Friday, Nov. 6, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 a 'V firm lands OSM contract ith huge U.S. jhone company DBA Communications Systems o provide GTE with Smarlalk NORTH Vancouver-based telecommunications com- many announced Thursday that it has signed a $5 million -S.) contract to provide telephones to the largest local elephone company in the United States. w DEA Communication Systems c. has been contracted to pro- By Michael Becker News Reporter ide’ SmarTalk telephones to GTE Dee * eS 3 ey < NEWS photo Mike Weketield RCMP CONST. Marty Blais explains the workings of a radar unit with Block Watch volunteer. citizen Cydney Harling. A police van equipped with a radar and a speed dispiay unit will be dispatched to ‘elephone Operations. i The deal with GTE is the single ‘gest contract to date for DBA. Said DBA regional sales man- Don Third, ‘‘Conservatively peaking we’re looking at 60,000 hones over three years." Third said the agreement was ached after GT£, purchased the -S.-based -Contel: telephone mpany approximately two years : i “They. (Contel) ere in 1990 the 10th largest tele- snone company in the U.S., and ‘TE was around the seventh larg- t. We were very successful with ¢ Conte! ‘properties selling onghout the USS. | “We continued to sell the marTalk line to the old Conte! * | Soperties, but GTE was trying to Bandardize on one product roughout the GTE network. “*The work was-over the last O years to get GTE to stand- having cur product. It me together this summer,’’ he GTE- contro)s aN proximately 0. telephone properties in the Bnited States. The company pro- mdes, focal telephone service ough over 20. miliion - access es in an area ‘including 40 ates, . B.C. via’ B.C. Teb, Buebec, .Venezuela - and the wninican Republic. -.. The fourth largest publicly. held pecommunicatons ° company in the world, GTE posted total reve- nues of $15.7 billion in 1991. DBA, founded in 1979 by the company’s president David Bensted, generated total revenues in 1991 of approximately $9 mil- lion, The company is targeting a 50% sales growth rate for the 1992-93 period. DBA has established a niche for itself in the competitive telecom- munications market by developing SmarTalk telephone systems. Ini- tial market research by DBA showed that telecommunications manufacturers were neglecting small-business n The telephones incorporate ad- vanced microprocessor techno- logy. They are designed for the small-business user and work as departmental communications tools for large PBX switchbcards and the Centrex or CentraNet networking system. DBA introduced SmarTalk in 1987. More than 129,000 of the tele- phones are now in use. : They are manufactured offshore and customized and checked for quality controi in ‘North Van- couver. Said Third of the GTE deal, “Our work is now to get those (GTE) properties in the U.S. to understand our product and make it fit for those customers.” olice. charge Snow with urders of Toronto couple MAN: awaiting sentencing North Vancouver provin- fai court.on’a string of Pharges, - ‘inchiding sexual sault causing bodily harm d armed --robbery,.”. has een. charged’ with two ounts' of: first-degree urder in’ Oniario., ‘A ‘spokesman for the: Toronto mwetropolitan Police said Thursday a warrant has been issued’ for the rest of David Alexander Snow, ¥, of Orangeville, Ont.-She add- that- the two first-degree der charges were laid against how in connection with. the murders in April of Nancy and in Blackburn in Toronto. - The charges stem from a joint estigation by the Toronto Met- jpolitan Police and the Ontario ‘ovincial Police. . Snow, who is currently in custody in Vancouver, is expected to be transferred to Toronto after he is sentenced in ‘North Van- couver provincial court on four charges. - Snow was found guilty Sept. 11 of sexual assault causing bodily harm, armed robbery, attempting to choke another person and con- finement against will. On Monday, North Vancouver provincial.. court Judge’ Jerome Paradis delayed sentencing Snow on the charges and set aside Jan. 12 to 14 to hear a dangerous of- fender application by Crown counsel Greg Weber. Snow was arrested at about 4 a.m, on July 12 outside the Bridge House. restaurant on Capilano Road in North Vancouver after the. police found him standing over a bound and gagged female employee of the restaurant. Tee Index gency, rain. Sunday, st showers. Highs 12°C, low lows 53°C. