NEWS phote Terry Poters mittee seeks solutions | are the responsibility of all concerned and all parties must Friday, October 8, 1993 - North Shore News - 3 ght disturbances Upper Cap petition opposes unrestricted store hours “DISRUPTIVE ACTIVITIES” in the Upper Capilano area @ solution that will satisfy all par- work together to find solutions. That was the consensus of the first meeting of an ad hoc com- mittee struck last week by North Vancouver District Council to discuss neighborhood concerns about youths congregating near a Mac’s convenience store at 4710 Capilano Rd. Local residents had presented council with a 350-signature peti- ‘tion opposing 24-hour operation of the store following a Sept. 17 brawl between groups of youths ‘that hospitalized two teenagers with knife and machete cuts. The petition claimed the store was “‘attracting a criminal ele- ment’’ and the delegation described its parking lot as a late-night hangout for youths. Council authorized Mayor Murray Lykeman and Coun. Er- nie Crist (the district representa- tive on the Police Liaison Com- mittee) to meet with representa- tives from Mac’s Convenience Stores, the RCMP and the local community. NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL by Martin Millerchip © must direct concerns to the ap- propriate parties; @ must acknowledge that store employees are not necessarily “aware of problems occurring out- side the store and should take the initiative in calling the police. The: strata council of adjacent Montroyal Terrace will review with the help of Mac’s and the RCMP how this problem has. been resolved in other communities. . The RCMP: @ will recommend the area be designated a ‘‘trouble site,” there- by requiring increased patrols; @ will work to heighten public awareness of the importance of notifying the police of suspicious activity through Blockwatch pro- grams and public meetings; ties; @ will attend public, parent/ teacher and strata council meetings when appropriate. Mac’s district manager Duncan Ritchie told the meeting that Mac’s has installed additional lighting in the front of the store, removed the video games and has regularly consulted with the store operator regarding customer. ser- vice training, crime preveation and youth interaction. Ritchie refused to commit to closing the store between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. but said the matter could be given further considera- tion by Mac’s Corporate Loss Prevention division. After receiving Dykeman’s report of the meeting Monday “night Coun. Joan Gadsby pro- posed that council approach Mac’s with 2 request to voluntarily close . the store between those hours, but her motion was defeated. Said'Coun. Paul Turner, ‘‘Let’s give it: (the ad hoc committee) a chance to work before we all jump in with motions. Let. the neigh- borhood come to its own solu- : READY TO go after donations for the Muscular Dystrophy ‘| Foundation,. West Vancouver firefighter Randy Heath holds up an empty rubber. boot he hopes will be filled by the close “ofthe campaign. Heath and his colleagues will be at. local 4 shopping malls.today and Saturday. North Vancouver fire |: {"departments ‘ have already held their drives. District “Ins2700." collected $9,200. In the city, firefighters brought ‘fin 0. tion.” . Another suggestion from Gadsby for a. “peer patrol’? (a team of young people trained by the RCMP) was also defeated. The committee will meet again on Thursday, Oct. 21, and report back to council. @ will, work with . Handsworth school staff and students in recognizing problems and identi- fying possible solutions. That. meeting took place last Friday and agreed on recommen- dations in several areas. The Public: . @ must accept share of responsi- bility for the problem and solu- tion; ; Mace’s: @ will cooperate with the com- munity and the RCMP in finding if] nate gout | | native youths are targets, — - ‘that “the increase the risk of slides, he A ‘SECTION of ‘Capilano “ watershed’ forest will .. be “logged despite some doubt, cyaised -about. the timber “entblock’s boundaries. By Cheryl Ziola _ Contr ributing Writer A majority of Greater Van- : “-gouver Regional District (GVRD) . “board members approved Oct. 1 the ‘helicopter -logging' of an a9. acre (36 hectare) site to clear ‘deadwood from earlier forest fires and to secure a test site for the aerial harvesting method. . But the. Society Promoting .. Environmental. Conservation (SPEC) raised some doubt in ‘board members’ minds about cutblock boundaries. Prior to the board meeting, ‘SPEC circulated a letter and series of maps to the media and . some board members. The SPEC © documents allege watershed staff ‘who drew up: the