POLITICS 3
MLA candidate gets the OK
NEWS 5
ARTS 11
Pool user irked over theft
Dose of dark humour at the ’Bolt FOR THE BEST LOCAL
COVERAGE WEDNESDAY APRIL 5, 2017
There’s more at Burnabynow.com
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
GO TO PAGE 23
EDUCATION
Next gen robots on the way Four Burnaby robots, representing a total of about 1,200 hours of student labour, took to the floor for their last VEX Robotics Competition of the season Saturday. Accompanied by 14 Alpha Secondary students, robots 502a, 502b, 502c and 502d, were put to the test one last time against 79 other machines from around B.C. and Alberta at the Pacific Northwest Regional Championship at BCIT. “In the next couple weeks, as soon as worlds wrap up, they’ll release the new game and then we’ll start building our robots for next year,” Alpha robotics teacher Russell Evanisky. Such is the fate of all VEX robots. Every spring, after the world championships in April, organizers announce a new skill-testing game, and students around the world spend the rest of the year designing, building and perfecting machines to play the game better than the competition – Continued on page 4
VEXING FINALE: Alpha Secondary robotics students , from left in orange, Dylan McLean and Patrick Reddy put robot 502a through its paces at the VEX Robotics Pacific Northwest Regional Championships at BCIT Saturday. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
Gov’t collects on student loans 25 years later
Burnaby resident ordered to pay double what he borrowed after judge rules he was still liable for debt By Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@burnabynow.com
A Burnaby resident who failed to pay back $23,712 in student loans 25 years ago has now been ordered pay the government more than twice as much, according to a B.C. Supreme Court judgment posted on-
line last month. Babak Khonsari took out a series of loans between 1983 and 1991, according to a Jan. 23 ruling by Justice Lisa Warren in a civil case between Khonsari and the Attorney General of Canada. “The defendant has never made any payments,” she
said. Neither written demands for payment in 1992 nor the work of a collection agency in 1993 helped in the recovery of the debt, according to the ruling, so government lawyers sent a letter demanding payment in full in 1994. Khonsari testified he nev-
er got that letter or a summons and statement of claim for a 1996 civil suit against him. He said he also didn’t get any of the letters government lawyers sent telling him the judge in that case had ordered him to pay the original student loan plus interest and costs for a total
Got Your Tax Assessment, What is Your Home Worth?
Order Take-Out.
Call me at 778-773-4646 for a FREE home market evaluation and the most up-to-date market information about your area.
Call 310-SPOT (7768) or order online at www.whitespot.ca
RE/MAX Central
Burnaby, BC V5H 4C2
| Since 1985 | #1-5050 Kingsway,
778-773-4646 AL KABANI
alkabani@remax.net
of $34,881.74 in May 1996. With the assistance of skip tracers or locate agents to find him, government lawyers sent Khonsari a total of six letters about the first case, including two to his parents’ address in Burnaby. A second suit against Khonsari was launched in
2006, just before the first case approached its 10-year expiry date, but lawyers were unable to find him to serve him with the papers. In 2008, they got a court order allowing them to serve Khonsari by sticking a copy of the service order Continued on page 4
*Receive $5 off any pre-tax spend of $15 at Nando’s Kingsway. Valid until April 15, 2017. Not valid with any other gift. Not valid for alcohol, Gift Cards, or retail sauces. One offer per guest. Must present this card for offer redemption. Not valid on other offers.