Crossing thro nm titel ine NVC Council extends program for two months ADULT CROSSING guards will continue to patrol North Vancouver City crosswalks until at least spring. Their existence was prolonged thanks to a 6-1 council vote in favor of continuing the besieged program for a further two-month -.term, extending the crossing ‘guards’ tenure until at least the end of April. A review of options is ‘planned to decide their future before April 30. . The rationale behind providing the $14,000 to extend the program was to give the’ stakeholder com- ‘mittee - looking into alternative funding sufficient time to come up with a report. The committee com- prises representatives of parents -and the RCMP as well as city, dis- trict, and school district staff. * “T think by giving (the commit- tee) the security for the. next two “months and waiting for that report . we will know better what steps ; we may have to take,” said Mayor Jack Loucks, adding that council is doing “the right thing” by continu- ‘ing t the funding. ca:.But- Coun. Stella Jo Dean - “opposed using city funds to sustain the program. “support adult crossing. guards but, not, at the expense of city tax- »payers,”. said Dean. “Money loesn’t: flow. from heaven and it news briefs ‘O%DAY. preliminary hearing continued this week into the ‘| fitst-degree © murder charge "| against Michel Andre Caouette. : Caouette, 42, is accused of -'[ premeditated murder in con- ,| nection with the death of his 11- : “year-old daughter Danielle. ‘|’ He is-also charged with the “attempted murder of his’ son _ Joshua, then 14, : . The Caouette children were ‘attacked on duly. 13,1995, in _their estranged father’s apart- “ment at:-130 West’ 5th’ St. in North Vancouver. © * The little girl died of massive “head injuries one week later. ‘The preliminary hearing is slated to continue into March in North Vancouver. provincial ‘court. There is a ban on publi- cation of evidence presented in ‘the preliminary hearing. ; _Caouette has been in cus- _tody since he was arrested on the day his children were . attacked. @ Better Business Bureau feature. ‘Bright Lights.............10 r Entertainment.......1 3 wi Mosh youth page..26 @N. Shore Alert 38 & Table Hopping # TV Listings. NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL By Robert Galster doesn't grow on trees — it comes from taxpayers.” The decision to continue fund- ing the program marked the second time councillors have thrown a life- line to a program that came to a quick end in the neighboring North Vancouver District when cash- strapped School District 44 cut off funding to the program at the end of January. As with the initial $7,000 exten- sion granted by council in fate January to cover February expens- es, the cost of covering crossing guard services for March and April will aga‘: oe taken from the city’s contingency fund. Coun. Dean suggested the pro- gram should be continued on a vol- -unteer basis if the school board does not resume its funding and expressed her displeasure with hav- ing to face the issue at a municipal level in the first place. “I am. strongly, strongly opposed to downloading to the municipal government by the fed- eral government, by the provincial government and I’m certainly opposed to having School District WEST VANCOUVER has decided to pass on photo radar. By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter 44 also downloading on us,” said Dean. A clause in the collective bar- gaining agreement between the school district and local 389 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees prohibits the school district from replacing unionized crossing guards with volunteers. However, this clause does not affect other interested parties, like parent advisory groups, from orga- nizing replacement volunteers. During further debate, Coun. Bill Bell concurred with Dean on the issue of downloading: “The city taxpayers aren't going to pay for everything the province and the federal government want to dump off on us.” . Coun. John Braithwaite ques- tioned whether the crossing guard . funding constitutes downloading because, according to him, the safety of children crossing the street may not be a school district responsibility. “I'm quite sure that staff will come up with some kind of alterna- tive, but if they don't then if it’s going to cost us money, it's going to cost us money,” said Braithwaite. “I don’t think that we would say ‘no’ to the $77,000 per year for crossing guards in our school dis- trict if we do not core up with an alternative plan.” At last month’s police board meet- ing, the West Vancouver Police’ Department appeared split on the issue. Wednesday, February 21, 1996 -— Worth Shore News — 3 : NEWS photo Bred Ledwidge a DANIEL HORTON states his position. on the nved for. crossing. . guards, whe. have been retained by city council until the end ‘ of April. dar tralt' c : section, ; Beaudoin