‘ sy. s: _ Castlegar News June 26, 1985 SPORTS By GRANT KERR Canadian Now that the Tom Watt-Jack Gordon combination has been firmly installed by Vancouver Canucks in coach-management positions, the focus shifts to the pleving ranks which somehow escaped sharing the responsibility of a last-place finish. Watt is an ackowledged motivator — he often speaks to amateur coaching seminars on the subject — but hesitates to dwell on the subject in relation to his new National Hockey League team. The native of Toronto learned during his two-plus years as head coach of Winnipeg Jets that a coaching staff can take a team only so far and after that it's up to the players. “The only motivation that’s worth anything is self-motivation,” says Watt, holder of three teaching degrees. “Ther’s the odd night you come up with something inspiring, but remember, there's 80 nights in the schedule. “If it’s just what you say, you could run out of things by Christmas. It's more having an insight at the right time. There's no real formula to motivating a team.” The Watt-Gordon tandem will attempt to resurrect the Smythe Division's weakest sister; V finished Up to players now Calgary and Los Angeles had winning records while the Canucks were 25-46-9 last season under the Harry Neale regime, with Bill LaForge, Neale and occasionally Ron Smith handling the bench coaching. LEADS THE TEAM The Canucks did not have a 40-goal scorer in the lineup — Tony Tanti managed 39 in his 68 games — and Vancouver surrendered the most goals against, 401, in the entire league. Patrik eanearents paltry 68 points topped the team scoring lis' Gordon claims there won't be wholesale player changes because the Canucks are committed to developing their young players, former No. 1 picks like defencemen Michel Petit and J.J. Daigneault, plus right winger Cam Neely. “You can’t expect these kids to change things overnight,” Gordon says. “We still have to go with our veterans and they've got to respond to the situations. “General managers go, coaches go. These players have an obligation to the fans in Vancouver. When they sign a contract, they've got to perform to the best of their abilities. This hasn't always happened.” Gordon and Watt hope to bring stability to the 23 points out of the playoffs as Edmonton, Winnipeg. Vv which had it's season-ticket base shrink to 8,900 last season. Wiggins back in game ly GRANT KERR VANCOUVER io — Alan Wiggins quietly returned to organized baseball Tuesday night as the designated hitter for the minor league Las Vegas Stars two months after leaving San Diego Padres to enter a drug rehabilitation program for treatment of a cocaine addiction. Wiggins, second baseman for the Padres in 1984 when they won the National League championship, was hitless in three plate appearances before slapping a single to right field in the ninth inning as Vancouver Canadians defeated Las Vegas 8-5 in the Pacific Coast League. “It's tough to hit in twilight, but it felt pretty good,” Wiggins said in a brief encounter with reporters in the clubhouse. “I wasn't as sharp as I could be. Ali's marriage knocked out LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former heavyweight boxing Ali Sporting News named on Tuesday former baseball i Bowie Kuhn as and his third wife, Veronica, have filed for divorce, her lawyer said Tuesday. “An amicable agreement of the major issues already has been worked out,” said lawyer Frederick J. Glass man. Three-time heavyweight champion Ali, 43, and Veron ica, 29, have two children, Hana Yasmeen, eight, and Laila, seven. They had been married eight years. A statement prepared by the couple said: “The decision to dissolve the marriage was mutually agreed upon by Muhammad and Veronica. Both parties maintain the ut most admiration, love and respect for each other and their deep friendship remains intact. ST. LOUIS (AP) — The WOODLAND PARK ESSO Gas & Groceries the 1985 recipient of the Pi- oneer Award for his longtime contribution to the 5; The weekly publication said Kuhn was selected by a vote of baseball executives. The Pioneer Award was started last year to honor re- tired baseball executives who are still living. Joe Cronin was the 1984 recipient. Kuhn, now a consultant for Burson-Marsteller Public Re- lations, presided over base- ball for 15 years. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) .— New lights have been in: stalled in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in response to complaints from ballplayers who said couldn't see fly balls against the grey background of the inflatable ceiling. The lights cast a soft orange glow across the Tef. lon-coated panels and were designed to fill in the dark areas of the ceiling, said Jer. ry Bell, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Sta. dium C i gare wed. &F 7 15 to 8 e.m. ond 0! 