6 - Sunday, March 4, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS Miore than geography to reuniting two Germanys FOR THE first time | can remember, Eric Nicol didn’t give me a single laugh in his column a couple of weeks or so ago. For once I don’t think he intended to. Canada's senior humorist was writing about the approaching reunification of Germany, which he didn't find one bit funny. Sug- gesting that Germans are ‘‘an in- trinsically warlike people,’’ he looked with grim foreboding upon the birth of a Fourth Reich with 77 nillion of them. This brought a rash of letters to the editor painting Eric as a pro- fessional hate-monger wallowing in “senile ravings’ and ‘‘racist blather’? — numerous of them signed with Teutonic names. With due respect to such outraged readers, it’s only fair to note that war veteran Nicol was not writing entirely without the book. There IS more to the two Germanys than simple geography. For most of its 1,000 years under the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806) central Europe con- sisted of several hundred pint-size German principalities, duchies, electorates, church fiefdoms and free cities. Collectively, their thinkers, poets, musicians, inven- tors and traders made a mighty contribution to European civiliza- tion — just as post-war West Germany continues to make today. That’s the up side. The down side is the heritage of the eastern state of Prussia from the 1700s onward. Bred to be a kind of military pit bull under Frederick William and his son Frederick the Great, the kingdom became a major European power in the 19th century and the leader of a loose German confederation in the 19th century, after Napoleon polished off the Holy Roman Em- pire. Vancouver, North remove ice and snow. Stingy spending OMPARED WITH North Van City and West Vancouver District stands accused of throttling effective snow removal with overly tight budget strings. West Vancouver spent almost twice as much as North Vancouver District on snow removal during the two storms that hit the North Shore in February; compact North Vancouver City even spent more than its neighbor. West Van, with an annual snow removal budget of $246,000, spent $239,000 during the storms. North Van City spent $152,121. North Vancouver District — the largest North Shore municipality — spent only $125,000 out of a budget of $225,000 to The result was a host of unhappy North \ancouver District residents who had problems getting to and from work and school and out of their driveways. While it can be argued that the district’s limited spending may pay dividends because it will be in the best financial shape of all three North Shore municipalities if another major storm hits this winter or fall, the benefits of fiscal restraint must be weighed against the effectiveness of the job performed. Snowfalls like those in February are rare on the North Shore. In such unusual and emergency cir- cumstances, balancing the budget is not as important as keeping the municipality running smoothly. The ex- tra cost of ploughing roads must outweigh the cost of having upset and inconvenienced taxpayers. North Vancouver District elected officials may learn this lesson at the next municipal election. Ic was Prussia’s Bismarck who finally united the country with **blood and iron’? — thrashing France in the 1870-7! Franco- Prussian war and sowing the seeds of the First World War 43 years later. The rest, as they say, is history. Much has happened since Bismarck, ‘Kaiser Biil’’ and the mad house-painter who followed their path of aggression. But the fact remains that the newly liber- ated East Germany — geographically at least — is the heartland of the old Prussia. It may also be no coincidence that Honecker’s ousted Communist regime was the most militaristic and one of the two most repressive in the Warsaw Bloc. Officers of the cnce dreaded East German People’s Army — now folding — are reportedly al- DAVID Patterson ...another rung upward. ready secking jobs in WEST Ger- many’s army. One also remembers the many thousands of former German citizens split of f from the Fatherland when the Allies re-drew the map of Europe after the Se- cond World War. If East Germany rejoins the family, what about its sons and daughters in Poland and Czechoslovakia ... one day? Eight years as an Allied political and economic observer in West Germany left me personally with no fears about the heirs of Gutenberg, Luther, Goethe and Beethoven who are in charge THERE. But if the coming superpower came to be infected to any degree with the virus of Prussia's Fredericks, Bismarck and Honecker, it could be a very dif- ferent matter. Those who ignore history, they say, are doomed to repeat it. Right, Eric? eat WRAP-UP: Red-ring next Friday, March 9, on your calendar as the day to see North Van's own movie. Public screening of *‘The Story of a Community”? — an hour-long video of the community’s history from 1863 to today, based on North Van Schoo) Board’s fascinating shopping-mal! exhib- ition last year — takes place at 3:30 p.m. in the Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre, 810 West 2st ... Climbing the hotel ladder down south is one-time West Van- couverite David Patterson — dur- ing the '80s sales manager of the Sheraton Landmark and Van- couver rep of the Empress. He's just been named sales and market- ing director of the plush San Ber- : Sar BOLD}, a is ee, “ a aay A wi att Ran Qs ve suomi You Wav FSH INTHE FREE TRAE AREEIEN?, ae ty Mama it “A By AVAL ANA, HATA ww OA NOEL ¥ RIGHT nardino Hilton in California ... Si dlal And Literature-lovers could still be in time to join next month's **Lit- erary Pilgrimage to England,’’ an educational travel tour sponsored by Cap College — call Joy Smith, 984-4907, to check. WRIGHT OR WRONG: As Mark Twain noted, the only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like and do what you'd rather not. VALENTINE FOR PAT ...North Van-Capilano MLA Angus Ree pres- ents a welcome Health Ministry grant for maintenance and repair last month to Pat Morrice, coordinator of the 30-year-old Highlands Preschool. quate wo, lls! quote te, gee rue HTN ve pa Ml} ae ne watt ag at Hts AANA SANA AAA Publisher Associate Editor envetope Peter Speck feuactoerovrmannoestancrusts Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualited under Schedule 141 Paragtapn I ol the Excise Tas Act. 15 pubtshed each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by Martin Shore Free North vancouver. BC Press. te and gisinuuteg g every door on the North H4 Shore Second Class Mat Regstration Number 3885 Subsctphons North and West Vancouver, $25 per year 99,170 (average. 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