Friday, November 1, 1991 - North Shore News — 7

The story behind the ereat Edgemont riot

HALLOWEEN OF 1966

was a warm weck-night.

By Syd Stons
Contributing ‘Writer

And the merning after — 25.
years ago today — our local
papers were wildiy reporting on

* the disaster that had
befallen the sleepicst and most
harmiess little burg ca the North
Shore: Edgemont Village.

To hear them tell it, it was like
Attila the Hun, the Hell’s Angels
and the Black Panthers, all

’ disguised as iocals, had swept
through anJ3 flattened the place on
their way to burning down the
mayor’s house and God knows
what else.

They'd been thwarted at the last
minute by an heroic stand of
police aud firemen, and the swine

» bad vanished into the underbrush
'. fike-warthogs, where they were
“probably still ac large...

|. The truth is, it started with the
- cheerleaders.

Prior to this, the most you
could look forward to was throw-
ing an egg at a bus, but the North
Shore had become over-policed.

" They were fond of pulling over
any group larger than three and
giving everyone a brisk pat down.
This broke the eggs in your
pockets, Icaving nasty, tard-to-

- explain stains.

So for several years, a herding
instinct had come into play. it

followed a pattern. The word
would go out from somewhere as
to the gatbering places.

it covld be the Kings Burger
stand on Marine Drive, or some-
where on Lonsdale, but the actual
carriers of the information were
the cheerleaders.

They went to a different school
every week and yet were utterly
above suspicion. Which proves
that when it comes to riots, you
can’t trust anybody.

It was Edgemont Viilage’s own
pure bad luck that it was named
at the peak of this cycle.

When I asrived with a deiega-
tion of about 10, I was excited
and isa . were hun-
dreds of teenagers just like me
milling about the sidewalks.

Although there was almost no
alcohol, there was still the
wholesale smoking of cigarettes
and concealed weapons too. Uzi

cags.

Local merchants, out of the in-
formation loop, had put up big
bright orange paper pumpkias in
their windows to attract business,
so it was quite festive.

We didn’t know it was suppos-
ed to ve a riot until the police
screeched up, in large riumbers.

This was even better. A reason
to stay. Given the hysteria over
the riots in Watts in Los Angeles
the previous year, in the beginning
the RCMP remained remarkably

For a brief moment it was like
two dance partners eyeing cach

» Speeders endanger

- Delbrook

3 Dear Editor:
 Receatly | i telephoned the
-RCMF to express my concerns re-
garding the traffic situation {par-
ticularly ‘speoders) on Delhrook

on Aventie. o>

1 S* Miy: call was” prompted by wat-
ching | schoo! children using che

crosswalk at Saville every morning .

on their way to Bracmar and
’.Balmoral. Often as these
youtigsters step into the crosswalk,

foolishly assuming the ap-.

proaching cars will stop, there is 2
loud screeching of tires as’ the
: driver attempts to come to a halt.

, Many children wait patiently
’ while car after car speeds past,
until finally one cousteous driver
stops. This also creates a danger-
ous situation as other cars travel-
ling down Delbrook at high speeds
are suddenly confronted with a
car stopped in frent of them; they

also come to a screeching halt.

This scene is repeated many
times each morning between 7:30
and 9 a.m.

children

Delbrook has a sharp curve
about one dlock above the Saville
crosswalk; motorists cannot see
the crosswalk as they round the
bend. This combined with high
speed. and the inclise of the hill
make this intersection extremely
hazardous.

I am pleased to say that only a
few days after my conversation
with the RCMP, two officers with
radar positioned themselves at the
Saville corner at 7:30 a.m. In the
hour and a half that followed they
ticketed at least 12 motorists, and

_ were able to observe the problem

encountered by the children using
the crosswalk.

1 would like to thank the
RCMP for their prompt attention
to this matter. Hopefully their
vigilance will put an end to the
speeding on Delbrook, and pre-
vent a tragic accident from occur-
ring.

Name withheld
North Vancoaver

Aiken column appreciated

Dear Editor:

‘This seems like an ap-
propriate time to write to you
to express my interest and en-
joyment in Robert Aiken's
column.

His thought-provoking
Statements surely do shake us
out of the everyday nitty-gritty
and help us to ponder the

much grander scheme of
things. -

I do’ hope Mr. Aiken will
continue to share his thoughts,
astrological knowledge and ex-
periences with us through your
aewspaner.

