6 — Wednesday, April 22, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT _ Done with debt rare beast has reared its head on the political budgetary orizon. The debt-free government. No flash bulbs please; no loud cheers. You could spook it, and we might never see another. Word of the beast’s sighting was contained in a recent News edition. The story chronicled delivery of a - $48,000 cheque from North Vancouver City to the provincial Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs. The cheque represented the municipality’s last payment on the road to fiscal freedom. Debt-free at last, brothers and sis- ters; debt-free at last. Neighboring municipalities and more senior levels of government are : not so lucky. Or fiscally prudent. example, which had an_ outstanding debt of just over $12,000, will be on the hook for a further $26 million when those funds approved during - the last municipal election’s referen- dum are tapped. ' The provincial government, mean- while, is hopelessly mired in debt. Rookie finance minister Joy MacPhail added another $1 billion to the province’s $30 billion debt in the NDP’s latest mishandled budget. And on the federal front Canada is in the debt glue to the tune of $600 billion. Unlike more senior levels of gov- ernment, municipalities are not per- mitted to operate with a deficit. Why that common sense legislation does not apply to their provincial and federal counterparts is anyone’s guess. If it did, the sightings of the debt- free Ecast would not be so rare. North’ Vancouver District, for Loreess waineox Glimpses of the magic of Afr ica These Jarvises - not letter author Dear Editor: oe - On Sunday, April 19,. your paper r printed a letter under ~ the large, bold heading of Lions Gate doctors are part of the health care problem. ~ The-letter spoke emphatically agains the position of North Shore doctors in the recent dispute with the North Shore Health Region Board and Inge Schamborzki. *The letter was signed Denise Jarvis, North Vancouver. “=*This signature was a gross and misleading error, hav- ing been written by Michelle Brondgeest of North “Vancouver. ; a “The two Denise Jarvises who write this letter are humil- ; ‘jated, embarrassed’ and distressed to have had our name put to sucha letter. {We are both nurses (one of us having worked in doc- tors’ offices for-15 years) and have. individually enjoyed -éxeellent®relationships both with the doctors whom we have'served and with those who have treated us. _- This error should never. have occurred and we tresr you ill ensure similar errors will not occur again in the future. Denise Jarvis, Mahon Avenue; North Vancouver’: Denise Jarvis, Kilmarnock Crescent, North. Vancouver = Editor’ ’s note: The name Denise Jarvis appeared under “ the ‘letter in question as the result of a typesetting error. "MAILBOX POLICY = LETTERS tothe editor must be legible (preferably type- written) and include your name, full address and telephone ; number, < Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot . publish all letters: Published letters may be edited for brevi- ty; ‘clarity, accuracy, legality.and taste. Submissions can be faxed . to - 985- 2104 but still must. : be signed: and. fully addressed, we » North Shore Wows, founded an 1969 as an * * independend suburban newspaper and qualified "under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Coacise Tax Act, 15 aubleshed each Wednesday, Fray and Sunday by North Shar: Free Press . THE current chief executive offi- cer of Coca-Cola Colonizations Inc. and his wife visited Dakar the same day as your trusty scribe. For all of us it was quite a day. For the geographical- ly challenged, Dakar, ; 1,000 miles north of the equator on the western- mast tip of Africa’s northern bulge, is capital of the small (pop. 8 mil- lion) sub-Saharan coun- try of Senegal. Originally colonized by Portuguese and Dutch, it was cap- tured in 1677 by France — its master until it won independence in 1960. Its people, almost gntirely black, are 80% Moslem, To Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dakar was the final stop on their 12-day tour of - Africa. Throughour, the president had acknowledged the regrettable role of the U.S. during the slavery era and pledged a “far moxe rewarding future relationship between the U.S. and the peoples of Africa. But Dakar and the island of Goree, three miles off the mainland, scene of his final speech on African soil, had a political significance equally impor- tant to the Democrats’ vital Afro- American constituency back home. For Dakar’s Goree Island was for.cen- turies the port via which millions of African slaves were shipped to America. Clinton’s sensitive comments there may have been worth millions of votes. We encountered Bill and Hillary j just once. ‘ Our tour bus held up at an intersec- tion crowded with cheering Sengaiese, we glimpsed a moment later the presidential car with its flag sweep by, followed by the Seeret Service vehicle with its six jacket- less presidential guards riding on the running boards. Our own exploration of Dakar was more restful but no iess fascinating. As in other.developing and First World coun- tries its downtown core looked amazingly famil- © jar: the mini-Manhattan « cityscape, smart shop-. ping streets, gracious squares, a handsome - Catholic cathedral (this is no fundamen- talist Islamic state) and — despite the - " reported average Sengalese income of- USS200 a month — masses of late-model cars. But. on the downtown outskirts and suburbs a very different scene. The crowded native markets (“medi- na”) offering exquisite wood carvings, . beautiful feather goods and exotic jewelry long dreary stretches of decidedly sub- standard, single-storey housing, sand- "° - spattered sidewalks with squatting beg- gars, wandering sheep and goats.At reg-" ular intervals the mosques and minarets of Islam, including one of the world’s “" largest. Returning to the city by another route, a visit to a gallery of native arts.’ Approaching the coast, an upper-class res- idential area (for diplomats and politi- .: :; cians, we were told) with houses that a final pause for souvenir shopping another “medina.” The strikingly colorful attire of the Sengalese —= especially the dramatic beat ty and elegance of many of the women’s dresses — is one other abiding memo: Maybe it was partly in honor of the. Clintons, but the Dakar streets that-d: were.a rainbow feast. for the eye: By comparison, our North Shore street and mali crowds are a’ ‘drab, duii monotone lot. Joie de vivre, it seem: doesn’t necessarily depend on how ma dollars you have.in your purse. aga oa ; On a ‘personal Aote, ow: glimpses the magic of Africa and ‘other di: lands were made all the mor: by four. North Van friends w them with Dorothy‘and m sonal slants on.the day’s e) periences' added much to the fun at our.dinne table for six and the evenings:thar. lowed. Thanks, David and Joan Bain; “Irv.and Irene Strong, for being such great shipmates! . among other endcing wares, Farther out, : MANY HAPPY RETURNS of icma row, April:23;to North .Van’s B Booth and David Bain’... More of the _ same Friday, Apri! 24, to West ‘Van birth day. boy Jeff Adams. . WRIGHT oR WRONG foung men know the rules, bur old men 10 wouldn’t disgrace British Properties. And LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, a ull address & telephone number. es VIA e-mail: renshaw @ direct.ca ©. ‘Doug Feat 7 Comptrotier 985-2131 (133) Crs Us and aqpibuted in evry door on tf ¢ North’ Shor. Canada Fost Carackan Publications Mail ° ‘Sates Product Agreement No, 0087238, Mating rates available on request. PETER SPECK - Publisher 985-2131 (161) Timathy Managing Editar 985-2034 (318) Gall Sneigrove General Office Manager ‘$85-2131 (105) ’ Jonathan Bell Distribution Manager Creative Services Manager 988-1337 (124) 885-2131 (127) 8% 52 (average cuculaton, Wednesday. Enday & Suncay} Sarbara Emo Terry ~ Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ud. all vights reserved.