PREGNANT WOMAN ATTACKED

NV letter carrier to sue
owners of vicious dogs

A LETTER carrier, who was attacked and injured by three
Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs Feb. 8, plans to pursue civil ac-

tion against the dog owners.

The dog attack sent 33-year-old
Margo Biggs, of North Vancouver,
to Lions Gate Hospital with inju-
ries toa leg, an arra and a thumb.

Trouble began when the vaca-
tion relief carrier went to deliver
mail to a home in the 1000-block
Forcst Hills Drive at around noon.

Biggs, who is in her third month
of pregnancy, said she heard a
noise as she walked by a backvard
fence across from the home to
which she was delivering.

**L saw a dog looking throu." a
knot hole in the fence,’’ Biggs
said. She dropped off the mai! and
as she doubled back she saw the
dog watching her from a rise in the
backyard. ‘‘All of a sudden he
came running down. His body
weight knocked a plank from the
fence, which was about six feet
high. He came running at me and
two other dogs followed behind.

Biggs said one dog went for her

By MICHAEL BECKER

News Reporter

tight arm. A second dog bit into
her left leg above the knee. The
third went for a thumb. ‘ht was
pretty terrifying. 1 screamed and
screamed,"’ she said. Biggs said the
owner came running out and called
off the dogs just as she lost her
balance.

Biggs suffered three cuts to the
leg and a tooth wound to her
thumb. Her arm, which was pro-
tected by clothing, was scraped
and bruised. ‘If it had been a
young paper carrier, somebody
would have been killed."* she said.

The North Vancouver branch of
the SPCA is investigating the case.
But SPCA supervisor Jeff Lawson
refused to comment about the in-
cident when contacted by the
North Shore News.

ate

THE 41-YEAR-old driver of a flat-deck truck suffered a back injury Friday afternoon when the vehicle
crashed into an apartment building located on the southeast corner of Marine Drive and 21st Avenue. The
truck had been travelling south on 2ist and knocked out numerous signs and two power poles. A car stopped

southbound on 21st was damaged when it was struck by two large beams which fell from the truck. The two
occupants of the car were not injured. The truck is being examined for possible brake failure.

3 - Wednesday, February 15, 1989 - North Shore News

While some letter carriers are
equipped with Mace or an um-
brella-type implement to ward off
attacking dogs. Biggs, an animal
lover, was not carrying either.

“Em looking fot inside work,
but if § do work outside again, MH
be carrying Mace. It was such a
terrifying experience, | don't know
if PU be able to deliver mail,’ she
said. :

POSTAL WORKER Margo Bigzs
om disptays a jacket which was shred-
ded at the arm by an attacking
dog. Biggs was delivering mail to a
North Vancouver home last week
when she was attacked by three
Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

SS]

oto Neil Lucent.

New cardiac lab opens

From page 1
was forthcoming from the provin-
cial government to help the hospi-
tal rid itself of its bio-hazardous
waste.

Smith and administrators from
other Lower Mainland hospitals
had also appealed to the GVRD’s
board of directors for solutions to
the waste problem.

Though the additional provincial
funds will cover LGH's immediate
budeet shortfall resulting from its
long-distance garbage disposal
system, the long-term problems of
bio-hazardous waste remain.

The hospital is still at the mercy
of a foreign country to accept such
waste, and must also live with the
possibility of having its regular
garbage service suspended if bio-
hazardous waste accidently finds
its way into the garbage processed

at local waste transfer stations.

Though LGH thus far has
nothing in writing from the pro-
vince, Smith said he has a *‘gen-
Ueman’s understanding’’ with the
Health Ministry that it will con-
tinue to pick up the hospital's costs
of bio-hazardous waste disposal
until a long-term solution has been
reached.

Ministry of Health spokesman
Andrew Mordan said the ministry
has agreed to reimburse hospitals
to ensure funds are not being
diserted from patient care to such
outside casts as garbage disposal.

His ministry, he added, is cur-
rently working with the Ministry of
Environment and the various
municipalities to address the long-
term problem of hospiral waste
disposal.

On Friday, meanwhile, the has-

pital’s new $343,000 cardiac
catheterization laboratory was of-
ficially opened by provincial
Health Minister Peter Dueck, who
also announced $1.75 million in
provincial funding for upgrading
and renovations to LGH’s labor
and delivery areas.

The new cardiac lab will provide
North Shore residents with a
diagnostic facility previously
available only at Vancouver Gen-
eral or St. Paul's hospitals.

“Ft will help cut off on2 referral
to overtaxed downtown facilities,”
Smith said, ‘tand will result in
shorter diagnostic time delays.
and mean we will be able to ad-
vance treatment required by pa-
tients.”"

The procedure performed at the
new lab involves the injection of
dye into arteries to assess arterial

NEWS photo Terry Peters

Alderman cails for
tower meeting

CITY RESIDENTS will be given a chance to question a
North Vancouver City developer on his plans to construct a
28-storey building in Lower Lonsdale.

Cressey Development Corpora-
tion has agreed to appear at a
public meeting ext month to
answer questions about the
building plans scheduled for the
St. Alice Hotel site.

But some city council members
are saying the meeting is several
months late.

North Vancouver's Official
Cormunity Plan (OCP) stipulates
that development proposals must
come before the public prior to be-
ing passed by city council. The
Cressey proposal never did.

“The OCP clearly states that
there should have been a public
meeting on this,’’ said Ald. Bill
Bell. ‘‘We owe (one) to the people
of North Vancouer.”” Even if
the public can’t change the deci-
sion, they cam get answers as to
why the devetaper chose such a tall
building, and why he chose Lower
Lonsdale, said Bell.

Ald. Rod Clark said there was
nothing to gain by holding a public

meeting after the development, -

which coincides with the area’s
zoning, had been approved.
“<(People) are well aware of
what is happening. [t has been
amply covered by the local news,””
he said. ‘Very little is served ex-

at LGH

blockage and diagnose the
presence or absence of heart
disease.

Ar estimated 500 of the
diagnostic procedures will be per-
formed annually at the new lab at
a cost of $300,00K).

Renovations covered by the
$1.75 million announced Friday
include improvements to LGH’s
in-patient unit, nursery and post-
partum areas, and an upgrading of
the hospital's nursery from level
one to devel two status.

But Smith said the provincial
funds will only cover the ‘bricks
and mortar’ of the overhaul.

The hospital. he said, will be
organizing a major funding drive
to raise the additional $500,000 for
the new equipment that will be in-
stalled in the renovated areas.

By CORINNE BJORGE
Contributing Writer

cept to confuse the public. They're
going to come thinking they have
some input,’’ he said.

Bell also criticized council for
not acting fast enough to limit
development in that area.

Bell said recommendations to
put a hold on development in the
Lower Lonsdale area were made
during a council retreat earlier in
the year. “If Mr. Cressey hadn't
applied for a building permit
within a weck (of the retreat}, 1

(believe) the building would not

have gone through.

But Ald. Frank Morris said
while he agreed that ‘‘a building of
that height was an abomination in
that area," he believed council
could not have done anything to
prevent the development.

“There were negotiations goiag
on between staff and the developer
at that time,”” said Morris, and the
developer could have fought a
last-minute zoning change.

The meeting will take place
‘Vednesday, March !5 at 7:30 p.m.
in North Vancouver City Council
chambers.

Lifestyles
North Shore Now

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