HUNTER: 4 Getting what you don’t pay for. Budget Beaters......31 Business........... 28 Lifestyles...........29 Sports............. 93 What's Going On.....34 WEATHER: Sunny with showers today, highs 18-21. Cloudy with showers Thursday and Friday. 7s 4 ail) WS photo Mike Waketield A RESTORED fire engine, some B.C. Lions cheerleaders, free food and a hot sunny day. There was something for everyone recently at Save-on-Foods as local firefighters served up baron of beef sandwiches and coke to anyone making a donation to the Vancouver General Hospital Burn Unit. The firefighters, from the District of North Vancouver, were showing off a 1912 fire engine they had restored with volunteer labor, The cheerleaders were on band to add some pizazz to the event but the real winner was the Burn Unit which will benefit from the $406 collected. POLICE INVESTIGATE Real estate con stops house sale From Page 1 subsequently stuck with the defaulted mortgage pay- ments and an unsold house. Johnston confirms that the scam was recently tried in West Vancouver where it involved a $600,000 home in the British Properties. “The person uses names of pseudo-official companies as nominees in the agree- ment,”’ Johnston says, ‘‘and a virtually indecipherable signature on the purchase agreement."" Johnston says the West Vancouver deal fell through May 10 when the real estate agent involved was tipped off to the method used in the scam. The real estate source claims the perpetrator of the scam has some 200 com- panies, all that ring with the sound of authenticity, which are used variously as co- signers in his deals. Johnston says investiga- tions into the incident are on hold, “We do not have a complainant, because no laws have been broken. In these situations it is very dif- ficult to prove intent to defraud. But we are monitoring the situation and advising all real estate people to be aware that the person is out there and what his methods of operation are."’ Guy Steinhoff, assistant secretary of the Real Estate Council of B.C., says the council has had no com- plaints in the last year con- cerning such a scam, ‘‘But | can’t comment on anything beyond a year. The council recommends to all real estate licencees that they reject all deals offering the conditions of those described."” Nei! Neumann, current president of the Real Estate Board’ of Greater Van- couver, says the danger of being taken is far more real for the homeowner selling his home privately who has no agent to come back on for any loss incurred. He says that with any vendor-take-back mortgage arrangement, where the vendor is asked to carry a second mortgage by the pur- chaser, a limit to the new first mortgave being assum- ed by the purchaser should be written into any deal, “otherwise there will be no security for the vendor’s se- cond mortgage.”" Neumann says the board has received no complaints thus far this year concerning any similar scams to the one attempted in West Van- couver. Similar cons have been tried in the past, he adds. 3 - Wednesday, August 7, 1985 - North Shore News N e' ATS IN B I { Firefighters rescue kitty A STRANDED CAT can now make his way home. North Vancouver City to the saying ‘What goes up, must come down.’ firefighters Sunday But the tree-climbing rescued a cat stranded in kitty was helped back to a tree. terra firma by the good- Firefighters were called hearted firefighters, with to 132 E. 20th where the the help of 30-metre lad- anonymous feline gave lie der. Fire burns hole in roof A WEST YANCOUVER house has an eight foot by 10 foot hole in the roof after a fire Monday. fire in the shake roof. Fire officials say the fire ‘was apparently: caus- ed when homeowners were burning paper in the fireplace and ash from the fire landed on. the shake roof, causing a fire to start. Firefighters responded to a call at 4540 Woodgreen Place at 4:30 p.m. and extinquished the Guilty — pleas entered A NORTH Vancouver man has pleaded guilty to possession of a dangerous weapon and making threatening phone calls. Phillip Brian Hutchin- son, 41, will appear in North Vancouver pro- vincial court August 28 for a pre-sentence report. The charges stem from an incident June 19 of this year involving a sawed-off rifle. - Vandals damage truck A MISUNDERSTAND- ING turned into an ex- pensive repair bil! for a West Vancouver man. The man _ parked his 1976 GMC pick-up truck in the overload parking lot at Glen Eagles in the 6300*block Marine Drive in West Vancouver at 2 p.m. July 30, and returned to find it van- dalized. The man owning. the pick-up truck left the scene. When he returned July 31 at about.2 p.m. he found deep scratches carved over his . entire vehicle, .including the hood, rear box door and both sides of the truck. Underneath the engine the man found dirt and rocks in the carborator, After parking his radiator, brake fluid res- truck, he was approached — ervoir and oil filter open- by two males ina car next — ing. to him, who complained Damage (o the pick-up he was responsible for a is estamated at $2,500, small seratch on the side Police are seeking of their car, West Van- assistance in finding the couver Police reported. driver of a 1980 black A heated confrontation Datsun 280 ZX, with a ensued, and threats of glossy paint job and a assault were made, police gold pinstripe on the side. said,