18- som Tues. & Thurs.. “S. 20 Sessions TA pie i 10 Sessi Locoted beside Bus Start Your Fitness Program! RACQUETBALL c Se Hevt sen Per Person \ NING BED BURNS GYM 365-3434 @ FITNESS CENTRE in Fireside inn $49 ions ~ Castlegar Sports Calendar q Salmo, Kinnoird Pork tre/Checkers, Inlond Pork. gar FOOTBALL—USLF: 11:30 0.m.. ¢ noon, channel 6. THURSDAY FASTBALL—COMMERCIAL LEAGUE: Northwes! Lobstss vs. SATURDAY BASEBALL—MAJOR LEAGUE: Atlonta Braves vs. |.A. Dodgers TENNIS— WIMBLEDON: Best match of the day with features ond highlights from early round action, 3 p.m Homes vs Costlegar Sports Cen es begin 6:30 p.m hannel 4 channel 6. BIKES FOR ALL Sales — Service Repairs ¢ A Public Service of Castlegar Tu-Dor Sports (Castieger) Ltd. “You can take all the BP (batting practice) you want, but it takes live pitching to really get your stroke.” Wiggins, 27, was sent to the Stars last week on 20-day assignment while the Padres attempt to deal him to another major league team. San Diego president Ballard Smith has indicated Wiggins will:not play again for the NL team which leads the Western Division. First treated for drug addiction in 1982, Wiggins spent a month undergoing further extended care for his problem after failing to show up for a San Diego game April 25. STARTS TONIGHT Las Vegas manager Bob Cluck said Wiggins will be in the lineup at second base tonight in Portland, Ore., against the Beavers. “I like playing baseball and I'm just glad to be back in the lineup playing,” added Wiggins, whose name has been mentioned in trade rumors involving both Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees of the American League. “I just keep reading the papers. It's not in my control, so there's no need in me even straining to think about those type of things. I'm just doing w' I have to do and everything else will take its cour: While Wiggins was groping with PCL pitching — he was hitless in three at bats against lefthanded starter Rick Waits of the Canadians — the Padres lost 3-2 in San Diego as second baseman Tim Flannery was blanked in four plate appearances Tuesday. Flannery and Jerry Royster have split the second base duties for San Diego since Wiggins failed to show up for work. Wiggins has a four-year contract with the Padres worth a reported $2.8 million. The Major League Players Association wants Wiggins re-instated. The owner-player agreement states no punitive action can be taken against a first-time offender who voluntarily seeks drug therapy. The association claims Wiggins is a first-timer because his previous drug experience came before the present agreement came into effect. Cluck said Wiggins has “blended in well” with the Stars “should help us win some games while he's here.” “The only information I had from San Diego was to get him ready,” said Cluck. “The decision on his future will be made at the ownership level. “We used him as the DH (designated hitter) because he's still getting his arm ready. He had a good workout today and probably will start the next game at second. “I thought he looked pretty good, considering it’s been two months since he hit in an actual game.” Wiggins grounded weakly to second base leading off the third inning, bounced back to the mound in the fifth and lifted a soft fly to right in the seventh with two runners on base, failing to score the lead runner from third. He singled to right and scored in the ninth when Las Vegas jumped on reliever Ray Searage for four runs. Seattle club to return and i ‘yi * wae kor SPORTS DAY . . . Students skip to the finish line during Castlegar Primary School annual sports day on Mon- Oilers in a huff By NEIL STEVENS The Canadian Press Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers are in a huff and the discontent is entirely justified. The Oilers have proven they're the best team in the National Hockey League by winning the Stanley Cup the last two years, and the reward they get from the league's board of governors is a rule change that erodes a critical aspect of the Oilers’ defence. No NHL opponent can match Edmonton when both teams skate a man short. The extra ice made available in five-aside situations is to the Oilers what a candy bar is to a child. Some of the most spectacular goals during this year's playoffs were scored by the Oilers when each team was a man short. When coach Glen Sather would put Gretzky, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson on the ice in a situation like that, the opposition would shudder, and, more times than not, relinquish a goal. But the majority has ganged up on the Oilers. During a meeting this week the governors voted to allow for minor penalties. Beginning next season, when a player on each team is penalized at the same time, they'll sit in the penalty box while their teams skate at full strength. The only time fans will see teams playing five-aside will be when penalties are assessed close together. So, while such situations won't disappear, they'll become far less frequent. Only Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils joined the Oilers in opposing the rule change. Recreation news day. Fun events included a bicycle parade and many track events. Canadians top boaters KIEL, WEST GER- MANY (CP) — Canadian crews held the top two spots in the Flying Dutchman class after the