Barher departs pS Fishy faxes 077 Move leaves Dollarton —_ Province investigating mall executive surprised employment services co. ae NG BE aoe FEBRUARY 18, 1998 Bright Lights ooo 10 Business see 28 s Classifieds oes 36 Crossword Food North Shore Alert { Sports } Wright North Snore Free Prass Lid Pubksher Peter Speuk 1139 Lonsitale Avenue North Vancouver BC V7M 2Hé Canadian Pubbcatons Mad Sales Product Agreement Nu 9087238 44 Pages “The Voice of North and West Vancouver since 1969 Sayonara Nagan North Shor Olympians back on home soil By Andrew McCredie Editor andrew@nsnews.com SNOWBOARDERS Darren Chalmers and Maélle Ricker carved out a piece of Olympic history last week. And what a history. Prior to leaving for Japan, the North Shore boarders expected to be a part of Olympic Jore. The Nagano Games are the first in which snowboarding is a medal sport. Little did they expect the global media maelstrom that swirled around Whistler gold medallist: Ross Rebagliati. Chalmers is Rebagliati’s roommate in Whistler. When the bombshell hit that Ross’s gatd would be taken away after he tested positive for marijuana, Chalmers found himself at ground zero. “We were — still staying up on the mountain when we heard, so Ross went down (during the appeal process) and { was ficlding all the calls,” the 27-year-old Chalmers said Monday night from his parent's North Vancouver home. “It was crazy.” Ricker flew home on the same plane as Chalmers on Monday. The scope of the affair sunk in after just a few hours at home in West Vancouver. s just watching on TV and they had g on about Ross,” the 19-year-old said. In her mind the whole incident “really got blown out of proportion.” Chalmers ag! Olympic Games history. “Each Olympics are always known for something — Atlanta it was the bombing,” Chalmers said. “And Nagano will be Ross. And that's wild.” Like many observers, Chalmers believes the International Olympic Committee erred when it released the drug test results prior to Keebagliati’ I. Had officials waited 24 hours to release the results, the contra would not have been as great. “It's really opened up the eves of the LOC in terms of conducting rut ings,” he added. As to their own results, Ricker finished fifth in the women’s haltpipe DO YOU KNOW YGUR 1993 AND LATER MODEL HONDA CAME FACTORY PRE-WIRED FOR A GENUINE HONDA SECU ' E h FRE Re s, but figures the result will definitely be a part of labour and taxes extra, offer until May 1 » MAELLE Ricker, 19, weathered both rainy conditions and Rossgate as a member of the Canadian Olympic snowboard team. The West Vancouver half-pipe rider finished fifth, while North Van GS boarder Darren Chalmers went off course. while Chalmers went off course on bis tinal GS run. Both said they were more than pleased. “The event was unbelievable, the fans were everywhere,” said Chalmers. “f just tried my hardest and went for it in the final run. Pm not disappointed at all. It was a great time.” Indeed Chalmers and Ricker benetitted from some of Rebagtiati’s biggest fans in Napano, the Canadian men’s hockey team. “They just loved Ross,” Chalmers said of the NHI all-stars. “We were hanging out with the hockey team, so 2 was really cool,” added Ricker. “Twas playing video pames with Eric Lindros. [was pret: See Snowboarders pane 3 725 Marine Drive, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 1H4 PACIFIC [Ei ios www. pacific-honda.com Table Hopping visits NV’s Red Chilli Szechwan Cuisine Chilli chet p28 $1.00 West Van opposes GVTA plan Catherine Barr Contributing Writer WEST Vancouver District council will vote against the Greater Vancouver Regional District’s transportation agreement. In a motion that surprised no one, West Vancouver Coun. Allan Williams announced this week that council will not support the GVRD's transportation initia- tive in i trent form. West Vancouver councillors have said from the beginning that the proposed agreement to shift responsibility for Lower Mainland transit from the provincial gov- ernment to a focal transit authority muse be studied ia more detail and organized in a way that bangs more accountability to the = proposed Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (GVTA) board. Wiliams’ report: to) council outlined se conditions that must be met before West Vancouver will support the agree- ment. “Council has emphasized the necessity of ensuring that the proposed improve- ments will be effective, efficient and affordable, and that the governance of the transit system will be transparent, account- able and representative of the region,” read Williams. The list of conditions includes: provi- sions for the exclusion of excess residential erty taxes as a means of revenue and the expansion of the GVTA to include a transit commission composed of vot- ing member from cach municipalicy and gach electoral area in the GVRD Under the current proposal, residential property taxes could be harnessed to help ve Deal's page 2 THE OFFICIAL CONSUMER PR Guide OF THE BETTER 1 BUSINESS BUREAU Honda Store