The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 1

DISMAL CANUCKS FALL 8-1 TO DEVILS, Fl Itt tt $1.17 MINIMUM OUTSIDE LOWER MAINLAND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1997 http:www.vancouvcrsun.com 93 cents RETAIL $1 COIN BOX VER TV 1 1 NEWS IN CONTEXT NEW CYCLE IN Court delays let convicted sex offender walk free VTV director resigns saying he was misled by company lir i I The man's right to a speedy trial was infringed by 17-month delay, court ruled. NEAL HALL VANCOUVER SUN The father of a sexual assault victim says he feels betrayed by the court system after a Mayne Island teacher was convicted of abusing three girls and then set free because of a 17-month delay in getting the case to trial. "The delays were just as hard on the innocent victims as the perpetrator, but he got all the benefit the appeal court ruled his right to a speedy trial was infringed," said the father, who cannot be named because of a court order shielding his daughter's identity. "These girls bared their souls in court and were brutalized by the system" said the father, who lives in Saanich with his wife and two children. "It's terrible.

It's not right at all." Vancouver Sun stories published this week quoted judges as saying the backlog of cases in provincial court is so serious that thousands of cases may be thrown out because of trial delays. The father interviewed by The Sun said he is concerned that the backlog will result in other serious crimes going unpunished. "I'm concerned about future victims," the father said. "Delays shouldn't work in the favour of perpetrators." The case the father is upset about involved teacher Ian Cocker, who has been suspended from his teaching job at Mayne Island school, which has classes from kindergarten through Grade 9. The father said his daughter was 16 when she was sexually assaulted by her former teacher while babysitting for him and his wife, also a teacher, in 1993.

Two other female students of the teacher also came forward with complaints they were sexually abused while on camping SEE JUSTICE, A2 SIGNS OFF: Daryl Duke resigns as a board member for Vancouver Television, saying he was misled by vG BIKERS' FEARS DOUGLAS TODD VANCOUVER SUN When 90 cyclists staged a mass ride across the Lions Gate Bridge last weekend, they were venting years of pent-up frustration. Ostensibly, the ride was intended to protest a near-deadly sidewalk showdown on the bridge between a cyclist and an ironworker helping to maintain the crossing. But the underlying reason was fear the fear cyclists have long felt about the many bridges that connect this peninsular city. Cycling commuters and those who would like to switch to two wheels from four say the Lions Gate Bridge, the Second Narrows Bridge, the Granville Street Bridge, the Georgia Viaduct, the Oak Street Bridge, the Pattullo Bridge, the Port Mann Bridge, the Arthur Laing Bridge and others are either absolutely impassable or dangerous in the extreme. Although the number of people commuting by bicycle is tripling on some new designated bike routes in Greater Vancouver, the fact remains that only about three per cent of Vancouver residents choose to travel by bike.

The opportunity for Greater Vancouver cyclists to reach a critical mags as they have in Scan-djnavjan and German cities where 30 per cent of all trips are by bicycle is constantly being blocked by intimidating bridges. Yet studies constantly show that urban cyclists can make trips of up to seven kilometres faster (and happier) than car drivers if they have supportive infrastructure. SEE COMMUTING, A8 CPPfuid to swell far above goals, analysis says ERIC BEAUCHESNE SOUTHAM NEWSPAPERS OTTAWA The Canada Pension Plan investment fund could swell to almost $200 billion in 12 years, well beyond anything envisioned by the government, says a new analysis of plan's controversial reforms. But the CD. Howe Institute report by economist David Slater says "markets, domestic and foreign, should have no difficulty in absorbing the increased investment." The fund, now at just over $40 billion, should exceed its stated goal of generating an annual after-inflation return of 3.8 per cent "if managed like other major Canadian public and private pen-sion investment funds," says Slater, a former chair of the now disbanded Economic Council of Canada.

And the target of building up the fund to five times its annual payouts could be met by 2010, a decade sooner than projected, says Slater who has had experience in analysing pension funds. The fund currently is just over twice the size of annual expenditures. Slater's analysis dismisses complaints that the escalation in premiums to 9.9 per cent of insurable earnings by 2003 from today's 5.85 per cent is excessive. The rate is not applied on total income, and once related tax credits and deductions are included, the actual rate works out to between seven and eight per cent SEE PENSIONS, A2 Duke quits Vancouver TV "We were directors of bubbles, of nothing. Vancouver Television as a company didn't exist.