said that a phioto-radar camera’ will ; be working in the North Vancouvers before July *.; ‘1..He said no signage is planned to:,warn-- * motorists of where . the photo-radar: camera is: * located. Beaudoin said that, as with other offences ; Mayor Mark Sager, who is also the West Vancouver Police Board chairman, said the five- member. police board has finally made up its mind about the controversial camera used to pho- _tograph speeders. : “There are enough with their minds made up * to tell me that it is not going to go,” said Sager on * Monday... - ‘The police board will officially vote on the issue at a meeting on Feb. 29. The municipality had been slated to get a sin- gle photo-radar camera in June. The province had planned to have 30 cameras operating throughout ‘the province. One camera can “take about 800 pictures of speeders an hour. Under the photo-radar program, speeders would receive tickets in the mail about seven days after their vehicles were photographed Sager and board member Bill Ferguson were opposed. Board members Ann Frost and Carol Ebner appeared to be leaning in favor of photo radar. New board member Warren Downs said he needed more information before voting, but was leaning towards a no vote. North Vancouver District and City councils support having a photo radar camera in their municipalitics, according to North Vancouver RCMP Set. Bob Beaudoin, who is head of the says police board minds are made up. MAYOR MARK Sager. under the Motor Vehicle Act, the registered owner of the vehicle will be responsible for photo-radar . - ’ speeding tickets, which would range from $100 to $150. The West Vancouver Police Board has spent about three meetings discussing whether to implement photo radar in West Vancouver. ..) Ferguson said the camera will reduce respect for police officers. ; But West Vancouver Police Chief Hal Jenkins pointed out in an earlier meeting: that'a photo-'. radar camera could be set up on the Upper Levels Highway’ in West Vancouver: by highway patrol police regardless of the police board’s decision.: Photo radar opponents claim the program is a cash cow for the provincial government. 7. ‘The Ministry of Transportation and Highways claims fewer people will die or be injured in by the radar equipment. $200,000 added to watershed overhaul! costs REMEDIAL WORK on the Capilano watershed could cost $100,000 to $200,000 more than the initial expenditure of $250,000, according to a report by Thurber Engineering Lid. By lan Noble News Reporter In response to the report, the Greater Vancouver — Regional District’s Water Committee approved further expenditures wt a meeting last Friday for repairs need- ed in the wake of a major October landslide. After the landslide, which occurred on a slope on the west side of the Capiiano reservoir, muddy water in the watershed led to brown water in North Shore taps. The cost of the remedial work could rise to $450,000. According to, the Thurber engi- neering report, repairs on the site are intended to minimize the landslide’s impact on the reservoir, which serves much of North and West Vancouver, The report. adds that vesidenis can expect more landslides in the future. “The remedial measures are intended to accelerate the stabilizing part of the natural cycle of the site,” said the report. “They will not stop the cycle, however, and 2 new slide Cap repair bill climbs from the same site will likely occur after a’‘number of decades. “Other sites on the same slope will experience similar instability in the meantime.” The reservoir's water level has been reduced to aid work at the slide site. The water district plans to com- plete work within two months, to . allow time to refill the reservoir in spring to meet summer water demand, Meanwhile, the water committee also approved a recommendation to the board on the contentious issue of watershed access. The committee will recommend that people who enter the watershed without permission, or breach the conditions attached to permission to enter, be denied further access to the watershed if they can’t provide a speed-related accidents with photo radar in place. reasonable. explanation for their presence in the watershed. ae A contentious retroactive clause that had been discussed by water committee members has been shelved. Preservationists have entered the watersheds in the past to collect information to support their con- tention that logging in local water- sheds and watershed landslides are linked. They have charged that the GVRD did not provide them with an opportunity to enter the watershed. : in a timely fashion. In the past, the GVRD has adopt- ed a policy of no public access‘to reservoir areas to protect the water- shed. However, the district lacked ihe legal means to take action against trespassers. In 1995, there was a large increase in the number of people trespassing in the Seymour, Coquitlam and Capilano water- sheds.