Pondering Pacific Press’ problems IT WAS over breakfast at The Tomahawk when f was able to unlock the puzzle of the anemia afflicting The Van- couver Sun. My previous attempts to diagnose the progressive decay of the once proud paper tended to focus on social trends: rapid tran- sit; tabloids; an explosion of elec- tronic media competition and the dynamic growth of community newpapers. Pacific Press points with pride at its sibling rivalry, noting that The Province has grown dramatically, while The Sun mere- ly needs a fine tuning. The fact is that the combined circulation of the two papers is the sasme as it was 20 years ago, despite dramatic inereases in pop- ulation, the economic base of the community and the costs of pro- duction, During this period, The Sun has spent fortunes on computers, graphic artists, advertising and complete remakes of format. It seems as if everything has been revolutionized except content, Think back (o the great per- sonalities of Pacific Press: back Wasserman, Jack Webster, Str Keate, Stim Delbridge, Alun Fotheringham, Simma Holt, Hymie Koshevoy, Erwin Swangard, Marjorie Nichols, Jack Scott, Hal Straight, and many others, These people were part of the culture, They were involved in everything end they could be seen everywhere. They, and scores of their colleagues, were genuinely interesting people, in person or in print. Today's newspapers have a few gifted writers. Some of them flirt with becoming a ‘‘star.’’ But none have made the grade. There used to be at Jeast two dozen bone fide celebrities working under the Pacific Press roof, and not all of them were writers. Modern management in all fields seems threatened by any- thing abnormal. If it can’t be taught at Harvard, it doesn’t fit. But if newspapering is a creative pursuit, you can’t succeed unless you first throw out the recipe book. In a typically wacky Mel Brooks movie, To Be or Not to Be, Mel plays a wartime Warsaw theatre director who despairs that the Nazis have been hauting away his most talented people. One night, in tears, he tells his wife that they first came and took away the gypsies. Then, he said, they came for the homosexuals. Just that day, Mel wailed, the Nazis carried off all the Jews. He screamed to the walls: ‘‘Do they have any idea how hard it is to run a theatre without gypsies, queers and Jews?”’ Pacific Press tries to produce good newspapers. These papers are far better than the critics would have you believe. But the publishers fail, these days, to produce the determined — indeed obsessed — eccentrics whose sheer force of originality thrusts themselves to the fore. When is the last time you wor- ried if you missed an edition of either daily newspaper? Like many with a great deal of hindsight, we recall the days when old newspa- pers would systemically be scann- ed upon the return from any A Place To Go When — You're Pregnant And Need Support: GIRTHRIGHT | all 987-7313 * Free Pregnancy Test + § 229 Lonsdale —sin Vancouver Cail North Vancouver 687-7225 ‘ Gary Bannerman OPEN LINES lengthy absence, When you miss a paper these days, do you feel you might be Missing something important, even the kind of vossip you fike to beep abreast of at cocktail parties? How, you might ask, does North Vancouver's celebrated Tomahawk Barbecue figure in this dissertation? When duty requires me to entertain VIPs on this side of the pond, it's either break fast at the Torahawhk or fish ‘n’ chips at Famous Freddies, My visitor early ong recent morning was one of the past luminaries from the list above. Simma came to visit. Listening to her experience dur- ing the past (wo years — at her own expense — from Washington, D.C., to Tiananmen Square in Peking, it became obvious that this self-propelled talent had done far more exciting things than any of her former colleagues in B.C. media. Sitting in on the George Bush presidential campaign, researching a book, she was at the side of the recently deceased Machiavellian monster Eee Atwater (Willie Hor- ton et al). She worked with the formidable politicians of the evangelical caucus, shocked by the brute force and political blackmail