fee ne es eee tency mere ree eo eaters Paneer meee ne tangent AE et 1° penne nrasinnertrene emg aif stetth FiemneNrap es mene ene O explos NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP investigators have found no connection be- tween Friday night’s blast that ripped apart a shed behind North Vancouver’s Crab Shop and conspiracy to import cocaine charges facing the shop’s owners. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter Staff Sgt. Arnie Nylund said Monday the blast, which destroyed an estimated $50,000 worth of seafood processing equipment, is currently being investigated simply as an explosion. ‘{But) we have not done our complete and total liaison,"’ Nylund said. ‘‘We are exploring all avenues. The investigation is not yet being conducted on any special line. We are just making inquiries. All we know is that there was an explosion. We have no suspects.”’ Nylund said approximately onz pound of an explosive, probably dynamite, was used. No detona- tion devices have been found, he said, and nothing was stolen fol- jowing the explosion. Nylund said motive for the blast is still unclear. The explosion occurred at ap- proximately 8:50 p.m. Friday at the Crab Shop's 2464 Dollarton Highway location and shook houses in the neighborhood. It destroyed a wooden garbage shed - behind the shop, blasted an eight by 10-foot hole in the shop’s rear brick wall and wiped out an estimated $50,000 worth of seafood processing ¢quipment. No one was in the shop at the time of the blast. Crab Shop owner Martin ‘‘Son- ny’? Dobay, 54, who lives about four blocks from his shop, said he had no idea who might have been responsible for the explosion. “] was pretty shook up,” he said. Because the Crab Shop, in its relatively isolated location, has been the target of two burglaries and one attempted burglary since it was reopened at its new location Dec. 18, 1986, Dobay said he has the shop ‘‘so God damned secure that the only way for anyone to get into it was to blast their way in.” Auto...........2.2+-.40 Business.............31 Classified Ads.........46 Doug: Collins.......... 9 Comics...............38 Dr. Ruth.............38 Editorial Page......... 6 Food. ..... cece cee AB Bob Hunter........... 4 Lifestyles.............35 Mailhox.............. 7 Sports.............+. 18 TV Listings...........45 Weather: Thursday and Friday, mixture of rain and snow. fice fin He said he hoped to be able to teopen the shop in about three weeks: ‘Ht looks worse than it is. All the stuff can be replaced."* The original Crab Shop at 2817 Dollarton Highway, a North Shore landmark, was operated by the re A ion, cocaine cl Hedberg, 26, of Chilliwack and Grant Allan Willis, 24, of Van- couver with conspiracy to import approximately one pound of co- caine worth an estimated $75,000 following Co-ordinated Law En- forcement Unit (CLEU) raids on 3 - Wednesday, February 3, 1988 - North Shore News NO SUSPECTS IN NV CRAB SHOP BLAST fixed address, and Justino Pace, 29, of Burnaby, but the two are currently serving four-year jail terms in California after they pleaded guilty to cocaine posses- sion charges. In the Dec. 18 News story larges negotiations to import cocaine from the United States into Canada were alleged to have been made. No drugs were seized in the Dec. 15 raids. In late 1985, Sonny Dobay’s NEWS photo Noll Lucente DEBRIS AND shattered glass filled North Vancouver's Crab Shop after Friday night's explosion at the rear’of the store. Police are currently in- vestigating the incident. Dobay family for 35 years before it was demolished in 1986 to make way for a 24-lot residential development. Dobay and his wife Shirley Dobay, 47, subsequently moved the operation to its present 2464 Dollarton Highway location. On Dec. 15, the Dobays were charged jointly with Robert An- thony Bogdanich, 20, of Co- quitlam, Randall Graham the Crab Shop and a Coquitlam residence. The five made another. ap- pearance Tuesday in North Van- couver provincial court and were remanded to June 20 for a prelim- inary hearing on the charges. The hearing is scheduled to take 10 days. Also charged in the case were Robert John Harrison, 29, of no chronicling the raids, federal Crown prosecutor Jay Straith said the Crown would seek extradition of Harrison and Pace. The police raids followed a year-long investigation by CLEU, the United States Customs department and the Ventura, California police department into incidents alleged to have occurred from May 8 to June 12 in which $68,000 crab boat was vandalized and sunk. The 28-foot Barkley Surge was deliberately cut loose from its Deep Cove moorage on or around Boxing Day. It was subsequently swamped and found upside down. The vessel’s engine and interior was damaged and valuable fishing gear lost. It was not insured. VICTCRIA CONSIDERS REDISTRIBUTING INDUSTRIAL TAX TAKE Municipalities slam Socred scheme A SOCIAL CREDIT government plan to take over municipal taxation powers on industrial land is meeting with fierce opposition from local governments. “There is not any municipality in the province that is not...concerned that they are tak- ing away our right to tax a certain segment of the municipality,”’ said North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks at Monday’s council meeting. “This is a serious infringement on the rights of the municipalities.’’ Council voted in favor of sup- porting a motion passed in Bur- naby opposing the provincial scheme, and will send copies of its resolution to Premier Bill Vander Zalm, Finance Minister Mel Couvelier and other government representatives. A similar motion was passed at North Vancouver District and West Vancouver councils last By KAREN GRAM Contr. i week. In mid-December, the provincial government passed a motion establishing a committee to ‘‘ex- amine, inquire into and make rec- ommendations on the matter of replacing industrial property taxes presently imposed under the Municipal Act...with a single tax at a uniform rate, the proceeds of which would be distributed to local government....’’ “There is not one kernel of justification in (this plan),’’ said Ald. Frank Morris. ‘‘The gov- ernment is not playing it exactly up front,” he said, considering the ci- ty has an agreement with the pro- vince regarding taxation. In 1987, North Vancouver City collected $4,029,404 in property taxes on industrial lands. Over half that amount went to the provincial government to fund schools leav-- ing $1.8 million to the city. City treasurer Ken Tollstam told coun- cil in his report that if the plan is adopted, ‘‘our revenues of $1.8 million would be seriously reduc- ed.’”’ Tollstam said the plan means municipalities with industrial developments, and the associated problems such as air and noise pollution, will wind up funding communities with no industries just as presently occurs with school taxes. Ald. Bill Bell called the gov- ernment motion ‘‘an example of double speak’? because it con- tradicts the government’s moves toward decentralizing government business. Ald. John Braithwaite said he was not surprised by the gov- ernment move, but said he feared the loss of local control that would result. “When we lose that (power to tax) we are then at the whim of grants and they will sit in Victoria and decide how much money will go to each municipality.’ Braithwaite also noted that Angus Ree, MLA for North Van- couver-Capilano, sits on the com- mittee established by the gov- ernment motion, and Jack Davis, MLA for North Van- couver-Seymour, supported the motion. “*T would like to know what kind of representation we are getting in the legislature when they know our feelings on this,’ Braithwaite said. The government motion follows a bill passed by the previous Social Credit government that removed municipal taxation powers over railroads on municipal property.