HE following is the first instalment of the North Shore News Year In Review feature, a look back at some of the interesting stories that shaped 1996. JANUARY B Seniors home hearing delayed again Then West Vancouver Coun. Pat Boname argued vehemently, but unsuccessfully against another adjournment for a public hearing into a controversial 150-bed seniors care facility pro- posed for the 400-block of Keith Road. Boname said it was “demonstrated over and over again” that there was a need for such a facility in West Vancouver. The NIMBY forces eventually got their way and rezoning for the seniors care facility was not approved, @ Gay pair seek child bearer A North Vancouver gay couple put a classi- fied advertisement in the North Shore News secking a surrogate mother to bear a child for them. @ West Van Police investigate murder West Vancouver Police release the identity of dead man found on Chrisumas Day. Ali Magedovich Aliev was found by snowboarders near Cypress Bow!. Police believe the Vancouver man’s death was related to the drug trade. No charges have been faid. Council squirms over pay increase North Van City council members “squirm” over giving themselves a raise so they set up a committee to look into it. The year before they MARY-SUE Atkinson helps save the Seymour hatchery. gave themselves an 11% raise. It seems like a paltry sum now since the newly minted North Vancouver District council gave themselves a whopping 50% raise a few weeks ago. FEBRUARY B@ Loophole taps focal learning The News reveals that foreign parents of about 45 school-age children have given up guardianship to local residents in the past two years so that the kids can attend public school for free. Later in the year, the debt ridden North Vancouver school district sets up a fee- paying international student program. @ Let the B.C. Games begin The B.C. Winter Games are held for the first time on the North Shere. The 18th annual games consisted of four days of amateur athlet- ie competitions. The games are touted as a major tourism boost to the North Shore. @ Lions Gate Hospital boss resigns Lions Gate Hospital CEO Bob Smith resigns atier being the hospital president since 1988 Smith lost our to Dr. Inge Schamborzki for the CEO position of the new and all encom: passing, North Shore Health Board. Smith soon gets work as the North Vancouver Schau, District 44 trustee through a provincial go: ent appointment. MARCH @ Pot shop licence approved The Joint at 91 Lonsdale Ave. gets a busi- ness hcence from North Vancouver City. The store’s inventory was marijuana related prod- NEWS phets Mike Waketield Sunday, December 29, 1996 — North Shore News — 3 : ee . NEWS photo Paul McGrath THE Vancouver commute was more like a still life during the bridge upgrade. Clark's pre-election pitch blew a strong gust into B.C. ship building's lackluster sails, For North Shore shipyards, the con- tracts mean more work and upgraded skills to build curting-edge aluminum hulled fast ferries for export. B North Shore schoo! merger shelved A merger proposed by the provincial NDP government that would bind North A two-member musical group performs Vancouver and West Vancouver school dis- traditional Chinese music at Capilano mall. ucts, Unlike its predecessor, The Joint was not to have actual marijuana smoking conducted on the premises, said proprietor Ryan Mawhinney. The original Joint in the 100-block of East Ist Street was raided by the North Vancouver RCMP four months previously. @ Stabbed cabbie dics Residents of the 700-block of West 20th Street in North Vancouver are shocked to find a fatally wounded cab driver inside his taxi in a lane. The cabbie, David Jon Mailoy, 44, died of multipie stab wounds two days later. No one has been charged with the crime. Bi Mitchell’s NDP job -rescinded Former West Vancouver- Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell és appointed acting con- flict-of-interest conunis- sioner by Premier Glen Clark. Clark quic rescinds the appoint- ment and reappoints conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes to his job. Hughes, apparently, was not ready to leave the post. APRIL @ Local shipyards land $45m deal Premier Glen Clark announced approximate- ly $45 million in fast ferry contracts for North Vancouver's Vancouver Shipyards ana its sub- contractors. In addition, Clark contirmed ta §9-million assembly she controy ferries would be built on Vancouver Port