$4M COLLEGE RECREATION FACILITY Organizers to kick off Sportsplex fund raising ORGANIZERS WILL kick off a campaign today aim- ed at raising $1.5 million in public funds for a $4 mil- lion community recreation and sports facility that will be built at North Van- couver’s Capilano College. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter Provincial financial com- mitment for the 32,000 square- foot North Shore Sportsplex was initially given two years ago when Capilano College presi- dent Dr. Douglas Jardine an- nounced that the Ministry of Education would contribute $800,000 to the project. Since that time a further $400,000 has been committed to the project from provincial rec- reation lottery funds. North Vancouver District, North Vancouver City and West Vancouver District have allotted $400,000, $200,000 and $60,000 respectively to the pro- ject. ; In addition, Capilano College students have committed $700,000, which will be col- lected over 10 years via a $5 per student per semester levy. . Volunteer members of the committce that will coordinate Sportsplex fund raising include Vancouver 86ers player-coach Bob Lenarduzzi ‘and Pan . American Games gold medallist Bruce MacDonald. The Sportsplex, according to committee chairman Greg Sharpe, will be an invaluable facility for both Capilano Col- lege and its over 4,500 students and the entire North Shore community. “In terms of a recreation fa- cility, we (Cap College) have . nothing,” Sharpe said. ‘“We can host nothing. It’s rather embarrassing when we have! to hold-the North Shore (Capilano College Blues Basketball) classic in Burnaby (at BCIT’s facili- ty).” Sharpe said other nationally and internationally ranked sports organizations based on the North Shore, apart from the college’s’ own volleyball and basketball teams, will have ac- cess to the Sportsplex to host sports competitions. The North Shore’s Flicka Gym Club, for example, an- nually hosts its North Shore in- vitational meet, but must hold the actual event in Lower, Mainland . municipalities that have the necessary gymnasium facilities. sch eat aes, NEWS photo Mike Wakelleid CAPILANO COLLEGE'S Greg Sharpe poses behind 2 model of the $4 million Sportsplex gymnasium and recreation facility that will be built on the North Vancouver college's campus. Sharpe said the North Shore community will also have regu- lar use of the facility through school and community pro- grams and clinics. In addition, Sharpe said, the Sportsplex will be used to launch a new project that will provide training and employ- ment opportunities for severely physically disabled adults. The proposed program will be developed by the college in con- junction with the Deep Cove- based Neil Squire Foundation and use the computer and robotics technology already developed by the foundation for disabled people. The foundation works mainly with people suffering from neck injuries, many of whom, ac- cording to Neil Squire executive director Bill Cameron, are athletes. Through the program, disabled athletes will have the opportunity to use their exper- tise and experience to assist in preparing such things as coaching seminars, instructional booklets and teaching and coaching aids. Employment possibilities for disabled adults within the com- plex and other recreation com- plexes range from score keepers and statisticians to sports jour- nalists. Cameron said the program, if it comes to fruition, would be a first. When complete, the Sport- splex will include two regulation sized basketball courts, five badminton courts, three volleybali courts, four racquet courts, a large exercise room and social space, changing rooms and offices. Spectator seating capacity will be approximately 2,000. Seats will incorporate special hydraulic arm rests and backs, College spokesman Bev Greene said Sportsplex con- struction could, depending on funding, begin in October and, if so, would be completed in December 1989, 3 - Friday, March 4, 198% - North Shore News Horoscopes. a North Shore Now.... TV Listings What's Going On WEATHER Friday, intermittent rain. Saturday, showers. Highs near 10°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 Wl. Van woman wins Sears dismissal suit A DECISION Monday by the B.C. Court of Appeal. has upheld a wrongful dismissal suit brought against Sears Canada Inc. by a North Vancouver woman who was fired from the company’s North Vancouver store after she .ref- used to work on Sundays. The ruling ended a four-year court battle for Teresa Merilees which began after she was fired from her job as the store's cosmetics and luggage department assistant sales manager in 1984, “It's a relief,"’ Merilees said Tuesday. ‘*I’m glad J went to court and I’m glad J took them through the system. It’s a victory of princi- ple." The three-justice court of appeal panel agreed with the original November 1986 ruling of