Victoria. d-c- The Sunshine Published at GfeMm-B.C. 15* par copy on newsstands ��� He. 4713 Serving tho Sunshine Coast since 1945 Captain John Craven and teammate Buzz Parsons of Vancouver Whitecaps are pictured on their triumphal arrival at Vancouver Airport Jast Sunday. And ia there anyone who doesn't know that the trophy While B.C. Ferries Workers picketed at Horseshoe Bay, commuters at the Langdale ferry terminal spent the morning over coffee and waiting for the phone. Trips were cancelled until the 11:20 am. scheduled trip. Roberts Creek meeting Sept. 17 Community referendum by Jeinie Norton The people of Roberts Creek will tie asked to approve financing for a new $330,000 community centre in a Specified Area tax referendum on Saturday, September 22. Residents and tax payers in the area from the Girl Guide Camp to Seaview Cemetery are eligible to vote on the proposed project to provide a new gymnasium for Roberts Creek Elementary and a new hall for the community at large. Generally, the plan is for a full-sized gymnasium large enough to accomodate a regulation-sized basketball court, with a stage for theatre productions, proper acoustics for concerts, lavatories, showers, and changing rooms, a kitchen, at least one meeting room-and storage area. The terms of the referendum ask for authority to borrow up to the full $330,000 and lay responsibility for the entire cost of the project on the taxpayer. But Area D Director Harry Almond and the Finance Committee for the project estimate a tax increase of 2 mills or less, about $ 13 per year for owners of property with a market value of around $30,000. And the mill rate is expected to decline when the Volunteer Fire Department's new truck is paid off in 1981. The project will proceed only if the balance of the funding can be obtained from other government sources. Once electoral approval is received for the specified area funding, application can be made for a provincial grant of one-third to one-half of the total cost, such as Pender Harbour recently received for their swimming pool. There is also the possibility of federal grants and the availability of lottery proceeds is being investigated, And there is the promise of $80,000 from the Sunshine Coast's Joint Use Committee. The idea of a new Community Hall was first raised about five years ago. The present hall is 43 years old and proving inadequate for the needs of the growing community. It is filled to capacity at dances. The lack of parking is a real problem, creating a hazard for traffic on the highway and at the Fire Hall. Investments in renovations and repairs have reached the point of diminishing return. And the heating bills are abominable. The School, on the other hand, has an activity room that does not even accomodate a single volleyball court and is inadequate for functions such being held aloft lathe North American Soccer League trophy won by the Whitecapa last Saturday? Photographed by Ian Corrance Ferry situation uncertain by Carol Berger An illegal walkout by "disgruntled" ferry workers halted ferry operations between Horseshoe Bay andOeparture Bay as well as service to Langdale and Bowen Island on Thursday, September 6. Operated by "management i excluded" personnel, ferry operation at the Langdale terminal started up again at 11:20 a.m. and was on regular worker shift by the afternoon. Negotiators for the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union and the government's ferry corporation met the following day with industrial inquiry commissioner Clive McKee in an attempt to resolve issues still outstanding in'contract negotiations now five months old. Union sources report that legal action is being taken against The Vancouver Sun for an article printed on Friday regarding ferry tieups. The article alleged that left-wing extremists were stirring up trouble within the leadership and the ranks and encouraging members of the Marxist-Leninist Organization of Canada In Struggle to hand out anti-establishment pamphlets at terminals. The article predicted a leadership battle within the union was about to "blow up*. A high level union source close to negotiations told The Coast News Sunday that progress in talks was slow. The source stated that stall tactics were being used by management, "They're refusing to address themselves to our problems". Major issues in the contract talks are COLA (Cost of Living Allowance), casual and manning policy, wages and hours. On wages, the union's last proposal was for 9.3 per cent in the first year of a two-year contract and a COLA clause. The Corporation offered 6.5 per cent in the first year and seven per cent in each of the second and third years. Negotiations are expected to continue for at least another week in Vancouver with industrial inquiry commissioner Clive McKee. In few days Continuing Education Program coming as the Christmas concert. Roberts Creek, unlike schools elsewhere in the Province, is an area of escalating enrollment and the present activity room could be converted into extra classrooms when the need arises. And, while the Department of Education's specifications do not yet warrant a larger gymnasium, it is felt that the needs of the students and the community of \ nevvi blackout hiss been placed on all negotiations, Roberts Creek do. It is recognized that it is a waste to utilize facilities as expensive as schools on a daytime basis only. Schools are being used increasingly by the public at large. It is already School Board policy to make classrooms, shops, and gymnasiums available for adult use at reasonable cost. And since the Community Hall is used chiefly at night it seems