THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

Pt Be ney

Classifieds 986-6222 Office, Editcrial 985-2131 Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337

FRIDAY

Oldsmobile 98
Luxury sedan

Automotives: 43

100 pages 25¢

A SCENE of tranquillity captured recently along the West Vancouver water-

front. The motionless image causes one to take a second look - is it a
photograph or an example of realist painting?

oft breezes

Government wharf hit by wave
of theft and vandalism

BOATS DOCKED at the Deep Cove government wharf in
Deep Cove harbor are being sacked, seuttied and sunk.

Said Ron Martin. Canadian
Coast Guard area harbors and
ports manager, ‘We've had a
problem for a period of time, but
it got worse fast year. Where we
might have five or six incidents in
a three-month period, it's now to

REACHING EVERY DOOR ON THE NORTH SHORE SINCE 1969

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

the point where we're getting six
to 12 incidents in the same
period.”*

The government wharl, or fed-
eral public port) facility. is fully
accessible to all members of the
public.

Martin estimates that there are
eight to (0 full-time users of the
dock, primarily Indian Arm. resi-
dents who use their boats to
commute. During the summer, 10
to 20 boats may be at the wharf at

any given time.

“Both regular users and tran-
sient users are being vandalized.”
Martin said.

Thieves, he said, are boarding
vessels during the night and watk-
ing off with electrical equipment,
stereo equipment, flares, liquar
and money.

“Anything they can take out,”
Martin said.

Some bots have bad holes
punched into them, Others have
had drain plugs pulled. Over the
past three months alone, three
vessels, including a 20-foot run-
about and a cabin cruiser, have

been sunk.

Measures being considered to
combat the problem include in-
creasing RCMP and harbor police
patrols in the Deep Cove harbor
area and installing a controiled
access gate to the government
wharf,

Martin advises that boaters us-
ing the wharf should lock up
valuables in secure areas of their
boats and install alarms on elec-
(roni¢ equipment.

in February alone, one boat
was sunk, four boats were bur-
glarized and two boats were van-
dalized at the wharf.