ON her way to play golf, Carole Hutton was teed off while in a Cut traffic jam. DAN Lenarduzzi (above) called the bumper-to-bumper Keith Road traffic “pretty bad” _. while on his way to a family function. Commuters on Third » Street (right) crawied to the Second Narrows Bridge Thursday morning. ‘Fern From page 1 walk, said she and her neighbors stood in front of cars-to get the bureaucrats to listen. While drivers wondered what was going on, police arrived and residents phoned district and highways: brass, demanding they stop workers from painting new and permanent lines on the road, seid Marshall. a When police threatened to arrest homeowner Neal Raney, the. residents Teplied that police would have to take them all in, women and chil- dren included, said Marshall. The incident ended at 8 p.m. when bureaucrats agreed to tape temporary lines where the previous lines were. - “We're not trying to be jerks here,” said Marshall. “We have got some valid concerns about sufety. This is what we had to do to make our point.” _ Marshall said residents want the new pave- ment removed, the sidewalk put back in, and Mountain Highway to be widened by taking land from the park side. Highways regional communications coordina- tor Brenda Jones said the short Keith Road on- ramp was being closed because of its high acci- dent rate. She expected the ramp to be closed Thursday afternoon. Jones said the closure wouid funnel a maai- mum of 750 more cars per hour along Mountain Highway and Fern Street, with a probable increase of 400 cars per hour. Raney has a number of concerns with the new traffic plans, which also cal! for new traffic lights to be installed on Fern to guide traffic on toa new on-ramp for Highway 1. “Fern Street is no longer Fern Street. It's Fern Highway,” Raney said. To get to school, children have to cross Mountain Highway or Fern Street. two well-travelled roads that will get busier. said Raney. Raney added the greater number of other peo- ple’s cars going by his home now means he can't park his car on the street. To offset that loss, Raney will fork over NEWS photos Paul McGrath ets busy $10,000 to pay for two new parking spaces in his back yard. Other neighbors worry about increased air and noise pollution from more vehicles. “it's been foisted on people of the area so quickly it makes it very difficult for us-to orga- nize and fight something like this,” said Raney. That doesn’t mean he’s not trying. In addition to forming a homeowners’ association, Raney plans to write MLAs, council members and the highways department. Raney wants them to stop the project and take another took at it, “You don’t run that many cars through a family neighborhood.” District transportation manager Gavin Joyce agreed the process to close. Keith and install traf- fic lights on Fern has proceeded quickly, but said improvements had to be oiade before Second Narrows Bridge work began. Staff tried to keep residents abreast of what was going on, but not everyone could be cantacted, said Joyce. The district has agreed to look at the issues presented by residents and hold an open house. TRUCKER John Shepherd waits out delays on Third. Bus and SeaBus available From page 4 hauls. “If ] can move seven contain- ers a day, that’s what I try to do. Today, I will do maybe three and you cannot afford to run one of these trucks on that kind of revenue.” He did see a bright side, noting that in a few months, “this will all be a bad memory.” But for now it’s all too real. West ‘Vancouver __ resident Christine Plaskett works in Surrey. The optical store manager said she arrived at work at 9:20 a.m.. fifty minutes later than usual. She got stuck in Highway | traffic backed up to Lonsdale. From Lonsdale to the bridge took one hour and }5 minutes, she said. Transportation ministry ‘commu- nications officer Brenda Jones said people aren’t using alternative trans- portation as much as the ‘ministry hoped -to minimize the impact of bridge work on traffic line-ups. BC Transit buses and the SeaBus both had extra room Thursday mom- ing. she said. Drivers also need to carpool more. Plaskett ‘said getting to work by transit would take her one and a half hours, but she balks at the $106 per month she would have to pay. Reggie Sidhu, ‘crawling atong Keith Road on her way to Capilano College, said traffic wasn't as bad as she feared. But she still wasn't happy. She switched her. route to work and rose early. “Still, it’s really bad.” : North Vancouver RCMP Const. Catherine Galliford said police were being lenient Thursday on drivers of vehicles carrying one or two people using the express lanes. Those lanes are reserved for cars with three pas- sengers or more and transit. As of today, however, “you'll start seeing us getting tougher.” said’ Galliford. Tickets for being caught in what passes for the fast lane are $85. Transit user Alison Page takes 2. bus from her Indian River home to Lonsdale to get to work. While the | trip along Dollarion went smoothly, things bogged down at Phibbs Exchange. Operators were dumping buses on lines as they were needed, rather than’ keeping to schedules, said Page. She arrived at work at 8:45 a.m. instead of her usual 8:10 a.m. For carpool info, call 879-RIDE. Chapter closes on saga of convicted pedophile BY ANNA MARIE D'ANGELO ews Reporter ‘THE home of a convicted ‘pedophile is for sale in the Upper Highlands area of North Vancouver. ‘The house at 988 Prospect Ave. was listed at $439,000 on Tuesday. Convicted pedophile Rober: Roy Owens has been boarding with Doreen Ware at the house since last summer despite strong opposi- tion by neighbors, Ware did not retum phone calls to press time. Said neighbor Greig Cameron, “The reason why we haven't had a Hide victory party about him not living here is because we don't want to Bive anyone the impression that he is out of the neighborhood.” Cameron said Owens, 45, bad been seen at the Prespect Avenue house in early May. In recent days, Owens has been seen with Daniel Bristow, another convicted sex offender of young people. Bristow, once a West Vancouver school teacher, lives within 10 blocks of the Prospect house. Owens lived with Bristow after being teleased from jaif last summer. Owens served a full six-year jail term for the seaual assault of three pre-pubescent girls. The national parole board denied Owens early release saying there was a likelihood he would reoffend. Owens hid his freedom restricted regarding potential access to children in mid-May. A Victoria provincial court judge granted a one-year recognizance prohibiting Qwens from going to playgrounds, swimining pools and school grounds where children under age I4 may be found. The recognizance doesn’t include conditions that Owens report to police or inform the police of where he is living. North Vancouver RCMP Const. Catherine Galliford said police can not tell the public where Owens is living. Owens bas not been charged with a crime. Meanwhile the Prospect Avenue house has been the target of egg-throwing vandals. In recent weeks the house was pelted with paint. “Owens fives here” is painted on the street in front of the house. Last suminer after stormy complaints from neighbors, Owens said he was leaving Bristow’s house and moving to Vancouver Island. He instead moved into Wire's heme. just blocks away.