NEWS photo Cindy Goodman 500- year-old giant WEST VANCOUVER tree-saving activists take a stand near an old-growth Douglas fir growing in an area slated for future subdivision on the Caulfeild Plateau. See story, page t. WEST VANCOUVER diver Paige Gordon has been named B.C.’s junior athlete of the year. The 16-year-old Com- monwealth Games medalist won the award at the Sports B.C. Athlete of the Year Banquet held Saturday night at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Gordon’s performances last year continued to impress and even surprise her audience because of her successes in com- petitions in which she’s been pit- ted against older and more expe- rienced divers. She produced gold medals in all three diving events at the 1989 Canada Games, a silver medal in the tower diving event at the Junior World Championships in Spain and a gold medal in the one-metre spring board event at the Senior National Champion- ships. At the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand this year, Gor- don, the youngest member of the Canadian women’s diving team, won a bronze medal! in the tower diving competition. Gordon was one of three final- ists at Saturday’s banquet, beating Nelson cyclist Allan Boucher, and 1988’s junior Mudflat group recommends THE MAPLEWOOD Flats Review Committee, an advisory body set up by North Vancouver District to provide input on land-use options WEST Vancouver diver Paige Gordon ...B.C.'’s junior athlete of the year. athlete of the year, Vancouver fencer Laurie Shong. The win- ners are selected by a media selection committee. A member of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre Divers, Gordon is a straight ‘‘A’’ student at Kit- silano Secondary School. Gordon’s coach, Irene Mac- Donald, was awarded the Dary! Thompson Award by Sports B.C. in recognition of her con- tribution to diving. for the environmentally-sensitive waterfront area, has voted unanimously to support the des- ignation of the area as ‘‘under review *? for purposes of the district offical community plan. In its inaugural Feb. 22 meeting, the committee also decided to meet again in another year. According to committee chair- man and North Vancouver District Ald. Craig Clark, the designation would be in effect for two years and would give the Vancouver Port Corp. time to develop its own land-use proposal for the area and would allow the federal depart- By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter ment of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada the time to prepare an environmental impact assessment. The review committee includes representation from the Federation of B.C. Naturalists, the Vancouver Natural History Society, the North traffic from H. Bay terminal — THE PROVINCIAL gov- ernment should divert all Vancouver Island ferry traf- fic away from the Horseshoe Bay terminal, West Van- couver Mayor Don Lanskail said Monday. By SURS RATTAN News Reporter Lanksail was reacting to infor- mation contained in the Sunday News outlining provincial govern- ment plans to spend $34 million on upgrading the Horseshoe Bay ter- minal in an attempt to ease the current congestion of ferry traffic going to and from Nanaimo through the West Vancouver ferry terminal. “It (Horseshoe Bay upgrade) will certainly be an improvement, but all it is doing is improving a bad situation,’’ said Lanskail. “The ultimate solution is to take the Vancouver Island traffic away from the North Shore.”’ Lanskail said the Horseshoe Bay terminal will be needed in the future to serve the needs of the growing populations of the Sun- shine Coast communities, where he said the main priority of the ferry terminal should be concentrated. On Friday, Transportation and Highways Minister Rita Johnston announced that the provincial government will spend 334 million WEST Vancouver Mayor Don Lanskail ...upgrade is ‘‘improving a bad situation.”* on redeveloping the Horseshoe Bay terminal to meet the needs of ferry Passengers for the next 20 years. The redevelopment plan, which would nearly double the size of the ferry terminal, includes double- decking almost all of the existing Lanskail passenger and administrative ser- vices. Lanskail said he was more pleased with an announcement Johnston made last Thursday on a new ferry route to run between Nanaimo and Tsawwassen, saying the Mid-Ssland Express route would result in a decrease in the commercial truck traffic currently passing through Horseshoe Bay - Lanskail also termed ‘‘interesti- ng’’ a proposal by B.C. Transit chairman Stu Hodgson to create a high-speed ferry link to run from Port Moody to Deep Cove and on to West Vancouver. “The big problem would be to find a suitable place along the West Vancouver foreshore for a terminal,’’ he said. ‘‘Between the Lions Gate Bridge and Horseshoe Bay there is no place along the foreshore for a terminal.”’ But Lanskail added that a sec- tion of Squamish Indian Band land currently leased by the federal government just east of the Lions Gate Bridge could be used for a terminal for the high-speed ferry TERMINAL IMPROVEMENT: NEWS VIEWPOINT, PAGE 6 holding compound to increase the marshalling capacity of the termi- nal from 820 cars to 1,500 cars. It also calls for more ticket booths, revised traffic-flow pat- terns, a parkade providing four levels of parking and improved SECOND MILL ACCIDENT Caustic soda spills into Sound FOR YHE second time in less than a month, a chemical liquid nas seeped into the waters of Howe Sound from an area pulp mill. The waste management branch of the provincial environment ministry is investigating a spill of thousands of litres of caustic soda from Western Pulp Partnership’s Woodfibre pulp mill in Howe Sound. John Lukosevicius, company manager and vice-president, said between 10,000 und 15,000 litres of caustic soda being loaded onto a barge overflowed and was discharged into Howe Sound last Thursday. The spill, he said, about five minutes. “1 don’t know if we have all the answers yet (on cause of the spill). But when a barge is loaded and when it (caustic soda) gets to the top, then there’s a certain amount of human judgment that should take place,’’ said Lukosevicius. ‘‘It (tank) over flowed.’’ He added that the company does not think there will be any en- fasted for By SURJ RATTAN News Reporter vironmental damage as a result of the spill. “We don’t,’’ he said, ‘‘suspect there will be, if it (caustic soda) is quickly diluted in the water, and it was.”’ Lukosevicius said since the spill occurred Woodfibre has lowered the maximum level on the tanks in an attempt to prevent another spill. The spill comes less than one month after 540,000 litres of chlo- rine dioxide solution was discharg- ed into Howe Sound from Cana- dian Forest Products Ltd.’s, (Can- for) Port Mellon pulp mill. That spill, which occurred on Feb. 7 and lasted for about five hours, is being blamed on a mechanical and computer malfunction and is also under in- vestigation. ‘under review’ designation Shore Economic Development Commission, the district’s Adviso- ty Planning Commission, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, the Van- couver Port Corp., Marine and Shipbuilders Union #506, the Montroyal Ratepayers, the Deep Cove Community Association, the North Lonsdale Ratepayers and the Boundary Ratepayers. At stake are 300 acres of actual mudflat and approximately 200 acres of filled upland area. The unfilled mudflat is cecognized by the district and the port corporation as an important wildlife conservation area. But en- vironmental lobby groups fear fur- ther development of the filled area would have a negative impact on the protected area. The port has shelved past devel- opment proposals for the uptand area of the flats. But the Maplewood Official Community Plan designates the area as multi- use commercial industrial. But, said Clark, “In the mean- time we recommended to council to ensure the protection of the up- per area. I would assume the district would support the under- review designation.”’ The committee is scheduled to visit the Mapleweod Flats area as a group, May 23. service. The Vancouver engineering firm of Sandwell Swan Wooster Inc. has been commissioned to conduct an $85,000 feasibility study of the economic and logistic aspects of the proposed high-speed ferry link. But Environmental Watch founder Terry Jacks, who said the group was told of the spill by a pulp mill employee, disagreed with Lukosevicius’ claim that only 10,000 to 15,000 litres of caustic soda was discharged. He said members of En- vironmental Watch who viewed the spill, said at least 30,000 litres was discharged. **It looked like a bloody bathtub with all the bubbles floating around out there,’ said Jacks. “It’s obviously going to hurt the marine life.’ He also criticized B.C. Environ- ment Minister John Reynolds for failing to crack down on pulp mills that violate the province’s en- vironmental laws. ‘*We had an oil spill of 40,000 litres in Burrard Inlet. Then we had a 540,000-litre spill of chlorine dioxide at Port Melion. And now we have this 30,000-litre spill. These pulp mills are commiting crimes against all British Colum- bians and the government is not charging them,’’ said Jacks. Business ...... Classified Ads..........45 Food.............-....39 Lifestyles..............37 Sports ................ 13 What's Going On........41 Wednesday, cloudy with showers. Thursday, periods of rain. Highs near 8°C.