id f f fe i ENE SY Mg BERETTA PN BOE MIP brace for weekend party trouble NORTH VANCOUVER is bracing itself for a weekend of wild partying. North Vancouver RCMP and the North Vancouver School District are stepping up security measures at local high schools in anticipation of traditional Labor Day weekend student ‘‘sleep- overs.”" Over the past several years the annual rite of graduation at North Vancouver secondary schools has grown to include large parties held on school grounds on the weekend before classes begin for the new school year. According to North Vancouver RCMP Insp. Dave Roseberry the phenomenon is unique to North Vancouver. For the past three years the par- ties have been planned by graduating students. But he said, “They usually end up becoming drunken brawls. It’s not the peo- ple in the graduating classes in most cases. It’s the people who hear about it and show up. Two years ago we had a riot.”’ ed 44 ['m fed up. I’ve been cleaning up vomit and cans and broken glass for the last six weeks. 9¥ — “party house’’ neighbor Roy Baumgartner Last year was quiet, but this year the school district is bringing in security guards. And the police detachment is dedicating a special task force to keep party-gvers at bay. Meanwhile North Vancouver City residents and business people located near the 600-block of West 16th Street have already had their fill of party fallout but are anticipating more of the same this weekend. Said Roy Baunigartner, the owner of the Gold’s Gym ouuiet located across from a dilapidated house that has been the site of a number of large parties during the summer, ‘‘I’m fed up. I’ve been cleaning up vomit and cans and broken glass for the last six weeks.’” On Aug. 12, a vacant house located at 914 West 16th St. was set ablaze. A fire department rep- resentative said that there was ‘‘a huge party’? under way next door at 908 West 16th St. at the time of the 2a.m. fire. The torched house had also been the scene of parties during the summer. Last Friday, North Vancouver RCMP and West Vancouver Police were called to the By Michael Becker News Reporter neighborhhod to control a party attended by an estimated 300 young people. A four-hour standoff resulted in the arrest of about half a dozen people. Mischier charges are pending. According to Baumgartner, Friday’s party was widely adver- tised on posters as a three-day “‘mini-Woodstock.’’ The people renting the house hired a live band, boarded up the backyard and charged $3 a head for entry to the event. But the promised three days of love and peace quickly turned un- ruly as the crowd began to build. Said Baumgartner, ‘‘They were already showing up when [ was closing up at around 10 p.m. There were kids all over the park- ing lot with beer bottles, and I had to phone the police and tow trucks and it just got steadily worse from there. There were at least 16 police cars here. They had to get West Van (police), a riot squad, they had dogs, shields, clubs and these kids were pelting them with beer bottles."’ But Baumgartner said the police had to stand by and ‘‘babysit’’ the party-goers because they are hamstrung by overly restrictive rules of conduct. “The police have no bite in their laws, no authority to do anything,””’ he said. ‘‘They had to wait for a warrant and by that time it’s too late. “The kids were sitting there thumbing their noses at these guys and calling them pigs. These guys have to stand there and take it. And the residents at the condos were calling the police idiots for just standing there,'’ he said. North Vancouver District Ald. Craig Clark, who owns the house that was damaged by fire Aug. 12, was also at the scene Friday. Said Clark, ‘The police were trying to control the people in the street, but they were standing by with their hands tied, not able to do anything constructive with the people partying in the backyard. Unfortunately police have to act in accordance with the law. The unfortunate part is that we don’t have laws to protect the average citizen.” But Roseberry asks for patience from the public. “It takes a lot of time aii it takes a lot of resources. It takes a lot of patience from the police of- ficers and the people in the area. We understand the frustration, but the police officers are frustratcd too. We have great problems when we're breaking up big parties: they can easily escalate into a riot. A couple of hours of soft-pedalling and soft-talking is far more beneficial than having a riot,’’ he said. Roseberry added that large par- ties are commonplace in North Vancouver. ““We have these every weekend. This one was just a little larger. The weekend before we had one with close to 200 people and the weekend before that we had one up at Centennial Park with about 50 to 60 people and that ended up to be a real problem,’’ he said. Friday. August 31, 1990 - North