g News Reporter 4A'bold bruin on Burrard Band land paid with his life on Tuesday evening. - The shot bear is one of many that has been spotted on the North Shore this year. It's the worst in five vears for bear sightings. .- Damian George. the housing manager at the band’s office located off. Dollarton, said the ~ bear approached as close as three metres (10 feet} to children, The children were standing above the bear on the jorch of the Gathering Place, a Bafavorite haunt of the garbage-gather- ing bear. J ”..“It was too close for comfort,” George said Wednesday. “It wasn’t scared of people ar all.” BR. The Gathering Place is also located manear a bus stop for school children, Two other bears have recently been eported in the vicinity, George dded. ; Gathering Place patron Gerald - BThomas ‘said the bear had been observed for the past seven to 10 days, rummaging through the garbage. a Thomas said he saw the bear once. “J couldn’t believe it was so close about 20 feet away. I was on the Sunday, September 29, 1996 — North Shore News - 3 Ji CRROOORER ea eT aA RD: be uae ees aaues PerreT tit tts AUSEGAREES “aagae “Ge é NEWS photo Terry Peters patio and he was on the ground so I felt safe,” he said from the cafe. : Wildlife officials seta trap for the bear, but the bear didn’t go for the smelly salmon-head smorgas- bord spread. ... “The Burrard Band’s brush with the bear popula- ion mirrors the: experience of residents across the North Shore and the Lower Mainland. Betsy Terpsma, a spokesperson for the B.C. Environment Ministry, said that between April 1 and une 30, B.C. Environment received 967 complaints problem bears in the Lower Mainland. That com- ares with 275 in the same period in 1995. “Black bear complaints totaled 1,037 in 1995, “This does not provide the whole picture but obviously there is a significant increase in 1996 over 1995 and this will likely be the busiest bear year in the last five years,” said Terpsma. Recently, a “fairly large”. Lynn Valley bear had been lighting up the phones at B.C. Environment, said wildlife control officer Dennis Pemble. The bear’s travels from garbage can to garbage can were interrupted Tuesday night, when wildlife officers transported and released the animal. In addition, a female and two cubs were seen at the top of Lonsdale Avenue on Tuesday. ; The Lynn Valley bear went up to porches and GERALD Thomas investigates an empty bear trap set up beside the Gathering Place restaurant. sundecks, looking for garbage, said Pemble, He’s not sure why the bears have been more’ abundant on the lower slopes this year, but added the early berries, such as salmon berries, have not been good in 1996. He said the bears have not attacked anybody, “but there's always the potential of something hap- pening,” said the 18-year wildlife control veteran. Mostly, the bears are interested in garbage and fruit trees, Semble added. ; . He advises residents to put their garbage out on the morning that it will be picked up, not the night before. Garbage shouldn’r be placed near doors. Well down from 1994's 2,032. - ;, two robbed by | O 14-year-olds were . robbed by three youthis at (Balmoral junior secondary schoo! Sept. 24. : The victims were ina fat about 1 p.m. when they were surrounded and forced ito ‘empty. their pockets, They threatened arid robbed of . One suspect has been arrested. © Steroids, coke DRUG charges are pendin f, t a 21-ycar-old Nor’ forth Vancouver RCMP ched a home in the 500 ‘of East ist Strect on 23. The-search of a base- Rent suite yielded six ounces 170 grams) of cocaine, three punces (85 ) of marijua- ina about 200 steroid pills large quantity of cash. ‘Audited statements show N. Van $509,000 deeper in debt than anticipated By lan Noble News Reporter NORTH Vancouver School District 44 is $500,000 deeper in the soup than antici- pated. Audited statements released at a school board meeting Tuesday night show the school district.suf- fered a $2.83-million operating deficit in the 1995-96 school year, which ended June 30. That brings the district’s accumulated deficit to . $5.46 million, more than $500,000 above the $4.91 miliion anticipated in the district’s final budget tabled ‘in March. A deficit projection of $2.3 million for 1995-96 was one reason Victoria fired the seven-member school board earlier this year and appointed Bob Smith as District 44’s sole trustee. Since then, Smith has used a number of controver- sial measures such as limiting Grade 11 and 12 stu- dents to cight courses and staff layoffs to trim $4 mil- lion from the 1996-97 budget. Bur after being appointed in January, Smith said it was too late to reel in the runaway deficit for 1995-96. Smith blamed the increased deficit on