City Official Charged With Stealing Patrol Car
Vancouver, BC

William Stinson, Chairman of the City of Vancouver's
Department of Statistics and Bookkeeping, was
arrested this morning for the alleged theft of 
a Vancouver Police Department squad car.

Instead of taking the bus to work as he usually does, 
Stinson arrived at City Hall this morning behind
the wheel of VPD Patrol Unit C97. An anonymous 
City employee became suspicious and called the police. 
Soon after, uniformed officers marched into Stinson's
office and carried him away before the eyes of his 
stunned coworkers.

An anonymous source in Stinson's department told us 
he wasn't surprised to discover that the Chairman
had stolen a car. "He always complained about
taking the bus," our source said. "Two days ago, he
came to work half an hour late because the bus he
was riding in broke down. I can't remember him ever
being late for work before; he always arrived at 8:56
AM. I guess that was the final straw. He was so angry,
he couldn't get any work done that day. I asked him
why he didn't get a car, and he yelled at me: 
`Do I look like I have that kind of money? Do you 
want to tell the f***ing Mayor to give me more money?
No??? I didn't think so!' [Stinson] had applied for a
raise once a year for the past eleven years and was
rejected every time." Statistics and Bookkeeping is 
one of the City's most underfunded departments, with 
only 0.15% of the budget.

We wondered why Stinson couldn't  have obtained a car
for free at the new Clinic on Hastings. Our source told us:
"He would never do something like that. William Stinson is 
a very honorable man, and he would never stoop to accepting
charity."

Stinson has refused to comment on the charges. Bail hearings 
are set for next week.


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http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/defenestrate/stinson.html - 5/9/01