6 - Sunday, November 29, 1987 - North Shore News THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom | 985-2131 Distribution | 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 North n Shore News, fount Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Peter Speck Barrett Fisher Noel Wright Linda Stewart News Viewpoint 911 for life HE THREE North Snore municipalities have made a commitment to join the Greater Van- couver Regional District’s proposed 911 emergency izlephone system, a move that may increase the municipalities’ financial burdens, but will pay for itself over and over again in lives saved. The time it takes for a panicked catler to look for a telephone book or to call an operator, who must then reconnect him to another number, is too long and too precious to waste when a victim of a heart attack, an accident, a fire or a crime needs medical or profes- sional attention immediately. Due to (he emotional state of those reporting emergencies, dispatchers often have difficulties getting the address of where to send emergency staff. With the new 911 system, planned to come on line in 1988, the location of the telephone will automatically be noted, avoiding any destination mixups. i Callers who have memorized the current local fire, police and ambulance numbers would find those numbers useless if caught in an emergency outside of their municipality. But the 911 number will be effective throughout the Lower Mainland, automatically con- necting to the local dispatch centre in the telephone’s vicinity. The cost for the three North Shore rmunicipalities and 13 other Lower Mainland municipalities to get the system wil! be approximately $1.7 million, with total annual operating costs estimated at $700,000. Estimated North Shore annual costs are $40,398 for West Vancouver, $31,501 for North Vancouver City and $48,180 for North Vancouver District. But such price tags become irrelevant when compared with the pricelessness of saving lives. SUNDAY + one - TIOAY 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 tail Heaitiation Humger pe Subsenp pee year Maning rates availatie on request Submissions ate weicome unsoiciied matenal ncivding manuscripts and pectures which should be: accompand Entire contents “ 1987 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 58,489 taverage. Vednes day Friday & Sunday} = SDA DIVISION ee on NEWS photo Mike Wakofleld LABOR-OF-LOVE BOAT...Silver Harbour Centre members (I-r) Wally Hilton, Cy Jones, Peter Palmgren and Ed Thomas with the cedar strip canoe, to the building of which they’ve recently devoted all their spare time. é r. Speaker has to Noel Wright @ Sunday brunch @ , speak for everyone HATS OFF AGAIN to West Van MLA and Speaker of the Legislature John Reynolds — but NOT to his party colleague Bruce Strachan, the government house leader. ; ! Reynold’s almost un- precedented action in granting the Opposition — as a matter of public importance _ tomorrow’ s emergency debate on “‘rivatiza- tion” is in the best tradition of the Speaker’s office. Whoever his par- ty boss may be, the Spcaker’s ultimate boss is the B.C. electorate as represented by ALL its MLAs. Mr. Speaker has to speak for everyone, fairly and without pre- judice. i The debate, as far as it goes, will obviously be welcomed by Mike Harcourt and his followers. It COULD do an equal service to many Socred. supporters who, even if they accept the idea in principle, want to know a whole lot more about the details of ‘‘privatiza- tion’’ than they've ‘been told to date. Alas, they’ll be disappointed — because government leader Strachan wants the debate limited BUDDING AGATHA CHRISTIE?...story-writing winner Stutzer of West Van. to one hour, an impossibly short time for the proper airing of such a complex subject. Se it seems the political boss of the House can still, for all practical purposes, win out over the peopte’s spokesman. ae SADLY MISSED by colleagues, students and his many friends in the community will be popular Upper Lynn Elementary teacher Colin Nelson who died last Tues- day after a short period in LGH. A ’ teacher in North Shore schools for the past 20 years, he was the hus- band of Monica Nelson, longtime executive assistant to North Van- Burnaby MP Chuck Cook who will participate in the 2 p.m. funeral service tomorrow, Nov.30, at St. Martin’s’ Church, 195 East Windsor. HITHER AND YON: Artist-sailor Colin Hempsall of West Van opens a month-long show of his latest marine watercolors Tuesday, Dec.!, at West Van Memorial photo submitted Andria’ Library. His vibrant brush knows whereof it paints — Colin having built his own 41 ft. ketch and sail- ed it single-handed to Tonga and back. He also teaches sailing and watercolor painting, and writes for yachting. ‘Magazines. A ‘‘must-see’’ for local sailboat enthusiasts ... Winner in her category of CBC Radio’s recent short story-writing competition ‘‘The Plot Thickens’’ was Andria Stutzer of West Van, a Grade 12 student at Vancouver’s /York House School. The pro- vince-wide contest provided en- trants with the first and last lines between which their story had to be written. Our budding Agatha Christie’s tale of suspense with a Halloween theme was selected from hundreds of entries and read on the air on Halloween night, Oct.31 ... Home-Team-Lost Dept.: Doug Collins may never be asked back to North Van’s Save-On- Foods where, in one hour last Saturday, he sold 151 autographed copies of his latest book, The Best and Worst of Doug Collins. The previous evening Jimmy Pattison had been there flogging his own new book, Jimmy. His reported score for the hour: ‘‘101 or so”? — and Jimmy OWNS the store! Spies tell me, incidentally, that Doug isn’t going to get off unscathed when CBC-TV airs its profile of our merry monster at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Monday, on “Pacific Report’? .... Anniversary greetings to North Van's William and Verna Smelovsky, hitched 28 years ago today (Nov. 29) ... And happy birthday tomorrow, Nov.30, to peripatetic West Van exec Grant Hammond “— whose ambition is to spend the day as far as possible from an airport! xe * WRIGHT OR WRONG — George Burns at age 86: ‘‘It’s hard for me to get used to these changing times. | can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty’’. NEWS photo Nell Lucents A BRUSH THAT'S LIVED ITS SUBJECT...sailor-artist Hempsall at work on 4 marine watercolor.