THERE IS a positive

and ice contro] program.

When heavy snow hit the North
Shore in February, district resi-
dents, who were left spinning
wheels, complained bitterly about
snow-clogged streets. and the
municipality's inability to keep
streets clear,

The district: spent $387,500 on
snow and ice removal between
Jan. | and Feb. 23 and spread
1,900 tonnes of salt on municipal
streets.

According to information ob-
tained from = a weather staiion
located at Redonda Dtive, the
heaviest monthly snowfall in the
district, since 1974 occurred in
February. The local station re-
corded 98 cin of snow over 11
days. The month before, 41 om
fell over seven days.

Snow storms on Jan. 27, Feb. 6
and Feb. 14 pushed crews and
available equipment to the limit.

In a report to council, assistant
director of engincering Bob
West-Seils noted that all the
district’s one-ton trucks broke
down at various times during the
heavy winter conditions. During
seven days in February, crews
worked 24-hour days in {2-hour
shifts.

Since then, the engineering
department has re-thought the
way it controls snow and ice on
roads.

The district is responsible for
clearing 309 km of streets, bus
stops, sidewalks, parking lots at
recreation centres and the district

Index

mM Budget Beaters ...40
@ Business......... 41
@ Classified Ads....44
@ Doug Collins..... 9
Comics ......... 43
@ Editorial Page.... ©
@ Bob Hunter...... 4
& Inquiring Reporter 70
@ Lifestyles ........ 37
i Mailbox. ....... . F
@ North Shore Now 17
@ Dr. Ruth........ 38

@ What's Going On.14

Weather

Wednesday, periods of
rain. Low 0°C; high, 7°C.
Thursday, mostly cloudy.
i Low, 3°C: high 6C.

Second Class Registration Number 3885

Last year’s heavy snowfalls
catalyst for ice-control program

side to this week's cold snap: the
frigid weather has provided the North Vancouver District
with a chance to implement the munic ipalitw’s new snow

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

hall, bridge decks und pathways.

Said engineering department
superintendent of risk manage-
ment Ken Kerr, “That usually in-
volves a number of passes. Moun-
fain Highway is basically a three-
lane, Mt. Seymour Parkway,
basically six lanes -~ your mileage
goes up quite considerably. It's
like plowing the road from here to
Banrr

In the early 19605 a large
district: construction crew meant
that a large fleet of equipment
was available for snow removal
service.

Said West-Sells, ‘*There was
lots of equipment and it was kind
of a shotgun approach. H you had
snow and ice problems you just
threw a bunch of equipment at it.
As the district got out of the
heavy construction era they tended
to downsize the amount of
equipment to the point where real-
ly there was not enough equip-
ment to handle the problems the
district was faced with."

Now, with a larger community,
Jess equipment is available. Bur
the district bought some new
equipment this year and is press-
ing equipment from other
departments into service.

And a new plan is in place. The
program divides the district. into
three maintenance areas:

“Its a bad situation,”’ said
30-year-old Scott Johnson.

Johnson's nightmare began at
about 6:30 a.m. on July 31,
1989. He was walking to buy a
pack of cigarettes alt a gas sta-
tion convenience store at Ren-
frew and Hastings in Vancouver.

Said Johnson, ‘‘A guy with
Jong black hair — fairly young
and he seemed a little bit drunk
— he came up and said, ‘Give
me all your money.’ And I said,
‘No,’ and continued to walk and
then all of a sudden I got hit
from behind. His buddy was in
the bush."’

Stunned by the blow to the
back of his neck, Johnson turn-
ed to see the man who had
demanded money from him pick
up a two-by-four piece of wood.

“They both started to hit me
with two-by-fours and I was try-
ing to protect myself. | put my
arm up because he was swinging
at my head. One guy hit me in
the head. I was on the ground
and { can remember one guy
stepping on my hand and pulling
my ring off, taking my watch
off and my wallet. I thought
they were going to kill me,’ he
remembered.

Johnson regained conscious-
hess in an ambulance.

His assailants got away.

