police claiming record leaked Photographer files $500M lawsuit A 29-YEAR-OLD Vancouver man is suing the West Van- couver Police Department and one of its officers for $500 million in connection with what he alleges is the illegal Jeaking of criminal record information to a civilian. Vancouver Police Board inquiry at West Vancouver’s municipal hall on Thursday night, Edward Kowalski said information about him was leaked in late 1990 at the request of West Vancouver resident V.!. Pollack. Pollack, whose 28-year-old daughter, Lisa Seymour, lived with Kowalski, was acting upon rumors that Kowalski lived in luxury in California, owned a police scanner and pagers, and was using Lisa to collect mail for him from a post office box in Blaine. **I was worried that she might be involving herself in criminal activity,’ Pollack told West Van- couver Mayor and police board member Mark Sager. She approached Henry Indra, a West Vancouver police officer she knew, who in turn used the department's CPIC information system to reveal that Kowalski apparently had numerous convic- tions of theft and break and enter. Pollack conveyed that informa- tion to family members and her daughter. She collected further allegations that Kowalski lived off the avails of a prostitute in Edmonton and possessed kiddie porn. A visibly upset Kowalski told the police board Thursday night that the collusion between Pollack and Indra amounted to a criminal invasion of privacy. Kowalski had prompted the police to launch an internal in- vestigation into the affair in 1991. The investigation concluded that Indra had indeed acted improperly and should be disciplined with a letter of reprimand. But Kowalski said, ‘‘The discipline being handed down is not just. We have a citizen and an During a West by Rebin Brunet Contributing Writer officer who feel they are above the law."” Kowalski called for Indra to be dismissed from the force, saying that the information contained in the CPIC system is for internal police department use only. Seymour testified on behalf of Kowalski, saying that she tried unsuccessfully to verify the in- formation obtained by her mother with various police departments. “Mr. Kowalski gave me no teason to believe he had a crimi- nal background,”’ she added. Bill Smart, appearing on behaif of Staff Sgt. Indra, said that In- dra had given 27 years of good service to the community and had infurmed Pollack that the infor- mation he relayed to her was highly confidential; Pollack, overwhelmed with concern for her daughter, was unable to keep it to herself. “He has been brutally honest and admitted to his mistake. | ask you to accept the disciplinary measures suggested by the police department.’ After a 15-minute adjournment, the police board council concur- red. “A written reprimand is an ex- tremely serious penalty, and ap- propriate,”’ said Sager. But Kowalski, who said he was a commercial/modei photographer of 15 years’ standing, insisted his reputation was on the line. He admitted he ‘thas knowl- edge'’ of the robbery and break- ing and entering charges and of living in California, but he denied the other allegations. Porest fire fears rise EMERGENCY AND governmental agencies with the mandate to fight focal forest fires met Tuesday to tighten up response plans in the event of a wilderness blaze on the North Shore. Provincial forestry officials say there is currently a high hazard of fire in local forested areas. The meeting earlier this week was attended by representatives from the North and West Van- couver fire departments, the B.C. Forest Service, the GVRD, Grouse Mountain Resorts and the North and West Vancouver Emergency Program (NW VEP). Said Ross Peterson, NWVEP coordinator, ‘‘There’s a grow- ing concern about what's called wildland-urban interface fires. “{t’'s the geographical point where wildland and urban structures meet. We have a lot of that on the North Shore all the way across the top. So the concern has been heightened of course by recent incidents in the U.S. where wildland-urban interface fires have been ex- tremely damaging,”’ Peterson said. By Michael Becker News Reporter With the extremely dry spr- ing and the lack of snowfall in the winter,local forests are very dry. Peterson recommended that North Shore residents living near wilderness area should take care not to ignite fires. “They can also remove the fuel from around their dwell- ings — keeping the scrub brush down near their houses,’’ he said. Said B.C. forestry spokesman Doug Campbell, “It's a high fire hazard right new, There are no restrictions as far as going owt into the forest and camping and lighting a camp-fire. However if the dry weather keeps up there will be camp-fire bans in place.’’ NEWS photo Paul McGrath FIRE GUTTED a North Vancouver home on Wednesday. North Vancouver District Fire Depart- ment firefighters were called to 603 Shannon Cres. at 5:44 p.m. The fire spread quickly and the house was engulfed in flames when they arrived. The cause of the fire is under investigation. No injuries were reported. 24-hour ferry sailings launched Horseshoe Bay residents fail to disrupt new service DESPITE THE presence of protesters, it was smooth sail- ing Thursday night and early Friday morning for the B.C. Ferry Corp.’s (BCFC) new 24-hour ferry schedule between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo. BCFC spokesman Bill Bouchard said the launch of the all-night sailings went so well that some vehicles waiting to catch the 1 a.m. sailing were forced to wait at the Horseshoe Bay terminal un- ul the 3 a.m. sailing because of heavy traffic. The Horseshoe Bay-based Stop Overnight Sailings (SOS) group has mounted a protest campaign against the BCFC’s decision to sun 24-hour sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo, arguing that the move will in- crease noise and truck traffic in Horseshoe Bay during the late- night and carly-morning heurs. But the BCFC said it will operate the all-night sailings for a trial period during the summer months to see if it helps cut traffic line-ups at the Horseshoe Bay terminal. Under the new ferry schedule, ferries now depart the Horseshoe Bay terminal five days a week at Il p.m, | a.m., 3 am. and 5 a.m. As an added incentive to use the early-morning sailings, the By Surj Rattan News Reporter BCFC is offering ferry passengers a 50% fare discount if they sail on either the | a.m. or 3 a.m. ferries. “It went very, very well. I was actually surprised at the large number of vehicles that showed up,’’ Bouchard said. He added that there was a full load of overheight vehicles waiting for the 3 a.m. sailing and at 2 a.m. the BCFC was already selling tickets for overheight vehicles for the 5 a.m. sailing. Bouchard said the protesters, which he estimated numbered about 60, were ‘‘well-behaved’' and carried placards and handed motorists information sheets ex- plaining why they were opposed to 24-hour sailings out of Horseshoe Bay. West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager, who said he turned out to lend moral support to the pro- testers, said the group numbered closer to 120. While the SOS members said they will continue to protest the all-night sailing decision, at least one North Vancouver woman said she liked the idea of the added ferries. Karen Parry said all-night sail- ings are needed. Parry, who grew up in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island and still has family living there, said she has been affected in the past by the lack of 24-hour ferry sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo. Under the previous schedule, the last ferry departed Horseshoe Bay at 9 p.m. “When my dad was dying on the island the doctor phoned me and said 1 should come right over. But there is no way to get to Van- couver Island after 9 p.m.,’’ said Parry. “1! understand their (SOS’s) concerns, but there is another side to it. There are people out there other than the Horseshoe Bay res- idents. I just don’t think they’re looking at the whole issue....That ferry service is, after all, an exten- sion of the Trans-Canada High- way.”