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Anreement i Trevor’ Lautens & Mailbox umber 0037236" areas where speeding is perceived to be a problem. RCMP launch speed watchers program on North Van streets POLICE-TRAINED “speed watchers’’ will be monitoring North Van- couver drivers who fail to watch their speed. By Michael Becker News Reporter The North Vancouver RCMP community policing section in- troduced the Speed Watch pro- gram to local streets this week. Under the program, the police are training Block Watch volun- teers to use radar. A police van equipped with a radar and a speed display unit will be dispatched to areas where speeding is perceived to be a problem. North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Marty Blais said the volunteers will set the vehicle up in preset areas. ‘The speed limit,’? he said, “‘will be displayed beside the van on a large sign, and in the back window of the Block Watch van you'll be able to see the Speed Watch sign which will tell the vehicle approaching what speed they are travelling.” The volunteers will monitor vehicles coming into their range and record ihe licence plate pumbers of speeders. “If need be, we will take action against those offenders,’’ Blais said. Information collected by the speed watchers will be turned over to the North Vancouver RCMP traffic section to help improve police enforcement in areas where speeding is a problem. Said Cydney Harling, a North Vuncouver Block Watch area coordinator, ‘It's a way our par- ticipants can proactively increase security in their neighborhoods by reducing speeders. Many of my blocks in the City North area, especially the ones around schools, are concerned about the speeding that goes on.’’ City approves flea market Merchants attack plan for 75-booth operation AN ABANDONED building in Lower Lonsdale will ‘soon be put to use following a North Vancouver City Council decision Monday night to allow a weekend flea market to open on the site. Council voted 6-I in favor of granting a temporary-use permit for the flea market which would be located at. 116 East Esplanade on the ground floor of a three- storey. building on the former Versatile Pacific Shipyards site. The lone dissenting vote came from Coun. Bill Bell. The permit allows for the operation of the flea market for a two-year period with a provi- sion for one two-year extension. In accordance with conditions set out by staff, and agreed to by flea market operator Chris Anderson, the flea market would incorporate: @a maximum of 75 vendor- rented booths on the 10,000 sq. ft. site; @ sale of used household or personal goods by vendors; ! @ sale of new. goods including arts and crafts; @ and (free) weekend parking for a minimum of 113 vehicles at a city-owned lot directly to the east of the building, which is on the north side of Esplanade. Council made its decision fol- lowing a public meeting during which members of the Lower Lonsdale Business Association (LLBA). expressed concerns . about the flea market. As presented by LLBA presi- Layne Christensen Contributing writer dent Heidi Mason, the concerns included a lack of parking, the impact of such an establishment on the Lower Lonsdale area, and the method of management of the flea market. Mason read to council some of the responses from merchants to a Sept. 6 questionnaire that was filled out by 80% of LLBA members, 61% of whom were against the establishment of a flea market in the area. Several comments made refer- ence to other flea markets operating around the Lower Mainland. “*The flea market concept would be detrimental to the area,’’ wrote one merchant, citing the Vancouver flea market on Terminal Avenue as one ex- ample, saying ‘‘it has developed into a freak show ....” Another merchant referred to the Calgary flea market, calling it ‘fan eyesore and gaudy junk heap.”’ The merchant added: ‘This type of business always drags down an area, and we are trying ee NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL to improve Lower Lonsdale. “Customers of this type of business do not shop in art gal- leries, gift stores, etc. and do nothing to enhance the area.”” But council disagreed. Coun. Barbara Perrault called the flea market a ‘‘window of opportunity’ for local artists who would be able to exhibit and sell their wares. . Coun. Stella Jo Dean said the ca market would bring a lot of activity to Lower Lonsdale and also to the Lonsdale Quay ‘because many people (who would frequent the market) are impulsive buyers.” And the flea market would also attract out-of-towners, said retired antiques dealer Denis Watson. “Just about every major hotel in Vancouver will direct tourists to flea markets,"’ he told coun- cil. “‘That’s one of the major things they (tourists) ask for.” Watson, who intends to sell antiques at the Lower Lonsdale flea market, was one of the op- erators of a flea market located in the former Beaver Lumber building at Fell and Marine Drive two years ago. The market’s operation, he said, was trouble-free.