of the weird hy y fault so ’'m sui ESCAPEE Maakansson, in court in Stockholm, Sweden, on a theft charge and who broke a foot leaping through a court- house window before being recaptured, filed a lawsuit against the police in September for failure to pre- vent his foolishness. One week earlier, in Roseville, Mich., Cassidy L. VanHora filed a lawsuit against homeowner Diana Folbigg, whose house he had broken into in July 1997; according to the lawsuit, Folbigg lured VanHorn back to the house the next day, say- ing all was forgiven, but when he arrived, several of Foloigg’s friends beat him up. o00 Animals With Unusual Tastes: Police in Fall River, Mass., have been unable to find, since May, the dog owner wh3 trained his pit bull Jimmy to sharpen his teeth on trees and consequently killed mere than 30 in a city park. And in July, an Irish wolfhound freed itself during a United Airlines flight into San Francisco and gnawed through landing-gear wires, bur pilots landed the plane safely. And in July, after a Spanish Fort, Ala., police officer pep- per-sprayed an alligator that was creating a public menace, the *gator bit a $500 chunk out of the officer’s cruiscr. Q0g00 Update: Last year, News of the Weird named “Dr.” John Ronald Brown “Chief Surgeon to the Weird” upon disclosure that after having had his licence revoked for incompetence in 1977, he became the underground sur- geon of choice _ for apotemnophiliacs (who get sexual gratification from hav- Friday, October 29, 1999 — North Shore News ~ 11 ing an arm or leg removed). However, one of his patients had died, and in October 1999, a San Diego jury found Brown guilty of second- degree murder. (That same week, Miami Beach’s “Dr.” Reinaldo Silvestre, who unlike Dr. Brown was never licensed, was arrested after botching several plastic surgeries, including onc in which he used a spatu- la to cram breast implants into a former Mr. Universe runner- up who was expecting only pectoral implants.) 000 Also, in the Last Month: Quebec bureaucrats ordered an agricultural centre to stop giving its cows “human ing you female names” 50 as not to offend women. A_ lake- restoration § project’ = near Florida’s Disney World caused several ncighbourhoods to be overrun by a half-million mice. Colin Linge, 54, retired after 29 years and ’50, 000 hours as a firefighter, having never fought a single fire (London, Ontario). Fourteen worshippers secking eternal salvation were crushed to death when a crowd surged to touch a visiting evangelist { Abuja, Nigeria). A Washington Mutual bank informed a customer that, because of'several mergers and relocations, it had lost his safe-deposit box containing $250,000 in family heirlooms. (Fountain Valley, Catif.). New Grind hours "AS of Sunday, Oct. 31, new hours take effect for night closing and morning reopening of the © ' Grouse Grind hiking trail. As determined by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), the adjusted night closing and morming reopening es for the trail are as follows: an aight closing is twe hours earlier and will now be 4 p.m. 8 morning reopening is one-half hour carlier and will now be 7 am. The new hours coincide with reverting back to standard time and are a direct result of the GVRD’s concern for public and the diminishing daylight hours associated with the arrivaS of fail and winter months. . Hiking, the steep trails at night is considered hazardous. | However, the vast majority of the trail’s users —- estimated at some 100,000 annually — are unaffected by the new times. The Grouse Grind Originates at the Grouse Mountain Resort parking lot, and traverses mountainous terrain on _ GVRD off-drainage watershed lands adjacent to die Grouse ‘SkyRide right-of-way. The at the trailhead will now be focked each night at 4 p.m. an reopened each morning at 7 a.m. A sign to be posted sdising hikes of che new four of operation. . _SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1999 00 prs - West Vencomver United Church — ‘Mission, was s fined $1,500 and had i drive's liecrtce ‘for 12 months after he leaded aa hol level greater than 08. P n-cards updated — aries ‘that come ‘into. effect _ginfoform. html> and ~ fill in het mailing 1:3 million cards:to. fer: those . voters know our office has their. most’ recent registration, and” to remind © those voters to keep their reg- istrations.. up ‘to’ date,” Patterson. “We are’ also including information abouz _ changes to: electoral bound- ” when the next eral election is Reid.” ‘Those qualified voters who do not receive a card from Elections BC by the middle of - November should call 1-800. rovincial gen, = : “mation request the online registration /confir- ae form. You are cligible te vote in a pro rovincial election if you: are § years of age or older, a Canadian. citizen’ and ‘have. “Elections: BC Web: site at 61-8683" “or visit the. “Columbia for at least . six (Beside London Drugs unter the yelicey & red cwning} ___ Jam-Spm7daysaweek y « Ali claims have time limite Documents you sign can: be used against. you, j Taylor. & Blain: GARAISTESS & SOLICITORS*. 102-145 West 15th St. North Van geen: been. a resident (of ‘British’ 1.