But they never told us." DARYL DUKE He said the unforeseen merger of the broadcasting operations of the two firms that were originally to own Vancouver Television eliminated the need for a separate board of directors. "There is no doubt there was a series of unforeseen circumstances and there were changes to the corporate structure," he said. Meanwhile, the two other local directors lawyer Calvin Helin BILL KEAYVancouver Sun its Toronto-based owners. Don't let the 1 1T OTl J-1 Vll your barbecue STEWART BELL VANCOUVER SUN Leaving pet food outside, neglecting to cover a dirty barbecue grill and failing to remove fruit from under a tree might soon be illegal in B.C. part of an effort to discourage bears from straying into cities in searcn ot tood.

The proposal would give conservation officers the power to lay charges against people who refuse to clean up "bear-attrac-tants" such as garbage and rotting fruit. "It's being discussed as an idea," confirmed Nancy Bircher, director of wildlife at the B.C. environment ministry in Victoria. "It's one way to go, but we're not there yet." The law would allow conservation officers to use "a heavier hand" against "people who basically refuse to comply with our suggestions and continue to draw wild animals into the community," she said. SEE WILDLIFE, A2 How Seattle avoids the spread of HIV As Vancouver grapples with an HrV epidemic on its Downtown Eastside spread in large part by intravenous drug users (IDUs), the Seattle area appears to have been spared a high infection rate despite estimates showing that its IDU population is larger.

How did the U.S. city escape Vancouver's fate? Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert visited Seattle to find out Her story appears on BL and arts advocate David Y. H. Lui said they were considering their positions and had concerns about what has happened at the station. On Aug.

31, Baton Broadcasting bought the television assets of Electrohome Ltd. The move merged the two firms' broadcasting operations into a single entity controlled by the Eaton department store family of Toronto. Last week, a month after the new station went on air, Duke said he discovered the role of local directors had been truncated. "This is really a breach of the promises made to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications commission and the representations I made to other people and to myself," Duke complained. SEE TELEVISION, A2 SEEKS JOINT TALKS: Ambassador Raymond Chretiea I if I I JLi IAN MULGREW VANCOUVER SUN Daryl Duke, a Canadian film and television icon, has quit as a director of Vancouver Television, saying he and broadcast regulators were misled by its Toronto-based owners.

"We were directors of hot air," Duke fumed Thursday after his resignation late Wednesday, in which he was joined by Catherine Murray, head of Simon Fraser University's centre for policy research on science and technology- "We were directors of bubbles, of nothing," Duke said in an interview. "Vancouver Television as a company didn't exist. But they never told us." VTV boss Jon Festinger said he was disappointed in the resignations, but maintained the company had not broften its promises. U.S. offers B.C.'s premier says he will consider compensation for past, but not future, catches.

PETER O'NEIL and JANET STEFFENHAGEN VANCOUVER SUN OTTAWA Establishment of a fund for salmon conservation in Canada and the U.S. could be one way to solve the Pacific Salmon Treaty dispute, Raymond Chretien, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said Thursday. "What they the U.S would like to explore, and I think we should explore it jointly, is the idea of some kind of fund," Chretien told the National Press Club Thursday. The fund would be used to compensate Canada for conservation costs related to salmon that spawn in Canadian waters Canada 'salmon fund' TODAY GILES GIIERSON: Chretien back from Europe transformed into a born-again cnviro-PM. A9 VAUGHN PALMER: New Democrats drive a small logger into the ground.

A18 WEATHER FIRE TUL FORECASTER: Showers but the rain won't be falling as hard as the Canucks down the division standings. Chance of showers on Saturday. Details, B2 Reader Sales and Service 24-Hour automated service 605-7381 Outside the Lower Mainland Fax 605-2200 Classified 605-7355 s): 168 PAGES BSgi FOUNDED 1886 VOL.112 No. 147 57040" 1 0060' but are intercepted by Americans in U.S. waters, principally off Alaska.

Chretien said a fund, first proposed during talks last spring, was the Americans' preferred way to deal with Canada's complaint of Alaskan overfishing and U.S. violation of the treaty's "equity" principle. "The negotiations have fallen on the whole business of equity the last couple of years, and they're prepared to address it also through funding." Under the 1985 accord each country has the right to salmon-fishery benefits equal to the production of salmon originating in their waters. Canada's allegation that Americans have regularly violated this principle is at the SEE TREATY, A2 FEUD FAILS TO HINDER TOURISM, A3 pi) v..