a N. Van mission

a home for port’s
transient sailors

Robert Galster

News Reporter
robert@nsnews.com

PAUL Ratsoy talks wistfully
about the day when he too
will go to sea.

But in the meantime, the 34-
year-old chaplain from Alberta is
more than content being the land-
locked guiding light to those that
do. -Ratsoy is one of three chaplains
working at the Lighthouse Harbour
Ministries mission on east Esplanade.

The ministry’s motto wraps up its

uspose: “To love and honor God
yy Serving the seamen of the world
in word and deed.”

Said Ratsoy, “That’s why we’re
here: to care for the guys (sailors)
spiritually and physically and emo-
tionaily as well.”

Lighthouse Harbour: Ministries -§
was registered in 1981 and officially .

opened its doors in 1985 tucked into
an industrial area featuring a collec-
tion of tightly packed bedy shops
along the water:

warm, comfortable place for its visi-

tors to relax and ‘play pool or ping ;

pong or just drink coffee and chat.

-". North’ Vancouver’s Bill Nelson
was one of the founders and his
vision was crystal clear: “We recog-

‘ont. With its split-
level layout, the centre offers a

nized the need ... we used to see the“: J

seamen walking on Lonsdale with
- nowhere to go.”
~ | « The religious aspect was included
as an option for the often lonely sea-
_ farers but is:not the price of admis-
sion. And while the religious over-

Chaplains Paul Ratsoy works

, "NEWS photo Paul McGrath
at the Lighthouse Seamen’s

Centre, catering to the needs of weary world seafarers.

tones .at the. centre are. obvious they are not.
obtrusive, blending rather easily into the back-

‘ground if not sought out.

-“We are a Christian ministry, that’s what we.’
are ... we want to reach out to the guys and:
share with them what we do,” said Ratsoy.

“We don’t impose it on anyone but we're .

evangelical and we’ll share with them.”

. Ratsoy comes across as easy-going enough to
make ‘the words believable though: his past is
considerably fess so. Originally he was a banker
and followed a roundabout curve en route to’
Vancouver. In between were a couple of years of
working in California. Upon his arrival, Ratsoy

- volunteered at a downtown rescue mission
though he was still very much a banker. :
; ere he met a man who was a stow-
away on ship from Liberia. The man got off the
ship in Vancouver and had no idea where he was.
“It was amazing,” said Ratsoy, who got to thinking that his

While th

own life was a tad too structured.

“At that time I was thinking of a career change. I was in
banking — and somebody said this (Lighthouse Ministries post)
scems right up your alley because I had spent some time with
this guy,” said Ratsoy. “And I called the chaplain.”

His patrons are as diverse a group as is earthly imaginable.

Lions Gate Bridge life to be extended

» From page|

The project includes a new bridge
deck with wider lanes and sidewalks,
seismic upgrades of the bridge and

~horth approach viaduct, and resurfac-
ing of the Stanley Park causeway.

The existing towers and suspen-
sion cables will be retained.

The province plans to issue a
request br proposal in the summer,

award the contract in December,
have the work done in 1999 and be
finished by 2000.

The rehabilitation is expected to
extend the life of the 60-year-old
bridge for another 40 years.

Lali said the province had favored
a scheme involving a two-lane tunnel
taking traffic out from downtown
Vancouver and two lanes on the exist-
ing 60-year-old bridge to bring the
traffic into Vancouver.

-» “Obviously there was no support

NOAH Okiror ... A long
way from Uganda.

for tolls,” he said.

But in 1997, Vancouver-based
polling | company — Viewpoints
Research Ltd. showed a majority of
respondents supported First Narrows
rolls for a new bridge.

Its survey said 72% of Greater
Vancouver residents preferred tolls
over debt to pay for a new Lions Gate
crossing.

A sample of 300 North Shore res-
idents showed 64% supported tolls,
said Viewpoints.

News polls, conducted in the
same January and February 1997
period, showed 43.4% of 327 North
Shore residents polled supported tolls
to help with renovation costs.

The Lions Gate Bridge handles
approximately 70,000 vehicles daily.
The Second Narrows Bridge carries
approximately 120,000 daily.

North Vancouver District Mayor
Don Bell is pushing for. improve-

*. On a recent visit the centre’s log book revealed
visitors from the Philippines, Ukraine, Pakistan,
Portugal, Italy, Zaire, Mexico and England.
Most speak some form of English to get by but
if they don’t there’s an abundance of literature
available in some 30 different tongues.

