B.C. TRANSIT bus pas- sengers using the Lonsdale Quay terminal after 8 p.m. must now walk an extra 180 metres (590 feet) to board the SeaBus because bus drivers are refusing to enter the North Vancouver ter- minal for fear of harass- ment from loitering youths. By A.P. McCredie News Reporter North Vancouver buses have been loading and unloading pas- sengers on Carrie Cates Court since the drivers initiated the ter- minal boycott last Friday. “Everywhere the buses park these large groups of kids are hanging around, intimidating and hassling both the passengers and the drivers,’’ said driver Gerry Winchester. “One of our drivers had been repeatedly hassled over about a two-week period, and after management responded with what the drivers felt was inadequate protection, we took it upon ourselves to start this action.” Youths, the majority of whom are North Shore residents, con- gregate in the terminal because it is dry and warm and provides a convenient meeting place. Winchester said that B.C. Tran- sit management told the drivers at a safety meeting last week that the company could not afford to hire extra security to patrol the termi- nal at night. But even an increased security presence in the terminal will not ease drivers’ fears. “On the first night we boycot- ted the terminal (last Friday night), the company sent five constables, two or three super- visors, and about four security guards to patrol the area,”’ said Winchester. “‘But that same night we had a driver assaulted in Friday, October 16, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 Bus drivers boycotting Quay at night Claim not enough being done to curtail youth problem in terminal area NEWS photo Paul McGrath THE LONSDALE Quay sits empty as a B.C. Transit bus idles on Carrie Cates Court. Bus drivers began a boycott of the terminal last Friday to protest what they say is a iack of adequate security for passengers and drivers being harassed by groups of youths that gather in the terminal. The boycott begins every night at 8 p.m. Edgemont Village.’’ The drivers have also escalated the action to a no-uniform policy in support of the night operators. B.C. Transit spokesman Stu Lawson met with North Van- couver RCMP on Wednesday to discuss security issues at Lonsdale Quay. Lawson said the North Van- couver RCMP presented a number of initiatives that could improve safety at the terminal. He added that B.C. Transit will also attempt to work with the Squamish Indian Band’s police force to try to identify some of the people who are intimidating drivers and passengers. B.C. Transit, he said, is also considering increased security checks on the 246 bus that runs from the Quay to Edgemont Village. “You get trouble in the village and the kids might just hop on the bus and travel to the Quay, and vice versa,’’ Lawson said. ‘‘The main thing in resolving this issue is to form a network of coopera- tion between all the involved secu- rity forces.’’ RCMP community policing Cpl. Sheila Armstrong agreed that co- operation and identification of the problem was the first step to be taken. ‘Let's get everybody together and let's work on this thing together,’’ Armstrong said. ‘‘That is what community policing is there for, to find workable solu- tions to community-based prob- lems.”’ Armstrong said that regular RCMP night patrols at the Quay will be increased. Winchester said each Lower Mainland property used as a night terminal by B.C. Transit has problems with loitering youths. He said the drivers want the company to hire a full-time night constable to patrol the Lonsdale Quay terminal seven nights a week. A full-time transit officer is currently stationed at the Quay on weekends, and two Lonsdale Quay security guards work between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., but their job is more property protec- tion than dealing with youths. Currently, transit constables that work nights spend most of their time patrolling SkyTrain sta- tions. The bus drivers say they will continue to park on Carrie Cates Court until the job safety issue has been resolved. Accord debate boils over in NV restaurant Yes, No sides air views at Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting TAG-TEAM members from both Yes and No camps in the debate over the Charlottetown constitutional accord battled it out Wednesday morning during a public meeting in a North Vancouver restaurant. In the Yes corner was Capitano-Howe Sound Tory MP Mary Collins and North Van- couver-Lonsdale NDP MLA David Schreck. In the No corner was North Vancouver Liberal Senator Ray Perrault and renegade North Van- By Surj Rattan News Reporter couver Tory MP Chuck Cook. The arena was a Wednesday morning breakfast meeting spon- sored by the North Vancouver News photographer honored NORTH SHORE News photographer Mike Wakefield was honored recently with a second- piace award in the 1992 Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) newspaper competition. Wakefield’s photograph of a North Shore fire-training exercise finished second overall in the Best Single News Photography category for newspapers with circula- tions of over 30,000. _ The SNA is an association of suburban newspapers from all over Canada and the United States. NEWS photographer Mike Wakefield... second-place SNA award. Chamber of Commerce to hear the four talk about the proposed Charlottetown constitutional .ac- cord. Perrault was first into the ring, He took on the 62-seat Senate proposed in the accord, saying it was ‘‘a total fraud and should not be accepted by the people of this country.”’ But Collins countered Perrault’s offensive by calling the accord ‘reasonable and fair.”’ She said it would reduce duplication of government services ‘*tand, I hope, reduce costs.’’ “The total number of federal representatives remain the same. There will be some marginal costs, not significant. This accord does not provide for any new spending initiatives. “It does not create any spend- ing obligations,’’ said Collins. Cook chen jumped into the ring to take on his party colleague. “Mary, you can’t have it toth ways. If you want to get this & Automotive @ Classified Ads ® Ecolnfo @ Editorial Paze @ Home & Garden behind us, you have to vote No. There’s absolutely no way to teil what this will cost. “‘There’s no way to tell how much aboriginal self-government will cost. Nobody knows where the money will come from,’’ said Cook. But Schreck was quick to came to Collins’ defence. He said he was ‘‘shocked’’ at the arguments he has heard op- posing aboriginal self-govern- ment. The No side in the campaign, he said, has been using ‘‘scare tactics’ when talking about it. But Cook said the aboriginal self-government provisions con- tained in the proposed constitutional accord are ‘‘a cruel hoax on aboriginals.”’ Perrault argued that the Charlottetown Accord would take from B.C. and give to the two super provinces of Ontario and Quebec at a time when B.C.’s population is growing more than index B Mailbox Printed on 10% recycled newsprint CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION other provinces. Perrault. an ardent hockey fan, used hockey terminology to make his point: ‘‘lt’s like-trading three junior hockey players for Gretzky, Lemieux and Lindros.”’ . But Collins countered by sayin the constitutional accord provides all provinces with a guarantee of 95% representation by population. She also. applauded her tag- team partner’s NDP government for its negotiating skills in Charlottetown. Weather Saturday, showers, Sunday. tain. Highs 13°C, lows 6°C Canadian Publications Mai! Sales Product Agreement Number 0087238