3 - Friday, May 11, 1990 - North Shore News SUSPECT UNKNOWN BUT POLICE SAY VICTIM HAD ENEMIES A WEST Vancouver man was shot and killed in his Caulfeild-area home Wednesday afternoon. Friends and neighbors who knew 48-year-old John Raymond Ginnetti remember him as being a “*nice guy’’. But while West Vancouver Police investigating the murder say they have no motive, they do know the murdered man made some enemies during his social climb up the mountain from East Van- couver to West Vancouver. Ginnetti’s body was discovered by his wife Barbara at about 2 p.m. in the bedroom area of their home at 4141 Almondel Crt. A neighbor heard the dead man’s wife scream and called for police. According to West Vancouver Police Staff Sgt. Frank Aikenhead, police had no suspects as of Thursday morning. No weapon had been recovered to press time. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter Said Aikenhead, ‘‘We’re really just getting into his background, but there is a lot of public knowl- edge. He was fairly well known on the street as a stock promoter and businessman. We understand he was involved in lottery tickets. (But) We're investigating a murder.’ The police department has 10 men on the case. Investigators have linked the murder victim with a Pender Street company that buys Canadian lot- tery tickets and resells them in the United States and overseas. Bob Brody, the man who built the house Ginnetti died in, was visiting just two doors down from the murder scene just before the body was discovered. Said Brody, ‘*I was out there at about 1:30 at a neighbor’s house.”* But he didn’t hear or see anything suspicious in the neighborhood at the time. Brody sold the house to Ginnetti about two years ago. “I was over there quite a few times and he was just a great guy. I didn’t know too’much about him, but we knew he was into the lotto stuff, That’s about all we knew.”’ Brody remembers Ginnetti as a person who always tried to keep fit. He said Ginnetti had a weight room installed in the house after purchasing it. Ginnetti’s brother Bob Ginnetti, declined to comment on the trage- dy when reached by the News. Said Ginnetti, ‘I really know nothing about it and I have nothing to say.”’ WEST VANCOUVER Police Cst. Jeff Young guards a Caulfeifd-area murder scene. John Raymond Ginnetti was shot and killed in his home at 4141 Almondel Crt. Last year Ginnetti made the news after he became in- volved in 2 shouting match with Hollyweod actor Sean Penn while at I] Giardino restaurant in Vancouver. NEIVS photo Cindy Goodman Outcry stalls A RESUMPTION of blasting for the Sannis subdivision on the Caulfeild Plateau has been further delayed following continued outcry from neighborhood residents. Developer Ria Berdebe appeared with her representatives before West Vancouver District Council Monday night to request the lifting of a blasting moratorium imposed following a March 27 incident that sent boulders crashing down onto houses below the site. “‘There has been a six-week delay and the developer is anxious to get back to work,” said land surveyor Bill Chapman, ; Even though two professional engineers have agreed that blasting could safely be used to complete the necessary rock removal, resi- dents urged council to delay the blasting until their concerns have been dealt with. The developers need to remove the rock to install the develop- ment’s services under the road bed. And they have argued that By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer alternative rock removal methods such as the use of chemicals would ve time consuming and expensive. Blasting could finish the job in about 16 days compared with 193 days for the use of a chemical- expanding grout. The possible environmental ef- fects of using such chemicals and the hazards raised by the unex- pected rock falling from the grout use also raised resident concerns. Many residents want the municipality to impose more str- ingent blasting controls in West Vancouver. _According to West Vancouver's director of operations Barry Lambert, the raunicipality cannot Caulfeild blasting prohibit the use of explosives in a specific development like Sannis. But he said he will require tighter insurance provisions and the involvement of a professional engineer specialized in rock mechanics. And all blasting permits will now be signed by a professional engineer on staff. “‘These controls should be kept flexible for the time being, howev- er, to accommodate changes that may be required for practical reasons,”’ Lambert said in his May 2 report on the subject. Lambert recommends that the municipality approve the current blasting plan at the development, with the exception that two rock knobs above the cliff be left. Another alternative, which reduces the amount of rock that must be removed, would raise the road grade in certain areas by about one metre. The municipality cannot cur- “I was this far from having my face look like a dart board...”’ — Caulfeild resident Jill Mingay ee rently require the developer to reduce the number of lots in the subdivision to minimize the blasting required. Measures have been outlined to prevent a repeat of the March 27 rock fall incident, which was likely caused by the rock’s geological structure, the blasting pattern chosen and the incomplete coverage of the blast face with blasting mats (automobile tires linked with steel ropes). Area resident Jill Mingay was Creek diversion plan rejected From page 7 That still hasn’t been decided yet. What we're trying to see is if the minister can extend the amount he has approved for Cove Cliff School and the play field to in- clude reasonable compensation for the district.”” Brayne anticipates reaching a leasing arrangement with the district for the property. In the meantime, students, who had been anticipating moving into a new school at Cove Cliff as early spring 1991, attend classes in a construction zone. Said North Vancouver School District assistant superintendent Pat Bell, who assessed the situa- tion Wednesday, ‘‘Clearly we felt that the students were at risk. Doctor’s MASH unit From page 2 the brainchild of Dr. Curtis Latham, a North Vancouver fami- ly practitioner. Latham said he’d been toying with the MASH _ unit concept earlier as a way to get the public’s interest in health care issues, but the study session provided an op- portune time (o set up the three tents. The patients’ response at the unit was ‘overwhelmingly posi- tive,” Latham said, adding that the patients were given fact sheets on the doctors’ negotiations with the government. But not all public response was supportive. Joanna Tudan-Sainberg, a former cancer patient, said **When I went up there they were wearing army fatigues and laughing. They were getting a big charge out of it. I'm concerned because 1 see our health care going up in smoke.” BCMA president Dr. John There needed to be additional! precautions taken. There was ex- cessive traffic in there, there was heavy equipment being used. There is just a lack of room.”’ Added Bell, ‘‘It’s nobody’s fault except that the school has got to live with that. The pressure has come on the school board relative to the medical health officer hav- ing to deal with providing places for bodily functions for kids. And then you get the teachers’ union that logically is very interested in the hardships that teachers are undergoing on the job. And then you get the parents who are ag- gravated. And then underlying the whole issue was a lack of resolu- tion on the Cove Cliff site. You’ve got all the gun powder and gaso- line there ready for an explosion.’’ draws smiles, scorn Anderson said doctors are asking for fee increases of 6.1, 5.5, and 5.8 per cent over three years retro- active to April 1989, The government has offered a 3.5 per cent increase to the Medical Services Plan for doctors’ fees and population growth. But Hay said that figure repre- sents no increase for the doctors when a 2.5 per cent population in- crease and inflation are taken into account. “Essentially what they've of- fered is nothing,’’ Hay said. The government has rejected the BCMA’s request for binding ar- bitration. “The present reason is that we would rather negotiate an agree- ment than have it referred to some third party," said Gary Moser, assistant deputy minister, govern- ment personnel services divison. the are The next talks between BCMA and the government scheduled for May 18. disappointed that there had been no mention in the staff report of the risk to human lives created by the March 27 accident. “IT was this far from having my face look like a dart board — and that is not a nice feeling,’’ she said. Council voted to require the de- veloper to answer the residents’ concerns before resuming blasting. Resident demands include con- structing a chain link fence, pro- viding a blasting schedule with adequate warnings and designation of greenbelt areas to help prevent rock erosion. According to Chapman, the de- veloper has been trying to deal fairly with residents’ concerns for two years. The development has been plagued with controversy concern- ing the shift of the greenbelt provi- sions for the first phase of the pro- ject and the more recent removal of a 500-year-old Douglas fir. Automotives............33 Classified Ads..........41 Ecolnfo................10 Editorial Page.......... 6 Home & Garden.........13 Mailbox............... 7 Paul St. Pierre ......... 9 What's Going On........31 WEATHER Friday, sunny with cleudy perieds. Saturday mostly cloudy with chance of showers. Highs near 16°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885