6 — Sunday, June 14, 1998 - North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT MY WEBSITE'S GETTING 10,000 ATs Vision quest HE second coming of Bill Vander Zalm proves the age- old. adage that what goes around comes around. More seriously, it proves that when you get right down to it, charisma and unfounded. optimism are still the stock-in-trade of our political sensibilities. We crave some- one who trips the light faaaaantastic. More serious still is the fact that if the voting citizenry of this province doesn’t wake up-and start demand- ing a vision for British Columbia, we will get five more years of a gov- ernment nobody deserves. The NDP’s track record to date “has been long on promise and short _ On. results.. The Lions Gate Bridge ‘-non-decision is a perfect close-to- home example. -If Vander Zalm intends to run his campaign from the pages of his well- worn political handbook, the only British Columbians who will be served by the next provincial elec- tion will be the sound-bite hungry media and the politicians them- selves. This societal sickness called the cult of personality — the most recent carrier being the unflappable Gillian Guess — is eating away at our self-respect and our self-dignity. Why should we expect vision and truth from our politicians and can- didates when we continue to wallow in the non-gratifying trough of vac- uous titillation? We’re mad as hell, question about that. But the bigger question remains: Is there any vision out there, and if so where are its messengers? there’s no you ‘said it “Pd see (Ifaniany girls get out of their parents’ car in the ‘ morning, go inside: school and completely change their -dlothing and put make-up on, then change them back again . for after school.” . ° Const. Tom Seaman, North Vancouver RCMP’s media liaison - officer, on: the communication and cultural gap “between North Shore Iranian children and their parents. From & June. B News story. d “Pm no expert on decals, ‘pati it’s a huge decal. It’s some- : thing we in British Columbia can be really proud of, it's : made i in B.C.” \ CFI board chairman Jack Munro, on the British Columbia cougars Aecal affixed to the first of three fast ferries being built in North Vancoitver for the BC Ferry Corp. (From a June 12 News story.) O00 “We wanted to play a-hockey game with them (the Persian community) but they don’ t have too many hockey players just yer.” Const. Tom Seaman on the North Shore Cup game pitting the RCMP and members of the North Shore’s Iranian com- munity. (From a June 7 News main) Of ‘course, we are not expecting a miracle from the team," but we-are expecting some surprises. If Iran beats them, ‘you will know it. phe whole of Lonsdale and North Vancouver will know it.” "Kabat Sara manager Parviz Sichani, on what would hap- “pen if Iran beats the United States in June 21 World Cup soc- f cer action. (From a June 7 News. Story.) : Q iz “Most people have this notion that yoga is about some- body:i ina diaper with his tongue sticking out ... that whole guru aspect.” James ‘Knowles, a recent convert to yoga, on the stereotypi- ss cal & image Ff the practice. Frome une 7 News story.) 271 was’in ‘receivership and it had been on the North Shore.for 2) years and I didn’ t want it to leave. So I bought it and built.it up.” . Jeane Kidd, owner of Serenity Books and Gifts, on how she : got into the business (From a June 10 News story.) L north shore North Shore Hews, founded in 1969 as an ” independent suburban newspaper and quakfed under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Friday and Sunday by North Shore Fiee Press ~ Lid, and disinbuted to every door on the Norit ‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mait Sates Product Agreement No. 0087233. Maiting rates avabable on cequest, , Barbara Emo Distribution Manage? 906-1337 (124) ~ donainan Ball Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127) ” 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Firtay & Sunday) WE computer-stained media wretches are often accused of being terminally cynical. No apologies from this corner. Modern life badly needs a few cynics to keep it healthy. Including, maybe, 85-year-old fralian Dr. Luigi Di Bella who came visiting last week: to tell Canadians about his controversial cancer cure — and why he claims the medical establishment is so far dumping all over it. His formula is a nan-toxic cocktail of two hormone drugs (Somatostatin and Bromocriptine), the “jet-lag” dru Melatonin, and vitamins A, D and E. Unlike conventional chemotherapy, it does not kill cancer cells but stops them from growing — without, says Di Bella, “injecting poison into the body.” Compared to chemotherapy it’s a bar- gain, with apparently no nasty side- effects. Di Bella admits his therapy can’t cure all cancers. But he claims it has cradicat- ed tumors in thousands of patients, while arresting tumor growth and improving the overall health of thou- sands more. ~~ The trouble is that formal clinical tri- als acceptable to the medical establish- ment have yet to be completed (hopeful- ly by this summer) in Italy. Such trials are still awaited in Canada, where the therapy is not yet approved, pug Fost Comptrotier 885-2131 (133) Tory Peters Protography Manager 985-2131 (160) Valerte Stephenson Ciassitied Manager ‘966-6222 (202) . Entire contents © 1997 North Shote Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. THAT'S Just THE HEPATITIS C VicTiMs although seven Toronto doctors are already offering it. But significantly only 56 doctors, media and Italian community members attended ‘a Toronto conference where 350 delegates had .. been invited ro meet H Di Bella. Which illustrates why he is pessimistic about the outcome of the clinical trials. He accuses fellow medics involved in can- ecr recearch and treat- ment of not wanting a cure “because they would lose their jobs.” Hc also suggests the drug companies want to discredit him because his relatively chezp alternative would cost them billions in lost drug sales. Cynical? You bet. For all I know, Dr. Di Bella is simply a well-meaning elderly practitioner who has had some individ-_* ual successes with his unconventional treatment, but who can no more claim ‘to have largely beaten the dread disease than can my car mechanic. On the other hand, there’s a certain ging logic in his accusations that is difhcule ta entirely dismiss. I’ve heard more than one senior health care professional of long experi- ence speak disparagingly of “the cancer industry” — referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars poured over long decades into cancer research with still, so far, relatively disappointing results when compared to the almost total conquest of such once devastating diseases as TB, | No Wright hither and yon ! "polio and smallpox. : Ifever an all-inclusive cancer cure is found, it seems clear that husidreds of doctors worldwide will have to seck other fields of practice, and that drug companies” bottom lines will take a bea ing. : There’s a perhaps slightly crucl anal gy with che latter in the tobacco indus- try, which for generations defended its own bottom line by propagating “myth that cigarettes were harmie: It’s obviously in your.interest to.k your shareholders happy by successfully. convincing your market that your pro: uct — whether cigarettes or chemother apy — is cither highly desirable or essen “tal.Dr..Di Bella may or may nor have. exciting new cure for cance: But the strong ‘dose of cynicis publicly administered to the, “c: establishmene” ‘could just ‘conceivably beneficial for the latter’s own. heal and as a result, one hopes, for:the eve tual health of the. sufferers i it se today, June 14, to. North Van? Kerr,-- who tops it off tomorro' 15, by marrying West Van’s Dr. Lionel Funt ... Meanw hile;: many: happy. of today, June 14, again.to:WestV: ‘. Kiwanis birthday boy. Jan An ‘And more of the same fomorrow, oJ 15, to Mount. ‘Seymour Lion J Pavlik. WRIGHT OR WRONG: The like a garden: Feed and _cultiv: the weeds take over.. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Managing Editot 985-2131 (116) Trizl Aortes: Promotions Manager 985-2131 (218) Gail Snelgrove General Otfice Managet $85-2131 (105) Internet: http:/frww. Renews.coni - Michael Bacher - News Editar: 985-2131 (814).