North Van spree costs thousands VANDALISM AT three North ‘Vancouver elementary schools during the Christmas holidays will cost taxpayers and stu- dents more than $20,000. By Kevin Gillies § Contributing Writer . Vandals broke windows and sprayed graffiti on the wails. of Maplewood, Dorothy Lynas and a Sherwood Park elementary schools n the nights of Sunday, Jan. | and onday, Jan. 2. . '- So far no one has beet arrested and the police have no suspects in the case. ‘Bob Wilson, director of facilities for North Vancouver School District 44 said approximately 60 windows . ere shattered at the three schools. Graffiti was sprayed on walls. ° »Maplewood~ elementary, on Seymour River Place, took the brunt .” of.the damage. ‘About . windows - rear and side walls. Maplewood | principal “Heather Cehak said the destruction was first | reported at 1t:p.m., Jan. 1. by par-: ents living'in an adjacent apartment building who heard glass being Smashed at the school. : ‘Cehak ‘said a maintenance crew arded up the windows, but van- - als returned to break some. more. he said most of the graffiti was not ’ “vulgar, but appeared to be the terri- "torial markings of youth gangs: Students, at. Maplewood were directly’ affected because the’ dam-_ age occurred throughout the school. ‘ Classrooms could not be used on the first:day.back‘to schéol follow- ing the Christmas holiday... At«Sherwood Park , elementary’; ‘Principal Jim Petersen said. ‘and doors, were broken, Jean. Ferguson‘... facility “il considered.’ ” were * mashed, : éurtains were tom and: gtaffiti was sprayed on the school’s ' . santicipating approval of the project. “Tf they | (the DFO) won't give - ‘seniors , NEWS photo Terry Palere , ALL BROKEN up 5 about the recent damage to their school are Maplewood elernentary pupils (left to right) Jason Ng, Cody Young, Bartosz Kulakowski, Hayley Renfrew and Rajan Sehra. Schoo! principal Cathy Molinski said staff are accustomed to finding beer, bottles’ littering the . school grounds on Monday mornings. - Dorothy Lynas elementary lost eight’ windows to vandals. Some graffiti was also Jeft at the school. A : portable classroom was broken into and its contents were damaged. '. “As cash’ strapped as we are, “emoney going to wasteful things is Dorothy Lynas “unbelievable,” “It’s appalling. If you’re replac- ing windows then: you can’t do ‘things you want or need to do,” he added. ‘From page 1 Department. of Oceans’(DFO) Fisheries. and’ their . approval, they’re (the “GVRHD) is dead in the water,” said Williams, in calling for an adjourn- ment of the hearing to Jan. 23... / . |The four-acre site is crossed by Brothers Creek, which is part of the Capilano River system and one of the last potential salmon spawning streams in the district. Because of the site's grade and other topographical considerations, the. GVRHD would have to ’ : ospita : All three schools are located east of the Seymour River. A similar vandalism incident occurred in the Deep Cove area on Dec. 18. Miscreants tossed rocks through house windows, slashed car tires . and broke windows at Dorothy Lynas elementary. North Vancouver , RCMP investigators estimated the damage last month to be about ., $11.000. - North Vancouver District Coun. ‘ - Jim Cuthbert, who lost two front the rampage, . windows during believes the Deep Cove area requires better youth services ‘and policing. encroach into environmentally sen- sitive areas of the creck to create an access for the seniors facility. The .DFO has already stated in’ writing that it won't approve that ” encroachment. . But Doll said he has provided the DFO with further technical engi- neering data that could convince the department’ to change its original decision. * ; Council adjourned the hearing after listening to only two submis- sions: Doll's and another from West Vancouver District 45 School Board chairman and. Cedardale resident Jean Ferguson. bed proposal is ‘ “hastily conceived : and ill considered... Friday, January 13, 1995 — North Shore Nows ~ 3 FTER WITNESSING damage to their school by vandals,” Grade 4 students from Maplewood elementary school wrote letters to the editor of the North Shore News. The follow- ing are excerpts from some of those letters. Dear Editor: _ My ‘class is concerned that we won't get our new playground because when we all came to start a new year there was graffiti all over ‘our walls and windows and many windows were broken. A rock even made a dent in our chalk board. Now my class can’t be proud of our school, Also. our school just got painted and we are very concerned about the money we have to pay. Hayley Renfrew 1 SSS Dear Editor: On Jan. 3, 1995, our whole class was looking forward toa new year. When we came in, most of our classroom windows were broken ~ and graffiti was everywhere... My partner and | counted all the windows that were broken. My - partner and J counted 49 windows. After that we counted how much of the school’s money it would cost to repair the damage. The approxi- mate price was $3,477 not including the workers’ time putting the new windows in and the janitors having to clean up the mess. During all _ this time our school was planning on getting a new playground but the money is going to be spent on windows. Please help us stop the \ van- dalism. Rajan Sehra ®wS@ Dear Editor: 7 a When school started after our winter break we saw lots of broken. Aq windows .... We are saving our school money for a new playground but: f our broken: windows are in the way. First we have to pay $3.477 for the windows then save the money starting from the leftovers. Our ° school’s, name:is Maplewood. We have some writing on‘our school, - J even on’our windows. We are very concemed about this. At this rate: | we will never get enough money for our new playground.: Bartosz Kulakowski ; t ‘Dear Editor: of. ’. ‘The graffiti and vandalism in our school is unbearable. When we. Bo .came back to start a new year most of the glass was broken. It will cost. us around $3,477 for only the glass not including labor. This prevents | us from, buying a ‘playground, books, resources and- having a clean’ appesrance. Cody, Young involved with the Lionsview Sénisrs According to Ferguson, the 150- Planning group and a GVRHD com- mittee that searched for a site for the. : She said it was "based more on ‘the timing and availability of the site, rather than.the need for the’, : facility. The GVRHD believes the need for seniors hospital beds in the area will be extreme in a few years, but Cedardale residents argue that there is evidence to the contrary. The residents also believe there are better sites for the seniors facili- ty elsewhere in West Vancouver District. But Jim Wilson, who has been facility, disagreed. © “People “are getting fed: up.” ‘Wilson’ said of: the} decision to adjourn the hearing. | George Murrell, former head of the Ambleside ‘ and Dundarave Ratepayers, advised council not to— be discouraged by the delays. Inspired, perhaps, by his proxim- ity to a microphone. and. the acoustics of the nearly empty the- atre, Murrell ended the meeting by serenading councillors with a rendi- ‘tion of When Irish Eyes are Smiling.