only practical to combine the functions of the two facilities and thereby maximize use. It was decided, therefore, to combine the plan for a new community hall with one for a gymnasium to be built behind the School. Since the building will be on school property the School Board will be the nominal owners and will be responsible for maintenance and operating costs. But in the end, it belongs to the taxpayer Please turn to page seven September 11, 1979 Volume 32, Number 37 Cheekeye-Dunsmuir Line location questioned by Carol Berger The proposed Cheekye- Dunsmuir 300 kv transmission line, in the works for over two years, will be built���the local question now is where? Representatives from Hydro, ELUC (Environment and Land Use Committee) and the Cheekye-Dunsmuir Coalition met in Sechelt, September 6 to discuss line routes and substation locations. According to Ivo Cargnelli of the Sakinaw Lake Home Owner's Association, the matter has now become one of "trade-offs". At Hydro's request, Bruce Barclay and Ivo Cargnelli of Sakinaw Lake went by helicopter with Corporate Vice-President Charles Nash and Manager of Hydro's Systems Design Division, Eamon Crowley earlier in the afternoon of September 6 for a review of alternate routes proposed by residents, the latest including a substation at Earl's Cove on the Cove Cay subdivision. The subdivision "in trouble" owes an estimated $.5 million to the Royal Bank and water has never been turned on for the area. No residents live on the subdivision although fifteen lots were purchased. When asked about the subdivision after the meeting, Ivo Cargnelli said, "They would be absolutely delighted to unload". A portion of the subdivision is used for access for nearby residents. Representatives from the Earl's Cove area Mr. and Mn. Doug Williams expressed concern that more time was needed���they had only been advised of the proposal the previous night. The second proposed area for a substation is in Kleindale, across from the Pender Harbour High School. Joe Harrison of Pender Harbour pointed out to members of the "workshop" meeting that the substation would be close to both the High School and park area. The area was to have been looked at for a residential area because of its good septic capacities���flat land. Reception Point as a possible location has been "abandoned" because of a rejection by the Federal government for use of the land and technicalities in making the crossing. The future substation, whether built at Kleindale or Earl's Cove, will be from 23 to 40 acres in size. First six lines, later ten and as many as IS lines will cover the area in an umbrella effect, according to Hydro Systems Design Division, Eamon Crowley. Doug Williams, representing Earl's Cove, expressed concern over the possibility of a substation "just 150 feet from the road. I could throw a stone and hit the towers, not that I wanted to". The alternate route proposed after research by Sakinaw Lake Home Owners would end fears of a line crossing Sakinaw Lake, and "do the least amount of violation to the least amount of people," according to Sakinaw representatives. The route would run on the west side of the Sechelt Inlet to Earl's Cove passing between North Lake and Klein Lake. The line would then cross the Highway south of Egmont Rd. at a right angle. The line would then join the existing 138 kv line south of Agamemnon than past the Ambrose Lake ecological reserve (on Inlet side of reserve) and finally cross to Nelson Island. Sakinaw representatives said that spokesmen for the ecological reserve "neither discouraged nor encouraged the route". When discussion broke out regarding the use of herbicides by Hydro, the definition of a watershed came up once more. Charles Nash did say that hc would "consider" the possibility of placing a restrictive covenant if the substation were to be put at either Kleindale or Cove Cay. Brian Gates, ELUC Secretariat, in his closing remarks outlined the points from the meeting that he would pass on to ELUC for further discussion. "It's clear that there is no route on the north half of the Peninsula that appears acceptable...a strong acceptance of Reception Point would impose an impact on Vancouver Island with its crossing from Nanoose Bay to Dunsmuir," he said. Gates also said that the question of Reception Point is still to be "explored". Inside sources say that Reception Point as a route is lost and that the Federal government has rejected the idea. A suggestion of Eamon Crowley's, complete with illustrations, was rejected by the representatives. The use of double-circuit towers versus paired towers would narrow the right of way slash but increase visibility of the line. "It is apparent that as a group, you feel that more time is needed. Additional work must be done before a permanent decision can be made. "It is very clear that no one wants to see herbicides used on the line. Mr. Nash said he would consider it, but cannot give a confirmation," Gates Hid. Mr. Gates was asked by the Coast News foUowMaJ thc meeting, when the meeting and its results would be presented to ELUC and how. Gates said that the "information" would not be an agendicized item but be given out in the form of a handout. Gates could not say whether it would be a month or even two months before the material was distributed. This accident at the corner of Veterans Road and Highway 101 tied up traffic and sent two young women to the hospital. In a few days the Continuing Education Program will drop into your mailbox and you will find a greater variety of courses than ever before. Most of the courses start in the last week of September, but some 1-session