MBER 24, Auto Bright Lights : Classifieds E Coupon Clipper + Crossword Laulens Mercer Taiking Personals #9 54 ooo 56 ooo] Lon Monn vatcntert BC Canacan Publeators Mat Sats Proguct Agreer. 188 Pages o-yéar Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.cam IT took less than five minutes on Wednesday for a North Vancouver provincial court judge to sentence a former ICBC office assistant to three years in jail. Tracy Hall, also known by her maiden name Brache, bowed her head as her lawyer held her arm when Judge Jerome — Paradis announced the — sentence. Visibly upset, th: woman looked in her husband’. direction in the public gallery as a sheriff escorted her out the prisoner’s door. Hall, 34, of Burnaby, pleaded guilty to stealing $197,601.58 from ICBC over a 20-monrh period ending in November, 1998. She stole the money by writing 99 cheques to herself” in her maiden name. Hall took the money through 22 closed ICBC accounts. She was caught when an adjuster tried to review a closed file and discovered a payment with “no apparent explanation,” according to the judge. “The only mitigating fac- tor offered by the accused is that she was in some sense compelled to commit these thefts because of her desper- ate need to be accepted by aid Paradis. Hall's lawyer John Bethell had asked for a con- ditional sentence M10 jail) tor See Theft page 4 Film Festival p18 DayDrift, The Cup and best bets at this year’s cinema feast Open Road p39 Race the track Sunday, drive to work Monday Denzal Sinclaire & the Bill Coon Project set for NV This ween p14 FREE io NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge B.C. Ambulance paramedics transfer an 18-month-old girl to a helicopter bound for B.C.’s Children's Hospital early Wednesday evening. The girl fel! 70 metres from the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Police arrested her snother and kept her overnight for questioning. Bob Mackin News Reporter A baby’s fall from the Capilano Suspension Bridge Wednesday marked the last day of summer. On the first day of fall, a Vancouver-area woman in her mid-30s was under arrest at North Vancouver RCMP detachment, Investigators were trying Thursday to determine whether she tied to kill her baby or if she simply ignored signs warning parents not to ¢ children over the wobbly bridge. North Vancouver RCMP were called to the pop- ular tourist attraction on Capilano Road around 3:30 p.m. after an 18-month-old gid with Down's syndronie tell 70 metres (230 ft.) ta a rocky ledge next to the Capilano River. Mom arrested after infant survives Cap bridge plunge While emergency crews converged upon the tourist attraction, the gates were shut and tourists evacuated. Management distributed rain cheques and offered some customers free drinks at a restau- rant across the street. Police, North Vancouver District firefighters, B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics and North Shore Rescue volunteers pooled efforts to reach the baby and bring her to saf Spokesmen for cach or baby's survival as miraculous. Ambulance paramedic Ian Macmillan was low- ered down from the bridge where he jovously found ation described the the baby crying. He joined Capilano Suspension Bridge employees who had rappelled down before him. “It’s the best fecling to get down there to sce the baby moving and crying,” he said. “I could actually see the baby moving her arms from the bridge. The baby was crying, not loudly, Suc we love co hear the baby ery because that means they're breathing. It’s the quiet babies we're more concerned about.” had bruises and scrapes, bur appeared sory condition, Macmillan said. as more land than water near the rocky ledge, which was about one metre wide and three metres long. The baby was raised to bridge level and hurried toa waiting ambulance. The ambulance transported See NV pane3 Single Pair 1997 10 pack *24” Season Pass °49°” & Pass votid thru Maren 31.2000 5S! waa RO 985-3000 Cusiom Radius $9470 Sieve Willlams brings 10 years visit us at www.homebuilders.ca a a ie of skate sharpening & repair HANDYIVMAN. SERVICE NOW. AVAILA LIGHT... (RUGE 985-3066. (behind Capilano Mall) experience to Homebuilders