THIS year proved to
be an even
the tNorth Shore. In
today’s issue, the
News looks back at
Janvazy through June
of 1999. Watch for
July through
December on Friday.

JANUARY

Grouse Grind disaster

@ A devastating avalanche
roared down the Grouse
Grind Jan. 27 areund 1 p.m.
— Killing Rory Manning of
Ontario and injuring four
others.

North Shore Rescue bat-
tled blizzard-like conditions
to save the four survivors.
Manning's body could not be
found.

The popular 2.9-kilome-
tre trai! up Grouse Mountain
begins at the base parking lot
and ends 1.1 km above sea
level.

_° The Grind
indefinitely.
Save our land
B Dollaston homeowners
were less concerned about
property values slipping than
their properties just slipping
‘away entirely.

They. went to North

«Vancouver District Council
Jan. 18 secking a solution te

‘the erosion of foreshore
properties on two blocks of
the Doilarton Highway.

oe Residents hired consul-

. tants who advised them to
‘spend $10,000 cach for rip-

- rap along the foreshore and

they were hoping the district
would help defray the cost.
Grand drug bust
@ North Vancouver RCMP
drug squad officers raided a
Grand Boulevard house on

ut one on

was closed

Jan. 21 and found quantities _

of marijuana, crack cocaine,
a0 1. million cash; and
500 Rohypnol “date ape”

SS ormand Bisson, 47, was
; charg, ed and released on
$10, 000 bail by Judge Ellen
Burdere. -
~The ‘odourless,. tasteless
Rohypnol was ‘developed to
“treat insomnia and can cause
short: term. amnesia. Police

warned women not to accept.

“drinks. from“ péople. they
‘don w.and to: order
\ drinks ‘in sealed bottles” or

FEBRUARY

“La la Ja Nina m,

B The 14th windstorm since
-November: “hit the. Lower

Mainland Feb. 22, blowing

down: trees and leaving hun-
‘dreds of North Shore homes
“without power. ©.

* Meanwhile,-North Shore
ski” aréas were — reporting
record snow ‘aepths. By Feb.

.9°:Grouse. Mountain had a

‘ cans of

measured depth of 649 cm!

21 .feet.-At Cypress it was:

only. four centimetres less at.’

the ©. mid-mountain _ point.
«Mount Seymour estimated a:
depth of 750 cm. at the top
of the. Brockton Chair.
earch and rescue officials’
were warning skiers, snow-
boarders and snowshoers to
stay. within’ bounds because
of the. avalanche threat.
Bowen. xesideats beat BC
Ferries.
® BC Ferries shelved i its plan
<to reduce ‘service “between.
Horscéshoe Bay and Bowen
Island:

-BC Ferries directors svant-
ed :to replace the 90-vehicle
‘Queen of Capilano. with the

J0-vehicle. Howe Sound

= Queen. -A leaked BC. Ferries

Events that shaped
our Community

meme outlined a plan to
launch a pilot project involy-
ing Vancouver boatbuilder
Astrolabe Marine. The com-
pany was to provide 2 passen-
ger-only service for
$485,000.

“I think it’s a victory, no
question about it,” said
Elbert Paul, a director of
ferry users’ coalition Ferry
CURE.

BC Ferries nad bigger
problems to deaf with,
though: like the late, over-
budget PacifiCat fast ferries
built in North Vancouver.

MICHAEL Caster was
sentenced to life In jall
for cinema murder.

Caster convicted

@ Michael Caster was sen-
tenced to life in prison when
a B.C. Supreme Court jury
convicted him of the first-
degree murder of
Mohammed Mirhadi on Feb.
10 in New Westminster.

Six days later Caster was
named in a wrongful death
lawsuit by Mirhadi’s parents
and infant daughter. Then on
Feb. 24, Caster appeared in
North Vancouver provincial
court to face a charge for
possessing an unregistered
pistol.

Witnesses at Castet’s trial
could not conclusively identi-
fy: him as the gunman. The
murder. weapon was never
found, But Caster confessed
to the crime in a Sept. 10,
1997, conversation that was
secretly recorded by an
undercover RCMP officer.

* Caster won’t be eligible
for full parole until Sept. 13,

2022.

MARCH th
Property taxes up in both
Nerth Vancouvers

‘BE North Vancouver City res-
sidents saw a 3.9% tax hike

ipproved by a 6-1 city <oun-
il vote. :

A single-family household

would pay out an additional

-$38 per year, or about $3 per

month.

Services, employee wage
increases and recreational
programs were to be protect-
ed from provincial cutbacks.
North Vancouver City, still
boasts.the lowest tax rate of
all the municipalities in the
Lower Mainland, but needed
the money to recover the
$556,000 cut from Victoria. -

In the district, homeown-
ers were faced with a 5.4%
jump or $67 to the average
tax bill for a home.

’ West Van cops “goof-off”

BA 17-year old Richmond
girl was charged with second-

degree murder in connection «
with the 1997 death: of

Zachariah ‘Paul. Steudle, the

West Vancouver Police
announced March 29.

The badly decomposed
body of the 17-year-old
Ladysmith — resident — was
found under the Nelson

Creek Bridge near Horseshoe
Bay on Sept. 21, 1997. His
red 1976 Mercury Bobcat
was nowhere to be found.