third day of com- peitition Tuesday at the Kiel Week international yachting regatta. Duncan Lewis, 25, and Ian Struthers, 26, both of Tor- onto, were first overall after finishing first, second and fifth in the first three races. Another pair from Toronto, Frank McLaughlin and John Mellon, both 25, were in sec. ond overall with placings of fourth, first and eighth. McLaughlin and Mellon have a protest pending against a Finnish crew which finished ahead of them Tues. day, but would not move up in the current standings if the protest succeeds. will be held at Six race: this 1972 ( -mpie site, with only the ‘t five results counting ards the ifnal result. Winds gusted to 15 knots Tuesday and Lewis and Struthers had trouble with wind shifts early on. But they The Seattle Junior Hockey Club has confirmed its return to the Castlegar Community Complex for its hockey train ing camp. This is the third year that the Seattle franchise has chosen Castlegar as its train ing camp site. The Castlegar Recreation department said the team will be arriving Aug. 29 and will begin Aug. 30 putting the hockey hopefuls through two workouts a day. At the height of the camp the team will have 62 boys from throughout Western Canada and points in the U.S. vying for positions. The camp is slated to break up on Sept. 7 at which time it is hoped that an exhibition game will be held The Seattle franchise, for- merly known as the Break. ers, has undergone an owner. ship change which is ex pected to be very positive for the club. As a member of the Western division of the Western Canada Major Ju. nior League they will be in a tight battle with Portland, Victoria, New Westminister, Kamloops and Spokane for playoff positions. While in Castlegar the or. ganization is housed at the Community Complex where meals and accommodation are provided. Director of Recreation, Pat Metge stated that the de- partment is very pleased to have Seattle back as they are one of the few clubs to go outside of their area to train. Their presence creates added revenue which goes to offset the total operating deficit of the facility. Summer is here and with it comes a large variety of rec- reational ac s. Red Cross Swim Lessons begin next Tuesday at the Bob Brandson and Robson pools. If you have not yet regis- tered your children for swim. ming lessons you better do it today because the classes are filling up quickly. We are of- ferning four sessions of les- sons: July 2-12, July 15-26, July 29-Aug. 9, Aug. 12-23. There is room in all color levels, as well we are offering adult lessons, lifesaving classes, aqua fit, bronze med. allion and bronze cross. Summer Our summer playground Program starts Tuesday with the grand opening of the Bob Brandson Smurf Wading Pool. Be sure to be there for CASTLEGAR JUNIOR REBELS Are now accepting applications for: ¢ COACHES * MANAGER © TRAINER Please send qualifications, name phone num! r to or Jim — 365-7523 CLOSING DATE — JULY 1, 1985. all the fi . There will be clowns, balloons, games, stories, water slide, crafts and lots of fun. All the action for the three-to-six-year-olds start at 9:30 a.m. and for the seven to 12-year-olds at 1 p.m. The fee for the activity session is just $2. On Thurs- day our playground staff will be at Kinsmen Park, so join the clowns and celebrate the day's activities SMURF style. For all the senior citizens in the area we have a wide variety of trips. On July 3 the recreation van will be travell- ing to Ainsworth Hot Springs; July 10 to Gyro and Waneta Plaza; and July 25 to Lakeside Park in Nelson. We also have the SunFest picnic at Kinnaird Park on July 19, an Origami work shop on July 26 and an Old Time talk on July 31. For all the details call the recreation office or pick up a July events brochure. Youth Programs For the youth this summer we have many events plan- ned. We will be kicking off the summer with an outdoor barbeque on July 5 at 7 p.m. at Pass Creek Park. There will be boat races, slowpitch softball and fun volleyball. We supply all the food you can eat for a low cost of $2. As well we have a splash party planned for July 17 at the Bob Brandson Pool. Stay tuned for all the details in next week's column. So if you are looking for action this summer and don't know where to find it why not give the recreation office a call. We will be sure to keep you busy with lots of interesting and stimulating activities. and gained a cou ple: of boats at every mark for the rest of the course to finish fifth. Although they have fared better in light winds here, Struthers said they prefer the going rougher. “It might be the best for us in terms of finishing in the regatta, but we have more fun sailing in stronger winds. So we're hoping for strong winds.” The Danish crew of Joer. gen Shoenherr and Michael Poulsen finished first in Tuesday's Flying Dutchman race to move to sixth overall. They got an advantage when the,rest of fleet got tangled up with the Star boats. In the women's 470 class, sisters Karen, 23, and Gail Johnson, 20, of Toronto are in fourth overall after three races after