Scout iree fraud Inquiry cancelled Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter adangclo@nsnews.com THE controversial owner of an abandoned copper mine near Britannia Beach was ill on Wednesday, causing the cancellation of a pre- liminary inquiry into a charge that he detraud- ed the West Vancouver Boy Scouts’ Christmas ‘Tree fund. Tim Drummond, 52, of West Vancouver, was charged with stealing from and detrauding the West Vancouver Boy Scouts between Jan. 30, 1996, and Apni 1, 1997. West Vancouver Police allege $44,625 was taken from the Scouts’ Christmas tree find entrusted to Drummond. On Wednesday, West Vancouver Boy Scouts representa- tives and a West Vancouver Police officer were present for the scheduled one-day preliminary hearing. Drummond's lawyer Terrence La Liberte had a doctor’s letrer stating that his client had a respiratory illness. A preliminary hearing was rescheduled for June 2. Drummond was charged with the offence last August. A preliminary hearing is held for a judge to determine if there is enough evidence for trial. Drummond is the owner of Copper Beach Estates Limited (CBEL) and the Britannia Mine site near Squamish, The copper mine was closed 25 years ago and has been discharging harmful acid rock drainage into Howe Sound for decades. Acid reck drainage is a metallic contaminant toxic to fish. Lase September, the provincial Environment Lands and Parks ministry gave CBEL conditional approval for a proposal to eliminate the pollution problem without using taxpayers” dollars. The proposal was to cap the huge open-pit mine with contaminated soil that government offi- cials believe will not get into the water system. CBEL will make money ftom a landfill on the site. When the govern- ment gave provisional permits for the muiti-million-dollar plan, the mine properry was being managed by a court- appointed receiver, according to the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. Police pepper-spray knife-wielding youth _ A 14-year-old was pepper-sprayed by police on Tuesday as he wielded two large kitchen knives at officers. Earlier, the teen had a fight with his mother and cut the phone lines so that she couldn’t call 9-1-1, according to the North Vancouver RCMP. The mother yelled to a neighbour to call 9-1-1, When police arrived at the house in the 200- block of East Ist Street, they couldn’t convince the teen to open the door. Police forced the door open and confronted the knife-wielding youth. But, according to police, the teen refused to drop the knives. He was subdued with pepper spray. The youth is facing charges of mischief and possessing a weapon. He was released from police custody ro the care of the Ministry For Children and Families. ~~ Anna Marie D'Angelo A Llama abuse allegations | Friday, January 7, 2000 — North Shore News - 3 | NEWS photo Terry Peters BC Rail was literally and figuratively re-raited Wednesday. The North Vancouver-based Crown corporation reached a tentative agreement with the Council of Trade Unions on BC Rail early in the morning. Workers returned to the job and had to re-rail two cars that were derailed the day the lockout began. iC Rail ’ gets back Tentative deal reached in rai! dispute Bab Mackin News Reporter bmackin@nsnews.cam BC Rail is rolling again. The lockout was fifted — early Wednesday morning when the Crown corporation and its seven labour unions reached a tentative agreement. Details of the pact won't be released uatil the 1,600 workers have voted on it. BC Rail has recommended the deal be accepted by its board of directors, while the Council of Trade Unions on BC Rail is asking workers to agree to the three- year deal. “There were a lot of hard negotiations before it was over, 10 hours with a medi- ator,” said BC Rail spokesman Alan Dever. “Both sides were anxious to come up with a deal. It was satisfactory cnough for both sides to recommend to their princi- pals.” The final round began 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and ended at 3:10 a.m. Wednesday. Mediator Irene Holden brought the sides together. All employees were recalled as required by 8 a.m. today to the positions they held before the lock- out. Among the first orders of business Wednesday morning was for the re-rail- ing of owo freight cars in the North Vancouver yard. Dever said Premier Dan Miller was able to get the process going but was not directly involved with negotiations. “It's a deal that's satisfactory to both sides,” he said. “There is give and take on both sides.” Said CTU chairman Bob Sharpe: “We're very pleased it’s over with and the members are back to work and the rail- way is running. It was a tough round for both sides.” The three-year deal is retroactive to the wonderful ... Lifeforce, an “This holiday season Park Royal is celebrating the weird, the things that make us individuals.” “ecology mn track yan. 1, 1998, and expires on Dec. 31 of this year. it could be less than nine months until the sides begin to discuss the next contract. “That round will have its own person- ality and direction,” Dever said. He said it will take until the middle of next week for the railway to return to full service. Some tracks in the system may be under snow, while the yards are very con- gested. Passenger service should be back to normal in a few days, he said. Sharpe said he hopes the final vote will be announced by Feb. 4. Members of the seven unions that make up the CTU are spread throughout the province from Vancouver to Fort Nelson and would be voting by mail. There will be information meetings where there are large concen- trations of BC Rail workers, such as North Vancouver, Squamish and Prince George. BC Rail locked gut its 1,600 union- ized workers Dec. 24 after the CTU announced it would exercise limited strike action to shut down BC Rail’s spe- cial holiday and new year’s dinner trains. evelled at West Van mall Deana Lancaster News Reporter dlancaster@nsnews.com THE marketing depart- said Lone. She said mall administra- tion was surprised by the accu- sations. “You take it with a grain of salt. “TI was there at the filming photo submitted ONE of the llamas who starred in a holiday commercial for Park Reyal Shopping Centre waits while its scarf is adjusted by a stylist. Tre shopping centre has been accused of animal abuse by a Vancouver-based animal riyhts organization. ment at Park Royal Shopping Centre is not guilty cf Hama abuse. That’s the word from the administration at the shopping centre after a Vancouver-based animal rights organization accused it of exploiting the animals in its holiday television ads. “No llamas were harmed in the filming of this commer- cial,” said Cindy Lone, mar- keting director at Park Royal. The ad, which appeared throughout December on local television networks, fea- tures a bevy of woolly llamas with winter scarves knotted casually around their long uecks. Liquid gazes are lev- elled at the camera, slender ears twitch in time to Julie London’s version of the jazz tune Warm December, and the announcer says smoothly organization” founded by ani- mal activist Peter Hamilton, issued a press release on Dec. 22 to announce its second annual ADbusive Awards. The purpose of the awards is to “draw attention to company advertising that exploit ani- mals or can lead to the abuse of animals.” ¢ was unclear from the press release how the llamas” neckwear could lead to their abuse, but Hamilton did accuse the shopping centre of treating the llamas “like living display racks. Animals should be respected for their natural beauty and not dressed in human clothes.” But according to Lone the ad wasn’t conceived as a hard- sell for scarves. “The intent was to have an attractive, entertaining ad that would put Park Royal in the forefront of shoppers’ minds,” that day. The owners of the Hamas were all there. They (Hamas) had food, they had water, they were getting exer- cise.” The ad proved to be onc of the centre’s most popular ever. “We actually had people calling us to tell us how much they loved it, and what was the name of the song, It was great, usually people only call if they have complaints.” The press release also stat- ed that a reindeer at the mall for a Christmas promotion in the 1970s “became very sick and was shot” after eating plastic. Rick Amantea, general manager of the shopping cen- tre, said staff and administra- tion at the mall had not heard anything about the alleged incident. Calls to Peter - Hamilton at Lifeforce were not retur ved to press time.