Blending in with the world wavellers is
Noah Okiror, an imposingly large man with a

- kind disposition and an casy smile. He, along
with the chaplains, is one of the centre’s fix-

- tures. The 36-year-old. is the ministry’s driver
which involves driving around the waterfront
— literally berth to berth — and picking up
deep sea sailors who want to drop by the cen-

ue.
Okiror hails from Uganda and found his
way to Canada in 199} via Kenya and
Botswana and like most of the people he drives
around he has seen people living in conditions much worse than
what most North Americans can even imagine.
“At that ime I wanted to travel and get a country to settle
in because Uganda was pretty unstable then,” said Okiror.
Okiror, unlike Ratsoy, harbors no desire to hit the seas but
the chaplain is keeping his options open.
“Sometimes I want to go out there with them to see what
it’s like,” said Ratsoy, leaving alt the doors open.

ments to the road network carrying
traffic on the north side of the
Second Narrows before any work
begins on the Lions Gate Bridge.

“T’ve got a commitment to look at
it seriously, I consider that to be a
good sign,” he said.

“I hope we'll be dealing in a very
prompt manner with su:ae improve-
ments to the Second Narrows so that
we minimize the potential impact.”

West Vancouver Capilano MLA
Jeremy Dalton blasted Friday’s deci-
sion to rehabilitate the bridge.

“If we were going to do this prop-
erly we had to find the money. In the
best of all worlds I think we should
have double-decked the bridge.”

Mike Proudfoot, director of
design and construction with the BC
Transportation Financing Authority,
said his agency is reviewing traffic
data to determine the actual level of
closures required for construction.

Pasquale Puzliese
Age: 57
Nationality: Italian

As a waiter aboard the
Island Princess, Pugtiese has
been away from his southern
Italian home town of Tropea
since January. And although
the cruise ship’s planned refit
will keep him put in North
Vancouver until the end of
the month, Pugliese said it’s
not casy being away from
home. He has been working
aboard ships for the last 25
years and, with a family of six
to support, has little choice
but tc continue.

There is light at the end of
the runnel though, said
Pugliese, whose kids are
about to finish school. Maybe

_one more six-month contract

and he hopes to slide into
semi-retirement running a
pizzeria he owns back home.

But after more than a
quarter-century at sea, taking
on a land-locked life may not

“When you are at sea you
are disgusted, but when
you're out you wish you were
back,” said Pugliese.

— Robert Galster

THERE are eight rer-
minals on the North
Shore. They are (vith
the number of berrhs
at each one in pare.1-
theses):

Neptune Bulk Terminal (3)

CanOxy (1)
Pioneer Grain (1)
Seaboard
Terminal (3)
Lynnterm (4)
Vancouver Wharves (5)
Fibreco Export Inc. (1)

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool 2)

International

These span the North
Shore’s waterfront and han-
dle a variety of cargos such as

B
Nationality: English

Buist is a shipmate of
Pugliese’s aboard the Island
Princess but his life is cut
from entrely different cloth.

As one of the ship’s chief
petty officers, Buist is in
charge of maintaining all of
the vessel’s lifeboats.

“TI gorta be on the ball all
the time,” said Buist, whe
has been a seaman for 22
years as a result of a sudden
urge.
“I started taking lessons
in geography and thought I
gotta see that place and the
best way to do it is jump on
a ship.”

Missing his family is
something on¢ gets used ta,"
he said. But that’s a lot easier
said than done unless the
most immediate relation is
also onboard.

Last Christmas, Buist and
the ship’s on-board beaury *
therapist were engaged and
while they don’t exactly work *
side-by-side, they don’t ;
spend six months of the year
apart cither. : .
— Robert Galster

North Shore terminals
ship variety of cargo

coal, sulphur and grain. Each
cargo type invelves a specific
set of handling challenges and
requires a varying length of
time to load and unload.

In 1997 there was a total
of 1,680 foreign vesse! stops
at all the North Shore termi-
nals combined.

The average length of time;
each vessel spent docked.at -
the local terminals is listed
below by cargo type. |
Forest products — 3.3 days
(Grain — 8.8 days
Coal — 4.2 days
‘Chemicals — 3.1 days
Sulphur — 5.8 davs
Potash — 6.7 days
Woodchips — 3.1 days

| it __

——
The project includes a new bridge deck with wider lanes and

sidewalks, aseismic upgrades of the bridge and north approach -
viaduct, and resurfacing of the Stanley Park causeway. Sono