finishing a strong third on Tuesday. They were sixth and 11th in the first two races. An Italian crew is in first after winning all three races. In the men’s 470 class, Ian Brown and Jason Lester of Toronto were in 21st place in the A division; while Nigel Cochrane, 23, of Toronto, and Gord Meliquham, 24, of King. ston, Ont., were 35th in the B division. The 470 class was divided into two classed here because there are 135 entries. Mid-Week Wrap-up BASEBALL 2 S3BBSTIEE wou g Selkirk passage monster project By DAVID GERSOVITZ GLACIER (CP) — An eagle soars high above Rogers Pass, the only practical passage through the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, while deep underground a “Mole” is at work. This Mole, a mammoth machine used to drill tunnels, is eating a hold amost seven metres in diameter through Mount Macdonald (2,894 metres) in Glacier National Park. The hole will become the longest rail tunnel in North America. It’s the centre of a $600-million project by Canadian Pacific Ltd. to doubletrack the Selkirk section of its main line, including Rogers Pass, to alleviate a worsening bottleneck. More than 1,000 workers will be toiling this summer on the huge project — building the 14.7-kilometre Mount ‘The hole will become the longest rail tunnel in North America’ Macdonald tunnel as well as 17 kilometres of new surface line, a smaller tunnel through Mount Shaughessy, six bridges and a viaduct longer than a dozen football fields. MOLE CHEWS EAST The Mole, its rotating face studded with 52 cutting discs, is chewing at an average daily rate of 35 metres. Selkirk Tunnel Constructors, a Canadian-American consor- tium, is i for the eight-ki eastern section of the tunnel. At the western end, a Canadian-Japanese consortium, Manning-Kumagai, faces tougher rock and is using a drill-and-blast system to open its 6.4-kilometre portion. It's a race. One of the two will land a contract next year for the 300-metre middle section of the tunnel. The first finisher “will have the best crack,” says John Fox, CP Rail’s vice-president of engineering and special projects. The Macdonald tunnel for westbound trains will pass below the eight-kilometre Connaught tunnel, which opened in 1916 and will still handle eastbound traffic when the doubletracking is finished in 1988. The project can't afford major delays. The existing single track can only handle 15 trains a day each way on a sustained ba: Some days, it handles 16 or 17, but that disrupts regular maintenance work. TRAFFIC GROWS The single track wouldn't be able to handle the added traffic expected by 1988-89. The railway is forecasting increased exports of grain, coal and sulphur from West Coast ports. Planning for the railway expansion started in the late 1970s and preliminary work at the site began in 1982. Drilling at the mountain started last summer. By mid-May, more than 2.3 kilometres of tunnel had been dug. Rogers Pass is 131 kilometres west of the Alberta border and about halfway between the B.C. railway towns of Golden and Revelstoke. At Golden to the east, coal trains from the southeast Kootenays join the main line, almost doubling the rail traffic heading west. At Rogers, d trains an 2.2-per-cent average uphill grade through the pass discovered in 1881 by Maj. Albert Bowman Rogers. That grade represents a vertical rise of 2.2 metres for every horizontal 100 metres. Trains crawl uphill; it takes as many as 12 locomotives to get a westbound train up the steepest section of the Rogers line. Eastbound, of course, it's a virtual glide. EVERY HALF HOUR The new westbound line, including the Macdonald tunnel, will have an average grade of only one per cent, enabling it to handle up to 48 trains a day — one every half hour. “Everybody looks at the tunnel and says that's a hang of a tough job and they're right, it is, because we've a long way to go,” says Fox, CP's senior on-site official. “But it's really not that tough tunnelling. The toughest job we've got is to build about 10 miles of surface route in this country.” Reducing grade on a line that weaves among craggy peaks, hugging slopes as steep as 41 degrees, requires a lot of engineering. “It’s infinitely variable terrain,” says Fox. “You're in and out, up and down.” The new line will need 26,000 square metres of retaining walls. Environmentally, the project is a sensitive one. Glacier National Park is avalanche country with an average snowfall of 10 metres annually at Rogers Pass. Parks Canada inspectors jealously guard the environment against scars from the construction. GAUGED IMPACT Before work started, the plans were studied for two years to gauge their environmental impact. At the project’s three work camps, CP Rail must melt and filter the snow it removes rather than dump it directly into rivers. Parking is restricted; workers not living in camp are bused in daily. Garbage from the camps is trucked toa site outside Glacier park. Exhaust fans from the kitchens are filtered so as not to attact the area's rather brazen wildlife — notably bears — seeking an easy meal. When