Northlands green 12 The color of mon Vancouver's public golf course . st ise YE 14,1998 wezgq Classifieds Crossword : Father's Day aoe 23 : Fashion eect] North Shore Alert o#e 8 Sports aoe 45 3 Talking Personals *«* 50 ooo kT eee 53 Court hears plan to con Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.com MATTHEW James Stride was angry when he boarded a bus in West Vancouver on March 25 with a loaded handgun in his backpack. Stride was heading from his home on Bowen Island to Kelowna. “The 29-y Id planned to use the stolen gun in a confrontaticr with his mother’s boyfriend in the Okanagan. Stride was angry because the boyfriend, David Baker, was HIV positive. Baker hadn't told Stride’s mother he was HIV positive despite the couple's having had an intimate relationship. “He certainly doesn’t deny he had it in for this person,” Stride’s lawyer Danie! Geller said on Wednesday in North Vancouver provincial court. After a tip from a Bowen Island resident, Stride’s bus was stopped in West Vancouver on the 15th Street off-ramp of the Upper Levels Highway. He was arrested without incident, putting a stop to the planned armed con- frontation. Stride was charged and pleaded guilty to poss handgun. During sentencing proceedings Crown lawyer Veda Kenda said the gun was one of two firearms stolen trom Stride’s landlord, Kenneth Seed. The guns were stolen along with camping cquipment about two week. before the bus incident. Stride lived in a trailer belonging to Seed. The second fizearm stolen from Seed, a .22 gauge rifle, has not been found. One week before the guns were stolen, Stride told Seed, “If my mother tests positive for HIV, my brother and J will kill him,” according to Crown information. Kenda referred to Stride’s pre-sentencing report in which a probation officer noted that Stride said he had sniffed glue once in the past three years. Stride’s statement contrasted with what a family member said to the pro- bation officer. The family member said Stride started sniffing gluc at age 7 and still has that. substance abuse problem. ing a restricted 9 mm The Crown jawyer asked for a jail sentence of four to six months for the crime. Stride’s lawyer said his client was deserving of a suspended sentence. “There is absolute no public interest in having this man incarcerated,” said Geller. Stride had a inal record which was not revealed in open court. The defence lawyer said Stride had no history of violence or gun crimes. Geller said, “He has, J submit, a problem with anger.” Paradis rejected the defence lawyer's assertion that the gun trip was a spontancous action. Paradis described Stride’s childhood as “abysmal,” but he said that Stride See Police page 4 As ea res Rugby all-stars p30 The best from this year’s crop of high school athletes at North . . Nurturing nature STUDENTS at Pauline Johnson elementary, including (foreground, left to right) Neisha Coupey, Margaux Burns and Graham Vachon, with parent volunteers Gabriel Sinclair and Jackie Frioud have worked hard to reinvent their school grounds. See story page 11. Qusirs* PD SUMMER SKAPE-UP INTRODUCTORY OFFER TRY US WITH A FRIEND 10 VISITS EACH SEPARATE FACILITIES FOR WOMEN ONLY AND/OR CO-ED 986-9177 NVC Firefighter urges support for Bolivian refuge To the rescue p5 Drive * JEEP.