6 — Wednesday, April 14, 1999 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Trade wins USINESS is ringing the alarm bells but no one in Victoria is lis- tening. Outrage over the recen?. budget and its adherence to spending what the province doesn’t have to pay for what the province hasn’t had in the past has filled the land. Still the NDP marches on to the beat of an entirely different drumme:. Consider, for example, recent news that the NDP has approved a deal with the province’s building trade unions that will include wage increases of 5% over the next three years. The agreement violates the govern- ment’s own public sector wage guide- lines of no increases in the first two years and 2% in the third year. Guidelines? Who cares. When fudg- ing budget numbers and paying off organized labour support is standard operating procedure, guidelines are for wimps. Too bad too if the deal will increase yet again the spending of money that we don’t have. B.C, cannot expect to look to Victoria for signs of economic intelli- gence. The B.C. Business Summit, which represents 40 B.C. business organizations, knows that. Thus its recent action to seek con- sensus from the public on the best course of action to restore B.C. to eco- nomic health. Without the govern- ment. According to recent Summit sur- veys, 61% of British Columbians believe the budget will not improve our economy and 73% of those same resi- dents think that the provincial govern- ment cannot make the changes meces- sary to improve the economy. Victoria won’t be listening to that kind of feedback, but the rest of the province should be. ) ‘= maiibox Cap road needs crosswalk lights Dear Editor: As a North Vancouver parent whose three children walk to school and back, 1 was dismayed to read the March 17 News article “NV boy struck by van and killed.” Stop signs and marked crosswalks don’t seem to deter motonrists from criminal acts. ; In this same article, another accident was reported, this time on Capilano Road involving a Cleveland elementary studen: being struck as she crossed through the flashing crosswalk. _ Crossing Capilano Road is almost a suicidal act by a pedestrian. The two marked flashing pedestrian light-signal crosswalks, at Edgewood Road and at Eldon Road act as -. Scape to a bull” as far as: motorists travelling up or down Capilano Road are. concerned! by ; i, It’s a shame“somcone doesn’t keep track of ficar misses on these two tro: ae .. Pedestrian traffic is very heavy on school days. The Edgewood Road crosswalk serves the student bus traffic to and from Handsworth high school. And if you think having a safety guard is a deterrent, way back when Cleveland clementary school had a safety guard on Capilano Road and Eldon, they took their lives into their own hands trying to stop traffic. The only effective pedestrian crosswalk on Capilano Road is the one ar the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This pedestrian triggered red light signal is the only one Capilano motorists are willing to obey. When asked why Edgewood and Eldon Road crosswalk signals can’t be upgraded to the red light signals the North Vancouver. District engineering department says it hesitates to impede the flow of traffic on a main traffic - artery. Isn’t that that the point of crosswalks: stopping traffic to allow pedestrians the right to cross a street safely? Diane Scovell . Iscovell@axion.net North Shore Hews, tounded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and quakfied undet Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act. is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Chorth Shore Free Press ‘Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North ‘Shore Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail ‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238 ‘Barbara Distsicution Manager 906-1337 (124) A) (has newspapes creas record éonathan Bel! Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127) ere ___61,382 tavesage oxcuation, Weanescey. Fuday & Suncay) JAMBULANCE t a A place where you're not alone THIS past half-century has been less than kind to one of the most basic human needs after food, shelter and clothing — a sense of “belonging,” of sharing life with others. Rare today are the big, stable families of earlier generations, members living within easy reach of one anoth- er, with similar families as lifelong friends. The physical COMMUNITY of yesterycars is most often a nostalgic memo- ry. But happily, the powerful human urge : to share — to know one is not alone — “has spawned other forms of community based on common belicfs and interests. Among them, one of the more remark- able examples on the North Shore cele- brates its 50th birthday this coming Sunday, April 18. The name is Highlands United Church on.Edgemont Boulevard. Just why, in addition to its primary religious function, does it qualify for the equally valued status of “community?” The answer is found every weekday in the meeting rooms and halls of the spa- cious complex that hums with every kind of communal activity: full-time Waldorf and pre-schools; badminton and quilting sessions; Guides, Scouts, Cubs and Brownies; evening parenting classes; youth group basketball; stress reduction clinics; outreach and support groups of PETER SPECK Publisher + 985-2131 (101) Terry Paters Valecie Stapbeesca Photography Manager Pecan 985-2131 (160) Gener Manager 985-2181 (133) Entire contents © 1999 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Atl rights reserved. many kinds; an enthusiastic bridge club; evening social club entertainment; four choirs proctising (under choirmaster Geordie Roberts this is one of B.C.'s most choral churches) — and these are only a few of the many programs. Obviously most churches can also claini to be communities — of whatever size. But two things put Highlands United locally in something of a class of its own. First, its healthy membership of nearly 700 serving more than 550 families. Second, its youthful, pioncering spirit born of its own history. The church was launched in 1948-49 by young pioneer families choosing to make their homes in the then largely undeveloped Capilano area. The first ser- vices and Sunday schools were held in the private homes of such founders as Rita Barraclough, Biff and Margaret Stokes, Jim and Dorothy Melvin, Art and Gunda Plowe, Christine Hunter, the Dave Stoddart family and Mrs. J. Tyreman. On Good Friday, April 15, 1949 — 50 years ago tomorrow — they held their first communion. Two years later they dedicated Hitlerest Hall at Hillerest and Sunset as their house of worship. Six years after that the presene church had been built and was dedicated on Dec.15, 1957. Early workers still active in the church include Rex and Edna Hundleby, Trevor and Babs Watson, Muriel McLeod, Rod Whitman, Eleanor Crook, Bob and Bette LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca ‘oot ~ Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor 985-2131 ($16) Teixi Agrios David Whitman Promotions Manager Display Manager 385-2131 (216) - 980-0511 (317) Gail Snelsrove ‘General Office Manager 985-2131 (105) internat http://www.nsnewe.com Booth — to mention just a few. In the mid-1960s Sunday school attendees reached 1,100 and total church membership peaked in 1982 at 1,125. As in most other mainstream churches the . figures have since declined. Even so, they - still run two services each Sunday —~ the 9:30 a.m. one usually packing the 450- seat sanctuary with mainly young families, including an average of 120 Sunday school kids aged all the way trom four to the higher teens. At 11:15 a.m. even the seniors and sleep-ins normally fill up to two-thirds of the pews. The Christian faith preached and prac- tised by popular minister Rev. Deborah Laing and her diaconal colleague Ross White is the strong beating heart of Highlands United. Bur the vibrant sense of community shared by members arid adherents is the liteblood: feeding that heart. As one first-time visitor — earlier a non-churchgoer, now a regular attendee — pur it: “E quickly got the feeling they * were doing so many things right.” Good neighbours wanting to wish our unique Highlands United community “Happy 50th birthday!” will be warmly welcomed Sunday, April 18, at the special 10 a.m. celebration service (come early for a seat) followed by coffee and socializ- ing. You never know — it may be your first visit but not vour last! a 20 Q MANY HAPPY RETURNS of Friday, April 16, to former Wese Van alderman Don Griffiths and to Park Poyal hotelier and restaurateur Mario Corsi. 000 WRIGHT OR WRONG: Happiness is like jam. Spread it and you always get some on yourself. , Adrinistation Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising Distribution Display & Real Estate Fax Rewsroam Fax Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax . Michael Becker - News Editor 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sports/Community Editor _ 985-2131 (147}