lectures will be offered in the week prior to the real "take-off. Dr. Donald Estey, from the Pender Harbour Medical Clinic, hat kindly accepted to give a free lecture on Birth Control on September 19, Wednesday, in Madeira Park Elementary School, Room 7. Women of all ages are welcome to hear the pros and cons about all available methods of birth control and a question and answer period will finish the evening. Breast cancer still claims more victims than any other form of cancer. However, it is a fact that early detection vastly reduces the number of terminal cases. And it is so easy, if you know how to do it. The Registered Nurses Association of B.C., Sechelt Chapter, has taken responsibility for an information evening on September 18, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., in Chatelech Junior Secondary School, Room 114. A registered nurse will show a film demonstrating self examination and answer questions connected with the subject "Women Unite!". Preventive Medicine is the subject for Dr. David Gerring's talk on October 11, Thursday, 6:30-8:00 p.m. in Chatelech Music Room. Dr. Gerring will mainly draw attention to the many common sense ways of keeping mentally and physically well, and he will show new ways of thinking about our responsibility toward ourselves and our children, Dr. Beverly Pace, from the Gibsons Medical Clinic, will give a free lecture on Birth Control on September 19, Wednesday, 7:30-9:30 p.m. in Elphinstone, Room 110. Dr. Pace will talk about the pill and the alternatives to this widely discussed method. It is important to know about special medical considerations of different age groups, and how safe the individual methods are. This evening of informal talk is equally important for all age groups. Care of the Sick Child will be dealt with by Dr. Lorne Walton in Elphinstone, Room 108, on September 20, Thursday, 7:30- 9:30 p.m. How often have you looked at your sick child and wondered whether to call the doctor or not? Dr. Walton will talk about how parents can care for their sick child in the best possible way and he will explain the ifs and but's of communicable diseases. '**���.'ewe' wjvtt.v' ' For 35 years the most widely read Sunshine Coasl: r If you have questions of general interest which you would like to discuss with a professional person, please call 885-3512, Continuing Education, Karin Hoemberg, Coordinator, 9:00 a.m. - 4;00 p.m. Tidal power from Inlet? Sechelt Inlet is one of two sites being studied by B.C. Hydro with a view to its potential as a tidal producer of electricity. A press release from B.C. Hydro says that Sechelt Inlet Please turn to page seven PJ I ______________________________________ 2. Coast News, September 11,1979 ���Miff Mff- A LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER Published at Gibsons, B.C. every Tuesday, by Glassford Press Ltd. Phone 886-2622 Box 460, Gibsons, VON 1V0 or 886-7817 Editor- John Burnside Office Manager��� M.M. Joe Production Manager - Sharon L. Berg Advertising��� Darcia Randall Ian Corrance Reporter��� Carol Berger Copysetting��� Gerry Walker (���CNA SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Distributed Free to all addresses on the Sunshine Coast British Columbia: $15.00 per year; $10.00 for six months Canada, except B.C.: $16.00 per year United States and Foreign: $20.00 per year On privatization Virtually no one, it seems, gets elected to office these days without promising to reduce waste in government spending. The federal Conservatives are certainly no exception. A statement released from Ottawa by Sinclair Stevens, President of the Treasury Board outlines the intentions of the federal government in this regard. Mr. Stevens is going to increase governmental efficiency, eliminate ineffective programs and activities, minimize duplication of services provided by other levels of government and transfer some activities to the private sector. These are all highly commendable aims, motherhood aims as the saying goes, with which no one can quarrel. They tend to be the stated intentions of every elected government and lime will tell whether or not a sense of skepticism about the Conservative ability to fulfil their aims is justified. Thc one of most immediate concern is that innocent fellow stated last. The business of transferring some activities to the private sector is finding its first embodiment in the proposed hacking up of the government oil corporation, Petrocan. The trouble with 'privatization' is of course (hat private industry wants no part of costly, expensive activities. The only aspects of Petrocan or anything else that private industry is interested in are those aspects which will return a handsome profit. We may be rather simple but it is not immediately clear just how selling off profitable operations to the private sector improves the lot of the beleaguered taxpayer. The latest proposal seems to be that Petrocan will deal with foreign governments and also lead the way in oil exploration and the development of the tar sands, both the latter being hugely expensive propositions. With its profitable segments sold, Petrocan will have no option but to return again and again to the federal treasury for funds and one supposes will be held up as an example of how the government can run nothing profitably. We've seen it before, this doctrinaire 'privatization' of national and provincial assets. Panco Poultry is a case in point. It was bought by the provincial government of Dave Barrett, turned around into a tidy profit-making operation then sold by the Socreds to an American corporation. Of course the cash for the sale makes the