a number of factors. The largest chunk of the deficit resulted from the extension of the current teachers’ agreement in May. The extension called for a retroactive raise of 1% dur- ing the 1995-96 fiscal year. Teacher and other staff salaries and benefits in District 44 currently account for approximately 92% of the district’s $101-million operating budget. Although the provincial government is expected to fund the teachers’ portion of the contract, the agree- ment’s ratification kicked in what Smith called a “me- too” clause.in administration contracts that weren't budgeted for. ; Also, the school district expected the Nature Conservancy of Canada to pay $150,000 towards the mortgage payment for the North Vancouver Outdoor School. , But the deal has raken longer to reach than antici- pated, resulting in a $150,000 hit to the school district in 1995-96. However, on Monday a deal was concluded and Smith expects a retroactive payment for 1995-96 from the conservancy organization in December. That $150,000 payment will be applied to the. deficit. ‘A provincial government lunch program also cost the district $50,000 more than anticipated. Smith said he didn’r know of the lunch program’s / total effecr on the district when the books clased June : 30. “It was something we should have factored into the year-end forecast but we didn’t.” : Smith blamed another $125,000 of the higher deficit on miscellaneous expenses, mostly spent to comply with aspeets of the teacher's agreement such as paying for substitutes and leave arrangements. Smith said the extra expenditures point to the need for a reserve fund, which Smith has built into the 1996-97 budget. Meanwhile, provincial Education Minister Moe Sihora approved a deficit-repayment plan for District 44°5 $5,462,995 accumulated operating deticit. In a letter to Smith, Sthota said he will allow the district to dispose of surplus property and use the funds resulting, from the sale of those assets to assist with retiring the accumulated deficit. Under the School Act, cash from sales of provin- cially funded school property usually goes back to the province. . Sihota said the board must retire at least $550,000 of the deficit each year, Additionally, the total deficit must be paid back within 10 years. Sihota warned that he will not permit the school board to run further operating deficits outside of interest payments on the accumulated operating deficit. Woman shocked in shower By Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter WHAT’S a man doing in the women’s change room at Lonsdale RecCentre on Thursday morning? A. He is fixing a leaky pipe. B. He is scaring the davlights out of a naked 53-vear-old Barbara Sutherland. Sutherland was taking a show- er at the time. “T screamed at him, ‘Whar the hell are you doing in here?’ ” said Sutherland. She said the workman mut- tered something to her while he walked towards the “so-called leak” at the 23rd Street and Lonsdale Avenue recreation cen- tre. . “ said, ‘Get out of here. Just get out of here!’ ™ said Sutherland. Sutherland used a face cloth to try to cover herself up and scram- bled against a wall. The workman walked by her again and left the change room. Two other women were also i the change room. a Lonsdale recreation ‘centre coordinator Perry Kulak said the leak was large enough to warrant its being fixed during pool hours. © Kulak said that a female super-. visor made sure all women in the change room were out when she brought the workman in. Signs were posted at entrances and staff watched the entrances, said Kulak. . “The mistake we made was to allow her to get in there when one’ of the guard’s back was curned,” said Kulak. : He said next time a rope will be put across the enirssices instead “ of just posting signs and having guards monitor the change room.: “She started showering with- « out knowing there was a workman: in there,” said Kulak... * . dent. . An upset Sutherland said find- ing out that the workman was in, the change room before she got,’ there and took off her bathing suit ; was “worse.” ee She hadn't ‘seen the notices and wondered how three women could get into the “guarded”. change room. i Sutherland said she had’ been showering for about. 10 minutes when she saw the workman walk by carrying a ladder, a Sutherland has lived on the North Shore for 15 years. She usually uses other North Vancou- ver public pools. Thursday’s visit to the Lonsdale recreation cen- tre’s public pool was her second and fast. ; “I won't go back to thar place again: I’m not even sure if T want to ever go to another public swim- ming, pool,” said Sutherland. @ Insights & Maitbox 65 North Shore Alert. Travel... Kulak apologized for the inci- - ; S