ssauit case. adjourned sSENTENCING has been. adjourned to Ocv. 17 ina ‘North Vancouver aggravated — exual assault case. . ‘Mincent Anthony Ng, 31; of Vancouver, pleaded guilty to the chazge in May. Ng uusly attacked a 17: old woman,in‘Lower “Lonsdale on’. NG '‘sentence. Oct. 17 ‘adjourned to - NV classrcom crunch By lan Noble News Reporter ACROSS the North Shore; more than 23,0U0 eager and not- so-eager students returned to classes Tuesday morning. However, about 85 remained ar home in North Vancouver, in limbo because of the district’s new policy of trying to save money by maximizing class sizes. The policy means there is no longer a guarantee thar students will attend the neighborhood school. And this year, said School District 44 placement officer Peter Humphrics, approximately 85 didn’. Last year, more than 17,000 students attended public schools in North Vancouver, _ Of the waiting list compiled Friday morning, approximately 34 students were frony: Larson elementary, near Westview Shopping Centre, said Humphries : Monday morning. He expects Larson’s number to deerease because of the transient narure of the neighborhood. Students attended school in North Vancouver Tuesday morning for a head _egunt before they were sent home, said Humphries. ‘He expected a meeting beginning at 4:30 p.m, Tuesday with representatives from all the schools in the district to solve the elassroom crunch. “] anticipate it will be a long evening, but my hope will be to have everybody placed tonight or tomorrow morning,” Humphries said Tuesday. Trucking association calling for tighter industry standards: - By Michael Becker — : “News Editor, a oo. *: THE British Columbia Trucking .. Association (BCTA) is supporting some of . _. the recommendations made by a coroner’s | - “inquest jury investigating a fatal North |< Shore accident... _ <"." The jury considered the Aug. 16,-1995, deaths: of ".Wayde’ Police and Baljinder Singh’ on the Upper Levels Highway. o , Singh: was at the wheel of an apparently brakeless . “semi-trailer truck rig when it went out of control on’ the » wut : : . The. five-member ‘coroner’s jury recommended last eek that “steps should be taken to secure funding from the B.C. government to adequately monitor commercial ' - . a boot. » Nehicle’safety.”. 5 , . sey “°° According ‘to. BCTA president Paul Landry the cur-’” t approach ‘to enforcement is not effective in identify- sing an taking action ‘against truck“drivers who operate nsafely. Landry ‘called’ for mobile enforcement to augment ~ the sting. practice of enforcing commercial vehicle eigh scales. He points out that many areas of .. fovince are not covered by scales. Most scales are tosed on evenings and weekends and illegal truckers can circurivent scales,” co : id. mobile enforcement “creates a.degree of lincértainty and. risk. of apprehension on the. part of rs " a . »Landry: supported , the implementation of “facility... -audits,” review by a.gavernment. inspector of a carrier’s - vehicle and driver, records to find out if the company’s . drivers are: qualified and whether the vehicles are rou- * tinely.and, properly inspected.” : . i ‘ , set leaves about 85 in search of neighborhood spots register their children for school. He said he’s received, numerous calls from parents upset with their children’s stiil-10-be- determined sams, Other parents are calling, to One of the refused students has a story with a happy ending. Eric Johannsen’s mother, Trudy, told the space. thought out,” she said. to hire crossing guards at city schools. There was also some gocd news from district 44 superintendent of schoois Robin Brayne. He said North Vancouver City nas provided $7,000 News in mid-August that six-year-old Eric did not have a school to go to. He had been refused entrance at Highlands because there was no On Tuesday, Johannsen said she was happy to report her son had been accepted at Highlands, his focal school, “1 still feel the policy is not well DISTRICT 44 school . superintendent Robin Brayne ... good news. The guards should be on the job this morn- ing, said Brayne Tuesday. However, there ure no plans to bring back the guards in North Vancouver District. The ‘crossing guards were the victims of budget-cutting in the North funding. Right now only 5% of B.C. carriers are exposed to facility audits. ; ey The coroner’s jury also recommended that_ “the trucking industry and the B.C. government enter into a joint training program for new drivers and new B.C. license applicants.” ue Landry said current classified driver license standards, in place for 24 years, have not kept pace with increasing demands on drivers. ‘Truck technology: has changed and . traffic'is more congested, for example. es Said Landry, “Responsible , carriers recognize ‘that ‘only trained and experi- . " eneed drivers with good — ‘records should be allowed to drive. large. commercial vehicles, irresponsible‘ carriers’: will accept any person who has. “During the inquest a crash . expert testified ‘that.as many. as, 30% of heavy. trucks on the. - road are unsafe.” regardless of -how. they obtain it or -how:-much experience’ they have.” the creation’of a Hered sys- bination of vehicle size, weight and number of trailers. , _ During the inquest. a crash expert testified’ that as. many:as 30% of heavy trucks ori the road are unsafe. - . Landry, disputes the figure. “How.can this be recon- |, ciled with the industry’s good record and the/fact that: ” I only three per cent of heavy truck crashes are attributable *. to vehicle defects?” : i The association maintains that most trucking trouble: ” ‘on the road is caused by “a small minority of truck oper- ators who operate with little risk of being apprehended and even less risk of losing their operating privileges.” i 2S has ng | a . Unfortunately, * a ‘proper class. of licence. |.°» Mo i pam. ‘The: bottom: o “The BCTA_. proposes’. tem fot professional classes “ of licences based on a com-, :: smount ‘ Froni page 1 “Vandotiver District’s acting director -of finance, said Friday approximately 75% of the loss stems from the removal_of Second Narrows Bridge ~ as’a source of rail revenue. Unider Bill 55; railways have been - granted a tax exemption for the use of B.C. bridges. . MePherson said the -province plans to phase in the cuts (ty the - municipality over four years, bur those plans are vague. “A locof things are a bit ofa mys- “-terytatthis point,” he said. “What “we're sure ot is that there is a poten- ‘thal loss. af $800,000.".-.- .” _ out that a hiker on the. Grouse : Grind ‘Trail had ‘reportedly sus: ‘>: tained a head injury, nat The: Grouse Grind Trail begins on the cast side of che sky” ride near the mountain's parking lot and ends at the top. . The Grouse Grind ‘hiker was ~ not seriously injured, He managed to nvake it to the top of the Grouse Grind and was treated for: superficial cuts "by NSRT members. os So far this year, the NSRT has © responded to 40 calls for help by: ° people in wilderness areas. Peterson said, at this rate, the volunteer rescue group may sur- pass its highest number of calls in © , a year which was logged at: 60. / two years ago. °