a nai beeeeememenammes oer PO Neen SAE nee are re af te SR AAs OEE RT ENTRAR pe . f A cn pee ge ee et cer A et PTI PTT BETO ee earn STG ST Se acer cain rer TE, PN EF aa, oe RATES sae a teen eater anna ITER Ste soa sxatae pees BSG be As ead a Cao ee Rescue team member dies after A MEMBER of the North Shore Rescue Team (NSRT) died Saturday after falling 8C feet into an icy crevasse while on a training exercise in the Tantalus mountain range northwest of Squamish. Twenty-cight-year-old Robert Donald McGregor, an experienced climber and eight-year veteran of the local search and rescue team, took the deadly fall while attempt- ing to cross from a snow field to a rock face at approximately 9:30 a.m. But the snow collapsed and he fell to the rocks below. ROBERT McGREGOR ... a vol- anteer with the North Shore Rescue Teams for eight years pricr o his death Saturday. ‘ Said NSRT team leader Roger ean, who was the first to reach McGregor: ‘‘He fell inte a hergschrund, which is a gap form- ed between receding snow and a riock face. What gave way on him wras hard to assess from his van- teage point. This bergschrund was nusually large. It looked like you clould walk on top of the snow and j Limp on to the rock.’’ in the Biock Watch program. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter After seeing his friend disap- pear, McGregor’s climbing partner Darrell Freeman anchored his climbing rope and rappelled into the crevasse. But Freeman found that he couldn’t reach or make voice contact with McGregor. He ascended from the the crevasse and called for help from the other 17 rescue team members climbing in the area. By 1 p.m., Bean managed to reach McGregor, who was uncon- scious but still breathing. McGregor had sustained extensive head and severe chest injuries. Bean was joined in the crevasse by a medical doctor, who happen- ed to be climbing near the scene, and by NSRT’s Richard Foster, a paramedic with the North Van- couver unit of the B.C. Ambulance Service. The rescuers managed to lift McGregor to the surface by 3:30 p.m. He was plucked from the mountain by helicopter and trans- ported to Squamish General Hos- pital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital severat hours later. McGregor’s death is the first for the team volunteers. The group saves lives annually in local moun- tain areas. Said North and West Vancouver Emergency Program coordinator Ross Peterson, ‘‘Everybody’s very blue and frustrated. We've lost a good friend. Bob was an extremely Photo submitted THE MOST common method of break and entry is through the window, according to a Simon Fraser Criminology survey of 1987 residential break and entries. In North Vancouver, 66 per cent of ail entries occur during. ’ the daytime. RCMP say residents can curb such incidents by participating ROBERT MCGREGOR, North Shore Rescue Team {NSRT) climb- ing expert (right and above) lived for the chailenge of rock climbing. He spent the past eight years put- ting in time as a volunteer with the NSRT. He died tragi-ally Saturday after falling into a crevasse while away in the mountains on a train- ing weekend. experienced climber and a very careful person. It was =n unfortu- nate piece of bad luck.” McGregor was the izam’s most experienced climber anc\ trained his fellow volunteers. He «iso worked as a climbing instructcr for the Federation of Mountain Clubs of B.C. and was a safety committee member with Outward Bound. 3 - Wednesday, August 9, 1989 - North Shore News EIGHT-YEAR VOLUNTEER WITH SEARCH ORGANIZATION fall Photos submitted Block Watch programs lead to decline in crime A NORTH Vancouver resident thought something was awry when she noticed her neighbor’s garage door ajar. Within minutes she was on the phone to the RCMP. The scene could have been dif- ferent had the neighbor not taken the time to report unusual or suspicious activities in her com- munity. But with the training she receiv- ed in Bleck Watch, a community crime prevention program in which citizens and police join forces to battle the rising incidence of break and entries, this caller may have saved her neighbor hundreds of dollars and a lot of distress. RCMP say they are encouraged by the declining trend of break and entries reported in communities with Block Watch programs. North Vancouver reported a 13 per cent decline in the number of residential! break and entries for the first six months of 1989 after Block Watct was introduced in June 1988. The decrease follows a 17 per cent rise in break and en- tries for the first six months of 1988. : “Block Watch is a contributing factor (to the decline in break and entries),”’ said Const. Cliff Doher- ty of the North Vancouver RCMP. “Citizen involvement in Block By EVELYN JACOB "News Reporter Waich has reduced crime. With continued involvement this downward trend should continue.” In all, 123 blocks encompassing 2,020 homes in the City and District of North Vancouver have been implemented through the program as of June 30, 1989. ‘‘Wherever we get a cequest for Block Watch in the community we will implement cue,”’ said Doher- ty. He said he is encouraged by a recent Block Watch pilot study conducted in the district’s lower Westlynn area. The study revealed that in the first six months of 1987, lower Westlynn had the highest break and entry risk rate in North Vancouver, with one in every cight homes the victim of an attempted break-in. After Block Watch, the area had the greatest concentration of orga- nized blocks in North Vancouver, with the risk rate shrinking to one home in 21 for the same time in 1988. In addition, no participating homes reported a break and entry. However, during the first six months of 1989 that number bounced. back to one in 13, Dut Doherty said he isn’t worried about the increase. “There is no doubt we'll have pockets (of increases), like in the Capilano area, but I’m more en- couraged with the overall decrease of break and enters across two communities.”” Statistics show that break and entries are on the rise in Capilano —- 197 in 1987 and 333 in 1988, an increase of 69 per cent. Doherty pointed out that the continued success of Block Watch depends on the level of community interest in the program. Residents who join learn how to improve home security techniques, how to observe and report suspicious activities and how to engrave property. Once in the pro- gram, continued support activities include regular contact with police and block meetings. Concerned citizens are en- couraged to attend the next Block Watch informational meeting on Thursday, Aug. 10 at North Van- couver District Hall, 355 W. Queens Rd., at 7:30 p.m. For more information phone the RCMP Block Watch office at 985-0800. FAITE AS Wednesday, sunny with cloudy periods. Highs 22-24°C. Thursday and Friday, mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Lifestyles..............31 North Shore Now.......17 Sports .......-...0566. 13 TV lListings............24 Editorial Page.......... 6 Food. ....02.see cece e ee D4 Bob Hunter............ 4 Business .........----- 29 Classified Ads..........36 Dr. Auth... 2.2... ee de