N E W
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2011
W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE FEATURE: Purple Lights campaign ◗P11
NEWS,
SPORTS,
OPINION
&
ENTERTAINMENT
www.royalcityrecord.com
Happy 100th, Mandrake
◗ KLASSEN SUSPENDED
Will cop get paid?
Leon Giglio started his famous career as a magician in New Westminster
Police board to review situation after officer found guilty of assault
BY ANDREW FLEMING REPORTER afleming@royalcityrecord.com
S
BY BRENT RICHTER REPORTER brichter@royalcityrecord.com
While a judge has found New Westminster Police Service Const. Jeffrey Klassen guilty of assaulting newspaper delivery driver Firoz Khan, his fate with the service remains in question. A parallel investigation into Klassen’s conduct under the Police Act is underway to determine if allegations of misconduct against Klassen are substantiated and merit punishment. The first step in the proLes Bazso/PNG cess, however, is for the New Const. Jeffrey Westminster Klassen police board to review whether Klassen will continue to receive pay cheques while suspended. “The board is the one who deals with status of suspension – with or without pay. The board has served notice to him,” said Chief Const. Dave Jones. “If he wants to make a presentation before them on his status, he has a time period under the Police Act to do that. He has five days to request it.” Jones said Klassen was issued a letter informing him of the board’s review immediately after his conviction on Tuesday. If Klassen requests to speak ◗Klassen Page 4
Photo courtesy of New Westminster Museum and Archives
Making magic: A poster for a 1958 hometown performance from Mandrake, then 46, at the Vincent Massey Junior High auditorium.
ACRYLIC SET $30 ACRYLIC FILL $22
604-521-1453 | crystalnails.ca Columbia Square #101-78 Tenth St., New Westminster
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
✁
✁
Expires April 30, 2011. Not valid with other special offers. With Ad.
YOUR HOMETOWN REALTOR
DON ELLAM
◗Mandrake Page 10
MONDAY IS
SENIORS DAY at the Rivers Reach Liquor Store
604-518-3538
FREE HOME EVALUATIONS WWW.DONELLAM.COM
twitter .com/TheRecord
uperman is widely considered to be the world’s first comic book superhero, and Canadians get a lot of mileage out of the fact that co-creator Joe Shuster was born in Toronto. Despite Superman famously standing for “truth, justice and the American way” and Shuster having moved to Cleveland when he was only 10 years old, the CBC made a Heritage Minute video to remind us of our Kryptonian connection, and Canada Post even put his image on a stamp. It may come as a surprise, then, that not only was there another cape-wearing character with superpowers to hit the funny pages well before him, but this one was based on an actual Canadian citizen. April 11, 2011 would have been the 100th birthday of the late New Westminster resident Leon Giglio, who later changed his name to Leon Mandrake but is better known by his stage name, Mandrake the Magician. An accomplished illusionist, mentalist, ventriloquist, escape artist and fireeater, Mandrake was once one of the most famous magicians in the world and known for being one of the nicest guys to ever saw a woman in half. Along with dazzling countless crowds around the world over a career spanning seven decades, he also found the time to inspire a comic book character of the same name that debuted a good four years before a certain strongman from outer space pulled on his first pair of tights. The syndicated comic strip Mandrake the Magician, written by Lee Falk and illustrated by Phil Davis about a dapper crimefighter who could alter reality by “gesturing hypnotically,” first appeared in King Features newspapers in 1934. There is, perhaps appropriately, still a bit of mystery as to how the two magicians first came together. “From my understanding, they were
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
10%
OFF
ON ALL PURCHASES
• Does not apply to sale items • Not including retail, non alcoholic or cigarettes • Must be over age 55 to be eligible
www.riversreach.com facebook.com/RoyalCityRecord