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Newton's crisis is now an opportunity

Friday's announcement of an arrest in the Julie Paskall murder case took me by surprise. I was thrilled that police had a suspect in custody.

My initial excitement was immediately followed by tears and emotion - relief, tempered by sadness over the senselessness of it all.

To say Paskall's vicious beating and subsequent death rattled our community would be a gross understatement.

Back in January, there were demands for more police, more mental health services, a tightening of regulations on recovery homes that are often just flop houses and a call for the city to take meaningful action on its plans for revitalization of the Newton Town Centre, the area where the attack occurred.

There is definitely room for improvement on all fronts but we also need to change a system that allows chronic offenders to be back on the streets time after time (sources say the suspect is known to police).

However, amid all the sadness, frustration and acrimony of this dark time, a little ray of sunlight began to emerge in the Newton community.

We realized we are just that - a community. We came together and decided we weren't going to allow some punk's violent act define us. We are so much more than that. Like many parts of Surrey, Newton is a neighbourhood undergoing changes. We are on the brink of creating a new and vibrant downtown core.

When you walk along 137th Street between Starbucks and the wave pool, past the Espresso Café and the ethnic grocery

shops, you can see that this street and surrounding area has really good "bones."

Great things are going to happen here in the next few years. In fact, if you frequent the places around the recreation centre and bus loop, you may have noticed neighbours getting together and creating happy, surprising and whimsical displays of hope, resilience - and most of all fun.

The Friends of the Grove, led by Newton resident David Dalley, held an event in May that attracted hundreds. The message? People can complain and bitch all day long, but what truly creates change is doing

something positive and uplifting.

So let's take a moment, remember Julie and her family and thank the police who are doing the best job they possibly can.

Then let's decide that the very best way to honour Julie Paskall and all other victims of crime is to become better neighbours. That's the message Julie's husband Al so eloquently conveyed at her memorial in January.

Whether that's at home or out on the street. Let's talk to one another. Smile. Ask the person behind you in a grocery store line up how their day is going. It's so simple.

Newton, you have scars, but they are healing.

We've undergone the crisis, now comes the opportunity.

Let's not waste it.

Jude Hannah is a blogger with ReNewton Nation and community activist.