Shore News - 3 Saag NEWS photo Stuart Davis RAUL BOESEL of the Budweiser Indy Car Racing Team signs seven-year-old Duncan Milroy’s cast at Capilano Mall Thursday. Boesel and other Indy drivers were on hand at the mall to promote this weekend’s Molson Indy race in Van- couver, NV shipyard proposes ferry conversion scheme THE B.C. Ferry Corp. (BCFC) has yet to react to Ver- satile Pacific Shipyards’ proposal (VPSI) urging the Crown corporation to speed up its plans to rebuild its aging ferry fleet by buying two European rail ferries and letting the North Vancouver-based shipyard convert them into pas- senger vessels. But one union official says the VPSI proposal is a ‘‘stop-gap measure’ that is worth consider- ing. Last Friday, VPSI chief execu- tive officer Peter Quinn, whose company has bid on one of two 470-vehicle ‘'S’’ class superferries commissioned by the ferry cor- poration, said Versatile research has found that the BCFC system could handle 1,820 additional vehicles by 1994 and would pump millions of dollars into the pro- vincial economy if it opts for the conversion of the two European rail ferries along with the two new “S’’ class ferries. “The results of our investiga- tion,’’ Quinn said, ‘‘showed that the conversion of RO-RO (roll on, roll off) tonnage into passenger car ferries, as is common in Europe, would be a very economic option for the BCFC and would bring immediate work to VPSI and other participating firms and suppliers.”’ The purchase and conversion of the two RO-RO ferries would be in addition to construction of the two new superferries. Quinn said if an order was given ‘immediately’? for the two RO-RO vessels, VPSI could have the two ferries delivered in 1991. Each 160-metre vessel could carry up to 440 vehicles. ““VPSI and the industry partici- pants would still be able to deliver a first ‘‘S’’ class ferry in 1993 and could also supply a second in 1994 in time for the Commonwealth Games,’’ said Quinn. In July, VPSI bid $119,189,000 on one of two 470-vehicle ‘‘S’’ class superferries. While that vessel is scheduled for delivery in February 1993, VPS1I declined to bid on the first identical By Surj Rattan News Reporter superferry because it stated that it would be unable to meet the May 1992 delivery date. Versatile was the lone Canadian bidder, which means the first vessei_ will be built outside of Canada. But Marine and Shipbuilders Union local 506 business manager Ron Ferguson said Thursday the addition of the RO-RO_ ferries whether any B.C. shipyard had the facilities to build such vessels. Quinn said that the total eco- nomic benefit to B.C., if the two “*S"’ class ferries were built inside the province, would be more than $400 million. The two RO-RO’s, he said, would generate more than 800,000 hours of work, while the ‘‘S’’ class ferries would provide more than two million. The proposal has been sent to BCFC president Frank Rhodes, who has yet to respond to the un- solicited submission. Meanwhile, Vancouver Ship- yards Co. Ltd. general manager Tom Ward said he hopes the BCFC accepts VPSI’s bid to build the second of two ‘‘S” class superferries, adding that VPSI, Vancouver Shipyards and Allied 44 By using the RO-RO’s now, the delivery date jor che secend superferry can be pushed back and that would be in the power of B.C. shipyards to build. 99 — Marine and Shipbuilders Union local 506 business manager Ron Ferguson would allow the first ‘‘S’’ class superferry to be built in B.C. “It’s (RO-RO’s) a stop-gap measure. By using the RO-RO‘s now, the delivery date for the se- cond superferry can be pushed back and that would be in the power of B.C. shipyards to build,’’ Ferguson said. ‘‘It's (RO-RO’s) worth looking at.’’ Another proposal being consid- ered by the ferry corporation is the construction of high-speed catamaran ferries. The proposal was submitted by Sam Bawlf, a former minister responsible for the BCFC. But Ferguson. said Bawif’s idea is not feasible, because the catamarans would be built of aluminum and he questioned & Automotives @ Classified Ads @ Ecolnfo @ Editorial Page Index @ Home & Garden Second Class Registration Number 3885 Shipbuilders would all benefit from the contract. ‘*Versatile has indicated to us that they would sub-contract work on that vessel to us and to Allied,”’ said Ward, who added that such a move would employ between 100 and 130 people at Vancouver Shipyards ‘‘for a good year.”’ “It would also complement the program we have for the con- struction of two minor vehicle ferries. Seventy per cent of the value of the ferry would go back into the economy of B.C.,’’ said Ward. ‘‘If it’s built in a foreign shipyard, then only a small per- centage would find its way back to B.C. manufacturers.”' Weather Friday, cloudy with sunny breaks. Saturday, sunny with cloudy periods and a chance of showers. Highs near 18°C.