NEWS photo Paul McGrath

REGENCY Auto Group president Amir Ahamed (right) hands over the keys to a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport to North Vancouver RCMP Superintendent Jamie Gibson. The vehicle will be used by the force’s school liaison program.

RCMP get Regency Jeep

Andrew McCredie Editor andrew@nsnews.cont

A North Vancouver auto dealership is picking up the lease payments on a sport utility truck for the North Vancouver RCMP.

Regertcy Chrysler officials pre- sented the new Jecp Cherokee Sport to RCMP representatives on Wednesday.

- . Regency Auto Group president Amir Ahamed said he didn’t hesi- tate when one of his managers

i-Class

Jolanda Waskito Contributing Writer

NORTH Vancouver par- ents who don’t want their children to be taught sex education in school can puil them out of the class- es.

But the students still have to study the subject cither at home, by themselves or through corre- spondence.

The North Vancouver District 44 School Board adopted the poli-

Warrant

From page 1

Later, run-ins with Cody began to feature more bizarre: elements. According to the search warrant statement, another reported a 1992 incident in which Cody allegedly threatened to kill her and her dog if she didn’t stay off his property.

To back up his threat, Cody allegedly pulled out what appeared

approached him with a proposal to furnish the RCMP’s school liaison program with a new vehicle.

“[ thought thar for the last 15 years this community has been very loyal to us and this was a good way of giving something back,”

* Ahamed said.

“And the mutual benefit is also something I considered.”

The shared benefit is thar the police get the use of a Jeep for 30 months and Regency gets the high visibility associated with having its company name on a police vehicle

According to North Vancouver

ex ed n

Tuesday night after the provin- cial education ministry instructed all B.C. school districts to create a policy to allow parents choice in how ‘children learn about. “s tive” and “controversial” subjects in the personal planning cou

“Te is the intent of this policy to ensure that individual values, stan- dards and diversity are respected,” District 44 superintendent Robin Brayne said.

“The family is the primary ed’ cator in the development of a child’s attitudes, standards and val- ues. The school plays a develop- mental role.”

utlines

to be a gun.

Another neighbor said she fears Cody will one day act on the rage he displays to those around him on a regular basis.

“T have heard Mr. Cody scream at my children to shut up when they are in our backyard and are display-

their autism,” said the woman according to Gibson’s warrant. “[ live in fear that one day one

RCMP Supt. Jamie Graham, the truck is the first of what he hopes are many sponsorship deals between the force and the private sector.

“This is really the thin edge of

the wedge,” hi id. “We've laid the groundwork for companies to get involved with us. We've told them we're open for business.”

Graham added that a number of

Lower Mainland RCMP detach- ments have entered similar corpo- rate sponsorship deal

“We really appreciate help,” he said of Regen

their

Personal planning classes were introduced four years ago and are now mandatory subjects, making it

ble for students to graduate

t passing the course. will be the first. time in District 44 that forms will be sent home with students in kinder- garten to Grade 12, informing par- ents that their children can learn, through other means, about sex, substance abuse, family life and abuse and violence in relationships.

Students who opt out are required to provide a report or complete a test in order to deter- mine grading in the course.

Ahamed said the Cherokee is the first vehwle Regency has pro- vided to a police force. The auro- motive group i-as previously donat- ed two minivans to the Meals on Wheels socier. as part of'a country: wide Nissan Canada program.

And what's next on Graham's wish list? Compsters for the force's new station 2

The police force is pursuing an arrangement with a computer sup- plie Graham added that the North Vancouver detachment is looking into a similar deal tor high- speed Camaro interceptors.

Trustee Guy Hey policy is a “good idea” ing such cou rooms “may b: obje tionable to certain parts of society.

Bur Brayne said the provincially subscribed policy “doesn’t addre: the larger issue of whether it should at all be included in the cur- riculum.”

“It recognizes that some fami-

may wish their children to receive this information in an alter- nate manner ... but at the end of the day, the teacher has to award a Jeter grade. E's worth one-third or the course.”

d said the nee teach-

neighbors’ fears

of us will be the victim) of Mr. Cody's rage and will be shot.”

A former resident of the area is quoted as stating: “We moved a out of the area in part because ¥ did nor feel safe that our four bo would not lose a ball or something into Cody’s yard, and thar he might harm one of our kids.”

The same former czsident added that Cody’s home “appears to be a fort.”

Meanwhile Muriel Bathurst moved away from the area after her husband’s .

“i had not realized the tension | was under living next door to Mr. Cody until [| moved away,” sai Bathurst. “I’m glad that an inves gation is going on.

“He (Cody) is an unsociable, unreasonable, unpredictable and dangerous individual,” Bathurst said in the warrant.

| Port feels” | chill from Asian

meltdown

RebertGalster News Reporter robert@nsnews.com

TWO North Vancouver ship- ping terminals are feeling the pinch of vastly decreased lum- ber traffic passing through the port facilities.

Both Lynnterm and Seaboard Shipping have suffered Jumber ship- ment reductions ranging from 30% to 50% compared with last vear's levels.

The hardest) hie is) North

ancouver’s Seaboard Shipping, which has experienced a 50% slowdown in lumber shipments.

Last vear the terminal shipped 100 million board feet of lumber through its dock each month. This year the aver- age has slipped to 50 million board feet per month. ;

According to Scaboard’s operations manager, Russ Peters, the sharp dawn- turn can be attributed to fallout from the Asian economic ¢

“90% of what we do goes to th Japanese market,” said Peters. “We did expect some downturns, but I don’t think anybody expected what’s happen- ing there with the banks (failing) and companies actually going out of busi- ness.”

While the number of workers employed directly by the facility has remained constant at 15 to 20 staff

embers, Peters said the number of longshoreman hours logged at the facility has decreased significantly.

“We really just want to try and make it through this and hope it gets better,” he said.

But Peters said it’s likely to get, worse first: “The way it’s looking it appears we haven’t hit rock bottom yet. The next two months look as bleak as Fve ever seen.”

_ The impact of falling orders hasn't

neighboring Lynnterm as as Seaboard because lumber

makes up less than 30% of Lynnterm’s s. Bur the facility is neverthe- @ the squeeze.

Lynnterm’s sales manager John Ellis said most of the Jumber passing through the terminal is bound for Japan and Korea.

s¢ orders are “down by about a third,” said Ellis. Ellis added thar a glut of containers on world market is making them an increasingly attractive mode of transportation.

While three Port of Vancouver ter- minals handle container traffic, none are located on the North Shore, further, adding to the drain on the local econo- my. Luckily for Lynnterm most of the product it ships is wood pulp, a cargo whose destinations are evenly. split bernveen Europe and Asia. Wood pulp volumes have consequently remained steady.

Lynnterm employs a fulltime staff of 75 and approximately 100 longshore- men each day depending on the vol- ume of shipments.

Ellis said there has been a slowdown in Lynnterm operations but he added thar no permanent downsizing has been instituted

“We hope it’s (the slowdown) tem- porary,” E id.

Canadian Forest Products (CAN- FOR) is a major supplier of B.C. forest products for shipment through the ter minals and its outlook while not com- pletely bleak is nor rosy either. CAN-

minority shareholder in ipping.

Ralph Eastman, the company’s manager of communications, said

in exphining the lumber slowdown in on to the meltdown of many

One of those, said tman, is the slump in’ North American hember » Which has led many forest com-