government who sells it look good in the short electoral run but someone had better take an interest in the long range interests of this country soon or there won't be a country to take an interest in. Regional observation da*** ok-the. municipal and Jocal government representatives have been out, of-jHaalhis week and the respite from the, feverish abundance of deals and charges and counter-charges is almost like a holiday. It has always been our position that the level of government which most directly affects our lives is the local level and that the people who volunteer many, many hours of their time in the service of their communities get too little credit and too much abuse for their efforts. Nonetheless the actions of some of the directors, particularity of the regional board, of late has been somewhat disquieting. Wc fail to see how the stream . oL-incessant attacks launched in the., .newspapers on other directors and. the . regional board itself can do anyonttany . good whatsoever. There are two possibilities. Either the regional board is as bereft of common sense as the chronic letter writer says it is and he alone is the fount of all wisdom or the regional board is a collection of men of various background trying to do a reasonably difficult job to the best of their ability and the letter writer is thundering away for some reason peculiar to himself. The latter looks from here to be much the more likely of the two possibilities and one can only hope that the ballot box will silence some of the squawking. -M ..from the files of PH? n FIVE YEARS AGO Fred and Dorothy Cruice have turned the management of the Coast News over to their son Ron and his wife Marie alter twenty years on the Sunshine Coast's pioneer newspaper. Don Lockstead reports that the problem of the Redrooffs Trail has now been cleared up and the trail will be shown on the amended survey. Residents of the area complained that the historic trail had been left off a survey of the MacMillan Bloedel subdivision in the vicinity. TEN YEARS AGO A horse owned by Steve Littlejohn was killed in traffic near Pratt Road after escaping from its quarters, Peter Slinn, a local product, is named as Elementary Supervisor for School District No. 46. Former Principal W.S. Potter will return to Gibsons to make the speech at the graduation ceremonies at Elphinstone Secondary School. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO Ted Osborne Sr. narrowly escaped death belore rolling logs at his camp on Sechelt Inlet last week. A building permit for alterations totalling $1,500 has been issued for the transformation of the old Co-op store in Gibsons into a pool hall. For rent: 2-bedroom beach cottage in Roberts Creek for $35 per month. TWENTY YEARS AGO Dr. Roy Smithurst of Sechelt begins a series of articles in the Coast News about his experiences aboard the CD. Howe on a patrol in the Arctic. A Burrit family workbee resulted in a new rug being laid in the United Church in Gibsons. Rural mail delivery is guaranteed for the west end of Sechelt. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO A fish story in the Coast News reports that when workmen . in a Californian sawmill cut into a log which had just been brought in from the mill pond it proved to be hollow and 1,500 live fish poured out. Gibsons and District Ratepayers Association met to select candidates for this fall's Municipal election. Mrs. Martha Paul, the oldest resident of the Sechelt Indian Reserve, died recently aged approximately 100 years. Grandma Paul, as she was known to everyone, was born in Garden Bay when that was the headquarters of the tribe. Her husband George Pau I was one of the signatories for the Sechelt Reserve along with members of the August family. A satisfied customer writes to the editor of the Coast News after receiving fourteen phone calls in response to a classified ad. Two visitors at Larson's resort in Pender Harbour are reported to have been seen jigging for herring with one hand and playing chess with the other. THIRTY YEARS AGO Initial steps have been taken in the construction of the Northwest Bay section of the Sechelt Highway. Rumours that a Japanese balloon bomb had exploded in the Wildwood area were dispelled by police who found that someone had set off a stick of dynamite. Homathko River, 1860's. A traveller on the Waddington Trail poses for the camera to the right of a bare tree. In !j 864, even though the Cariboo Raod was being completed, Alfred Waddington promoted a route from the head of Bute Inlet to the gold fields, to be linked by steamer to Victoria. After fourteen members of a survey crew met their end in Chilcotin country, the project was dropped. Only one half mile of pack trail had been completed. Four yews later, though, the visionary proposed a transcontinental railway along the same route. It was to continue across inshore waterways to Vancouver Island and terminate at Victoria. That mode of transportation, too, was destined to follow the Fraser Canyon, some years later. Today, British Columbia's highest peak, which towers above the Homathko, bears the name Mount Waddington. Photo courtesy Provincial Archives and Elphinstone Pioneer Museum.L.R. Peterson I got quite a shock this week when I opened the mail. Over the past couple of years we have received some truly charming letters from Mr. J.S. Browning of Wilson Creek, some in verse, some in prose, all of them lit by gallantry and wit. Not too long ago Mr. Browning contributed an interestingautobiographical piece on his boyhood in the South Pacific. So it was with some relish and anticipation that I Opened the most recent letter