Investors sack WV computer

retail magnate DAVID CHALK’S meteoric basement-to-riches story hit a snag Tuesday when the market- ing whiz was dismissed from Doppler Computer.

By Ian Noble News Reporter

But the West Vancouver resident does not expect his termination as the company’s president to be a long-term setback.

Chalk, who’s been recognized nationally for his entrepreneurial acumen, co-founded Doppler Computer along with his brother ’ Colin in 1981.

Fourteen years after building the company from nothing to an $80- million-a-year business, Doppler’s

‘majority owners gave Chalk, the firm’s president, his walking papers. Chalk said the firm cited 'a differ- ence of “business philosophy.”

David and Colin gave up control

Friday, January 26, 1996 ~ North Shore News - 3

lier dropped

NEWS photo ‘Mike Wakatletd

DOPPLER COMPUTER co-founder David Chalk remains plugged in at his West Vancouver hame after being stripped of his title as president of the expanding computer superstore chain.

1981.

At the time, David, a 22-year-old

while Colin juggled service and sup- rt

in the first year, the company — named Doppler after the Doppler Effect — did $30,000 to $40.000 in business, Chalk said.

In 1984, after the company added hardware sales, it quickly outgrew the basement. Then, the brothers’ “high volume, very profitable” com- puter store at Fifth and Manitoba in Vancouver outgrew its space. That’s when David dreamed up the com- puter superstore concept.

But he needed more cash to take his company to that next level.

Enter Asean, an investment com- pany that has its roots in Thailand.

In 1993, the investment firm approached the Chalks. In return for $4.2 million, the investors were handed 70% of the company.

The end result is Chalk’s vision, the Doppler Computer Superstore, a 28,000-square-foot store in Vancouver, Computer retail outlets have been added in Calgary and - Washington state.

The stores include reading rooms, jumbo television screens, and a cappuccino bar, but Chalk still maintains price propels purchases. Chalk expects the firm to ting in more than $80 million in sales this year.

of the computer retailer in 1993 to a company controlled by Thai investors.

Speaking from his British Properties home Wednesday, Chalk speculated on the reasons for his dismissal.

“There’s no.wrong-doing,” said Chalk. “All I can think of is that I was pushing very hard for the company to grow very quickly and

maybe they wanted a different type of growth.”

‘Chalk wants to remain at Doppler, and

plans to talk to the firm about returning,

“lL really do love the company,” said the 36- year-old, citing the “hard-working, good” peo- ple at the superstore.

However, he expects his marketing prowess and passion to help him land on his feet if he doesn’t return to Doppler.

“I love computers and I love technology. but deeper than that is marketing,” he said.

The brothers Chalk started their venture in

licensed airline pilot, had recently seen jobs in that profession shot down by the recession.

The Chalks turned their attention to com- puters, selling computer-related supplies from the basement of their parents’ Burnaby home.

“PCs had just been invented and J thought it would be the hot thing to get into,” Chalk said.

David ran the marketing und promotion

Doppler received the retail excellence award from the Retail Council of Canada in 1995. Chalk was named 1994’s Entrepreneur. of the Year by the Vancouver chapter of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization.

He hosts a radio computer talk show and ran a home computer ‘shopping program. Colin, who’s still with Doppler, lives in Lions Bay.

N. Shore politicians reject combined cops

MONTROYAL RESIDENT Greg Cameron addresses a meet- . ing of parents concerned about pedopilis awareness.

Podophile fhe

4 CONVICTED. PEDOPHILE -J Robert Roy Owens is feeling ‘A the ‘pressure from North

} .Vancouver’s Upper Highlands

* community and may file a for-

“mal complaint, says a North

f Vancouver RCMP spokes-

} man,

| By Richard Ostler Contributing Writer Insp. Jamie Graham, speaking to a gathering of Upper Highlands

and Montroyal-area parents on Wednesday night, said Owens has

5 approached him on several occa-_

sions concemed about harassment from the community.

; On Wednesday morning,

i Owens, 45, complained to Graham

that someone had tried to set him

up by breaking into his house and

planting children’s clothing in the dryer of his basement.

