@ — Friday, Apri! 12. 1991 - North Shore News wlT9 THE NEW PREMIER OF BC. ONTHE LINE... NEWS VIEWPOINT Backing Baker HE NORTH Vancouver-Seymour Socred constituency association need look no further than North Vancouver-Lonsdale for the right person to fill the gaping political hole left by the recent death of Jack Davis. Surely there couid be no better Social Credit candidate for North Vancouver- Seymour than former North Vancouver District mayor Marilyn Baker, who moved from municipal politics to provincial poli- tics last September when she was acclaimed as the Social Credit candidate in the newly-created North Vancouver-Lonsdale . riding. ; Baker, who served on North Vancouver District Council for 13 years, including four terms as mayor, was without question LETTER OF THE DAY one of the finest mayors the district has ever had. She knows the people of the North Vancouver-Seymour riding; she knows the problems they face; and she knows how to get things done in political office. Baker was nominated to run in the North Vancouver-Lonsdale riding when North Vancouver Capilano MLA Angus Ree apnounced that he would not seck re-election. It was perhaps the best opper- tunity at the time. But times have changed, The Socreds need a strong candidate in North Vancouver-Seymour to replace the late Mr. Davis, and the people of the North Shore deserve the opportunity to elect an MLA with the potential to become a provincial cabinet minister. Baker offers both. NVD needs better ESL program cred for the course. INSIGHTS Shooting the messenger wort help anyone! WHAT HAVE ‘Stormin’ ** Norman Schwarzkop! and his half million victorious forces beca up to since we left them Dear Editor: My family and I are rew resi- dents of the North Shore, in fact, new residents cf Canada. We landed here from furope in December, 1990. We lived in Sweder: for some time prior to moving to Canada. New residents in Sweden have the opportunity to learn the Swedish language up to the level of profi- ciency. New immigrants are con- sidered an asset 10 the country’s economy. Every effort is made to I know similar programs are of- fered here in Canada, such as the ESL courses offered at Vancouver Community College's King Ed- ward campus. High quality ESL programs, in addition to their economical values, help families acquire English and join a culture many find incomprehensible. Unfortuaately, the King Edward program is limited in terms of migratory status of an individual and the total number of students accepted into the college each term. There is a long waiting list and one must live in the city of prepare and train an individual to Vancouver before being consid- join the nation’s work force. Ya VNC OF MeDATos art) WERT VRC OUVER North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburoan newspaper and qualified under Schedute 111, Paragraph Iti of the Excise Tax Act, 's published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lia and distrOulEG@ to evety doer on the North Snore Second Class Mai Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver. $25 per yeat Mailing rates available on request Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept fesponsibibty for unsolicrted maternal inctuding manuscnpts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. SUNDAY“ WEENESDAT + PRDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, BC. V7M 2H4 Entire coatents ©: 1991 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved We were told that residents of the North Shore must attend ESL courses in North Shore School Board facilities. ESL instruction offered by North Shore Continuing Educa- tion is a collection of some short- term elementary courses. It is less than adequate. Why doesn't North Vancouver School District improve its ESL program to match the one at King Edward Campus? Jahangir Jalali North Vancouver Publisher Peter Speck Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Geax Norin Snore Managing Editor Timathy Renshaw Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Sunscriptions 986-1337 RRR manageo Associate Editor Noel Wright Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Advertising Director = Linda Stewart — Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 Comptrotier Doug Foct MEMBER SOA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation Wednescay, Friday & Sunday) twiddling their thumbs in southern Iraq? Maybe we'll never know, Maybe we no longer care. The restless media have moved on to new stories, taking their audience with them, Those millioa-plus starving, napalm-bombed Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein's holocaust have been big news for 10 days. So vast a human tragedy might just con- tinue to grip us for another seven -— though don’t count on it. in Canada the Reform Party hogged the national stage last week by deciding to steal! all Brian Mulroney's Ontario votes and tell Quebec to get lost. But soaring jobless figures and an official extension of the reces- sion until June or later have quickly pushed Preston Manning back into the wings again for a while. In B.C. Bill Vander Zalm has vanished as completely as the sawn-up lady in the master magi- cian’s box. No doubt the Moun- ties may resurrect him briefly, but the big fun is over. Meanwhile a 1,660 per cent price hike for Cliff Ronning hockey cards suddenly gets four times more news space than Rita Johnstan’s endeavors to give Social Credit a facelift. ft would be unfair to blame the media for doing their job so effi- ciently. Huge technological strides enable — and obligate — them to gather and distribute information ona scale, and at a speed, unknown a mere generation or so ago. As a result, the daily media menu has become overly rich. Unless you nibble only a mouthful or two of each course before mov- ing to the next, you're likely to develop chronic mental indiges- tion. A good few folk nowadays guard their sanity by passing up the media menu altogether and settling for plain homemade fare — gossip with friends and neighbors; or, as a special treat, the local council or schoo! board antics. The very short shelf tife of to- day’s massive news output has another obvious effect. At any given moment the media audience not only KNOWS more but has also FORGOTTEN more than at any time since town criers went out of business. Quickly now: Who first plotted Maggie Thatcher's downfall? Which Canadian defence minister was fired for relaxing in a night club? Why did Cliff Michael once have to quit as a Socred minister? Last July I predicted Bud MAGGIE THATCHER... plotted her fall? who CLIFF MICHAEL... why did he Neel Wright HITHER AND YON Smith’s intercepted car phone in- discretions and resignation under a cloud would soon provoke nothing more than a public yawn. Sure enough, six months later (yawn!) Bud was safely back in the cabinet. The upside to all this for the public figures on whom the media raveitously feed is that details of their pratfalls se quickly blur and fade. The downside, of course, is that their good deeds are often remembered only about as long. A pity either way. But shooting the messenger won’t help anyone! DATELINES: Get in the swim for summer this Saturday, April 13, atthe Splash Party being hosted by North Van Cruisers Swim Club from 10 a.m. to noon at Ron An- drews Pool — swimwear advised, meet the coaches and register for fun months ahead ... Saturday, too, is bargain-hunters’ day again, this time at St. Christopher’s Giant Garage Sale, 10 a.m, to noon at Inglewood and 11th, West Van ... Meanwhile, “mop dolls’” — big news in crafts in the U.S. at the moment — are a special feature of the seniors’ rummage sale Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kiwanis Towers, Chester- field and 2nd, North Van... And Sunday, April 14, brings wheelchair stationer Bil} Oin back for the week to Woodward’s Food Floor, Park Royal, selling his at- tractive greeting cards by loca! handicapped artists. eoe WRIGHT OR WRONG: If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t join them, beat it. once have to quit?