Drinkin', Fightin' Mayor Simply Refuses to Resign

From The Province

A defiant Young last night chaired his first council meeting since pleading guilty last week to assaulting his former girlfriend and her boyfriend.

Members of the media and city staff outnumbered the handful of citizens at the meeting, many of whom were there on business unrelated to the Young controversy.

A late addition to the agenda was a motion by all six councilors calling for Young's resignation - the third time the councilors have unanimously called for Young to quit.

The resolution was not debated and passed 6-1, with Young's vote the lone dissent.

Only two people took advantage of open question period to press Young over his decision to stay on.

When one of them asked Young to step down, he declined, Coun. Greg Moore told The Province.

"When he was asked to expand on that, [Young] said, 'No, I won't,'" said Moore.

The motion read in part: "Not calling for Scott Young's resignation would be perceived as endorsing the notion that alcoholism is an excuse for violence.

"Now that Scott Young has admitted guilt, the city councillors are once again requesting that the mayor resign."

The dapper mayor seemed businesslike as the meeting began, speaking in a strong voice.

"Council twice asked for [Young's] resignation last year and he has decided to stay," Moore said in an interview before the meeting. "It makes council a little more difficult these days than it was before."

Moore said some voters had told him that they were prepared to wait for the outcome of the court proceedings against Young, 46, who suffered personal tragedy when his teenage daughter committed suicide in 2002.

On April 4, 2007, Young went to the home of his former girlfriend Colleen Preston in defiance of a restraining order.

He pleaded guilty in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court last week to assaulting Preston and her friend Glen Shaw, and one count of breaching the restraining order.

Young burst into Preston's home gym and began attacking Shaw, lying on the floor.

He kicked Shaw in the ribs and elbow and punched him in the head. The two grappled, and Young managed to slap Preston's face. Preston called 911 shortly thereafter.

Officers had to use force to restrain Young, who was extremely intoxicated.

When an officer searched Young, he found four-metre lengths of yellow plastic rope in each front pocket - the same kind of rope his 14-year-old daughter Sierra used to commit suicide by hanging herself. The judge is expected to impose his sentence June 17.