Det. Stewart Nowacki
originally told the victim’s
mother, 37-year-old
Deborah Nash, her son com-
mitted suicide. His car was
sold after a forensics investi-
gation.

Nash criticized police for
incompetent handling of the
case.

“This has been one goof-
off after another, nobody
notifying other people,” said
Nash.

Nash received no offers of
victim’s assistance. She lost
her job as a cook following
her son's death and couldn’t
afford to bury his ashes.
Cut judgment
@ A’ Cambridge, Ont.
woman who became a quad-
riplegic in a runaway truck
crash on the Cut was award-
ed $2.3 million.

Marcia Brennan, 61, was a
passenger in a rented 1995
Ford Contour driven by hus-
band Ronald, who received
$140,000 in the judgement.

The driver of the runaway
tractor-trailer, . Baljinder
Singh of Surrey, was killed in
the crash, Another motorist,
Wayde Police of Burnaby,
was killed when the
Brennans’ car smashed into
his vehicle.

Singh’s tractor-trailer was
loaded with excavation mate-
tial when Singh, with appar-
ently no brakes, lost control
at the top of the Cut on the
Upper Levels Highway Aug.
16, 1995.

‘The | Brennans sued
Singh’s estate, truck owner
Marr Contractors and
Midtown Truck Services.
The Brennans were in B.C.
for a son’s wedding when
teagedy struck.

APRIL

WV_ municipal manager
turfed
@ In the wake of the contro-
versia! 1998 Cuff report on
operations in West Vancouver
district, the municipality

Allan.

jal meet-
ing at the municipal solici-
tor’s office, three-quarters of
council members voted to
dismiss Allan, who liad been
manager since 1991 and a
municipal employee for 22
years.

In his report, George Cuff
said that Allan lacked the
confidence. of West
Vancouver council and
administrative staff. —
Privacy . Commissioner
ruies WV Police right to
withhold victim’s name
E David Fisherty, informa-
tion and privacy commission-
er for B.C., denied an appli-
cation by News reporter
Anna Marie D'Angelo to
have the, name of an 86-year-
old accident victim released.

The woman, who died
after a motor vehicle accident
Oct. 9, 1998, was not identi-
fied because police felt it
would -be an unreasonable
invasion of the victim’s priva-

Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - North Shore Net-3 - 3

RCMP Const. Denis Boucher at the site of the Grouse avalanche in tune deter- ;
mining whether It's safo to re-open The Grind.

cy and that of her family
members.

D’Angelo made her
request on the basis of com-
munity safety and public
interest ~— but after reading
submissions from both the
police and the victim’s family,
Flaherty opted to uphold the
police decision.

“I do not accept that 3
newspaper story is less credi-
ble simply because the name
of the victim has noz been
disclosed,” said Flaherty.

News. managing editor
Timothy Renshaw said he felt
the victim’s next of kin were
“acting on their own behaif,
not on behalf of the
deceased” in keeping the
name suppressed.

MAY

bok, tracks down hiker’s
1

2 After months of search and
rescue crews trawling Grouse
Mountsin for the remains of
hiker. Rory Manning, his
body ' was finaily uncovered
by a golden retriever belong-
ing to North Shore Search
and Rescue member Don
Jardine.

Manning had been killed
in an avalanche. that hit the

popular Grouse Grind trail
en Jan..27. |:

Weather conditions were
so bad it was nearly impossi-
ble for rescue teams to search

for him. Rory’s father, Dr. .

Bert Manning, hired inde-
pendent search team CAST
to continue hunting when

NSR and the RCMP refused .

to conduct ground searches
because of perilous condi-
tions,

Dr. Bert Manning, Rory’s
father, said he was thankful
his son’s body had been
found at- last, after four
months buried beneath the
snow.

The incident saw. the
Grind closed to hikers for
five months.

WV bus driver loses job

@ Susan Falls, 2 three-year

employee of West Vancouver

Municipal Transit, was dis-

missed after writing a letter

to the editor of the News.
alls had written to the
er claiming that passenger

safety and fare evasion were.
key issues for the Blue. Bus
. management to address, and: :

not, as asserted by former
West Van mayor Derrick
Humphreys, the prospect of
-melding the bus systems of

oral letter to the editor
was deemed. “insubordina-. -
tion” and: grounds for’ dis
missal despite the fact. tha
her letter took no direct i
‘vith the Blue Bus system.”
‘Although. a:‘number,..o

Lower Mainland bus. drivers’:

rallied round - in -support:‘of:
Falls, she was not reinstated“
by West ‘Van Transit...
Superbug strikes LGH
@ The outbreak ‘of an
otic-resistant “superbug”:
a fourth-floor ward.at Lion’
Gate Hospital -put:a sto
ward admissions

The superbug, oth
known’ as: methicilli
tant Staphylococcus aure:
(MRSA) is common in hospi-
tals throughout Europe.-and
North America. It’ is”.
highly contagious and’ p :
a serious threat only to tos

with | compromised

systems. :
| Seven patients were. iden
tified as having ‘the MRSA
bacteria, - but. visitors © wer:
still permitted on'th ward
‘JUNE
i11 C-49 enters law books
The. First: Nations “Land