~ erating authority,’ and the court venues’ aré all-publicly funded, he points oy passing the bill without pr: romised — consultation . with “made the whole thing fruitless,” ~noyed? You bet!” See page 21 for our - special Mother's Day Supplement : ~ Rachel Goldsworthy Review contributor The Vancouver Island Regional . Library system, which includes the Central Saanich and Sidney . branches, has just spent more. “than a year and tens of thousands _. of dollars ona legal battle over” property taxes. They lost that bat-. Hei in April. : ~<.- Although the: BC. ssessment ‘Authority Appeal Board ruled in» 1998 that all libraries are exempt. ree property tax, othe. ules even as the court y was s delib The: library board, ‘assessment out, and the actions of Municipal Affairs Minister Jenny. Kwan in ‘the | board said . Wainwright. “Are we an- The Supreme Court ruled April’ 18 that libraries must pay. tax on privately owned facilities. This will have a big impact on “many. small. communities. that joined. the VIRL. because they can't afford a library on their own, said: North Saanich. councillor Terri Soley, . Theruling means s that the Van- couver Island regional library sys- tem will have to pay 1 1/2-2 per: cent of its budget — $200,000 or ‘more — in property taxes annu- ‘ally. So even though the Sidney | — ‘and Central Saanich library build F ings are owned by the municipal- - ities, as part of the VIRL their bud- gets will be affected. | The library board, like other public services such as schools and hospitals, has the power to set property: tax, ‘The City. of Nanaimo, for example, collects taxes from the owners of their li- brary buildings (which. receive fair, market-.rents from. the: li-- -braries) and will pay some of — ~ those taxes back to the library 50 CENTS peter enh caey pushes vine * Kinh Th’ s boat was one of six Sidney- based ian fishing vessels eet adrift from Tsehum Harbor. “KEVIN WOODLEY PHOT early Friday morning. Sidney/North Saanich RCMP say the incident Is part of an ongoing dispute. Peninsula News Review An ongoing dispute between area crab fishermen has. esca- ated, resulting in an RCMP in- vestigation after six commercial fishing. boats © were : reported “stolen fram Tsehum Harbor: in. : Sidney early Friday morning. The fishing vessels, worth : ‘more. than, $1.5 million collec. PONTINUED ON PAGES I. lively, - were. As much as $7,000 of fresh crab and | fishing equipment was -dumped into the ocean and two of the drifting vessels hit local plea- sure crafts, resulting in several — ‘later’ recovered” nearby and it: was- determined they were deliberately set adrift.’ hundred dollars worth of dam- age. Boat owners said the incident was the result of an ongoing dis- pute between local crab fisher-: men and a small group of Chinese fishermen, While the local RCMP were careful not to list race asa _ definitive factor. in the dispute, Kinh Thi didn’t hesitate, © and three of his brothers own five, Thi said disputes between fishermen working in the same waters are common in the indus- try, but was surprised things have “Race is the main thing,” said | “Thi, whoge boat was among those * cut loose from its mooring, “Race - ~and a turf war, It’s between us and . local fishermen, Their boats are. tied right next to ours and noth- ing of theirs went missing. This. was not a random occurrence’ Of the six boais set adrift, Thi gone this far. "There's always times when\ we> have confrontations. It’s a normal... working thing,” he said. “Argu: ments. are standard but never. taken to. this level. It's a pretty. “scary thing when you come down: here and your working vehicle is fone This is how. we make a live ; nge ‘Constable Mark Loader from the Sidney/ North Saanich RCMP said | the. incident was being | CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 ‘the driver will receive'a ministr : driving prohibition for 90 days and: 3°: “hada 24-hour Suspension’ at the “ “ogeenes so Bey . “Sidney/North Saanich’ RCMP “were also kept busy with several ~ motor vehicle incidents Sunday. It ina gi onsale ners Se Tt Ras May 5, 1999 Unique je joy ¥ ride : resuits in charges A joy-ride Friday night resulted “in charges being laid against a25- year-old man. At about 10:35 p.m. a neighbor - noticed a new John Deere tractor being driven down East Saanich. ‘Road, heading north from John Grieve Motors. Central Saanich po- lice were called to the:scene:’: At John Grieve Motors started at 4p.m. when.a vehicle . travelling north on Highway 17° swerved to miss a dead animal and rolled into a ditch just south of the Beacon Avenue lights, The driver ; received minor injuries but.the ve-- -hicle was demolished in the acci-, ‘dent. Roads were dry at the time and alcohol was not a factor. Then: at 7:15 p.m., police. re- ceived a report of a hit and run on . Beacon Avenue near Resthaven, A A7-yee ar-old Sidney resident, is fac- ing charges of. failing to remain at. an accident scene, impaired opera- tion of a motor vehicle and refusal to provide a breath sample. The paperwork was. barely started on these incidents, when at 9:40 p.m. police were called to a hit. and run at: the: intersection . of Resthaven Drive and: James White Boulevard, CALENDAR 30 . CLASSIFIEDS es er GARDENING 6 NAMES Teen ae OPINION —— ge ate 6 NEE eee Ne RL HIN INTIS YO nie ; police . found a dry space on the ground » where «the. tractor had been ‘parked; and, in its place, a case of beer. At that time, there was no sign of thetractor. or-its driver.. - ~ However, within a short space of? - time, the suspect drove the tractor: ‘i back to the scene, He was. immedi- Coane ease? mts «