JHE FIRST month of
January 1969 found me
unemployed again.

Thad left the Lions Gate Times
just before Cliristmas, By January
all my money from the Times was.
exhausted, and I was getting less

and less free, :

’ {never minded the luck of
money, at least in those days, but
what I didn’t like was that my
options in living became more and

more limited in direct ratio to the
amount of money I didn’t have in
f. my pocket.
“When my young boy came to
H . visit I didn’t have enough money to
take him to the aquarium. Things
like that.
In other words, the poorer ! got
“the less freedom I had.
‘Or, as Sophie Tucker put it so
‘clearly, “I've been‘rich and I’ve
* been poor. Rich is better.”
'- Thad been experiencing various
.. Shades of poverty.since 1966, most-
~ly/a vicad streak of very broke,
“with hues of temporary paycheques
-and the edd rainbow bonanza, like a
“construction job out of town.
‘My little radiator business,
which failed‘in 1966, had never
been a big success, but it had a cash
‘flow of sorts which kept me more
“or less alive.
_ However, in the years 1966 to
. 1969, the cash flow was erratic, and
“ast said'i in a previous column, dur-
ing one of my cash crises I lost 40
“pounds from jack of 1 money to buy

So in January 1969 I was mop- ;
ing at home in a rented suite in the
. Capilano Highlands. The idea of a
‘free-distribution publication just

. wouldn't go away. I thought, “if it
was a good enough idea for me to
propose to the Lions Gate Times,
why wasn’t it a good idea for me?”,

Well, to start with, I didn’t have
any money, or a good credit rating, -
or a bankroller.

+ But, on the other hand, the way I,
-had it worked out for the Times, it
would not have needed any, or at

: east very much, money. Maybe I
could do it on NO money.

“food. we

WSR aria EE Mee he

of a newspaper

News’ publisher recalls days of waning freedom, mass transit and bank bluffs

SILVER SPECKULATIONS

. And then I remember, sitting
one day in a meditative mood, a
presence came to me — a feeling of

» reassurance, a voice that said that |
‘could have what I wanted, and that
there was a farm in my future.

Just go for it.
I discussed it with my landlady
_ and friend, Yvonne Schlyecher. She

" , Was a very practical and tenacious

Dutch lady.

“Why not?” she said. “What do
you have to lose?”

Indeed. What did 7 have to lose?
My credit rating? Hah. My invest-
ment? Hardly, My reputation?
What reputation? My wife and
kids? 1 was already divorced by that
time. So I had nothing to lose. '

Well, as it turned out, all that
was true, but there was something
else to lose, and J lost it: my dri-
ver’s licence. I had been involved
in a motor vehicle accident the pre-
vious year, when my truck had been
broadsided by a Rolls-Royce. I was
not covered by insurance (it was

‘not compulsory in those days).

The judge found me partially
liable, and considering the size of
the damages, my part of the liability
was much more than | could pay at
the time, ;

., SO, as was done at the time, the
Traffic Victims’ Indemnity Fund

(TVIF) puid the damages and the
superintendent of Motor Vehicles
lifted my licence watil [ sutisfied the
TVIF. It was a setback, but [still
had feet.

| borrowed two quarters from
Yvonne as she went to work one
moming and then walked down to
McGill's Stationery store on
Fdgemont Boulevard.

I bought a Moore three-part
invoice book, with carbon paper. It
cost 47 cents, with tax.

Bill Sibson of Highland
Chevron Service gave me a free
road map.

At the Highlands post office |
got a handle on how many address-
es there were in the Capilano
Highlands, Detbrook and West
Lonsdale areas. And then 1 went
home, got on the phone, and began
to figure out what it would cost to
‘print and distribute a tabloid-sized
newspaper in. that area.

When I got the costs figured out, °

I made a dummy issue up with felt
pens and glue, took my invoice
book and began to call, on foot, on
all the businesses in the Capilano
Highlands area, with an idea for a

free-distribution shopper. I called it .

the North Shore Shopper.

I was very honest with the mer-
chants. I told them the North Shore
Shopper was nonexistent except in

‘my mind, that it depended on my
ability to sell enough advertising to
make the project feasible, and that
there were no guarantees. If I didn’t
publish they didn’t have to pay.