and found that Mr. Browning seemed very indignant indeed. Now, when you are in a position such as mine where you are expected to give vent to your opinions on a weekly basis you can, I suppose, take one of two routes. You can opt for intellectual pablum in order to try and please everyone or you can let her rip, speak your mind in the safe knowledge that someone will undoubtedly be furious with you from time. For better or worse I generally opt for the second course. Still, when a venerable gentleman that I have come to admire chews me out as Mr. Browning does in his letter to the editor this week 1 confess that it sets me back on my heels. I phoned Mr. Browning and hc informed me cheerfully that he bore no malice. I suppose that opinionated young (relatively) whipper-snapper editors can be trying at times and I feel that I owe Mr. Browning some public elucidation of the contentious issue between us. The editorial to which he took such strong exception was entitled The Tragedy of Ireland, in which I expressed the opinion that the said tragedy was an unfortunate product of the British Imperial system in which under the Empire the British habitually selected a minority in the conquered country and set its members in positions of authority thereby keeping a divided population from focussing on the dominant foreign power that ruled them. Mr. Browning is quite right ' when he points out that interracial and tribal hatreds were ;not invented by the British. What I would argue is that the ! British refined the technique of {using these established rivalries to their own advantage. I . suppose if I were to be truthful I .would refer to English Imperialism because the technique of divide and conquer was used first 'successfully against the Scots, ' the first subject people of the Empire, and then practised i throughout the world. j Let it be said that I myself was a product of a British education. As a boy, in the Boys Own Book of Heroes I 'thrilled to the exploits of Clive of India and Rhodes of Africa as they brought the inferior races under the sway of the British monarchy. I was persuaded that it was all done in order to bring the unique British concept of justice and general decency to the unenlightened. My awakening came some time in thc fall of 1956 in my first university course. It was a course in European history- given by a man called Vogel. He was an Austrian who had grown up in England during the war before emigrating to Canada and he brought a width of perception to the study of history that was entirely new to me. We were not long into the course before I began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. I can remember thinking, "Wait a minute, can that be true? Aren't we the international good guys?" I think the capperfor me came when 1 discovered that the representatives of that Empire fought not one war but two with the Chinese to force them to allow the importation of Indian Opium to the detriment of the Chinese people and the enormous profit of the English. I lost my innocence and my blinkers at one and the same time. After that one thing led to another, as they say, and I began to wonder why thc vast majority of the people in Britain lived lives of such hardship and poverty in a country which had got vastly rich at the expense of the rest of the world. ' All of this is water under several bridges. Two world wars have beggared Britain and only in Ireland and in Rhodesia are they still haunted by their imperial past. Their present role in Ireland is an unenviable one, the country would almost certainly be plunged into civil war were it not for the presence of the British troops but none of this means that the present hatred between the Protestants in the north and the Catholic south was not aggravated by divide and rule policies of the British Empire. So with apologies to Mr. Browning, whose declining years' I have no wish at all to ruffle, I really can't withdraw or modify my observations on the Irish tragedy. It was not 'propaganda' however since I advocate unthinking allegiance or support for none. It was an opinion piece and just part of my job. So I trust Mr. Browning will forgive the fact that I seem to have dealt harshly with the British Empire. I suppose as empires go it was no worse than many another. For me. however, the hokum about the 'white man's burden' as borne by the noble British was the first and most immediate example in my life of the systematic misleading and, yes, propaganda carried out by an education system. For the first eighteen years of my life I believed we were the most advanced and enlightened of nations travelling overseas and enduring hardships for the good of others. When the blinkers came off and I found that all of these precious illusions had been fostered as another mask for greed and exploitation I suppose it left me just a trifle caustic on the subject of the British Empire. There is none so bitter as the disillusioned. Slings & Arrows ��* George Matthews Just last Friday I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture by Dr. Herbert Simon, Professor of Psychology at Carnegie- Melon University and one of the genuine intellectual giants of our time. If you have never heard of Professor Simon, don't get too upset. Until two months ago neither had I and besides, intellectual giantism is not exactly a key to success and fame in this day and age. In any case among certain people Dr. Simon is considered a hero, a renaissance man��� and after hearing him speak, I must conclude���no dummy. The topic of his lecture was computer simulation of human cognitive thinking. Nonsense! You say, Ah ha! Don't