cutblock | boundaries have not conformed to recommendations made by an ecological consultant. The letter alleges fogging will occur in higher elevations despite . the consultant’s recommendation’ that it should not. Concerned Vancouver coun- cillor and board member Pat Wilson. asked GWVRD_ water engineering manager John Morse whether the. cutblock’s bound- aries matched the original rec. “ opmuiendations of GVRD-hire CALL US: 983-2208 ‘Mark Sager... WEST. VANCOUVER Mayor and GYRO board member obiain letier confirming specifications. ecological Donald McLennan, The consultant surveyed the cutbleck ard submitted his rec- ommendations to watershed staff in April. “There seems to be some discrepancy in looking at the maps,’’ Wilson told Morse and board members. But Morse denied any discrepancy, saying the cutblock is ‘“‘consistent with the recom- mendations (of the consultant). The information that you've been Provided with is not cor- rect.” consultant Wilson moved cutblock plan should be returned to the watershed staff for further consultation with McLennan. - Surrey councillor and board member Bill Fomich argued against her motion. “If you don’t believe them to- day, are you gonna believe them tomorrow? Either we believe the administration (watershed staff and: Morse) or we get tid of them. “We're just catering tO. people who’ve caused us prob- lems for many, many years,’” he said, referring to environmental group watchdogs such as SPEC. Wilson's motion was defeated. West Vancouver mayor and board member Mark Sager sug- gested the board obtain a letter from the ecological consuliant to confirm the cutblock specifica- tions. “Staff could certainly ask the consultant to provide a letter clarifying the situation,”’ Sager said. The board approved Sager’s idea and also approved the cutblock. . But environmentalist Paul Hundal charged that the board was receiving false information from the staff. “Very few of the directors (board members) seem to have any concern about finding the facts. They just blindly accept what the staff tells them.”’ Based on his own calculations, Hundal said the cutblock plans include the logging of higher elevations. Such logging would said. “Frankly, I’m sick of it. They won't look at our proof. I talked. te Donald: McLennan. He said } he hadn’t reviewed the final boundaries,’’. Hundal said. And while a letter from the ecological consultant would sat- isfy him, Hundal said, “‘it would ’ be after the fact.’’ When contacted by the News at his homie in Telkwa, B.C., McLennan admitted he hadn't seen the final boundaries drawn up by watershed staff. But that doesn’t come as any surprise, McLennan said. “The way that we put it was that if they were to make any changes, they would let us know.”’ He said watershed staff were not legally bound by his sugges- tions. “We don't tell them what to | do. We make tions.” : McLennan added he hadn’t yet heard about the letter, but he said he plans to contact water- shed staff and see the final cutblock plans. The harvesting contract was awarded to Coulson Aircrane Ltd., the only logging company te submit a bid. Value of the timber is estimated at $1,171,000, with harvesting costs just under $1,168,000, resulting in little or no profit to the Greater Van- couver Water District, a division of the GVRD that oversees the watershed, recommenda- | THIS WEER’S QUESTION: Do you vote for the local candidate, the party, or the party’s leader? says mother - From page 4 related to an earlier. -dispute - that’ involved a girlfriend of one of the: youths. She alleges that an Iranian - teenager attempted to provoke’ a fight by ‘‘pushing around’ the youth’s - girlfriend; -a ‘student: at Carson Graham. 'When a native female : friend intervened, she was hit by the Ira- nian teenager, claimed the woman. ' “They just seem to be going out looking for trouble. They'll use any excuse to start a fight. And: my son was the one that ended up in jail,”’ she said. “They think they are in Iran and they can go out warring any time they want,”’ she said. Her son does not attend Carson Graham. The two other . suspects are former CGSS students. The woman said a group of Iranian youths antagonized a group: of natives during a Squamish Nation Youth car wash held in the spring. She said the Iranians pulled up to the car wash and said ‘“‘they were going to get Indian ! ids to wash their car for a nickel,” the woman said. When an adult native said they had to pay $5 in advance for a car wash, the Iranians sped off. The woman, who is a CGSS graduate and the mother of five boys, said native youths cluster in groups or gangs for safety. “If they are off the reserve by themselves, they are a target,’’ she said.