‘The complaint will be. investi-

.[ gated, but Graham said it is only a

| matter of time before a formal com-

plaint is filed by Owens. | Graham said he was concerned that pressure on Owens from some

individuals will cross the line from a legal protest to a criminal offence. Owens has also complained that he

has been closely watched outside j

his home and followed in his car. “The bottom line is you can’t deny mobility to anyone for any

reason unless you have real legal |

ground,” said Graham. “Anyone can live where they want.”

Daniel Bristow, a friend of | Owens’ and a convicted sex offend- |

er, has also complained to North Vancouver RCHF about the pres- sure from the community.

Graham said the 72-year-old | Bristow, who lives near Owens in |

the Upper Highlands area, is in fail-

ing health and the stress from the { community is speeding up the dete-

rioration of his medical condition. Bristow has complained about several incidents, including a can-

dlelight vigil that was held outside j

his home on Canterbury Crescent in North Vancouver. There have

also been complaints about snow- §

balls and eggs being thrown at Owens’ home.

Graham said individuals caught §

trespassing or following Owens or Bristow would face criminal

charges.

Improved radio relay urged by

Coun. Williams

FORMER B.C. attorney gen- eral and present West Vancouver § Coun. Allan Williams says the current attor- ney general should make municipal police and the RCMP in the Vancouver area improve their communications.

By Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter

“Somebody at the regional level with the assistance of the attorney general should sit down and say, ‘Look you guys, get your act togeth- et. Decide on the kind of radio com- munication system you want and set it up.” said Williams.

Williams said there is a serious communication problem between North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Vancouver police because their radio systems are not linked.

Wiiliams reacted Wednesday to a call for an amalgamated regional police force. He said that every six years, someone, usually an academ- ic, will suggest that Vancouver and its suburbs should amalgamate police services into one huge regional police force.

“A larger force will then have a fairly complicated command structure and it tends to take the police away from the community when all the medem policing logic appears to suggests the opposite,” said Williams,

The three North Shore mayors reject the notion of one police force for the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

“This has been fooked at before. There aren’t the benefits,” said. West Vancouver District Mayor Mark Sager.

Sager pointed out that 98% of surveyed West Vancouver residents said they get good or excellent ser- vice from the municipatity’s police force.

ih Look you guys, get your act together. Decide on the kind of radio communication

system you want and Set it up. thd

—WYV Coun. Alfan Williams

North Vancouver City Mayor. Jack Loucks said ihe RCMP are efficient and tess expensive than a municipal force.

The city shares its police depart- ment with North Vancouver District. District Mayor Murray Dykeman said that local RCMP are account- able to a municipality, but can

. quickly muster other RCMP: resources when necessary... :

AS an example, Dykeman. : said

. he “stumbled” upon the police com-’ mand centre. in the Seymour area : when the’ RCMP here launched a massive search in 1992 for kidnap- per and rapist David Snow.

“I was just amazed at the system i saw unfolding. There were officers and teams of men and women who — were working under a system that the RCMP instantly. threw together with helicopters ...,” said Dykeman.

Meanwhile Williams' rejects the’ suggestion that serial murderer Clifford ‘Olson may have been caught sooner if police investigators had been working under one police force in Vancouver.

“I was sorry to see somebody raise this Olson business. I wish you'd forget it ... You guys in the press made Clifford Olson and he feeds off this,” said Williams.

Williams pointed out that the Peel Regional police force mishan- dled the Bernardo investigation in Ontario. Paul Bernardo, a serial rapist responsible for two grisly sex slayings, was finally apprehended at

about the same time as his estranged wife decided to

make a deal with the Crown.

Williams was the attomey general in the early 198us when the RCMP paid $100,000 to an Olson family trust fund. Olson's family obtained the money after the mur- derer agreed to give police information concerning the locations of some of his 11 murder victims. Olson's vic- tims ranged in age from nine to 18. At the time, Williams was criticized for allowing a criminal to prof- it from crime.

Williams said the studies he is aware of regarding the amalgamation of all Vancouver-area police forces have failed to conclude the move would save money.