July 12, 1991 - North Shore News - 7 a 0 RE Taking Spicer with a grain of salt OH, BOY. This past couple of weeks have really been hard for me. By Brian Swarbrick Contributing Writer 1 don't know what you’ve been doing, goofing off to the beach getting an early start on your skin caricer most likely, but Pve been on the run. Yes, sir, into the old Adidas and heading for the hills. Anything to avoid bumping into the Keith Spicer crowd. Especially to avuid saying any- thing, um, negative about him. Which is hard for a person in my line of endeavor, being a colum- nist and all. Hard, hard, hard. Biting the tongue about this singular patriot and his Forum of Ordinary Folk Plus Laurier Lapierre is like giving up the drink for Lent: it’s no easy task to face sober. Nor is ducking him. The man’s everywhere. Like pollen, only a longer season. He's spent eight months stalk- ing all 27 million of us, and I have been trying desperately to be the one Canadian to escape his net. I don’t want to talk to Keith Spicer. I am neither innocent enough nor egotistical enough to think anything I might have to say will make the country pay the slightest heed. But give Mr. Spicer his due, he's a tiger. Not like one of those Royal Commissioners from the olden days, who'd spent a few months in a cave or a monastery or something, then emerge to publish their report, pick up their honorable mention on the nightly news and a stick or two of type in the papers, and quietly disappear. Ho, ho, not likely. Disappear- ing is not Mrz. Spicer’s game. He’s a showman, and Canada is his game. So there’s no way he'd let us forget it. Not even if he has to take out ads to let us know what he's been Dear Editor: The first thing that came to my mind, after my recent release from the Lions Gate Hospital Post Coronary Care Unit, was Thank God I am on the North Shore, the home of a truly great medical cen- tre, staffed with the most unique team(s) of professionals I’ve ever seen in action. This statement is based not only on what they did for me, but the way they treated every patient. I am sure that each patient felt the personalized attention, very im- portant to a heart attack victim. I watched as each nurse and doctor moved from one patient to Just TINK OF Him AS YET ANOTHER ROYAL COMMISSION / HIS OudtT-PuT ISN'T AS GREAT... BUT ITS THE SAME THING. doing. Big ads, too. Bigger than Eaton’s, bigger than The Bay’s White Sale. Pages and pages. All to let us know what good works he's been about. And why not, eh? The guy's been chasing the Holy Grail, after all. That’s noble stuff. Especially when he figures he’s found it. He’s not likely to hide that news under an Okanagan apple bin, now is he? Not him. He’s spreading the word. Door to door. Like those smiling couples who LGH: a great medical centre another, asking the age-old ques- tion, ‘‘Tell me, on a scale of one to 10 how much does it hurt? Like, I mean, really hurt. Think of the worst pain you’ve ever had and relate that to a number.” In any event, this practice is applied a number of times, and after a while you notice the numbers are really starting to diminish. You don’t notice the team is starting to shrink as some of them move on to other patients. My thanks and gratitude seem very ‘feeble’? compared to help that I received from the paramed- ics, the emergency room staff, the staff in CCU and Post Coronary show up on your stoop on a Sun- day morning to deliver their message of hope. Not one to let humility slow him down, Mr. Spicer’s is also billed as a message of hope, and it’s our job to listen to it. And if it gets to you, if it touches your heart, then it’s OK to clap, or cheer, or ask him to be our king, or whatever. Of course, no vision can be all morning glory. Mr. Spicer proba- bly didn’t want to do it, not bite Care, plus all the other specialists such as dieticians. The point of this letter, aside from the ‘Thank you,”’ is that if you are “pianning”’ a heart attack make sure you’re on the North Shore, the home of the best in coronary care and customer rela- tions. I would be most amiss if I didn’t also thank the people of the Capilano Mall, Woolco and the two young women who stayed with me until the paramedics az- rived. You are all life-savers. Les Farewell North Vancouver Be careful with hummingbird nectar Dear Editor: May I, through your newspa- per, warn the public of the danger of leaving prepared hummingbird nectar out for too long in feeders during warm weather? This solu- tion, as well as sugar and water, can ferment which can lead to health problems. Also, research has proven that honey should never be used as food for hummingbirds. Hard- ening of the liver occurs after a high percentage has been eaten by these tiny birds. Honey, when not changed daily, becomes toxic, which leads to a fungus growth on the tongue, causing necrosis of the tissue and a slow death. During warmer weather, hum- mingbirds are able to find natural flower nectar and small insects for protein so it is not necessary to supply artificial food at this time. Rose McGavin Humane Education Director B.C. Kindness to Animals Club the hand that’s been feeding him, ch, but he’s got to do what a man’s got to do. So I guess he figured a little bit of shaking the finger at the big boys, especially that awful Brian Mulroney, would sit pretty good with the rest of us. No one asked him to do that, like it wasn't part of the mandate or whatever they call it, but when you're spending 25 million or more, there’s always a little bit of room for the extras. And it looks good on the rezoom. Shows you're nobody’s lackey. Or at least no Conservative’s lackey. Well, all this has been building up for months, like one of those tidal waves, and the big tsunami has really been pounding the beach for the past couple of weeks, and my problem’s been to figure out what to say about it. Which is where the pointy end of the stick is. You see, it has not escaped me that if I was going to open up my mouth about Mr. Spicer, I had better be saying something good. Because if I didn’t ... well, the guy’s got a following, right? He fills a need. So whatever I said, however softly | turned each cau- tioning phrase, I'd be swimming upstream against all the hoorahs. And why is my voice not a part of this happy chorus? Well, call me wizard if you will, but | don’t have to spend 25 million bucks peering into our heads to know that there is an embarrassing in- nocence about us Canadians. Time and again we get taken in by the most arrant claptrap. What Mr. Spicer’s been about is just the sort of weird nonsense my fellow citizens seem (o need every once in a while. Oh, sure, I can see the charm of it. And except for blowing 25 mil- lion big ones ... (Yes, yes, I know l keep repeating it, but if it was worth it, what's the harm in it, eh?) But if you don’t mind my asking, what's this whole exercise been about, anyway? It seems to me it’s been nothing more than a grown-up version of mock parliament, like they play in high school, where we all get a chance to show off about what concerned citizens we are. Those who go for the emotional moment get to wave flags and clank their medals at each other. Those with a pet peeve get to parade it. And the fringe element get to yell a little hot air at each other, All quite OK, I suppose, as a summer diversion. But surely there’s a better way to run a country. More roadways don’t reduce congestion Dear Editor: It was interesting to read the results of your recent page seven survey ‘Does the North Shere need a third crossing?’’ Pm amazed that the 470 people who responded ‘‘yes’’ don’t know that a third cross- ing has been in service for more than 10 years. It’s called the SeaBus, and it’s a very pleasant 15-minute trip across Burrard Inlet. The added benefit is that it doesn’t require commuters to sit and wait to cross the Lions Gate or Second Narrows bridges for 15 minutes while inhaling noxious fumes from the car of his equally en- vironmentally concerned North Shore neighbor. As for those who think that building an additional crossing for automobiles will reduce congestion, think again. Larger and improved roadways have never reduced congestion. Just look at the impressive freeways of Toronto and Los Angeles. A third crossing might tem- porarily ease the morning and afternoon commute but at the same time would facilitate in- creased density and develop- ment on the North Shore. Is that what the 72.9% want? Jacob Heilbron North Vancouver North Shore News Mailbox policy LETTERS TO the editor must in- clude your name, written legibly, your full address and telephone number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot publish ail letters. Fublished letters may be edited.