3 - Wednesday, May 9, 1990 - North Shore News NEWS photo Terry Peters Doctors set up MASH unit THE DOCTOR is in: Dr. David Gray, president of the North Shore Medical Society, stands outside the MASH-style unit set up at 22nd and Lonsdale yesterday. Gray and about a dozen rotating doctors staffed the three tents between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. while North Shore doc- tors met at nearby Centennial Theatre in a study session to back contract demands. By noon, the unit's doctors had treated about 20 patients with minor ailments. Meanwhile at Centennial Theatre, an audience of North and West Vancouver physicians packed the theatre to listen to speeches from B.C. Medical Association representatives, NDP health critic Dr. Tom Perry and North Vancovuver- Capilano MLA Angus Ree. Para-gliding < crash claims father of four INSTRUCTOR SAYS NORTH VANCOUVER MAN’S ACTIONS ‘WAY OUT’ A 37-YEAR-o!d North Vancouver father of four who died Saturday while para-gliding at Ambleside Park lost his life to one of his lifelong loves — flying. Bob Ivings, a bus driver for B.C. Transit in North Vancouver, was flying the para-glider while two fellow bus-driving friends watched when a strong gust of wind drove him to the ground. Ivings fell about 50 feet. He broke his neck as a result of the fall and was pronounced dead at the scene by an attending doctor. According to family friend Tina Davison, the para-glider had been anchored to the ground by a log. One of Ivings’ friends. who had been holding on to a harness at ground level, was momentarily pulled upward in gusting 40 mile- per-hour winds before Ivings plummetted. Said Davison, *tSomebody said yesterday that he definitely looked like the spirit of life up on that para-glider. If you'd ever seen him do it... he was good.”* Ivings had taken up the sport about two months ago. But a Vancouver-based para- gliding instructor says para-gliders are not designed to fly in fixed position while tied to the ground. Said Extreme Mountaingear founder Maxim de Jong, *‘! feel really bad for the family, but what he did was way out. There was just By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter no logic in the whole thing. The canopy can’t drift with the wind if it’s tied to something.”’ Para-gliding is a relatively new sport to Canada. The sport began in France seven years ago and caught on in Canada about two years ago. Para-gliders are much like hang-gliders but without a fixed or tigid frame. Para-gliders are made of nylon fabric and look much like a square parachute. Air caught in cells causes the glider to inflate to create a wing. The wing is steered with toggles located at the back of the wing. A para-glider can be launched simply by running along a slope as gentle as 12 degrees or launched from a cliff in headwinds of up to 20 miles per hour. Para-giiders have been known to remain airborne for as long as 11 hours at a stretch, But said de Jong, ‘‘We've been told that Kevlar lines, which are extremely strong, apparently Started snapping. A witness men- tioned that a carabiner (a metal clip used in mountaineering) Photo submitted BOB IVINGS, shown (centre) with his wife, children and parents last year, died tragically Saturday while para-gliding in high winds at Ambleside Park. broke. Those are designed tc take 4.700 pounds of tension before they start deforming. “It would appear that he shot up like a rocket. The forces were so strong that the canopy started failing on one side and it dove off to one side and slapped him to the ground,’’ he added. Ivings leaves behind his wife Janet and children Amanda, 11, Jennifer, 9, Robyn, §, Christopher, 3, his parents and other relatives. The family had intended to move Saturday to a piece of prop- erty bought in Gibsons. The fami- ly’s savings and future were tied to the property. Ivings was the sole income-earner for his family. Said Davison, ‘‘He had taken six weeks off from work to build the family a house in Gibsons. We are going to get her a house built over there. People are donating their time, their help, whatever they can. “The family is not doing that great — especially when vou’ve got four children. The two older ones know what’s going on and are go- ing through the same grieving that Jan is. The youngers ones are just basically expecting daddy to come home."* she added. Said Margarita Wilde, a single mother and family triend, ‘‘Flying was just one of his biggest joys. He was a super dad and was always an inspiration. They were the most ideal family I know.”* A memorial service is set for noon, May 10 at First Memorial Boal Chapel, 1501 Lillooet Rd. in North Vancouver. Donations, to assist the family, may be made to Jan Goodmur- phy-lving’s account at the North Shore Credit Union, 1100 Lons- dale Ave. Lower Mainiand-wide newspaper group formed THE FORMATION of a new group of associated newspapers has been an- nounced in Vancouver. Fourteen community newspa- pers are now banded together in a new company to be known as Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd. (LMPL). The members of the group will provide a network of community newspapers covering B.C.'s Lower Mainland from Point Grey to Hope that will greatly enhance its members’ ability to service their readers and advertisers. “This represents a terrific op- portunity for the advertisers and readers of each of these newspa- pers,’' said Peter Speck, publisher and controlling shareholder of the North Shore News and group chairman of the new company. “The readers will benefit by the papers’ access to wider editorial facilities and the advertisers will be able to access a much larger por- tion of the Lower Mainland mar- et," In addition to the appointment of Speck as group chairman of the new company, David W. Perks, vice-president Southam Newspaper Group, will become chairman and chief executive officer of LMPL. He will aiso continue as publisher of The Gazette in Mon- treal, Sam Grippo, president of Madison Venture Corp., will be LMPL’s president and chief operating officer. Total circulation of the new group is more than half a million households, at least once a week. Some of the papers in the group publish as often as three times a week, Southam Newspaper Group has exchanged its interest in North Shore Free Press Ltd. and cash for a 63 per cent interest in LMPL. Madison Venture Corp., a private Vancouver-based invest- ment company, has exchanged cer- tain of its interests and cash for a 37 per cent interest in LMPL. North Shore Free Press Ltd., in which Southam Newspaper Group has a 49 per cent interest, has also acquired: «75 per cent of the outstanding shares in RIM Publishing Inc., the publisher of The Vancouver Courier and other community publications. Peter Ballard and Phil Hager together own the re- maining 25 per cent and will con- tinue as co-publishers. « and all of the outstanding shares of Bex Publishing Ltd., the publisher of the Delta Optimist, the Richmond Times and other Delta and Richmond community papers. Peter Bexley will stay on as the publisher. The properties now owned by LMPL had gross revenues of ap- proximately $50 million in 1989. The new community newspaper group will include the North Shore News, the Vancouver Courier, the Delta Optimist, Delta Today, the Richmond News, the Richmond Times, the Ridge Meadow Times, the Abbotsford Times, the Chilliwack Times, Burnaby Now. the Maple Ridge Pennysaver, Co- quitlam Now, the Royal City Re- cord Now and Surrey Now. Current management will remain in place in all the member newspa- pers. Editors will continue to have complete editorial freedom. The businesses that are included in LMPL will continue to be operated autonomously in the communities they serve. Peter NEWS publisher ...ferrific opportunity for advertis- ers and readers. Speck