the work is done, all job and campsites will be restored to their natural state. The 800,000 cubic metres of waste rock from the new tunnel is being used for track ballast and a landfill for the surface construction. Visually, the project is unobtrusive. From the nearby Trans-Canada Highway, ivers catch only fleeting glimpses of construction. uch of the work is inside mountains and along tree-clad ‘slo Inside the tunnel, it's three shifts a day, Monday to RADIOS BUS’ On the ailway's radio frequency the Rogers Pass area crackles activity — messages for work crews and survey teams, messages to and from trains on the main line, trains on sidings, trains coming from Golden and Revelstoke. The need for the doubletracking comes into focus at Rogers station, a siding and bunkhouse at the eastern end of the pass where the railway stores its “pushers” — 12 spare 3,000-horsepower locomotives used for pushing westbound trains up the steepest portion of the line. For pusher engineer Clarence Boettger, the bunkhouse can be home for 14 days at a stretch. One recent morning, No. 5819, a 111-car coal train, was waiting at Rogers to move west. With trainee David John at the controls under the watchful eye of road foreman Jim McFarlane, No. 5819 waits as six pushers are inserted a quarter of the way from the end of the long train. Normally taking 50 minutes, the manoeuvre takes over an hour this time because of trouble making the couplings. No. 5819 has four locomotives at the head end and two ‘Parks Canada inspectors jealously guard the environment against scars from construction’ “slaves” — remote-controlled locomotives — halfway back. With the pushers, that makes 12 locomotives — a total of 36,000 horsepower. While the pushers are being inserted, two long east bound trains pass on the main line. USE FULL POWER No. 5819 finally gets the green light. One start is aborted because a brake inadvertently is applied on a pusher. But John soon has the throttle in eighth position and the train under full power moving — barely 24 kilometres an hour — up the 2.4-per-cent grade from Rogers to Stoney Creek. The 16-kilometre trip takes over 40 minutes, the shrill strain of a dozen diesel engines filling the valley. The pushers are disengaged on a siding after the train crosses the spectacular Stoney Creek Bridge — the highest on the CP line, towering 100 metres above the Stoney Creek gorge. When the new line is completed, westbound trains, aside from having their own track, will be capable of speeds up to 48 kilometres an hour. CP Rail will likely cut down on the number of locomotives; the 12 pushers alone are a capital investment of $19 million. Many of the pusher engineers are veterans. “Every. body here will be retired by-the time the tunnel is finished,” says Boettger. Gone also will be time lost in coupling and uncoupling the pushers. And there will be fewer trains on sidings or stacked up in yards at Golden or Revelstoke, waiting their turn at Rogers Pass. WHAT A grind and scoop for the first few hundred feet for the Manning-Kumagai Joint Ven- ture who have begun work on the western end of the longest railway tunnel in North America mile (14.6 km) Mount Macdonald Tunnel in the Rogers The 9.11- Pass area of British Columbia is part of a four year $600-million project to reduce excessive 2.2 per cent grades and increase rail capacity on CP Rail's main transcontinental line. MOVING MOUNTAINS — These new air dump cars are part of a fleet of 50 cars delivered to CP Rail from National Steel Car Company, Hamilton, Ontario for exclusive use on the railway's $600-million Rogers Pass Project in British Columbia. TERRY FOX RUN Wanted: half million joggers OTTAWA (CP) — They don’t care how you do it, but Fitness and Amateur Sports Minister Otto Jelinek and event organizers want at least 500,000 participants in the fifth annual Terry Fox run Sept. 15. Jelinek, Terry's mother Betty Fox of Coquitlam and officials kicked off the annual drive to raise funds for cancer research during a cake-cutting ceremony Tues day next to the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill “The object is to make it (the run) twice as successful by having all those who par. ticipated last year doing it again and bringing a friend,” Mrs. Fox said. “Canadians have proven that they care. I urge all Canadians — let's keep on caring. Finding a cure for cancer is an attainable goal.” She said that, including Terry's Marathon of Hope in 1980, a total of $37.3 million has been raised by the annual runs. About 250,000 participants last year produced $3.4 mil lion for the fight against can cer. Jelinek said the Canadian Cancer Society has received an average of $3 million from each of the four mass participation events held since Terry died June 28, 1981, after having had to break off his run outside Thunder Bay, Ont., because his cancer had returned. Fox, whose right leg was amputated above the knee because of cancer when he was six, became a national legend and international hero by running 5,342 kilometres along the Trans-Canada Highway