NEWS photo Neli Lucente IT'S A once-in-a-hundred years event as the District of North Vancouver prepares to celebrate its centennial August 10 on Grouse Mountain. All set for the fun are (left to right) Danielle Haythorne (17 years old), Alex Haythorne (seven years old), K.C. the Clown, Stephen Sanderson (four years old) and Kelly Elliot (17 years old). Free skyride passes are available at all North Vancouver Rec Centres. NVD mountaintop party set 5,000 free tickets available for centennial celebration THIS SEASON’S biggest birthday party gives a new meaning to the term ‘‘high society.”’ The North Vancouver District Centennial Family Day is being held thousands of feet up, on the top of Grouse Mountain. Five thousand free tickets for the event are being given out now at all North Vancouver recreation cen- tres, and event organizers are ad- vising peopie to xet their tickets early. The district’s centennial celebra- tion is scheduled to take place Saturday, Aug. [0 and will run continuously fron: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., beginning with a pancake breakfast and concluding with the music of Charivari. a jazz quintet. _ Scheduled throughout the day are almost 30 performances and activities that include dancing, a steel band, a loving show, a variety of musical groups and the popular Freddy Fudpucker band. Children will- be entertained by roaming clowns. arts activities and Read Canada, 2 -ad-aloud pro- gram that has ceicorities — such as North Vancouver District By Pegay Trendell-Whittaker _ News Reporter Mayor Murray Dyckman — reading to children to ignite their enthusiasm for the literary arts. The free tickets include all events and Grouse Mountain skyride transportation. Tickets are being given out at different times to reduce skyride congestion, so people should con- sult the schedule of events at the rec centres to determine when they would like to ride up the moun- tain. Organizers are asking people to park their cars at lots such as the one at recCentre Lonsdale, then catch the #232 or #236 B.C. tran- sit bus to Grouse Mountain. Families and friends are also encouraged to bring a picnic up the mountain with them, but Grouse Mountain restaurants and concessions will be open for those OUR HERITAGE gv EBRAT without a lunch. The Aug. 10 event is the highlight of North Vancouver District’s Centennial year celebra- tions. On Aug. 10, 1891, North Van- couver District was incorporated, and its boundaries reached from Howe Sound to Indian Arm, en- compassing what later became North Vancouver City and West Vancouver District. Centennial events to date have included the publication of Reflections: 100 Years, the B.C. Festival of the Arts and the spon- sorship of a number of communi- ly events. Still to come are a Pioncers Garden Party, on Wednesday, Ju- ly 31, and the Vancouver Sym- phony Orchestra playing at Cates Park on Sunday, Aug. I]. For information about Centen- nial events, call North Vancouver District at 987-7131. Sunday. July 14, 1991 - North Shore News - 3 ersatile facing financial deadline Co. official says shipyard has sound business plan MONDAY IS financial D-Day for what was once one of the biggest shipyards on the B.C. West Coast. North Vancouver-based Ver- satile Pacific Shipyards inc. (VPSI) must come up with a new business plan tomorrow that will satisfy its many creditors or face bankruptcy. And while a VPSI official said Friday he believes the company has developed a sound business plan, at least one former fong- time VPSI employee thinks che shipyard will not be able to turn things around. In March, VPSi was granted B.C. Supreme Court protection under the Company Creditors Ar- fangement Act for a 120-day breathing period to restcucture its finances: it was given until July 15 to present a Pian of Arrangemeni, or business plan, to satisfy its creditors. Under the court protection, VPSI creditors could not take ac- fon against the company, On Friday, VPSI ‘personnel inanager Bill Evers said he is hap- py with the business plan the company has since developed. “We anticipate we have a very geood plan. It took a lot of work. bit we think it is a very positive plaa,”? said Evers. **‘We hope the eesditors think it is too,” 3n Monday, Evers said VPS! wil' submit its business plan to the B.C. Supreme Court. Creditors then have one month to stu:s "he plan and decide if it is acceptuvle. In a March 13 News story, then-regional economic develop- ment niinister Bud Smith said VPSI had hoped to refinance itself by selling off some of its assets; by negotiating ‘‘a greater con- tribution from Canada;"* and by “realizing some profits from a superferry contract.’’ Last September the provincial government awarded VPSI a con- tract to build a $120-miilion superferry for the B.C. Ferry Corp. (BCFC) and agreed to un- derwrite a $7.5-million bank loan for Versatile. But VPSI’s superferry plans sank in May whea_ Integrated Ferry Constructors Ltd. (IFC), the company appointed to oversee construction of the vessel, said VPSI would do no work on the superferry. One month earlier VPSI chief executive officer Peter Quinn resigned as IFC chairman, saying he wanted to spend all of his time developing a new business plan for Versatile in time for Monday’s deadline. And while Smith was announc- ing VPSI's July 1S deadline, he also said the company would close its North Vancouver yard, tossing its remaining work force of 150 into the unemployment line. Smith said VPSI's $60-million Panamax floating dry dock would remain at the shipyard for the time being, adding that the pro- vincial government's $7.5-million loan to Versatile was secured against the dry dock. Quinn said in a May 15 News By Surj Rattan News Reporter story that VPSI was working “damn hard” to try to restructure its finances in time for the July 15 deadline. But North Vancouver District Ald. Ernie Crist, 63, who worked at Versatile for 18 years, said Fri- day that he does not think VPSI will be able to satisfy its creditors by Monday. “Tr fett all along that there was no will to turn the yard around. The prime interest of Shieidings (VPSE's Toronto-based parent company) was to set up a base here, but not to pursue ship- building,”’ said Crist. ‘*In all fairness, the federal government didn’t help."* Both Shieldings and VPSI have blamed Ottawa for the cancella- tion of the $500-million Polar Class 8 icebreaker, which had been awarded to VPSI, as one of the main causes of its financial woes. But Crist said Shieldings never intended to carry on with ship- building in North Vancouver. “The perception we had was that Versatile wanted to close down here, make a pile of money from real estate (by selling its waterfront property), get paid for closing down, move to Vancouver Island and start a non-union ship- yard. “Had they made uptheir mind to maintain the yard they would have taken a different corporate stand,’’ Crist said. While he said he believes VPSI will not be able to satisfy its cred- iiors by Monday, he added that everything must be done to ensure that VPSI stays in North Van- couver. Crist said it was a different era at the North Vancouver shipyard when he first went to work there. “When | started it was a business-like operation. There were strong leaders. To see it go down the drain is a sad thing,” said Crist. ‘‘] had to retire two years early because there is no future down there for me."” Index @ High Profiles........ 34 Hi Comics High Tech MB Horoscopes ......... 40 @ Travel @ What's Going On... .36 Monday and Tuesday, mostly sunny. Highs 23°C, Lows 13%C. Second Class Registration Number 3885