A6 - Wednesday, August 4, 1982 - North Shore News [EE editorial page Confrontation If the B.C. Government Employees’ Union carries out strike action, who will be the eventual winner of this confrontation? Will it be the Union, who are bravely, if that is the correct word, flying their battle flag in the face of the government attempting to introduce restraint measures? Will it be the government, if they break the union over this issue? The only certainty in the matter is that the ultimate loser will be the public. Of course that is nothing new when it comes to this type of warfare between two sides who use the public as the crowbar in their fights. For the many people of British Columbia who make their daily trek to the UIC and Welfare offices; for the thousands of workers who have been forced to take pay cuts; for the thousands of others who have been told there is no money for increases; for the business community who are close to the end; and for those who are looking at their savings and homes disappearing; the militancy of the provincial employees will be small comfortindeed. _ The BCGEU and their membership are not the only group in this province, or indeed, in this country, who are feeling rather hard done by these days. Almost the entire population is being forced to cut and pare and alter their lives considerably. To further destroy the economy while seemingly ignoring the rest of their fellow citizens does not appear to be a very positive method of solving the problems which face all of us. Surely maturity and common sense can be found somewhere. Fiddling The scenario is reminiscent of Nero fid- dling merrily on while Rome burned on. There were our Members of Parliament last week, surrounded by economic chaos, massive unemployment, crippling debt, chatting about whether Louis Riel should be pardoned following his conviction of high treason. Riel, in his time, had tried to destroy Canada by his actions. He would have fitted in well with this band of current fiddlers. F9tR VOICE OF NOTTTH AND WHET VANCOUVER sunday news| Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 n ews Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 1139 Lonadale Ave ._ North Vancouver BC V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Hlotoese! Car alvarns t ditor-in Chiet Noel Wright Advertising Director Vary Forearve as General Manago: . a Administration & Parsonnei Mrs Bereni b4ithaard Circulation Director rian At ths Production Director Fae BR Stern vertacrease! North Shore News founded a NEewsSPAPeEr and QuAlINed aden OEE AN cart ore daoprerevedevert . contveraa arity “ae Peeve Sesde TN bhatt TM Vase engge nga Wt tte: Excise Tan Act as putlstod each Wouthenday ane “yearradany Foy Mae tt Shore Froe sheet ee tte Naor tt Shore Second Class Mat Registration Number 3465 Entire contents 19862 North Shore Free Prose Lid All rights reserved b Uo Presmn UL Ud carved cderatys tasted le ervey Subscriptions North and Wont Vane ovver cates available on request yoar Masten, No rosponsibility aceagted ton weve de Beret oo natbesrtead ote techie, Manas lpio and owe tures wlan Fabs seabed Dre ae corrupsesrerct Fey a obearragees + addressed ANAVEIOpEe ViOIE TE DD GRO UL ATION $3.995 Wednesday 53 484 Sunday coy sm G THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Bugs fight the waste battle On the oily sludge farm By BUD ELSIE It's called an ‘oily sludge farm’, a 1.7 acre tract on Iona Island where the Greater Vancouver Regional District, m con- junction which Sheliburn and Chevron refineries, ts conducting? an experimeni that could have far reaching benefits for the Lower Mainiand. During the first’ three weeks of June this year over 24,000 gallons of grit-ladcn oily sludge was trucked to a site near the lona Sewage Treatment Plant im Rich mond and spread on a ‘bed’ 50 feet wide by 500 feet long. This is material that it ts not practical to recycle, the dregs taken from the bottom of the large storage tanks at the Sheliburn and Chevron refineries in Burnaby. If this experiment works - and officials think it will - a year or so from now the land covered by four inches of oily sludge will look much like it did before the material was applied. This would be i degradation.. billions of micro-organisms - bugs - breaking down the ail in the sludge and converting it to humus. The disposal of oily wastes and other toxic materials ts a concern in Greater Van- couver. In some cases these wastes can be incinerated but it requires the costly expense of auxiliary fuel to assure complete burning. In addition, ash escaping through the incinerator stack could be