RCMP fire on stolen vehicle

N AUXILIARY North
‘ancouver RCMP officer shot
ve bullets at a stolen van
arly. Friday morning on
ollarten Highway in North

Vancouver District’s Seymour
rea. .
ty Anna Marie D'Angelo
vs Reporter

‘According to preliminary police
ports, the -officer began shooting
fter he heard a loud bang and saw a
low .Noith Vancouver RCMP
ember dive over a police car.

“The stolen five-ton Surrey van
as being driven towards two police
fficers who had partially. blocked a

d with a police car.

“It’s a call a member makes. at the .

e if there is a threat of serious bod-

ty harm,” ‘North Vancouver RCMP
onst; Mare Sylvestre said on Friday.
‘is always. reviewed thoroughly
ter that.”

‘No one was injured by gunshots. .

wo bullets were lodged in the stolen
‘ But. North. Vancouver RCMP

Sgt. Ron Babcock said the sus-

kets “were injured after. failing ‘to
bmply” with *
olice) dogmaster.”

‘Instructions, of the’

cruisers chased the van for about
seven minutes shortly after midnight
on Friday in the Seymour area, The
van swerved at pursuing patrol cars
several times during the chase.

“It attempted to ram two patrol
cars in total." said Sylvestre.

At Dollanion Highway and Dollar

Road, the van, police say, swerved

and then moved directly at the two
police officers near the police car par-
tially blocking the road.

_ A loud bang that sounded like a
gunshot was heard. An RCMP officer
dove over his car for caver. :

The auxiliary officer, with the van
racing tewards him and thinking his
fellow police officer had been hit,
fired at the approaching vehicle,

It stopped immediately, and the
three occupants got out, “put their
hands on their heads and stopped,”
according to police. One adult male
from..North Vancouver and two
youths (under age 18) were arrested.
To press time Friday, no names had
been released.

All the suspects were known to
the police; the North Vancouver sus-
pect was described as being “very

‘well known” to police.

‘A preliminary. investigation indi-
cates that the loud bang may have
resulted from the van hitting a side
mirror of a vehicle parked on
Dollarton.

Sunday, February 5, 1995 — North Shore News - 3

"NEWS photos Brad Ladwicige

PROTESTERS CRITICIZED Paul Martin’s use of public money to
build his ship, which is now registered in the less-taxing Bahamas.

Troubled waters

for

Fram page 1

He would not divulge company
finances nor comment on whether
tax benefits were realized by mov-
ing the ship's registration overseas.

Meanwhile, protester Peter
Borzillo, first vice president of the
Marine Workers and Boilermakers
Local 1, said he has watched his
union brothers laid off by the hun-
dreds since 1982, when 1,500 work-
ers toiled at the now-defunct
Versatile Shipyards. Many. of those

lartin’s ship

laid off are unemployment insur.
ance repeaters, who work when they:

ean and collect UIC when they
can’t, said Borzillo. He fears Martin
will cut UIC to repeaters. in his
upcoming budget.

Kally organizer David Crain said
the Adantic Superior represents a

‘rejection of the Liberals’. commit-

ment to “jobs, jobs, jobs” that the
party made in the 1993 election.
He said the only reason why 300

now is because ofthe cheap
Canadian dollar. Presontaine said
Vancouver. Shipyards, an owner of :
Vancouver Drydock, offered the
best price.

Martin could not be reached for
comment.

North Vancouver RCMP patrol

o-lane bridge,” he'said.

Buckland, of North Vancouver's Buckland and Taylor, is the
thor of several reports on the bridge, including a March’ 1993
port which stated that the bridge’s towers and cables were fine
t its deck had to be completely replaced by 1998.

Buckland is also ° the’: Ministry of. Transportation and
ghways’ (MoTH). structural consultant and sits on the

hnical Support Group, which advises the Community Focus -

oup (CFG). The CFG, which is headed by Canucks ‘owner
hur Griffiths, is charged with considering the various options
ir replacing or upgrading Lions Gate Bridge. Buckland has sub-
ed several bridge options for consideration by the group.
‘He said that, short of. building a new structure, Lions Gate
ould have to be modified to a cable-stayed bridge (like the Alex
er Bridge) to accommodate four or more traffic lanes.
‘Buckland told the engineers that modifying the Lions Gate is
asible because his firm has converted a Suspension bridge in
iebec into a cable-stayed structure,
‘The reality is there isn’t going to be much: left (of the current
lons Gate Bridge).no matter what you do,” he said. “So that
es us with the thought of a new bridge instead.”
Heritage Society of B.C. Director John Stewart has described

s Gate Bridge as “the most remarkable manmade Jandmark

in the Vancouver area.”
Last summer his organization

- resolved “that the Lions Gate Bridge

be recognized as an important her-
itage structure of local, provincial and
national significance and that it be
retained, that its structural integrity as
a suspension bridge be respected, and
that ... any modifications to the bridge

' be designed to respect the form and
‘appearance of the present structure.”

But Buckland said that if the cur-
rent suspension structure were to be
maintained. only the deck could be
replaced and it would have to fit with-

‘in the “planes” of the suspension :

cables. | :

Several options for “zehabilitat--
ing” the bridge are being examined °
by the Community Focus Group’
(CFG) — including one that would.
keep it as a double-deck suspension
bridge. The group is examining
approximately 15 options, including
tunnels, double-deck modifications of.
the existing bridge and new bridges.

MoTH is expected to release a
short list of .options “for. further
study” this spring. The release date
has been pushed back several times
since late 1993.

Buckland said that widening the deck to accommodate more
lanes under the current suspension design would involve setting
up new suspension cables outside the existing bridge, then trans-
ferring the bridge’s weight onto the new cables —- while the
bridge is being used by the public.

He also said converting the bridge to a cable-stayed design to

accommodate a five- or six-lane, double-decked bridge “is do-

people are working on Martin’s ship

NEWS phiota

ENGINEER PETER Buckland, a principal of Buckland & Taylor Ltd.; dis-
cussed the structural fine points of the Lions Gate Bridge Thursday.’

able but I wouldn’ ‘t want to do it.”

He stated, however, that the issue is not the bridge but the
whole transportation system.

If a new bridge were built, he said, any style could be select-
ed. As examples he showed slides of an arch bridge (Patullo), a
cable-stayed bridge (Alex Fraser) and a suspension bridge (Lions
Gate). Buckland said a new structural survey of the bridge will
begin this week,