Corp, owned Pier 94 site at the foot of St. Andrews Avenue on the North Vancouver waterfront. Speaking to workers at Vancouver Drydock, NEWS photo Mike Wakefteld PREMIER Glen Clark announces the fast ferry contract in North Vancouver. tricts was shelved. The West Vancouver school board had fought the deal on a number of fronts, includ- ing a possible deterioration of facilities in the district if it was merged with cash-strapped North Vancouver. @ Suspect in seniors scams arrested A woman suspected of stealing more than £109,000 from an elderly North Vancouver cancer patient was arrested, The accused woman, Patricia Carol Marie Gelineau, 38, of no fixed address, was in jail in Vancouver awaiting a court appearance. North Vancouver RCMP had been fooking for Gelineau for months. Mount investigators said that Gelineau befriended a 73-year-old woman, who was in Lions Gate Hospital for surgery, five months earlier. : W 1 missing, 2 dead in WV dive mishap Stefan Shubin went into the waters off West Vancouver's Whytecliff Park one afternoon to do some recreational scuba div- ing with three friends. The 48-year-old Vancouver resident was the only one of the four to make it back to shore alive. Two other divers died in the mishap while another w reported missing. The mani near Whytecliff is popular because the water access is convenient tor divers and the area is one of the better shore dives in the Lower Mainland area, said a veteran diver. MAY @ Rush delivery made A Dodge Caravan wasn’t the Andersons’ first choice of delivery room for their much-antici- pated daughter. But the middle bench of the recendy purchased mini-van had to do for the Parliament Crescent family. Rebecea Anderson made a determined driving to hospital. ‘he nine-pound, nvo-ounce baby born in the back with her father pro ing support ature took care of thing,” said Simon. B® The school district cash crisis kills 156 school jo! LayolT notices from North Vancouver School District went out to 156 employees. NEWS photo Mike Wakofield The schvol district’s burgeoning cash crisis prompted official rrustee Bob Smith to lay off 44 CUPE members and 107 teachers, many of them part-time employees, in his budget-balanc- ing exercise. Seventy full-time jobs were killed by the dis- trict. CUPE said it would grieve the cuts while the North Vancouver Teachers’ Association pre- dicted upheaval in the classroom for students returning in Seprember. @ Schreck defeated in North Vancouver- Lonsdale The North Shore’s lone NDP MLA went down to defeat in the provincial election as a red tide swept the four scats locally. NDP incumbent David Schreck lost his seat _ to Liberal candidate Katherine Whittred. Three other Liberals — Ted Nebbeling, Jeremy Dalton and Dan Jarvis — were also elected, all by wide margins. JUNE @ Bridge work ciogs streets Thousands of North Shore drivers awoke to a commuting nightmare as rehabilitation work on the Second Narrows Bridge began in earnest. Between § a.m. and 9 a.m. on the first an NEWS photo Mike Wakefield THE North Shore Lifeboat Society searched for lost divers. morning of the nvo-month project, traffic was backed up to Lonsdale on Highway I, to Adderley on Keith Road, to St. Andrews on Third Street, and to Kirkstone on Mountain Highway. Fuming, dri led for the dismissal of all involved in the decision to do bridge work during the rush hour. In return, the Minisory of Transportation and Highways said the work would have taken four years if it had only been done ar night. Commuters, said the ministry, weren't jumping into public wansit as hoped, leading to more clogged arteries. B® Bears spark Cypress closure Bears won the turf war against their avo- dt spectators in Cypress Provincial Park. > Parks closed the C s Bow! area in ost popular pray park b people were getting too close to the furry bru- ins for comfort. “People are not realizing bears are quite haz- ardous,” said a parks spokesman. @ Bikers bring forest trails North Vancouver District had its own ver- sion of the war of the woods simmering in an Upper Lynn Valley Park. Mountain bike causing habitat destruction along Grifk I, which starts at McNair and Hoskins, said a local s replied thar under a new pro- gram to build proper trails, they are acrually ini plogical harm. The North Shore is recognized worldwide tor its mountain bike trails, which is ironic con- sidering there are no legal trails to ride, said a mountain bike enthusiast.