A2 - Wednesday, November 10, 1982 - North Shore News

| strictly personal It's full steam

by Bob Hunter

lear nightmare

DURING ADOLESCENCE and early manhood, I mushroom cloud billowing
had recurring dreams in which I was one of a
handful of survivors of a nuclear war. These
dreams stand out as vividly in my memory as
almost any‘actual experience I can think of.

For some reason, in the
early 1970's, - I” stopped
having the: dreams. I didn’t
miss them, I'll tell you.

Then, last week, the

dream came back in a new

form. It wasn’t the aftermath
of nuclear war I saw. It was

_the waritself. 0

My first warning was a
knock on the door. It was my
brother and his family,
wanting shelter. Then we
saw the flash. Seattle had
just been nuked.

The fear was something
terrible. Suddenly, everyone
I knew everywhere was
facing the end at the same
time I was, and that made it
more shattering than any
other experience
imaginable.

There would be no one to
carry on the family name.
No one to keep your picture
on the wall. No one to show
the photo albums to. No one
to read your works. No one
to receive the things you
might pass on.

An emptiness lay ahead
that was absolute.

In normal death--if I may
say, in normal war, even--a
dying person knows that
there are children out there
who will survive, relatives—
however distant—who will
carry your memory at least a
small way into the future.

The death of an individual
means nothing more than
that a leaf has fallen from
the treé of life. Life itself
goes on. Knowing that, we
may weep for ourselves. But
it is a small pain in the end
compared to the greater pain
if we see our neighbourhood
dying with us, our culture,
our values, our family, our
tribe.

This is

why the word

genocide carries so
profoundly evil a meaning.
Yet even that word is vastly
insufficient to describe what
the real effects of a nuclear
war would be. |
We are talking about the
destruction of ALL LIFE ON
!

od, _ban-the-bomb

The mere fact that we are
forced to contemplate such a
possibility separates people
in our age from all other
peoples in history.

These thoughts come to
mind now, as I recall the
fantastic terror I felt in my
dream. In near-panic, my
brother and I scrambled to
get everybody down in the
basement, covered in pillows
and blankets.

Then my wife’s sisters and
their boyfriends and families
began to arrive. I was up-
Stairs, letting them in when
an atomic bomb hit Van-
couver Island. We all
averted our eyes until the
mushroom cloud began to
rise.

It began to rain. Madness

set in. Everybody came
running up from the
basement to watch the

mushroom cloud and dance
around the yard in the rain. I
kept screaming that the rain
was radioactive, but nobody
seemed to care.

Over the radio, through
waves of static, I heard an
announcer talking about
how a Russion general had
gone bersek, launching the
attack without orders. But
that was academic because
the American counter-strike
had gone out and by now
of

most Russia was
destroyed.

Then the bomb hit
Vancouver. In awe, we
sttod there, watching the

- VOTE -

SMELOVSKY,

Verna

for District Alderman
PROVEN LEADERSHIP, DEPENDABILITY
_. Over.5 Years Experience

upward until it towered over
everything.

I woke up.

A bad day. followed. I was
shaken, nervous, and given
to feelings of relief (for still

_ being alive) so strong that
my eyes kept watering. It
was as if my psyche had been
pounded by a sledgeham-
mer. .

I was an early anti-nuke
type. It was back in the early
1960s that I attended my first

mb__demon-

stration--at Speaker's Corner
in London.

I have been conscious of
the nuclear issue all along.
Yet I haven't felt as afraid as
I do now. Maybe that’s all
the dream was about. Quite

legitimate subconscious
fears.
If so, it was a_ timely

reminder. On Nov. 20, five
million Canadians though

not alas including the folks
in North Van City and West
Van) will be given a chance
to vote on the disarmament
referendum.

Get out there, you North
Van District folk. Vote.

November 11

November 12

byes

All branches closed
on
Remembrance Day

All five branches of the North Shore Com
munity Credit Union will be closed on Thursday

Regular business hours will resume on Friday

North Shore
Community
Credit Union

Five branches serving North Vancouver

ahead for Cates

expansion plan

FAVOURABLE comment
and opinion greeted plans
submitted by C.H. Cates and
Sons, the well-known local
tugboat firm, at a- i
hearing held in North
Vancouver City chambers
Monday night.

The company is seeking
two zoning changes to ac-
commodate expansion plans
which include a tow boat
service, repair and main-

tenance facilities, ad-
ministrative offices and a
Synchro Lift system.

A vacant lot to the west of |

the original Keg and Cleaver
restaurant on Esplanade will

accommodate 40 cars, while
three separate parcels of
land to the south of
Esplanade and adjacent to
the ICBC and Seabus
development will be
combined to allow siting of
the three low level buildings.:

Density and height of the
development are well below
City guidelines.

In keeping with the Lower
Lonsdale Development Plan,
the project will be tastefully
landscaped and feature a
nautical theme. Cates, one
of the pioneering companies
in the area, has amassed a
collection of nautical ar-
tifacts over the years which
will be put on display as well
as a totem pole.

City aldermen were
pleased by the fact that the

public will still be able to_

view the work done on the |
tugs from the Seven Seas
restaurant parking lot.

Council even began giving
first reading to the bylaw
changes necessary for the
zoning switch before the city

clerk pointed out that design
approval had not yet been

given by the City’s advisory

design panel.

The earliest first reading
can be given to the bylaws
will be next Monday,
providing the ADP approves
the plans submitted.

-__ be paved and landscaped to.

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