6 - Wednesday, June 10, 1992 ~— North Shore News apes |) ee, 2 ig A mirror image - of ourselves — | warts and all! THE ROYALS will survive, believe me, despite the skele- tons presently tumbling out of Backingham Palace closets — Anne’s divorce, Andrew’s and Fergie’s break-up, and now Diana’s reported suicide attempts as an alternative to putting up with hubby Charles, the future king. Step on it Harty, and be Sure that. you dont emit (i Kid care T’S every parent’s uightmare. Your child is abused by caregivezs, people with whom you entrusted your child’s welfare. The grisly details of the Martensviile, Sask., sexual assault case are s grim reminder of the seed for national stand- ards for child care in this country. The North Shore is home to many young families in which both parents work, Many households must have two working spouses to support the family. Some cannot afford licensed daycare. But the federal government continues to turn ifs back on the national daycare situ- ation. There are currently 59 family and 28 group daycares licensed in North and West Vancouver and many more unlicensed daycares filling the gap. People who work odd hours or are financially strapped often put their childsen in unlicensed daycares hecause they are the most flexible or the least expensive. Although most daycare centres are repu- table, parents take a larger risk with unlicensed services. Licensed centres and their operators have at least becn assessed and hold a Community Care Facility Licence, which ensures the health and safety of children. The Martensville trial should prompt parents to take a closer look at their child’s care facility and perhaps convince them to become more closely involved with its operations. Now we need national standards and ways io enforce them to ensure that caregivers are operating with the know- ledge that somebody is watching. “LETTER OF THE DAY Cypress presentation all propaganda Dear Editor: Despite the withdrawal by the provincial parks department from the proposed meeting in May with Cypress Bowl Recreation Limited (CBRL) because of the latter’s established for a Class A Provin- cial Park, that group is continuing to push its case. It is using as much propaganda as it can muster, in the process offering a few stretches of wet land in the area of Yew Lake in exchange for valuable timber. This CBRL is busy pushing cata at residents of West Vancouver, remaining quiet as to the fact that only one side of the case is being presented — its own. David Macaree, West Vancouver Why am I so sure? Because | have the proof right in my living room. All three kilograms of it. Chronicle of the Royal Family (Chronicle/Raincoast, cloth $49.95) is quite the most magnifi- cent coffee-table book I’ve ever seen. Moreover, it’s a book to delight monarchists and anti- monarchists alike — albeit for different reasons. Lavishly and beautifully il- lustrated, it narrates in fascinating detail the story of the royal family from Aethelwulf (839-858) to the daily duties carried out by indi- vidual royals in 1991. But it’s the method of presentation that makes the work unique. This is no dull history book. [t's as readable and titillating as the cheeky Lon- don tabloids that cause Buck- ingham Palace so much grief. A panel of distinguished univer- sity academics did the research and checking for accuracy. But the writing was handed over to a team of prize-winning journalists under editor-in-chief Derrik Mercer, former editor of The Sunday Times and British TV’s Channel 4 News. The result is over 2,000 vivid, datelined ‘‘news reports’’ written in the colorful, punchy style of London’s Daily Mirror and Daily Express — with headlines to match. Many of them make current royal! scandals seem pretty tame stuff. ‘‘Ilegitimate son given a dukedom,’* ‘Queen mother dies after her marriage secret comes out,’ “King jails own stepmother for evil plot to murder him,’* Court pregnancy scandal ensnares queen” and ‘King’s son linked to murder of valet’’ are just a tiny handful of examples. Since all the facts themselves are accurate, it quickly becomes clear that the royal family has weathered infinitely worse troubles over the past 11 centuries than anything being dished out to it today. Whether you’re pro- or anti-monarchy, you have to respect such a remarkable feat of survival and ponder the reason for it. Is it because the royals — unlike all our other here-today- gone-tomorrow cult figures — are really ourselves looking into a close-up mirror, warts and all? A HITHER AND YON permanent, highly visible yardstick against which to measure our own virtues, faults, strengths and follies? Once opened at any of its 600 pages, Chronicle of the Royal Family is an almost impossible book ta close. Never worry about leaving your guests alone with it briefly while you toss the salad. Your problem will be getting them to the dinner table. SCRATCHPAD: Pancake breakfast 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and hamburger lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. will be served by North Van and Evergreen Kiwaais Clubs dur- ing Edgemont Village Day hi-jinx Saturday, June 13 ... An open house reunion June 28 for old North Van High classes of 1950- 1955 is being hosted by the classes of °52-'53 — call Rose, 987-7614, for info ... Sunday and Monday, June 14-15, bring the annual Floral Arts Show at Park Royal by Capilano Flower Arranging Club ... And tomorrow, June 11, congrats to Fred and May Dalley, latest North Van recruits to the **Golden 50 Club.”” WRIGHT OR WRONG: The future is the time when you’ll wish you’d done what you aren’t daing now. ening EEA NF failure to abide by requirements Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 & Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 § Printed on Classified Advertising 988-6222 Fax 985-3227 10% recycled Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 B fewsprint North Snore managed MEMBER SN SOA. DIVISION Publisher . .Peter Speck Managing Editor .. . Timothy Renshaw Associats Editor.... .. .Noal Wright Advartising Director .. Linda Stewart Comptrolier Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an indepandent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Faragraph {!t of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the Norh Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per yeat. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept tesponsidility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which shoufd be accompanied by 2 stamped, addressed envelope. Photo exbmitted 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press 1.td. All rights reserved. HELPING HANOS from Canada... this summer Cap College stu- dents Vicki Wiider and Sue Colleran wil! work with Thailand’s foundations for children and the blind, while Charlotte Rivari will teach ESL in a Budapest, Hungary, technical university. 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday. Friday & Sunday)