a pollution problem. The permit three beds for the oily sludge, each 50 by 500 feet and each capable of taking 47,000 gallons of the material. The top of each bed consists of 12 inches of sand with some fertilizer worked in. The oily sludge is spread on the land from a pipe-arm or hose extending from the tanker trucks. After about two weeks it is rototilled to mix and aerate it. Aeration allows oxygen to enter the soil, encouraging the bugs to go to work. site is virtually It will take about two authorizes . years to complete the first Stage of the experiment. By that time approximately 140,000 gallons of oily sludge will have been deposited at Iona. Similar projects in the United States have shown that under such controlled conditions it should be possible to dispose of oily sludge on land on a repeated basis with little or no long- term adverse effect on the soil. It might not be suitable for growing crops for human or animal consumption but can be used for any other purpose. Increased humus content of the soil suggests the sites are particularly suited for growing trees and Hopefully, the GVRD project will result in a solution to the disposal of difficult wastes from other industries. (Bud Elsie is an in- formation officer with the Peru is coming Peru has become the first South American nation to announce participation § in the 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia. The official agreement was delivered to host Commissioner General Patrick Reid by Peruvian Consul General Guillermo Crosby Pinillos on behalf of Ambassador Jorge Pablo F¢rnandini Malpartida. Overall, Peru is the tenth country to agree to a pavilion presence on _ the 130-acre Expo 86 site. In addition to the Government of Canada, a total of 10 nations have announced they will take part in Expo 86. They are: Britain, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Peru, Senegal, Kenya, St. Vincent, Dominica aid Montserrat. The Governments of the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario have also stated their intention to participate in the 1986 World Ex- position, May 2 - October 13, 1986 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. River rafting is for all ages By BEALE BARRY As the sounds of rapids got closer our guide shouted “Hang On!” His warmag was unnecessary. Looking down the raft I could see that everyone was anticipating the splash of hitting the rapids and were already gmpping the safety cope. Our 27-foot raft was shding downstream on the Thompson River and into the Jaws of Death, onc of the biggest sets of whitewater on our (nip We were travelling wath Whitewater Adventures, a Vancouver-based company with nine years of accident free operation it offers many types of mver tips in BC and the Yukon and sailing (nips in local watcra In the mver community our inp from Spences Bridge to Lytton us knownras a “onc dayer” With over 20 major capids thes stretch of the Thompson cashy rates as one of BC's best rafung fives As mote people mai the Thompson the reputation of ‘tscapids grows Some of the better known ones arc The brog The Cutang Bosrd, Witches Brew, and. of Phe Jaws of Death A one day niver tnp casts about $00 and includes your Wansportaton from Lytton to Spenes Bnidge and your lume h «OES louoch Ot smorgasbord affan side of the ctver fancy am (ie Tie prundicas lay out meat slices, various cheeses, melons, bagels. bread, assorted jams and spreads, and more. Not only ts the food fantastic but 1s supply seems unlimited The tunch break ts a good opportunity to mect = the other passengers and talk to your guide River guides are young and athictic men who makc nver running their hobby as well as their job Our guide, Hugh Culver, has been kayaking and rafung the Thompson River for five years and kaows weyers: each name and rock on the river. Hugh made us all feel like adventurers going through the rapids for the first time. | “Each time you run a river ‘ you see something new; the | rapids are always changing” says Culver. | One-day, and longer, ! rafting trips are accessible to" everyone and are being run || every weekend from April to September and virtually every day in July and August. All that is required of participants is some suitable clothing (usually shorts and a T-shirt) and the spirit of adventure. The Whitewater team has taken people from all walks of life and of all ages down the rivers. “I've had 80-year- olds, youngsters, and even | amputces on my trips. | Everyone has a good time,” says Culver. For the person looking for something a little different and some excitement river rafting is one obvious choice.