Madame Justice Mary Southin which stated that the requirement to work Sun- day represented a major change in Merilees’s contract and, as such, the store had no right to require her to work contrary to her con- tract and no right to fire her for breach of that contract. In its defence, Sears argued that when Merilees accepted sales work with the company it was on the understanding that she would work on whatever days and hours the store was open. But Justice Southin ruled that the days and hours of the store's Opening prior to the approval of Sunday shopping were part of Merilees’ original contract. An employer, she ruled, had no right to impose unilaterally the change in that contract to include Sunday as a day of work. Merilees, who is married and has three children, was opposed to Sunday shopping prior to its ap- proval in North Vancouver City in December. 1984 and remains op- posed to it. She had worked for the North Vancouver Sears store for about 10 years prior to her dismissal and had declined promotion in the sales department in 1978 because she said it would have interfered with raising her family. Her opposition to working Sun- day, she said, is anchored in the belief that ‘“‘Sunday is an impor- tant day for our family to be together, When you work in a department store you work even- ings and Saturdays, so Sunday, I Grouse not alone with weather woes WHEN THE Molson World Giant Slalom was cancelled at Grouse Mountain March 1, it was just another installment ‘in this year’s weather-plagued World Cup circuit. ' “Every World Cup. race in January was held at alternate sites,’ noted Freda Colbourne, media liaison for the. Molson World Downhill set to.run at Whistler Saturday. ‘‘It’s just the -weather. It happens.” But the same foggy conditions _that forced cancellation of the Grouse Mountain event also delayed training runs at Whistler. Racers were waiting Thursday for the fog to clear from the tricky middle area of the run after train- ing was earlier postponed over. visibility trouble on that same spot. ‘We still have lots of time (be- fore Saturday’s scheduled race),’’ said Colbourne. ‘‘They have to get in at least one run before the race.”’ World Cup skiing's sanctioning body — the Federation Interna- tionale de Ski — is now looking at holding the cancelled giant slalom race March 26 and 27 in Saalebach, Austria, the scheduled site for a Super G and slalom race. When poor weather necessitates moving a race, FIS tries to double up the events at venues already hosting World Cup races, as in the case of Saalebach. Should this not be possible, the race would be held at one of the many other sites that bid to host a World Cup event, but were not in- itially chosen, A spate of warm weather during scheduled giant slalom training runs at Grouse forced the. moun- tain to. salt its course, artificially firming it for racing. ‘*We were praised by the racers, the coaches and FIS officials,” said Valerie Lang, Grouse Moun- tain marketing director and giant slalom publicity chief. ‘It was pic- ture-perfect, and then the fog roll- ed in.” Sponsored by Molson Brewery to the tune of $600,000 for both the giant slalom and downhill races, ‘‘our cash committment was minimal,’’ said Grouse’s Lang. “Our labor, our energies and our emotions were tapped a little bit, but the event was 100-per-cent - sponsored,”’ Molson spokesman Roy Adams, at Whistler for-the race to press time Thursday, was not available for comment, For Grouse Mountain, the cancellation of its first world-class race since the 1970 Du Maurier In- ternational is not expected to tar- nish its image. “We are recognized as a place where a World Cup can be held,”’ said Lang. ‘‘We proved ourselves. Following. Whistler’s World Cup, the next stop on the men’s By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporier TERESA Merilees...‘‘It’s a victory of principle.”’ felt, was especially important.” Monday's defeat of Sears’ ap- peal will allow Merilees to collect the decision’s original award of nine months’ wages, court costs and interest, which will amount to about $25,000. The case was the first of its kind launched in B.C., and = Merilees said its success might convince other employees to file similar suits. But Sears spokesman Norma McBirnie said from : Toronto Thursday that concern, for com- pany employees far outweighs the value of Sunday openings. “Sears,’’ she said, ‘‘has always been opposed to Sunday shopping, but every retailer that has.competi- tion has to be open Sunday if its competitors are open Sunday. That’s one of the: unfortunate things about Sunday shopping.”’ Merilees began part-time work for Sears in 1975. In 1982 she ac- cepted an assistant manager’s posi-' tion with the store. GROUSE. Mountain marketing director Valerie Lang...‘‘our cash commitment was minimal.’’ downhill circuit is Vail, Colo., March 12 and 13.