of their tactics. She has a book ready to go on the Bush backroom. She may yet have one on the Jay and Ann Pollard spy case and the tentacles that reach out to embrace some previously sacrosanct Washington names. eee Between mouthfuls of breakfast, we asked Simma a Store robbed A STORY in the Aug. 21 News incorrectly reported that Sailor Hagar’s Pub, 86 Semisch Ave., in North Vancouver, was rob- bed by a man who produced a shoulder holster. In fact, Sailor Hagar’s adja- cent beer and wine store was robbed by a suspect who pro- duced a gun. MEDOX HEALTH SERVICES ‘dependable private care in hore or hospital 24 Hours a Day 987-0861 Sunday. August 25, 1991 - North Shore News - 2 dnt Jaa et ag se NOKIH VANCOUVER lependary Grace Melanis in Kingsway, Summa feft [he Van- couser Sun. Defeated in Kinesway five vears later by Fan Waddell, she was ap- pointed to the National Parole Board, bringing to the table a lite. time of experience dealing with criminals, Summa Holt was ready for a return to journalism after the death of her husband, fee, in 1985, but the newspapers consid- ered her part of the past. Peter Worthington of Toronto recognized the under-utilized tal- entand, fora year, Sinima wrote a sparky column for The Ottawa Sun, My guess is that today's Van- couser Sun would push Simma Holt over the edge. Her first assignment might be to count the number of peas ina tin, just to be sure that the manufie- turer is not shortchanging the consumer, dumb question: “Why have vou done these things? Most of us watt fora paycheque, an espense ac: count oc at feast ao assignment" Her response was glib and complete: ‘These are goad stories and no one was telling them.’ Simma Holt has won many of the most presdizious awards in Canadian journalism, and all of those available to female reporters in the 1950s and 1960s. Her books have all been unique best-sellers: Terror in the Naine of God (1964) remains the definitive piece about the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor sect; Sex and the Teen-Ave Revolution (D967) was a disturbing look at Canadian street kids; The Devil's Butler (1971) brought the chilling reelity of motorcycle violence right to the Vancouver doorstep; and, The Other Mrs. Dietenbaker (1982) was a welcome biography about John Diefenbaker’s forgotten first wife, When she became a Member of Parliament in 1974, deteatiog the SPECIAL FACTORY PURCHASE” = "WE AVE efabr MODELS! NORTH SHORE CREDIT UNION rn idl FINANCE OAC. A qround breaking ceremony was held early this month for the new Seymour Youth Centre Its Centennial project spansored by the very busy Mount Seymour Lions Club, in conyunction with SAYSS (Seymour Association for Youth Senices Society) The completion date for the new facility s February 1992 Congratulations to Tom Lucas and his Lions for all thew hard work. SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING. NEW! Thee soon be a beautiful, new heritage park on the banks of the Seymour River. On August 9, Mayor Oykeman and his Counc dedicated the land on the river adjacent to Maplewood Farm as the future site of a proneer’s homestead, gardens reminiscent of a by-gone era, and, of course, a picinic area. A little past for our future, and much to look forward to. SALE PRICE 9795 IMPULSE XS 1991 [ag]isuz $4 SALE PRICE 32, FREE AUTOMATIC 2,995 SUZU TROOPER : steering disc brakes, anim 5 speed, V6 SALE PRICE amim r 7,995 ries Isuzu RODEO SALE PRICE So 1991 ZS Bon Edgemont Village and Deep Cove have decided that Saturday, September 7th is their lucky day. The annual Bavaria Fest will keep things hopping in Edgemont Village from 11 am to 6 pm, and, in Deep Cove, Deep Cove Daze will run from 10 am to 6 pm, with a petting 200, arts anu crafts, face painting and music by Memory Day. ‘STUDENT ALERT! Ho school students will have an opportunity to write their way to greatness. An essay contest 15 soon to be announced. .sponsored by the Centennial Committee and the North Shore News. Watch for more details. SALE PRICE § Speed, 99 7985 = Centennial Update is brought to you courtesy of the [=] NORTH SHORE (| CREDIT UNION Fenteons ingour Community”