panic. I thought I was in the wrong place too. Professor Simon however is representative of all truly brilliant academics. He has the unique and satisfying quality of inviting even me to understand the intricacies of computer simulation of cognitive thinking. If a brilliant man can make the obscure simple, trust a humble one to pass it on without making it complex again. Professor Simon, a Nobel Prize winning psychologist, is concerned (among a thousand other things) with how people think. He wants to know first of all how we learn, how we remember, how we organize what we know, how we make new ideas based on old facts. Secondly, and peripherally, he wants to know how the chemistry of the brain creates energy to stimulate neurons to produce electrical charges to allow us to do the things we have to do. In pursuing his interests he has worked on making machines do the same things humans do when they think. Mow is it done? Among other things, psychologists have the ability to analyze human experience to find out, in a very general way, how a person takes in information, remembers it, files it, and makes it into patterns which allow further learning to take place. While I certainly don't understand how it is done, Dr. Simon suggests that by conducting two kinds of experiments some of the aspects of human learning can be grasped. One experiment involves asking people to perform simple tasks���like taking out the garbage���and explaining out loud what they are doing. By analyzing what is said, and what is done, some basic patterns of human thinking can be understood. Another way to study human thinking is to observe eye movement during task attainment exercises. By analyzing this eye movement other aspects of human thinking can be studied. Interestingly enough, when making a machine to simulate human thinking, the problem is not to make a machine work better but to make it work slower. Compared to a computer, the human brain is primatively and painfully slow. While computer calculations are infinitely more rapid than microseconds, human brain response is generally slower than thousands of microseconds. This is not to suggest that computers are smarter than people, although they can do things that the most brilliant of humans would find incredible, but that given a certain narrow range of tasks computers are superior. Professor Simon referred to a particular computer programme which had discovered all of the major laws of natural phenomena, for example Ohms Law, Boyles Law and all of the basic laws discovered by man. While he conceded that computer had not discovered anything new, he left the clear impression that if it had, man would probably not understand it anyway. The general impression left by Professor Simon's lecture was that we are getting close to being able to reproduce human thinking mechanically. A few years ago, computers could play simple chess, now they can beat all but the top masters. A while ago a computer beat the best backgammon player in the world seven games to one. These computers are built to perform these tasks, but the computer programmes designed to reproduce or simulate ordinary human thinking are very special. If you can construct a compute programme to simulate human thinking, then you can begin to make some predictions about how human thinking takes place. If we know how people learn, which we don't yet, we will be able to teach better while people learn better. We may be on the threshold of the era of the superman and Dr. Simon, an old, slightly obese man with a brilliant mind, is inviting us to step into a new kind of world. Nocturne for Mary Mist rolls slowly back up the Held a retreating ghost-army under the mother-of-pearl-ringed moon down the wide aisle ot massed trees ragged palisades ot sheer night black against the prickling sky where stars keep aloof counsel beyond the limits of the wind. Untlinching pioneers wrestled this farm Irom the forest broke the death-grip ol stumps worried the sour dirt arable danced otten in that silver-roofed barn to the fiddle's plangent whine whirled through squares and circles when toil stung them hungry for frolic. But this is a wearier night and time we spin to a crueller music it hammers its city-spawned rhythms against the ribs ot the farmhouse behind me I crouch In limbo beyond the window lights a sudden stranger to both worlds straining lor the thoughts ol Sascha the dog and Friendly the sheep chewing his blow dreams. Peter Trower NEWS ITEMS: Premier Bennett voices support for the Conservative plan to privatize Petrocan. BCRIC stock rises in anticipation of purchasing assets that are not yet for sale. Coast News, September 11,1979 3. Letters to the EditorLf"pmk mT\ M counts in this fielri The nlHn* 010110 Grandma gets response Editor: This lonely "Grandmother" wants to testify that "It pays to Advertise!" Before she could have smashed and kicked that silent business phone that didn't ring since her husband died two months ago. And "Granny for Hire" changed all of that. The phone now never stops ringing. I could talk for an hour about all the interesting calls. The 2:00 a.m. "Distress" call from a young mother made my night. The baby shrieking in tWS1 background made me feel like "Florence Nightengale". This young mother was so happy to see me as her husband was away. She was new here and she saw my ad, come anytime of the night. The new baby had nothing wrong with him, nothing but a small pin in his diaper that had come loose and was pricking him. A minutes work. Charge: one cup of coffee, one glad girl, one happy young Grandma, one sleeping baby. 7:30 a.m. the same morning, another "Distress call"; confidential, not to be discussed case. I went there. Last night I babysat a nearly two year old. A beautiful curly headed girl. When the young mother came home and heard, Propaganda objectionable Editor: Your propoganda piece against British Imperialism is far-fetched and false. Most countries had built-in inter racial and tribal hatreds before British occupation including India and Africa. Re Ireland, I do not pretend to understand it, nor how Christian religions can hate each other, but I suspect there is more to it than that. I do not want my few declining years to be ruffled again by your propoganda, so do not send me your newspaper anymore. If, owing to postal arrangements you cannot stop it coming, then please send me one dollar for carrying it to the burning barrel each week for one year and for matches to ignite same. Yours truly, John S. Browning "no problems; good as gold," she said, "How come she gives us a hard time?" Yesterday a Grandma I met on the ferry came with me to Pender Harbour where we visited a "Flying Grandma" who showed photos of her lovely grandchildren and clippings of her "Flying" days in England. She had an antique which my new friend said was very valuable. (The Grandma with me owns an Antique Shop ta Vancouver.) We enjoyed this visit.^fiWiifg on te'tlie Dutch "Fartf W'Aofcp&'tb bdy.T riidt' my brother Charlie Ovans and his wife Elma there. I Handed her some just cut carnations. We had lunch at Irvings Landing. My new friend loved their clam chowder. Just had a call to feed a dog. Well I am now a young wanted Grandmother. If you Grandmothers or Grandfathers feel lonely, unwanted, washed-up, on the shelf; if your own children are neglecting you, "advertise like I did". The need for a "Grandma" is terrific! I need to be 100 Grandmas to sit all those lovely children. I asked for noisy, rotten, awful kids, but with a Grandmother's touch they turn into "Angels". Grandparents add a third dimension. Experience really counts in this field. The older, the wiser, the better. We have a need here for a "Crisis Line". We have so many new to the area, people who feel lost and lonely and need a friend to talk to. Kids on the street now call me "Grandma"; young mothers treat me like their own. Grandparents catch my eye and wink and smilel No longer will I advertise that I'm a silly, old Grandma. Now I will advertise that I'm a loved, wanted, young, beautiful Grandma. It sure does pay to "reach out" and advertise it. Phone .me anytime. Rosie Simpkins P.S. People tell me your "print" is bi j; making your paper easy to read. Especially 'the Grandparents like your paper. Editor: This may appear to be a very radical view but as far as I am concerned there should be nothing to discuss between the Directors of the Regional Board and the Golf Course people in their proposition to annex, purchase or otherwise take over part of the Cliff Gilker Park. The answer should be a flat "no" and that should be the end of the matter. If the Golf and Country Club wishes to expand let them pay the going price for property north or west of them and leave the people's park alone. John Hind Smith More letters on page five HARRISON'S APPLIANCE SALES ���All Warranty Service STILL MANYGREAT APPLIANCE BARGAINS 8864959 Pratt Road, Gibsons TOP OF THE LINE BRANDS FALL SCHEDULE SUNSHINE COAST VANCOUVERSECHELT PENINSULA VIA HORSESHOE BAY VIA LANGDALE For all your Carpets W��f*2 Carpet No So��P n Cleaning Build ���" .up I **�� mW** *"l.��lvJ"- 885-9327 Effective Monday, September 17 to Tuesday, October 9,1979, inclusive. DAILY LV HORSESHOE BAY LV LANGDALE 6:35 am 7:40 10:10 12:25 pm 2:45 5:05 pm 6:15 7:15 9:30 11:30 6:30 am 7:45 9:00 11:15 1:35 pm 3:55 pm 6:10 7:18 628 10:30 BRITISH COLUMBIA FERRYCX)RI3ORi\nON For Information phono VANCOUVER 669-1211 SALTERY BAY 487-4333 VICTORIA 386*3431 LANGDALE 886-2242 Schedules subject lo change without notice. DOING OUR BEST TO BE RIGHT FOR YOU Gibsons s^NlZtl 100% Locally Owned & Operated GOV'T INSPECTED FRESH pork picnic GOVT INSPECTED PREVIOUSLY FROZEN pork side spareribs GOVT INSPECTED QUARTERED POrK lOlli 1 loin end. 2 rib end, 6 GOVT INSPECTED GR. A. BEEF prime rib roast GOVT INSPECTED GR. A. cornish game hens s1.39 $1.79 $2.39 h$1.79 Blue Bonnet canned milk 2/93c| margarine $2.09 Niagara Frozen Super-Valu orange juice 79e| salad dressing $1.29 Libby's deep brown beans Whiteswan Super-Valu liquid bleach Libby's Fancy tomato juice Home Care Utility light bulbs 60 & 100 watt pkg c Oven-Fresh o/QGc papertowels s1.19 mmml \j\j 2 roll pkq Robin Hood All Purpose 98c flour $5.19 bathroom tissue 4 roll pkq 88c cat chow chuckwagon ��� bread 2/1.29 ca���is $4.39 ,$2.89 whito or ch Oven-Fresh Venice Bakery spice buns doz $1.69 heidelberg rye 85' CALIFORNIA RED tokay grapes B.C GROWN corn on the cob CALIFORNIA green peppers Prices effective: Sept. 11,12,13,14,18 8 for$1.00 Tues.,Wed.,Thurs.,Frl.,Sat. _____________________________________ _______ Bt News, September 11,1979 V(jitei| Vajkvu (Wlicrl much d btyl^d End; jjjirL change tojj own alfldci bbildi'flg^i!} ihing5pif cfrrsunt* tjv.'