Tre Horth Shore Hews Is pubiisnod by North Shore Fros Press Ltd., Publishes Peter Spack, from 1129 Lonsdale Avcaue Horta Voacouver, 8.0., V7M 24 PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) "Linda Stawort Managing Eat Sales & Marketing Director ing Editor. ing Di 960-0511 (313) * SORIaS (116) br eeeen ee "pity naveteig s20-6011 ining. 80-9222 p S213 990-1337 ‘ley at xa Fe 03-185 Mauareem Fax 005-2104 Classified, Accounting & Mate Gifice Fox 9058227 Wichral Backer-Baws Eater W8E-2131 (114) Mefredie- 985-2131 (147) LETTERS TO THE EDNTOR Letlers must Include your name, full address . & tolephone number. VIA Inernet: trenshaw @ direct.ca COMPUTER B8S - 990-8027 - User 'D:maitbox » Password.letters . Witte Shere Mews, Sunde! wn 189 an independent advrten newpaper and quikfiod unit Schekse 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excine Tax Act, is publahed each ‘Wedkrenainy, Fridiry and Suny by North Shure Free Frew Lat and striated w every dove an the Norzs Shure. Canada Pont Caradon Pubes Mal Sales Praket Agent No DOTESA, Mallng es evs regu Entire contents ge, © 1996 Noth Shore Ge Free Press Ltd. ~ corany, i t All rights reserved. a ORR “THEY were disman- HE health of local waterways is not improving. For the well-being of the Lower Mainland itself that is bad news. And for the Georgia Strait and its fish populations it is worse mews. Because despite heightened awareness of what has become a critical environmental sit- uation, things keep going on pretty much as they always have. The Outdoor Recreation Council! of B.C. recently released its annual list of B.C.’s top 10 endangered rivers. Number one on the top 10 hit parade is the once mighty Fraser. It sets a dubious record: the first time TOBACCO PRODUCTS REMOVED FROM PREMISES OORICE 96 es pe 4 the creek any river has maintained that distinc- tion two years running. One of the world’s greatest salmon rivers is dying. But as the song says, “Old Man River don’t say nothing.” If he could it likely wouldn’t be very encouraging. It would more likely be a stream of vitriol outlin- ing the abuse it has suffered at the hands of man. Efforts to reverse some of the past environmental damage have increased. But they fall far too short. Unfortunately, the Fraser story, is mirrored by hundreds of smaller stories involving hundreds of smaller water- ways around the province. _ On the North Shore, for example, a W. Van lightkeeper’s la tling history. “They” being Canada Coast - Guard, and the history being the final chapters of lighthouses staffed by actual human beings on Canada’s West Coast. This particular one was at Lighthouse Park where [| and many others walk our dogs every day, [t was the first on our coast to be — T think the term is “de- manned." Computers replacing people. Even new-tone fog horns. That means Don Graham is gone, his job officially over as of last Friday. He has been an articulate fighter for the manned lighthous- es, Fought and faxed, his faxes instantly recog- nizable — the covering sheet a drawing of a lighthouse, bubbles coming out of the top, and the recipient's name in one of those cartoon think-clouds. It all ground down to nothing — Ottawa winning, of course, ignoring the wish- es of the people, valiant-hearted British Columbians like Sen. Pat Carney, and Don Graham himself. I drove into the park slowly the day before the axe fell and Graham happened to be walk- ing along Beacon Lane toward the lighthouse with his dog, their backs to me. I slowed down, 1 said 1 was on my way to see him at the lighthouse and have a little look-around. “ICH be interesting to see if they let you in.” he said. “Maybe they will because you're press. Trevor | Lautens Perfect reason to keep nie out, thought i. Then [ remem- bered what a Lighthouse Park regular had told me earlier about the Ottawa-directed dismantling of the lighthouse equipment and its replace- ment by the new aviiomated stuff. ; “They're Nazis," he said perfectly mildly, using the term inoffensively. You know, the way you and I would do —————— __ in casual talk, horrified if we were named and quoted in the public prints. No, they weren't Nazis. 1 walked down toward the lightkeeper’s house and the gate was locked and a couple of the Coast Guard people standing by a red truck told me ! couldn't go in. It always raises a hackle when you're barred from going somewhere. But even then I felt these two men were a long way from being Nazis. And, after talking a while — which became a longer and longer while — I didn't think they were bad sorts at all. That’s the sadness of human fife, isn’t it. People just doing their jobs, jobs that some- times conflict with other people's lives. Don Graham, out of a fob after many devot- ed years, might have had a fess charitable view. But the more they talked to me, and vice versa, cach of us listening quite fascinated to the other’s yarns before starting with a com- plementary one of our own, the more they just seemed like average Canadians — salt-of-the- earth Canadians. They were smurt and savvy men and they had been around. One was an electrical engi- new raartial arts facility is set to be approved by North Vancouver City Counci! for construction on the banks of Mosquito Creek. This even though it will encroach on the environmentally sensitive buffer zone established by the federal fisheries department to protect fish-bearing creeks and rivers. And earlier this year, Ottawa threat- ened to cut funding for the invaluable Seymour River fish hatchery. Only a concerted community effort managed to . save the funding and ‘ultimately the hatchery. Old. Man River don’t. say nothing, all right, and pretty soon ke won’t be old either. He'll be dead. Dear Editor: The media repoited:the. electi “inflocently,”.. "competently? H Noel, what election po iflectorat sensed. a major ‘gang-bang happen ing. Your paper and the Sun: ‘endare -i¢s the’ Libérals, the Antter trys seamy, back-room finagiing totin - ‘thie so-called “free-enterprise” vote ‘and’ then gay) Gillanders , the ec mi$ it must have: * seemed like a fair fi ght to ers. 2 I didn’t receive my doorstep » ~ copy of. the Newson "Wednesday - f and conjectured that Speck & Co. ‘were in mourning: ‘Another: four . years of the MDP ... deal. with i guys! . Blair Thompson : North Vancouver / Diir@ardpLaortranteca know — and he'd served: Figo Cyprus, and he was ‘white-hai _ his cap though still strong of: and the fact was that‘both of them working i support services for the lighthouses up and down the coast, were going to lose their job too, Victims of rogress, , just like Don Graham But, in truth, they reckoned it would be-several years before the de-staffing of all, - lighthouses was complete. A distant threat. One planned to get work in Fort McMurray. ae The other had already worked thére: They . were used to being uprooted and following the - job wherever it took them. : Progress. Can't stop it, they | said philosoph- ically. Easy to argue that lightkeepets ‘weren "ty paid, much and it wouldn't be so costly to'keep |." them — but did I know that 300 people were needed to back up one lightkeeper? .- : Interesting if true. Pretty interestir ng if not true. When three men talk it is not Bible truth. It is amiable talk that slowly lets each get to know something about the others, even if two of them already know each other. It’s the third that brings out stories that the other two didn’t know about one other, It was just like that, all of us under sentence of time and progress, and | went away thinking about W.H. Auden’s poem Musee des Beau Arts, if you get the connection, since it's about Icarus, the boy with the wax wings who flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea, my thought being: Icarus sure could have used a manned lighthouse nearby.