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Drug charges dropped, man remains in Mexican jail Benjamin Alldritt
newsroom@nsnews.com
A North Vancouver man who has been languishing in a Mexican prison for more than two years without trial has had the bulk of his charges dismissed, but is still facing several more months behind bars. Pavel Kulisek was charged with drug trafficking and participating in organized crime. The drug charges have been dismissed but the dismissal must now be reviewed by another Mexican panel. The organized crime charges will not proceed until that review is completed, a process that is supposed to take three months but may take up to a year. Ramona Penner, Kulisek’s doctor and family friend, visited him in early April. “He was a bit on the skinny side,” she said. “He hadn’t seen the sun much at all. He was animated and talkative but obviously suffering.” Kulisek, his wife and two young children moved to Mexico in November of 2007. He was arrested in March of 2008 while he shared a meal with a man he believed to be an American expatriate named Carlos Herrera. The See No page 12
NEWS photo Paul McGrath
Make a fish
CHARLOTTE Petterson (left) releases her adopted Coho salmon into McDonald Creek in West Vancouver with the help of Stefanie Wong of the Environmental Protection Network club. More than 1,000 salmon were released into the creek in a joint project by the Coho Society of the North Shore, West Vancouver Streamkeepers and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
City gets no deal out of 2010 venture Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
TAXPAYERS in the City of North Vancouver don’t have a lot to show for the $15,000 they contributed to a business development program staged during the Olympics. The aim of the Metro Vancouver Commerce 2010 Business Program was to wine and dine potential foreign investors, connecting them with Lower Mainland businesses while simultaneously showing off the region as a great place to set up shop. The city and district of
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$15,000 Olympic junket had been touted as business generator
North Vancouver were among the 10 municipalities involved. “We have not had any direct results as of yet from Metro Vancouver Commerce,” said city Mayor Darrell Mussatto. “But business makes up about 40 per cent of our taxes so we felt it was important to explore. There is nothing specific for the city. I can’t say we’re working on something specific. But we’re still hopeful we may attract something new and we’re hopeful it will attract the expansion
! P R I VAT E I N S U R A N C E
of existing businesses.” Mussatto said he and senior staff members attended informal gatherings with overseas businesspeople, but they did not meet with any particular firms that might be interested in relocating or investing within the city. Nevertheless, Mussatto resisted the suggestion that city taxpayers were shortchanged. “For $15,000, and when business makes up 40 per cent of our tax base, I think it was a venture. I would do again. Just because we haven’t had anything as of yet I wouldn’t rule it as not being See DNV page 5
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