Darlene Krivenski
North Vancouver

other, with neither side knowing
how to dance. There was music,
firecrackers, the growing crowd
murmuring like discontented in-
sects.

Remarkably, several local mer-
chants remained open. The first

fouts out for stealing chocolate
bars.

The police rushed up to the far
end of the street, and F ran up
after them along with everyone
else.

The culprits had squirted back
into the crowd, but now the police
had a description of the riot’s
ringleaders: anyone with long
hair. In 1966, that was less than
10 people in a crowd of hundreds.

Soon a skirmish erupted be-
tween the police and a few
bystanders with long hair.

By doing this the polic= were
actually creating leaders of a riot
which up until then had been
leaderless

It caused the crowd to unleash
eggs and rotten fruit on the potice
for their error. This in turn caused
the police to retreat to their big
Ford Fairlane cruisers and call in
the fire department.

As the fire trucks wailed up,
right next to me the original
chocolate bar perpetrator re-
emerged from the mob and climb-
ed up onto someone's shoulders.

Wearing a pith helmet, he unged
the crowd to attack the forces of
law and order. For his trouble he

MAILBOX

was promptly hauled down from
his perch by the person beside me
(who is now a Vancouver nevw's-
paper publisher) and told to get a

later, a brick shattered the win-
dow behind me.

At the same time a_ brawl
erupted in front as the police, now
backed by the firemen, made a
foray into the crowd to pull in the
supposed ringleaders, (anyone
with hair over his coliar), and the
crowd roared like a sporting
event.

Firecrackers exploded in pro-
test. It was less a riot and more of
an unpaid pro wrestling match,
with 95% of participants watching
an innocent 5% take all the abuse.

I was tired of running to and
fro. At this point I was getting
mad myself, and wanted to get my

‘own lick in.

Behind me, the Chinese owner
of the grocery store was having a
loud and furious argument with
reed fexward The wall of humanity

PSraaeaty he he pave up, dashed in,
grabbed his cash box and fled out
the back of the store. The angry
crowd surged after him.

§ followed. Boy, now this was
ricting. Everyone ran in, dashed
@own to the end of the store,
turned the comer of the aisle,
then ran back out. Amateur
vioters.

As I was manning back out I
remembered from reading about

the Watts riots that a good rioter
should also loot, so I reached
down and swept up an item from
cold meats.

When I got outside I found Pd
seized a whole beef tongue. I
thought it was a nauseating ob-
ject, and no prize at all.

I tore the wrapping off and
threw it at a cop, who, when it
landed on the back of his neck,
thought it was equally disgusting.
At least you could say that I got.
my lick in.

For reasons known only to him,
by now pith-helmet Aad gone
completely mad and had got
himself trapped in Sdgemont
Village’s only phone booth.

The fire department was en-
thusiastically blasting him with
high-pressure hoses, which I'm
sure broke windows.

Everyone cheered.

Then, at nine o’clock, I was
suddenly filled with great fear. I
broke and ran. 1 ran hard and fast
and long. [In street shoes, poun-
ding and pelting, | made it from
Edgemont Village to over the top
of Keith Road hill and home in
half an hour.

I was in fear of missing myself
on the TV news. No worry.

The Great Edgemont riot served
as a prototype for the far more
successful Grey Cup riot exactly a
month later. Thus, the North
Shore made a valuable contribu-
tion, because, with one exception,
the population seems to have got-
ten rioting out of its system.

School overcrowding NVD’s fault

Dear Editor:

The residents of Indian River
should be complaining to the
North Vancouver District Council
about school overcrowding rather
than to the school board.

The rampant over-development
permitted by council is irresponsi-
ble. The council seems to think
that ‘bigger is better,”’ but bigger
just erodes the quality of life on
the North Shore.

' Services like roads and adequate
recreational facilities are only es-
tablished after existing facilities
are overloaded. The youth centre,
established only after a serious
drug and alcohol problem arose,
is a prime example.

The situation wili only get
worse with the massive housing
development proposed for the
Blair Rifle Range.

It seems to me that we elected

some councillors last time from
some North Shore community
groups. Where is their loyalty to
community concerns now?
Evaporated just after they get
elected?

I call upon North Vancouver
District to curtail developmen:
now and concentrate on facilities
for the present problems.

Larry LeBel

North Vancouver