.umcs.V ' Pcrhri^. rK laical bf*Mi \vk I nd'i ' Powntown pretty Nothing change plays in pdows and Bin shops ometimes ���yen names [sporadic, of little Sreet, that kid all thc fled and f relatively eir salient They |>ugh my od many ! r recall a lew blocks fcrc I once pival) thai office flics. But prisingly nimagina- towards an in thc I first high-up along hey were at first, fnoliths fy from a . But they ���lentlessly She area lanhattan ne highest Pages from a Life-Log Peter Trower population densities for its size in North America. Hundreds of shabby, comfortable old houses have been levelled to make way for these admittedly more practical complexes. But something has been lost along the way. Call it low-rental housing. Call il character. Sometime in the late sixties a process of enormous change that still continues, began to transform the city core itself. Venerable landmarks stich as the Birks Building were suddenly snuffed out of existence as though they had been vaporized. And it wasn't just individual buildings. Entire 'docks of familial hotels, stores and theatres were steel* balled into oblivion. Granville Street itself, for a several block stretch, was given the full treatment, banned In all traffic but busses, treed, beflowered, transmogrified into an unlikely mall. Beneath the very streets themselves, labyrinthine parking lots and colourful tunnels lined with specialty shops were gouged from the primordial mud creating entire netherworlds of confusion and allure. All was in flux and ferment as the city performed open-heart surgery on itself. Vancouver seems that way to Garden Club Flower Show rrday Sept. 15 - 4:30 p.m. Jenior Citizens Hall Sechelt Plant Sale Admission & Tea 75C Door Prize 885-3154 me still each time I re-enter it, a basically bougeois town with "Change" bent over it like some enormous, shadowy surgeon. Certainly progress must come (our cultural imperatives demand it), but when it comes with such rapidity it tends to boggle the mind. I have no doubt that the , city centre is infinitely more functional than it used to be, with its underground wonderlands and futuristic, black-glass architectures. I have little rational argument with any of these transmutations. (There is nothing I could do to stop them anyhow.) But, damnit, I miss some of those old buildings with all their scars and shortcomings! I miss the phased-out bars, the gone dance halls, the bookstores, the booze-cans, the theatres, the second-rate cafes. Often I find myself wandering the remembered streets in nostalgic dreams and fantasies, reliving the way it was before the face-lifters, the blockbusters, the improvers and evolvers went to work. It is the early sixties and the Colonial Theatre, that unpretentious emporium of tarnished gilt and scuffed upholstery, still sentries the corner of Granville and Dunsmuir, separated by several blocks from its ritzier up-town relatives. (I first attended this theatre in 1940, a short-panted English evacuee, confusedly watching Goodbye Mr. Chips.) The pictures it offers have always been months, (or even years) removed from first-run but there is always a double-bill and the choice of films suggests a discriminating, not-always- commercial imagination behind the scenes. Odd films are juxtaposed. The main attraction however is the extremely reasonable entrance fee. You can still get in for thirty-five cents before one o'clock. A fitfully struggling writer, I while away many ("3 ��� f ten saving is itter of interest. me to the afternoons there, recovering from hangovers among sparse audiences consisting mainly of little old ladies from last ditch walk-ups and enigmatic men in overcoats without jobs. The Colonial is a dowdy old mistress, a favourite sanctuary of these days on the cheap. A fine place to kill time between bouts of street-trudging and pub-crawling. It will, in its final years, become a sort of hip vaudeville house called the Magic Theatre. When this venture fails it will stand, forlornly boarded up until the block is hammered into rubble. I leave the Colonial and turn up an alley off Dunsmuir. Here an impossible, rickety, ramshackle flight of wooden stairs totters three stories up to the backdoor of the oddest artist's studio in town. Toni Onley, the painter and his cousin Maurice Joslyn, are renting it at present. Ingress from the front is gained through an otherwise circumspect looking office building but the stairs are more fun. They are not switch- backed but lead straight up. It's like climbing the side of a pyramid. If anyone ever drunkenly toppled down them, he wouldn't survive to tell the tale. The place operated as a brothel during the War years and the inside door sports a speakeasy-type peephole. Their guest room is a closet with a mattress on the floor where I've stayed on a couple of occasions. I'm looking to hit on them for a beer or even a cup of tea. But I'm out of luck since there's nobody home. I head a couple of blocks west to Hornby Street where the espresso still flourishes and join a group of friends at a back table. It is a typical coffee house of the period and sports a jazz trio that is often augmented by visiting musicians. The owner plays piano. They do mostly cerebral Brubeck type numbers. We are spiking our capuchino with rum since they don't have a liquor licence. My companions are Curt Lang, a multirtalented character who used to .get drunk with Malcolm Lowry when he was fifteen, a girl singer called Misty, a mysterious art buyer from Paris called Vladimir, my actor-brother Martin, a gaunt, bearded poet by the name of George Miller and a couple of creative writing students from U.B.C. whose names don't register. George and I start passing our poems around. It's mostly primitive city stuff, full of doom, gloom and overblown images. "God! Don't you guys write anything but morbid poems?" asks one of the rather effete looking college kids producing a witheringly romantic thing about a rose. We mutter some cliches about neo-realism and social significance. Then the owner (who is considerably less than tolerant when it comes to drinking) catches Curt spiking his coffee and kicks us all out. To be continued \^*5^B l'.Hiii!_lli