6 ~ Sunday, December 1, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page ast weekend’s bloodbath on the hijack- ed Egyptian airliner in Malta cails for radical new thinking in the war against terrorists, especially in the tactical and tech- nological areas. This is not to criticise the Egyptian comman- do attack which terminated the hijacking at the cost of over 5@ innocent lives. It had to be done. Ctherwise, the hijackers would likely have kill- ed ALL their hostages. Obviously, however, such operations are highly specialized, since the main objective is to avoid injuries and death among those being rescued. Israeli commandos succeeded in that at Entebbe, as did German commandos in Somalia. But not every country is equipped to match those achievements, particularly in wide- ly varying terrorist circumstances. A far better alternative would be a perma- nent United Nations commando force to deal exclusively with hijackings —- thereby relieving individual nations of responsibility for rescue attempts. Such a force could cali upon the very best resources in manpower, training and tech- nology from UN member-states, thus ensuring the highest possible military and tactical standards. It would be divided into a number of elite units stationed at various points around the world — ready to be flown anywhere on the globe at an hour's notice without the need for time-losing bilateral negotiations between the country owning the hijacked plane and the country where it was grounded. Modifications to planes themselves could also help — for example, rapid access entries opening cnly from outside and vents for injec- ting knock-out gas inte the cabin. These are the lines along which the new thinking must proceed. Hand-to-mouth measures against hijackers on a national basis are no longer adequate. t least one explanation of the huge ’ Biffy special $200 billion U.S. deficit — widely A regarded as a prime cause of many of North America’s present economic woes — lies in the john. This, despite the fact that Lockheed Corp., responding to criticism by Congress, has just reduced the price of toilet seats ordered for Navy planes by 15%. The Pentagon will now be able to buy the seats ‘‘on special’’ for only $544 each. THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST.VANCOUVER ¥ ews SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY Display Advertising 980-0511 & Classified Advertising 986-6222 § Newsroom 985-2131 Circutation 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 publisher: Peter Speck advertising director operations mgr. Berni Hilliard Linda Stewart editor-in-chief managing editor Noel Wright Nancy Weatherley North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule Ill, Part it, Para-jrapty I! of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by Nortn Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Entire contents <. 1945 Notin Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved Member of the B.C. Press Council aWm 56,245 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) SUA OIVISICN THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Noel Wright e sunday brunch e SHARED INTEREST IN FOOD... Stongs and Rossums gather to honor Bill and Karen Rosum (wearing crowns). Front row, kneeling, the third generation: Mack, Cori and Wayne Rossum. - COUNTDOWN to you-know- what — with 23 spending days left and a whole New Year of paying days. But in other kinds of Christmas fun, bargains still abound. Next Sunday (Dec. 8) the City's alderman-impressario Stella ‘Jo Dean brings ‘*Chris{mas Around The World", produced by the North Van Folkfest, to the Centennial Theatre, 23rd and Lonsdale, for shows at 2 and 8 p.m. — with 150 performers from local ethnic groups presenting in song, dance and displays the Christmas tradi- tions of Lebanon, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway; Mexico, Spain, the Ukraing, France, China, ireland and Scotland. For fur- ther information call 987-4488, the best info being that admission is free. Across the Capilano, West Van Little Theatre has taken to the road with its ever- popular ‘children’s Christmas production of ‘‘Rumple Stiltskin’’. It’s playing at 2:30 p.m. today, Sunday Dec. f, at West Van United Church. 1 ae “THANKS for all that paint and popcorn!"’ t After that, at 7:30 p.m., Fri- day, Dec. 6, in Highlands Community School, North Van, and at 2:30 p.m. Satur- day, Dec. 7, in North Lonsdale United Church — with further performances later back in West Van. This is a bit more expensive, admis- sion being all of two bucks. Meanwhile, Donald Forbes’ B.C. Boys Choir — just back in magnificent voice from a European tour — is generating up for its annual Christmas dinner and candlelight concert Starting at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 13, in St. Catherine's Church, 1058 Ridgewood, North Van. Tickets $15 (in- cluding the dinner) or $6 if you’re not hungry for anything but tlie singing, with the usual seniors’ - and children’s discounts. To reserve call 980-2050 or 985-0666. Then, for your own Christmas show back home, Julia Tibbs, graduate of England’s famous Constanc- ce Spry School and president of the Capilano Flower Ar- ranging Club, demonstrates how to make wreaths, bou- photo ‘submitted «os park boost- ers Sue Williams and daughter Jasmine with GVRD’s Hal Weinberg. quets and other Yuletide decorations at 7 p.m. Tues- day, Dec. 3, in Lynn Valley Library. No charge. After all that, back to the stores to price the turkeys! xk THE STONG CLAN with the Rossums and friends, over 60 of them in all, gathered last Saturday at a special celebra- tion for the food market fami- ly which operates three of its five Lower Mainiand stores on the North Shore. The occa- sion: Bill and Karen Rossum’s 25th anniversary of a marriage with lots of shared interests — Karen being Ralph Stong’s daughter and Bill his general manager. Nice touch was Karen’s 23-year-old traveliing daughter Cori, flown in from England to join brothers Mark and Wayne in honoring Dad and Mom on their big day. xk * * SCRATCHPAD: Congrats to North Van-Burnaby MP Chuck Cook on his new job. Hitherto government Chief Whip, he’s now been named Parliamentary Secretary to External Affairs Minister Joe Clark ... The Liberal band- wagon driven by vote-hungry Soha Turner, which rolled in- to B.C, last week with most of his Ottawa caucus, also didn’t neglect the North’ Shore. Unveiiing promised goodies from the Grits over lunch at the Ambleside Inn with our three mayors and other com- munity leaders was opposition finance critic Raymond Garneau .., Elected one of the 25 governing Benchers of the Law Society of B.C. (they make sure the legal beagles behave themselves) is North Van lawyer Kenneth Fawcus . .. The search is on for B.C.’'s biggest native trees, which may be growing unrecognized and unsung in wilderness areas, parks or even back- yards. Tree-lovers finding one should call Randy Stoltman of West Van (926-1388) who's already catalogued many of the ‘‘champions’’ and heads the newly formed Big Trees Program committee spon- sored by the B.C. Forestry Association ... Still on the nature’ trail, salute. North Van's Sue Williams and daughter Jasmine who work- ed through the year as special events volunteers in regional parks, doing everything from face-painting to pop- corn-selling. For which they received appreciation awards last month from GVRD parks CHUCK COOK chairman Hal Weinberg For something different in paintings and prints try West Van abstract artist Jim Felter whose two-week exhibition at the A & R Gallery, 585-16th Street, West Van, opens tomorrow (Monday) ... And there’s a good North Van neighbor with a $400,000 pro- blem you could help solve. The name’s Bob Alexander, president of Microtel, and that four hundred grand is the shortfall to date on this year’s United Way campaign, of which he’s chairman. Do the neighborly thing for Bob, folks, if you haven’t already — every buck helps! kk *& WRIGHT OR WRONG: While we were so busy bor- rowing customs from other cultures, how come we passed up the siesta? photo submitted PRETTY CITY KIT?Y ... MLA Angus Ree () hands Ald. John Braithwaite and Mayor Jack Loucks confirmation of $375,000 provincial Joan towards North Van. City's downtown revitalization rogram.