Mae the Berlin. Wall, or because he fled an oppressive regime: -” to be reunited with his family © Gee. ‘this i is a happy story. Maybe it has 5 some broad cance. Maybe not. Ill anyway. It - concerns my step- father,-a gentle, patient man named Fred, and his daughter, whom he hasn't seen for 23. years. They. weren't sparated by decades ater, only-after they themselves had escaped. No: Fred and his daughter were. " separated all those years by..something much FROM PAGE At A Fisheries spokesman ' says that samples of leachate flowing from a culvert into Lynn’ Creek were collected. . Fish were Placed into the samples .and in some cases died: within 20-40 minutes. The culvert has since been plugged’ up. although requests for this to be done had- previously been made at various times, according to the Fisheries spokesman. “We .were on site to ask them to plug it on various occasions,” he says. “There have been a lot of negotiations by our department with the District to try to correct the problems. In order to comserve scarce newsprint during the present forest in- dastry strike — which may continue for lengthy period — The News is reluctantly compelled to cut back on some of its regular ry ocean /i realty corp. _Marriage. . “yt Sorry, readers Landscaped waterfront and view lots, ser viewd with winter and sewer, includes boat Moorige, tennis courts, central lodge, riding stables plus a commen interest 1p a 300 acre ass | it along closer to home — which afflicts so many of us: the fallout from a_ broken Back a few decades ago, many of you will remember, - “divorce was, considered an -“almost- unthinkable thing. In ‘the “unlikely | ‘event that a: Marriage did end in divorce, . the repercussions were -. Violent. Almost invariably, the male, the father.would lose “We were not satisfied with the way things were going.” Seven of the charges allege that the District uniawfully deposited or permitted the depositing of deleterious substances in water frequented by fish. They relate. to leachate seeping from the nearby landfill. Asked how sub- stantial the chemical content of the leachate was, the Fisheries spokesman “an- swers: “It was toxi¢ — substantial enough.” The eighth charge relating to silting of the creek with suspended solids arises from when material is alleged to have entered the creek while District was working on a new leachate collection features and to print others in smaller type. We trust our readers will understand and bear with us until the strike fs over and we are able to return to our normal size and formats. opening: Gittle and sheep ranch Only 20 mitmutes from Hormeshou Bay hot more Devboorryattbeont ‘ all 689-2867 581-9060 668-5191 custody of his children to the wife, regardless of what kind - of a monster she might be. The family ——-her family at any rate, and often the man’s family as well — would close ranks around the mother and kids, and the father -~would ‘find. himself almost totally ostracized by ‘his relatives as well as. his children. ~ ‘When it came to child custody, there were virtually no such things as equal rights. (I understand per- fectly that it is largely due to the feminist movement that the situation is far more fair nowadays.) system at the trouble spot. The Fisheries spokesman says it had been known for some time that there was a leachate’ problem at _ the creek. As well as the depart- ment’s own checks, there have also been complaints received from the public about the state of the creek. Problems of pollution of the creek have been further highlighted recently as a result of an incident two months ago when a local woman saw a tanker truck dumping sludge at the landfill. Samples showed the ize. undaes sm 279° mea. 89° 99° All dairy products made with real ice cream 404 LONSDALE 987-4131 At any rate, my own father was. lost.to my:brother . and “mysélf--because.of a _ divorce. And so, years later, when ‘my: mother,’ finally married again, to Fred, I was able to relate to my step- father largely because, just as I had lost a father through. a divorce, he had lost a daughter. ‘We shared that special pain. Not-only was Fred denied ‘the custody of his daughter, but his ex-wife moved far away, taking the child, and made sure that Fred didn’t know where they were. Some emotions die. hard. The link between child and parent ~is “still the most primitive, the most fun- damental link that exists. Break it, and you might as well tear someone’s limbs in half. It doesn’t matter, by the way. whether your parents or children drive you nuts, you stil] love them in ways pollution charges | sludge contained elevated levels of chromium, lead, arsenic and cadmium. The sludge ‘was later traced as originating from ERCO who manufacture chemicals used in the pulp and paper in- dustry, at their North Vancouver plant. It was later disclosed that ERCO had been dumping 50 tons of waste each year at the landfill and the En- vironmental Protection Service found that - toxic materials were being dumped at the site since at least September 1979. The dumping was in violation of North Van- \ { EVERY TUESDAY 43:00 - 10:30 PM that you can never truly shake. a Fred learned to cope with the loss of his daughter: What else are you going to do? Maybe he even learned something through his suffering. . Whatever the case, by the time he began courting my mother, he had developed into a man who. was always kind, self-effacing, con- siderate. My brother and I were enormously relieved that Mom had landed a true gentleman. Okay. Skip ahead to the - present, A couple of weeks ago, a letter arrived at my house from Fred’s long-lost daughter. How she got my address I don’t know yet. But the letter stated that she was living in Surrey and she understood that her father had married my mother, .and could I put her in touch with Fred? She very much wanted to reconnect with the man who was her father, aid couver District’s pollution control permit, although the provincial Waste Management’ Branch decided to take no legal action against the District as it was considered “it would accomplish nothing.” District council has since asked the province urg- ently to set up various sites in the province for the dumping of toxic wastes and has conceded that if nowhere else can be found for such a site in the lower mainland it would be prepared to have such a dump located in boundaries. its own r DELUXE BURGERS whom. she could hardly remember. 1. “phoned ‘Mom. ' She passed the information on to Fred, who was reduced to a state of shock. He wanted to ‘talk to’his daughter so badly yet S that he couldn't speak. After all those years, ‘the sense of loss welled up in him again, overwhelming him. Finally, Mom: made the call. The daughter, too, was speechless with longing. It took a while to get them together on the phone. They both broke down crying. With relief. With joy. The long period: of horrible, inexplicable alienation was over. -My . Mom Says that Fred’ ‘has ‘been ecstatic ever since. Who -says” ‘the family is obsolete? MR. MILEAGE MAKER | ‘BI made a speciat deai — and now he’s passing big-dollar Mr. -Mileage ‘Maker, Docksteader, savings on to doilar- conscious car buyers who - want to beat inflation — before it gets any higher! _ OVER CURRENT INVENTORY COST! Plus PDI, Freight & Permacoat, Only $375 Brand new ’81 Best Datsun deals in town! Only at Bill Docksteader’s 12th and Kingsway! "B79-6241 till 9!