come support the SPCA and see what furry friends will he attending! iy A massive 5kg chocolate bunny donated by I Bernard Callebaut will also be raffled! I i i I SI -t ft -Tickets for the raffle are AVAILABLE NOW Show Home Open Monday to Wednesday, Saturday Sunday (Noon to 3 pm) or by appointment. 1 1 1 at the Nanaimo SPCA Shelter and at liemard Callebaut Chocolates rCT773 I uu Murreiei urive, lomox Juit behind Quality Foodi "7 250-338-0008 www.Murrelet.ca A at Woodgrove Mall.

rpUn i tj i -Raffle tickets arc available by donation. 4 nc Vrana tlOtCl tvti'v ill lu wil 1 1n 2507583000 I 1 he draw mil be held at the brunch at I f. rt 9.