Let’s head back to the January 1976 pages of the Optimist when a popular Ladner landmark was going to enter its final days.
The above photo that ran in the Jan. 7 edition showed Chung Chuck’s old house for sale.
Popular with Lower Mainland artists at the time, the old house was seldom used and expected to be torn down when a new owner came along.
Chung Chuck made a name for himself as someone who would fight hard for his rights, something which often brought him in conflict with the law.
Beginning in the 1930s, he was arrested and jailed multiple times for bootlegging his potatoes rather than selling through the marketing board.
He also rented to house boaters, which caused more problems.
In an incident in 1977, he held Delta officials at bay with a shotgun for four hours after the municipality threatened to shut off the water supply to the house boaters, and to the farm, unless all the utilities were brought up to code and taxes per boat were paid.
His colourful life, and in particular this confrontation over the house boats, generated so much interest that CBC turned his story into a made-for-TV movie.
