Vata | MUSGRAVE NASH AT OP OFTHEPILE A7 ‘HAMPSON A8 BS: se to the gelatin KICS carnival view office hours Review's office, at 9781-Second 7 In Sidney, is open from 9 am. > p.m. Monday through Friday: The _ address 1s Box 2070, Sidney, ~“'8 3S5 — Second class mail ation number 0128. Gun-toting man arrested by police after dispute in North Saanich home by Glenn Werkman The Review A half-dozen police officers waited almost an hour to arrest a 29-year-old North Saanich man who holed up with his parents ina home near West Saanich Road and Downey Road in North Saanich, about 11:40 pm., Aug. 21. By 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, - Robert Arthur Sparling was arrest- ed by police. The incident began in Sidney about 10:40 p.m. when Sidney RCMP received a call from the Peacock Restaurant about a man skipping out on a food bill. Police found the suspect at the North Saanich home and charged him with obtaining food by fraud, Sidney RCMP Sgt. Andy Rose- quist said. Apparently, the suspect later denied skipping out on the bill and became involved in an argument with his mother, assaulted her and later fired a shot from one of two hunting rifles police believe he was carrying, Rosequist said. Responding to the Downey Road home, police were able to cordon off the area and get the suspect’s parents out of the house. “Shortly after the parents were directed to leave the home, the suspect gave himself up,” Rose- quist said. The suspect was unarmed when he surrendered and a police dog and his handler from Colwood RCMP later located two loaded hunting rifles in the home’s yard. A Central Saanich police consta- ble also provided assistance. Rosequist said the man had been drinking. No one was injured. Sparling is facing three charges as a result of the last incident — assault, careless use of a firearm, and handling ammunition without reasonable precautions for the safety of other people. He was to appear in Victoria provincial court late last week. Rosequist said it was not the first time the suspect had threat- ened his parents. Local area plans follow wrong process by Mare Davis The Review Residents are being denied ade- quate input into the local area planning process through an open house method of input, Central Saanich council was told Monday. Speaking on behalf of the Asso- ciation for the Protection of Rural Central Saanich, Clarence Bolt said council should set up work- shop groups, instead of holding open house meetings. “Municipalities are made up of neighborhoods and the neighbor- hoods should come together in workshops to decide what they want the community to look like,” he said. In a letter to council he said workshops are the best way of informing residents of “all possi- ble scenarios and the cost of each.” In a letter to council, association chairman Bill Ashwell concurred with Bolt, saying the open house process will only allow very lim- ited public participation into the local area planning process. He said, as matters stand, the local are plans will become “a patchwork modification of a spec- ulative draft from UMA Engineer- ing.” In their letters, both spokesmen said the open house meetings will only give the public an opportu- nity for negative reaction to pro- posed blueprints for the communi- ties. “The local area plan will not be the product of residents’ input. The final product will once again be the result of a reactive pro- cess,” Bolt said. He added the consulting firm that is drawing up the local area plan, UMA Engineering Ltd., would probably serve “certain interests” before those of area residents. Several council members bris- tled at Bolt’s suggestions that residents’ concerns about the future of Central Saanich would be tailroaded. “We are not only here to repre- sent APRCS. We are representing about 13,500 people and not just a few hundred people,” Ald. Wayne Watkins said. Ald. Arlene Box felt the open Continued on Page A2 Quick tour ends in farmers field A quick trip from the Victor- ia Airport in North Saanich for a sight-seeing trip over down- town Victoria ended in a Cen- tral Saanich field, about 8:40 p.m. Friday. A ted and white Cessna 150 airplane landed in a field owned by Vantreight and Sons near the 7800-block Central Saanich Road, deputy police Chief George Lawson said. “The pilot said he’d run out of gas,” Lawson said. “He made a safe landing and there was no damage or injuries.” Apparently, the pilot, a 27- year-old Victoria man, took off from the airport with a quarter- tank of fuel, thinking he had enough for a flight over the downtown area and back. He didn’t quite make it back. The plane was later refueled in the field and later took off safely, presumably back to the airport, Lawson said. Helicopter squadron not leaving Canadian troops from the East Coast are being sent to the Persian Gulf but the 443 Anti-Submarine Helicopter Squadron based at Pat Bay is staying home. Since the entire 120-member squadron moved to the West Coast in July, 1989, its six Sea King have been exclusively assigned to Cana- dian navy ships based at Esqui- malt, acting commanding officer Maj. Alvin Jasper said. “Iraq doesn’t have a large sub- Marine force anyway,” Jasper said, adding that military forces in the Middle East are more concerned about air missile attacks. The Sea Kings, assigned to flight decks aboard the HMCS Peninsula for Middle East conflict Huron and Provider, are designed to spot submarines by using radar equipment. When asked how long it would take Vancouver Island-based forc- es to the Middle East, Jasper replied, ““There’s no reason to figure out that stuff. It’s just business as usual around here.” “We have no indication that 443 would be involved at all but that’s not to say we wouldn’t become involved if it became long term.” Construction on new facilities at the squadron’s base on the west side of the Victoria airport is going full steam ahead arid about 120 personnel are anxiously anticipat- Continued on Page A2