But Johnson spent the nest
6% weeks in hospital. Doctors
worked to cepair nerve damage
to his left arm. He has since
been told chat he has fost 10 per
cent of the arm’s function for
life.

His back continues to cause
him pain. He says he can't lift
heavy objects and he hasn't

Wednesday. December 26. 1990 ~ North Shore News - 3

p-——

S$.

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

THE NORTH Vancouver District engineering department has
sevamped its snow and ice removal program. Superintendent of

risk management Ken Kerr,

left, and assistant director of

engineering Bob West-Seils inspect the plan.

*Acea One encompasses the

A NORTH Vancouver man who recently received imore
than $25,000 in criminal injury compensation for a 1989
mugging he suffercd at the hands of two men armed
with two-by-fours is struggling to make ends meet.

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

worked a day sirce the attack.
The former chef,
with his mother, sas he’s look-
ing for work.

But he said, ‘‘The first three
months | wouldn’t even go ont
of the house. | was scared —
people are whaling away on you
with two-by-fours and they
didn’t even stop when I was on
the ground."*

In the meantime the $25,688
criminal injury compensation
cheque he received in October is
gone. Medical and other bills
racked up following the injury
absorbed most of it. A used car
he bought with some of the
money was damaged when a
passing bus sheared off a door
just as he was about to step
from the vehicle.

Said Johnson's mother
Frances, ‘tHe couldn't take a
job because he was in too much
pain. It was a nightmare. We
had to pay all the medical bills
for drugs."*

Medical bills, to the tune of
about $300 a month, continue.

“I was on morphine for eight
months. To bring me off that
they put me on the methadone
program, which I'm still on,"
Scott Johnson said.

The criminal injury compensa-
tion awarded to Johnson is a
relatively large sum by Workers‘
Compensation Board (WCB)
standards.

When his award was deter-
mined, the maximum fump
amount available to victims was
$25,000. That figure was subse-

who now hves-

municipality's western boundary

Nightmare continues for victim of mugging

NVD tests new snow removal plan

to Lon-dale Avenus;

© Area Two stretches from Lons-
dale Avenue to Lynn Creek:

* and Area Three goes from Lynn
Creek east to Woodlands.

Said Kerr, “Previousiy our
program divided the district in
half. We had equipment going on
both ends. (But) we felt we had a
very large district — we should
start sectioning it off. We had too
much equipment running around
from area to area and spending
too much time in traffic stalled
and delayed.

“Our idea is to put the equip-
ment in each area and not let it
leave — stay there until every
street has been attended to. We
Put together a priority system with
public transit (routes) having a
high profile now," he added.

New equipment includes better
salt hoppers for irucks, plows for
trucks, a new tandem truck and a
four-wheel drive backhoe.

“Last year we had a fot of
complaints that we were leaving
wedges around intersections. We
can deal with it,’ Kerr said.

The district can now draw salt
from depots at Hunter Street,
Grouse Mountain and under Lions
Gate Bridge.

On Dec. 18 the district was able
to put 1) trucks on the road to
tackle icy streets caused by cold
weather and about an inch of
snow,

“We're working out the bugs.
(But) we basically covered the en-
tire district. We don't hear the
phones ringing off the wall,"’ Kerr
said.

Added West-Sells,"We had a
bit of a run with it (the plan) over
the 12 hours. We're pretty happy
with the way it's worked out.
Essentially we were able to deal
with the whole district and get the
salt down and get the areas plow-
ed within that period."’

MUGGING VICTIM Scott Johnson, of North Vancouver, recent-
ly received criminal injury compensation for injuries received
in 1989. He’s still in pain and is struggling to piece together

his life.

quently increased to $50,000 in
October. A random sample of
awards announced for October
shows most awards in the $1,500
to $4,000 range.

Meanwhile WCB spokesman
Scott MeCloy said he could rot

discuss specific compensation
cases.

release claimants’
directly to the media,’' he said.

Johnson received a WCB award.

eld

“It’s not proper for us to
information

But McCloy did confirm that

a