; FEBRUARY 9, 2000 nage Bright Lights 20 12 | Business ooo 15 raat Classifieds ove 50 ae Kids Pages ove 42 Knight ooo? | Parenting woe hh } Table Hopping ee» 36 __ | Wright ooo G i Fobication Company Pubistet Pater Soccer 1139 Lonsdaie Avenue. Nom Vancouver 3 C V7M 2s Conidan Puphcatrons Mav aes Pocuct Agreement No 0087758 Valentine's Day p27 Horoscope — Love, sex and life: it’s in the stars The Voice of North ani West Vancouver since 1969 Sports p47 B.C. team takes karate’s Sato Cup NEWS photo Cindy Goodman NORTH Vancouver RCMP constables Everett McLachlan (left) and Dean Urquhart escort an arrested man to a police car on Sunday at the conclusion of a police standoff in Lynn Vailey. No one was injured during the seven-hour incident. NEWS photo Julie iverson PASTOR David Maltsberger at a church window with a view to the standoff. Tense moments: NViounties seize replica assault rifle Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter adangelo@nsnews.com PASTOR David Maltsberger thought it was time to move the Sunday school children away from the window when an armed police sniper in combat clothing leapt over a nearby fence. A parking loc and two backyards separated 23 Sunday school children as young as two years old from an armed standoff Sunday between North Vancouver RCMP and ovo residents of a house in the 2600-block of Mountain Highway. “That house has a clear sight right into our win- dows,” said Maltsberger who has been pastor at Westlynn Baptist Church for five years. The church is on East 27th Street near Mountain Highway in Lynn Valley. No one was injured following a seven-hour stand- off that ended shortly after 1 p.m. More than 20 North Vancouver Mounties including Emergency Response Team members were involved. A 43-year- See Man page 3 Stand to lose a few? 80% of us are thinking of getting in better shape for the new millenniurn... To heip you get started we havo created this special just for you! 2 for 1 or Half off initiation Fee PAY AS YOU GO! In pursuit of love and a taste of chocolate Food 139 FREE baitle Michael Becker News Editor mbecker@nsnews.com A West Vancouver couple has won a fight against paying tax on a tax. Simon Fraser University business professor Bill Wedley and his wite Jo Ann chal lenged the inclusion of Goods and Ser “ves Tax (GST) in the assessed value of their Deer Ridge Drive condominivsi. The couple bough? their penthouse suite in 1994 and paid $616,822.43, plus $43,177.57 GST and $10,336.45 properiy transfer tax. The Wedleys questioned a practice by the assessment authority to include GST in the calculation of the value of new homes. The issue at hand: for municipal property tax assessment — purposes, should the value ofa property include the GST paid on its purchase? The Wedleys contended that the GST is not part of the consideration between the vendor and purchaser and so does not fit within the def- inition of market value. In 1995 the Wedleys appealed the assessment of their property. In 1996 the Property Assessment Appeal Board found the actual value of the Wedley’s suite included the amount paid as GST. The Supreme Court went on to dismiss an appeal by the Wedleys on that decision. The Wedleys challenged their 1996 and 1997 assess- ments, but the Property Assessment. Appeal Board stood by the previous deci- sion. Again, the Wedleys took their beef to the B.C. Sre Home's pane & ail us today.