But if they were willing to sign
, an invoice, and if I got enough

invoices, 1 committed to put togeth-
er a small tabloid (all ads) and dis-
tribute it to every address west of

: Lonsdale and above the Highway,
as far as the Capilano River.

Many of them, bless their hearts,
signed.

The first edition of the North
Shore Shopper has disappeared,
alas, so I can’t name all the adver-
tisers, but I remember that Baxter’s
Highland Furniture, Highland
Chevron and quite a few local mer-
chants participated.

I was also able to sell some who

MOSQUITO CREEK PARK
MIXED USE OF TRAILS

Community Workshop

Wednesday, April 13, 1994
7:00 to 9:30pm

Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre

810 West 21st Street

People, bicycles, wheelchairs, and dogs share the trails in Mosquito Creek Park. To ensure that
the Park remains enjoyable, as traffic increases, the City of North Vancouver invites you to take
part in helping to arrive at decisions which will:

v preserve ravine characteristics and wildlife habitat. w ensure safety on the trails.
# accommodate a designated bicycle route.

‘ y” allow niixed use of trails.

oe eliminate or reduce conflict between trail users.

‘This Community Workshop is an important step in determining future trail use in Mosquito Creek
’, Park. The purpose of this event is to work together to decide on priorities, generate options, and
seck consensus of ways of managing mixed use of trails. Your participation is iraportant.

nt For additional information, please call: 985 - 7761
Hugh McKay Assistant City Engineer, or Leesa Surimbicki Parks Planner, or The City Clerk.

were not in the di. set trading area,
such as Totemcolor.

When f had what [thought were
sufficient advertisers 1 began to
make the rounds of the chartered
banks to get financing.

It wus very discouraging.

I put my invoice baok and tat-
tered dummy ona fot of desks and
was listened to by a lot of nice
bankers, but as you can imagine,
with my credit rating, employment
history and lack of collateral, I
didn’t get very far.

‘I tried one more time, at the
Royal Bank at 17th and Marine in
West Vancouver.

I had dealings there with Gerry
Conly, the manager. I gave him my
presentation. But this time I left the
dummy at home and kept the
invoice book in my pocket.

I presented the idea to him as a
hypothetical situation.

“Suppose, Gerry, I wanted to
start this newspaper ... Would you
finance it?”

“Of course not,” he smiled.
“You're a nice guy, but you’re a
terrible-looking credit risk, from
your history.” ;

“You mean,” I said, “there’s no
way? AJi I'm asking for is $1,200.
That must be well within your dis-
cretion.”

“it’s within my discretion, but’
the answer is no.”

“Well, what do you think of the
idea?” |

““It sounds like a good idea,
But you need a backer or a part-

ner or something. Banks aren’t
here to take big risks with deposi-

#117, S49 West 3rd

lors’ money.”

“Gerry,” [ said. “I can’t get a
backer for something sa small.
What about this: if f go out to the
prospective advertisers and get each
ane to sign an invoice, how about
lending me some money against the
value of the invoices?”

“Well,” he said, “if, and mind
you, this is only if... if you could
do that, | guess the bank could
advance you some money ... up to

50% of the invoices, and up to
$1,200...”

I took the book out of my pocket
and dropped it on his desk...”

He was startled, but he picked it
up and went through it.

Then he laughed. “You tricked.

But he ient me the $1, 200. :

I bought a glue pot, got some
paste-up sheets from College
Printers, and rented an IBM
Selectric typewriter. ~

Two days of crude typesetting
and paste-up followed, then the job -
was printed and distributed by
Totem Advertising Distributors.

I took copies of the first issue to

m

the advertisers, collected from them

and went to the bank, paid off the
$1,200 and had about $1,060 left’
over,

It seemed like a lot of money:
_My shoes were worn right out,
and my sports jacket had a hole in -

the slzeve. :

I got those things fixed and
bought a lot of ‘groceries and a bot- -
tle of Scotch. ©

And then i started on the next
issue.

NDING - SO WE HAVE TO MOVE!

St.
North Vancouver |