FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2017
$1.25
NEWSSTAND PRICE
PULSE 13
Into the darkness
Firehall Arts Centre stages The Nether
LOOK 27
Frankie & Co
LoLo candy store finds sweet spot
TODAY’S DRIVE 34
Hyundai offshoot
Genesis starts something new online NORTHSHORENEWS
LOCAL NEWS . LOCAL MATTERS . SINCE 1969
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS AT
nsnews.com
Alleged threat with fake gun results in arrest BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
A 53-year-old West Vancouver man could face charges after a road rage incident escalated to an alleged threat with a gun.
Police say a tow truck driver was in the process of towing a vehicle on Esquimalt Avenue just west of Taylor Way around 8:30 p.m. Sunday when a suspect drove past him “at a speed that was higher than what was comfortable for the tow employee.” This led to the tow truck driver making a “gesture” and having some words with the driver, setting the confrontation in motion. “The passing guy took offence to it, walked out and allegedly, while he’s in a verbal dispute with the tow truck driver ... pulls his jacket back to reveal what looks like
See Police page 4
TUBE TIME Friends Adam Ikari, Rob Shackleford, Kent Fawcett and Christopher Rootes go for a wild ride in Cypress Mountain’s tubing park. The white stuff was falling again on Thursday with more snow in the forecast for Sunday. The cold snap has brought throngs of visitors to all three North Shore mountain resorts, with Grouse Mountain announcing this week that December was the resort’s best month on record. PHOTO CINDY GOODMAN
Drug overdose deaths double in 2016 JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
A total of 27 people in the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region died of overdoses from illicit drugs in 2016, most of those likely linked to fentanyl. That’s almost double the number of deaths in the health region in both of the two previous years, which stood at 15 for both 2014 and 2015. Of the deaths in 2016, 15 were in North and West Vancouver. “Basically we’ve seen a doubling of overdoses on the North Shore,” said Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer for the
Fentanyl likely linked to most of 15 deaths in North and West Van region. “What’s happening on the North Shore is consistent with what’s happening across the province.” Lysyshyn made the comments after the B.C. Coroner’s Service released year-end statistics on overdose deaths for 2016 on Wednesday showing the total for the year soared to 914 provincewide by the end of December, almost an 80 per cent increase over deaths in 2015. Officials couldn’t confirm how many of those deaths were
linked to fentanyl, as toxicology reports for the last two months won’t be completed until March, but the majority are expected to involve the drug. The number of overdose deaths spiked in November and December, said Lysyshyn. “In most of 2016, we were in a bad situation with fentanyl,” he said. “We saw things get demonstrably worse in November and December.” Health authorities suspect that’s because the powerful drug carfentanyl – chemically similar to fentanyl but stronger and more toxic – had made its way into the illicit drug supply.
3-2555 Skilift Road
See Carfentanyl page 4
$1,768,000