6 — Sunday, March 1, 1992 - North Shore News da all Fe NIES FRo, PON AEN ne «poo-Deo DEE Doo.poo, . i of ° INSIGHTS ISN'T THIS GREAT? WE CAN USE. OUR NEWS VIEWPOINT Suite sense HATEVER the reasons behind . their votes on the issue, North Vancouver District Council members have thrown iilegal suites in the municipality into chaos. And ithe honest schmuck has taken it on the nose again. In a 4-3 vote on Feb. 17, district council decided agains: :eopening or extending the municipality’s “tegistered Illegal Suite (RIS) program. The. decision means that current owners of illegal suites in the district will get. no second chance to regis- ter their secondary suites with the district. Which in turn means that secondary suites will return to an underground housing system governed by neither quality stand- ards nor quantity controls. It will also mean that those landlords who made the mistake of being honest and previously registering theis suites with the district under: the RIS program, and whe have paid the accompanying building inspecticn, water and sewerage fees, will be forced to close their suites in 1995. Those who chose not to register their suites will be rewarded by anonymity and continued business. Staff had recommended to council that the RIS program be opened for an addi- tional three months to allow new illegal suite registrations; that the owners of previously registered suites be allowed keep their suites open to the year 2000; and that suite registration agreements be trans- ferable to property owners up to and in- cluding June 30, 1998. Sound recommendations all, if second- ary suites are ever to be given the legiti- macy that they deserve as alterriative af- fordable housing. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “All the important things happen to you when you're a child.” Children’s book author Sarah Ellis, on why she writes children’s books. “They weren’t fired. They were replaced.”’ : B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt, denying that the BC Rail board of - directors had been fired. “If you are interested in public health and driving is a hazard, why don’t you lower the speed Publisher Peter Speck limit in West Vancouver?"' Brunswick Lions Gate Lanes’ lawyer Robert Hungerford, during an appeal by the bowling alley to West Vancouver Council over Brunswick Lanes’ non-smoking areas, after Ald. Andy Danyliu had said that West Vancouver was more interested in public health than the viability of the bowling facility. **As a chemist, if I work with any of the carcinogens in cigarettes, I am required to use a fume hood. It is ridiculous that people are Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution allowed (to distribute these chemi- cals wherever they please.’’ Airspace spokesman Deborah Weatherspoon, at the same Brunswick Lanes smoking bylaw discussion, on cigarettes and demon nicotine. **., the ballot box does that.’’ North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman, during a discussion on proposed raises for council members, on how the worth of council is really deter- mined. 986-1337 North Shore Managing Editor .. . Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director . .Linda Stewart Comptroller Doug Foot North Shere News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111, Paragraph it of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and y North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mai! Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited materiat including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Newsroom SUROAY © V7M 2H4 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax north shore ¥ * FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 7 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 MEMBER SN" am meee Subscriptions managed 985-2131 Administration e SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday. Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved Jobless sender sendarmes fail to leash Gertie | HATS OFF, innocent fun-lovers, to Gertie Todd for fearlessly biting the politically correct bullet — while si- multaneously refusing to abandon her preferred diet. After 41 years presiding over the Miss North Shore Pageant she founded, Gertie might have been forgiven since January for donating her winners’ tiaras to a church rummage sale and calling ita day. First, you may recall, the Miss Canada Pageant was cancelled (like Miss Teen Canada two years ago). Miss Victoria is no more. Miss Grey Cup awaits the axe. Finally, the other weck, the radi- cal fems shut down the 45-year- old Miss PNE contest — to be replaced by a sanitized, unisex “Youth Ambassador’’ show for males and females aged 16/2 to 21. Maybe it will be better than watching paiut dry. But if you thought all this spelled the end of Gertie's happy annual extravaganza, you don't know the lady. ‘‘it’s the '90s,"" she concedes — then quickly adds: “I’m going for broke!’’ So this July she'll dutifully hold the North Shore's first ‘Youth Ambassador”’ contest — rules the same as for the PNE event which the North Shore winner will enter. In addition, she'll STILL stage her 42nd traditional, female-only Miss North Shore Pageant. And this time more than a few new problems loom. Flushed with their recent suc- cesses, the radical fems will not be amused. Their immediate targets will be the local firms and groups that normally sponsor Miss North Shore hopefuls. The heat will be ‘turned up to boycott the girls’ show in favor of the mixed one. Even this, however, may not be so simple. The “Youth Am- bassadors’’ contest involves not only public speaking and sorne- thing vaguely defined as ‘‘talent”’ but also a dance routine. Girls shine at those things, but how many Grade 11-12 guys will leap at the opportunity is anyone’s guess. Gertie herself isn’t holding her breath. Aside from double the sponsors being needed, both contests now also lack the lure of greater fame — and its attendant goodies. Up to last year Miss North Shore went on to compete for the Miss PNE title. The latter winner could try for the Miss Canada crown, with visions of Miss World and Miss Universe beyond. Miss North Shore 1992 and the new PNE ‘‘Youth Ambassador”’ have nowhere to go except back to school with their scholarship prizes. GERTIE TODD... pageant fash- tons for 1992. HITHER AND YON So if the road to this summer’s festival of youthful talent and charm becomes a bit bumpy, don’t blame Gertie. She’s doing her damnedest and needs all the community help she can get. Thank the joyless gender gen- darmes to whom fun — however wholesome — is a four-letter word. , eee DATELINES: Shrove Tuesday (March 3) is here again, which means Beth Lawrence and the ladies of St. John’s Anglican Church, 220 West 8th St., are holding their annual pancake-’n- sausage supper once more at 6:30 p.m., along with the traditional pancake races — a bargain family dine-out at $5 a plaie (children — $3) and the number is 986-1151 -... Meanwhile, all North Shore — Masons are invited Friday, March 6, to the 7:30 p.m. installation of Ken Spry as Worshipful Master of the 84-year-old Burrard Mascnic Lodge in the Masonic Hall, 1140 Lonsdale Ave. ... And tomorrow, March 2, happy 6lst birthday (or | maybe he’d prefer ‘‘many happy returns!’’) to the best friend the Cold War world ever had — Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. WRIGHT OR WRONG: How come so many people who say “That’s a good question’’ never had a good answer? . M.S.G... which greeting would he prefer?