Wednesday, July 7, 1999 — North Shore News - 13

Teen robbers caught

TWO hapless teenage
rebbers were arrested
June 26 at 18th and
Lonsdale in North

Vancouver.

The pair, who are both 15,
approached two younger boys
— both aged 13 -- on the
street. Wielding a four-inch
pocket knife, they robbed their
victims of $7 cash.

All four boys attended the
same school, and the victims
went immediately to the North
Vancouver RCMP detachment
to report the attack and give 2
description of their persecu-
tors.

Police officers picked up the
would-be burglars at a bus stop
not far from the site of the

attack.

They were detained and
charged before being released
into their parents’ custody.

Conditions included an
evening curfew and the accom-
paniment of an adult whenever
they leave their homes.

One teen was charged with
two counts of robbery.

The other was charged with
two counts of robbery and car-
rying a concealed weapon.

The knife and the cash were
recovered. No one was hurt in
the incident. Because of the
robbers’ young offender status,
they cannat be named.

They are scheduled to
appear in court at an as yer
unspecified date.

— Katharine Hamer

) womeennme | CARPENTER ANTS &
urned clothes at closed school | sions of cere ar reTAON

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THE end of the school year coutd’ve turned inte the end of Balmoral junior secondary in North Vancouver. |
North Vancouver District fire crews were called so the school on June 30 to extinguish spot fires. Firefighters | De. Muuzs PRICE

doused the flames and carried burned clothes from the scene.

City ballots change

Kevin Gillies

News Reporter

_ WYTHE the cun-up te
the election beginning

early in North
‘Vancouver City, council
thoughts turned to bal-
lot form protocol last
week,
.., Councillors unanimously
decided June 30 to return to
__ the alphabetical listing of can-
“ didate names on: the. ballot’
after two clections using the
“random draw” method.
- Councillors made the deci-
= sion’ after hearing that many
: complaints were. regisiered
«with the’ city following the
1996 election. Voters had dif-!
. -ficulty*focating their candi
» dates of choice upon entering
“ the polling booth,»
Ballots moved. to the zen:
dont draw. method to climi-’
nate: any’ potential . udvantage
to candidares ‘whose | last.”
ames started with A, B or C.- °
“While it may be advanta-
geous for some candidates, it’s.
certainly not advantageous for"’.
~ “the vorer,” said Coun. Darrell -
~. Mussatto. “Pm going to be in
“the middle of the pack anyway, ”
but chat’s not the issue,” he

: “Vadded, :

‘- The city ‘clerk's ‘report to
council noted the’ municipali- -
ties of Vancouver, Burnaby
and Richmond ‘returned to

alphabetical order after the
random method in 1993 cre-
ated many complaints and a
cumbersome order selection
process.

Council also chosz to clim-
inate two of the city’s three
“special voting opportunities”
— people who would collect
votes from shut-ins.

A city staff report notes
polling stations at United

“Lodge and Evergreen House

will be eliminated for difierent
reasons.

United Lodge residents are :

mobile and within a block of
the nacarest polling station
while staff found Evergreen
residents did not understand
the eleccion or know the can-
didates.

The two stations combined

“to produce 17 votes in the

1996 election.
However council decided

to keep the polling station ar -

Lions Gate Hospital.

“There’s a lot. of people

there who'd probably like to

* vote,” Coun. Bob Fearnley -
said. “I don’t think we should

deny these people just because
they have the misfortune of

~ being in the hospital.”

While city staff say the poll
is more of a disruption than a
help for LGH shut-ins, they
are sympathetic to their plight
of having no voting options.

The hospital produced just

“17 votes in 1996.

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