latertront races for ge work Truck traffic snarls expected BY ROBERT GALSTER Contributing Writer WITH the Second Narrows Bridge day of reckoning less than 24 hours away. some of the North Shore's industria! users of the cross- ing are preparing for the worst. A $9-million rehabilitation of the 25-year-old structure is scheduled to start tomorrow. Traffic snarls are expected to last until mid-August when all six lanes will reopen. The project’s overall completion date is expected around Christans. The waterfront’s Lynnterm bulk shipping facility relies on the bridge for 60 to 70 truck crossings per day. lis sales manager John Elfis says Negotiations with unions representing the company’s employees are being held to reach an agreement to alter work hours. “Getting them (the tricks) out of the terminal is going to be a real chal- lenge.” said Ellis. “Our big concem is going to be the afterneon dispatch: it's going to be a nightmare.” Ellis said options under consideration include an caslier start time. working weekends or starting a graveyard shift. He said an earlier start time is the most probable option although no plans have been finalized and none will tikely be implemented until Monday. He added that carpooling from the central dispatch location on Vancouver's Franklin Street already takes place using taxis. A larger operation involving buses is not under consideration, suid Ellis. _ Meanwhile Canpar, a national courier company operating three trucks on the North Shore, has considerably fewer options. “There's nothing you can really de.” said Canpar spokesman Dan Dobson. “We have to get across the bridge ... we're basically just going to bear it.” He added that while the company’s approach is initially going to be to wait and see what happens, the only option is to add more manpower to the North Shore operation. % SROORSEANA Ait While industrial users consider their alternatives, the Ministry of Transportation and Highways (MoTH) hopes individual commuters can also do their part. Suggested alternatives for commuters include: forming a carpool, transit, travel during non-rush hour periods and cycling. Special high-occupancy lanes and increased transit services will be imple- mented to encourage commuters to make the switch. About 115,000 vehicles use the bridge each day. According to MoTH estimates travel times across the Second Narrows bridge in peak hours will increase by anywhere from 15-65 minutes, The best- case scenario is based on 30% of the bridge’s users choosing an alternative. MoTH has no estimates on what impact the bridge work will have on trav- el across the Lions Gate Bridge. Call the MoTH project hotline at 981-0005. Wednesday, June 5, 1996 — North Shore News ~ 3 WEWS photos Terry Puters/Ministry of Transportation and Highways graphic DELAYS during Second Narrows bridye repairs will be encountered by all. Above, right bridge construction manager Roy Buettner points to a corroded crossbeam. Highways ministry planners are encouraging alternatives to ease the pain, including carpooling, transit and express lanes. Fine, community work for bombing BY ANNA MARIE D ANGELO Crown was surprised and disappointed. The Crown had asked for nine to 12 months in News Reporter THE ringleader of a 1993 Hal- loween pipe-bombing spree in North Vancouver has received the lightest sentence of all the accused. Mark Helmut Ehlers, 24, of North Vancouver, was the last of five co-accused to be sentenced. The bombing rampage came close to seriously injuring a young family asleep in their home in the 5000-block of Capilano Road. On May 22, B.C. Supreme Court Mr. Justice Herbert Oliver fined Ehlers $1,500 and placed him on two years’ probation for his role in the bombings. Ehlers is required to perform 250 hours of community work, ser- vice. Ehlers’ sentence was in marked contrast to what the lesser players in’ the Halloween BOMBERS’ SENTENCES Mark Ehlers: 250 hours of community work service. fined $4.500. two years’ probation, no restitution or compensation for: exploding a pipe bomb in Kirkstone Park: building pipe bombs; comntiitting mischief by smoke-bombing a house; committing mischief through the use of explosives at a house in the 5000-block of Capilano Road. @ Michael Chalmers: six months’ jail, two years’ probation, $1,259 compensation for: pos- sessing pipe bombs; exploding a lamp post near Hardy Crescent, causing reckless damage with an explosion at a Capilano Road house; causing reckless damage with an explosion near a pickup truck parked in the 900-block of Lytton Street: placing a pipe bomb with intent to destroy property at Phibbs exchange. @ Ravinder Singh Grewal: six months’ jail, two years’ probation, $674 compensation for: possessing pipe bombs; a reduced charge of robbery down to theft: being masked with intent to commit a crime; causing reckless damage by explosion at the Capilano Road house; causing reckless damage by explosion of the truck on Lytton Street. W Terry Driedger: six months’ jail on weekends, two years’ probation and $1,500 restitution for: possessing pipe bumbs; causing reckless damage by exploding the lamp post: placing a pipe bomb near the truck: reckless damage by exploding a Phibbs newspaper box. B Jonathan Franklin ‘loews: 1,000 hours, wo years” probation, 3674 compensation for: pos- sessing explosives; committing mischief; a theft-related charge reduced from robbery: caus- ing reckless damage to the Cap Road house: causing reckless dsimage to the truck. jail Rowan had asked fo jail for Chalmers. Grew also entered guilty pleas to about the same oo number of charges. North Vancouver provincial court Judge Bill Rodgers halved the jail time requested by the Crown. B.C. Supreme Court) Mr. Justice Oliver ignored the jail request alto- gether, During the explo- sives spree, pipe bombs went off next to a Cleveland Dam area home: next to a truck ¢ 10 to 12 months in ub and Driedger. They Ringleader Mark Ehlers was fined while co-accused got jail time. bombing spree received. Michael Chalmers, then 20, and Ravinder Singh Grewal, then 23, were jailed six months eich in February last year, Terry Dricdger, then 25, was expecting the same sentence the next month, but North Vancouver provincial court Judge Bill Rodgers allowed the jail time to be served an weekends. Like Ehlers, all three men received (wo years’ probation, A fifth co-accused, Jonathan Franklin ‘Toews, also in his early 20s, was not sentenced to jail, but was required to do 1,000 hours of community work service during His Wwo-yeur probation term. Medical evidence indicated that jail would be detrimental to Toews. Alf of Eflers’ co-accused were sentenced in’ North Vancouver provincial court. Ehlers, who potice investigators called the “mastenmind” of the bombings, was a fugitive from the kaw for PE months. Enlers was apprehended on a warrant in California in January 1995, Before his apprehension Eblers’ face was fea- tured ina PV Crimestoppers segment. Ehlers clected to have his case heard in BoC) Supreme Cou. He changed his pia to guifty to four of (8 charges in April. Said Crown lawyer Mark Rowan of Ehlers’ sentence, The en TR RRR tO parked rear Mount Seymour Parkway aad in a newspaper. bax at North Vancouver’s Phibbs exchange. Members of the group also were involved in the masked armed robbery of a Deep Cove beer and wine store. A smoke bomb was set off in the store before items were stolen, The accused filmed their untics with a video camera. The Capilano Road house was occupied by a couple and two young children, Judge Rodgers commented that it, was only through good tuck that no one ta dhe house wis seriausty injured. Mr. Justice Oliver is retiring this month, nr