BOWEN Island resident Jeremy Neale, 14, has hopped the ferry to Participate in every one of the past.10 Variety Club dog-a-thons. He's pictured with stepdad Pau! Hooson and deg Willy. Neale fioids a News photo of himself at age 6, with his pr2vious dog Ceilion.

as

NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

THE SCENT OF SUCCESS — Canadian Cigar Co. co-owners Rob Langford (left) and Darryl Rawlings had plenty to smife (and smoke) about last Thursday evening as over 500 people attended their grand opening.

ashing duo wer all-out with the party arrangements, including roving cigar girls, a four-piece acid jazz band and a scotch-tasting table. The store is located at 1557A Marine Dr. (behind North Shore Credit Union).

The

Ae

10th-annual event set for this Saturday

By Layne Christensen Community Reporter SATURDAY is dog day at Mahon Park.

Dog and master wil! compete for prizes April 19 at the Variety Club’s 10th dog-a-thon.

North Van senior Juanita Valentine has run the event every year, save one, since she founded it in °86.

On how she came up with the idea, she says: “I love children and I love dogs so I put them together and that’s what I came up with.”

The event typically receives 80 to 100 entries and nets $10,000 to $13,000 in pledge money. Each of the past three years, that money has been used to provide a ser- vice dog for a special needs child or youth.

The dogs, which are obtained through PADS, or Pacific Assistance Dogs Society, are specifically trained to aid people with muluple disabilities, the physically chal- lenged, the hearing impaired and the developmentally disabled.

The dogs can assist in performing sim- ple tasks such as turning on a light switch and answering the telephone. They can even dial 9-1-1, notes Valentine.

But perhaps most importantly, the assistance dogs help bolster sclf-confi- dence.

“The kids who have received dogs from PADS have just blossomed,” says Valentine. “The feeling of independence and companionship is just as much a part of ir.”

This Saturday’s event takes place from 10.a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mahon Park in North Vancouver.

The day will feature a fashion show for dogs, novelty races and dog agility shows, service dog demonstrations and refresh- ments.

A sew attraction this year is a contest open to media celebrities and their pam- pered pooches.

Prizes will be awarded for: > Owner who fooks most like dog;

@ Best attitude: owner and dog;

Best overall appearance. owner and s*

«@ Most creative name of dog given by owner, and

® Fittest couple: owner and dog.

The celebrity canine event will take place at 10:15 a.m. The event takes place rain or shine.

ce

FIVE hundred or so of the North Shore’s beautiful peopic blew smoke in the face of popular opinion last Thursday night as they sparked stogies and swilled spirits in a man- ner seldom seen around these parts since the 1950s (or at least since the self-appointed health police infiltrated our society).

The occasion? The grand opening of the Canadian Cigar Company, an upscale smoke shop dedicated to pro- viding North Shore cigar smokers with a sinfully smoky

selection. “] think there were over

had his second shot at an Oscar Sunday, and. came up a winnez.

HABIB Zargarpour...

wins British “Oscar” for work on Twister.

former West Van resident. received an Academy Award nomina- tion for his work as special effects director for Twister: but Jost out on award night, March 24, to Independence Day.

This Sunday, Aprii 13, the 33-year-old attended “the British - Oscars,” British Academy of Film and Television = Arts (BAFTA) awards in

| London. Zargarpour was nominated, and won, for Best Achievement = in Visual Effects.

Zargarpour, who lives in San Francisco, is associ- ate visual effects supervisor at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, where he'll soon start work on the new Star Wars wilogy.

— Layne Christensen

water

Cigar store opens in West Van

900 martinis poured, five or six hundred scotches, a couple of kegs of beer,” store co- owner Darryl Rawlings said after the smoke from the grand opening had cleared. He added that 520 cigars were handed out to the hungry throng.

Rawlings and Rob Langford hope to attract many of the upscale professionals who have taken up cigar smoking in the past few years.

Specializing in Cuban cig- ars, the store boasts over 100 difterent varieties of cigars, ranging in price from a few

dollars to, well, a lot of dollars.

The Canadian Cigar Company is open seven days a week, and monthly cigar nights are planned for the

future. — Andrew McCredie