on his artificial leg from St. John's, Nfid. Beverley Norris, national chairman of the run, re- minded those at the cere. mony that running was, in fact not a necessity for par ticipants who can jog, walk, ride or propel themselves in any other way. She said more than 1,700 run organizers in almost every city in the country are ready to take pledges and ac. cept entries. By GARY KINGSTON VANCOUVER (CP) — He's brash, brusque and tenacious — a hyperactive 67-year-old who moves at only one speed. Overdrive During more than 20 years of open-line talk on radio and more lately on television, Jack Webster has played the People’s Advocate for a generation of British Columbians. This Oatmeal Savage — one of his countless nick names — goes provincewide on BCTV “at 9 a.m prree-cisely” from fall through spring to rake countless on, two beat cops who knew him came in to chat over a cup of coffee. Suddenly, he had an audience he could play to — three real people, smiling, nodding and saying, ‘Right on, Jack.’ Webster is also a doting father of four and grand father of nine. His wife of 46 years, who had been ill frequently in recent years, died in February. Friends and colleagues say his devotion was incredible. Television, which he joined in 1978 and now calls the “most fun” of his 50-year journalistic career, has also helped dispel the myth of him as a_ professional politicians, to grill labor leaders and to ge authors and businessmen. His gruff Scottish brogue becomes a surgeon's scalpel to prod and pick at people's brains. He is a master goader and delights in seeing guests, encumbered by the straitjacket of live broadcasting, squirm like cornered mice. But there are other, scowling Webster. NEEDS CODDLING Despite a six-figure salary and a celebrity status to match, he remains remarkably insecure, a man who ne@ds the coddling and approval of his staff and the public. A paranoid egomaniac, he calls himself. Vancouver Sun columnist Denny Boyd driving into town one morning, listening to a “depressed” Webster on the radio and deciding to visit him at his CJOR studio. Webster was doing his show that morning without any guests. “I walked in and right away he brightened up. Later more gentle, sides to the recalls curmudgeon. “People can see I'm a human being,” he says. “When I was in radio, people thought, ‘What a nasty, gruff-voiced old bastard’ — no matter how much I tried to be pleasant. Jokes don’t work on radio, but jokes and light-heartedness, or even cynicism or sarcasm, work on television. “They see the twinkle in the eyes,” his thick, grey eyebrows for emphasis. STAYS AT DESK One hour after a recent show ended, Webster is still in his host's chair in the library set of BCTV's bustling newsroom. Despite a 30-pound weight loss and a year of sobriety — he was once a triple-shot man — he still looks paunchy. But in his saddlebag face and rough hands there is a hint of the summers and weekends he spends outdoors tending his Saltspring Island farm A 90-minute interview with Webster is punctuated by in‘erruptions as he accepts phone calls, quizzes his staff — “When did I start this God damned program?” — he says, raising and keeps an eye on the noon news on the television monitor. He has a flycatcher memory that manifests itself in his love of story-telling. He was a product of Depression era Glasgow “It instilled the deep sense of social injustice that has stayed with me” and learned the newspaper business in a cutthroat, seven-paper town where you were fired if you didn't get the story He came to Vancouver in 1947 — “I knew enough about, fe ‘anada that I didn't want to live in the East” — and eventually became city editor at the Vancouver Sun before quitting in 1953 in a dispute over overtime He moved to radio, where he made his first big mark covering a 1954 royal commission inquiry into police corruption. He would listen to hours of testimony, then, using his excellent shorthand notes, read verbatim reports on nightly broadcasts. DID OPEN-LINE He later became an open-liner in the 1960s when talk radio was in its heyday in Vancouver. “I did 16'/2 years of telephone talk 3" hours a day. I used to go home, pick up my knife and fork and say, ‘What do you want to talk about? The number of people listening to radio open-line shows has declined the audience for his 90-minute BCTV program more than doubles that of radio's top gun, CKNW’'s Gary Bannerman but Webster steadfastly defends the medium. “Talk radio is the best thing that ever happened for information for people in this country. It gave out more Webster: talk show in overdrive information and more facts than any print media ever have done.” And it was talk that brought individual injustices to the fore far more strongly. “I was the court of last resort in B.C. for all those bloody years. When in trouble, call Webster While describing himself as a “two-bit ombudsman and political commentator,” he would seem to command more respect than the label suggests. In the fall of 1983, with the legislature adjourned and the province heading for a service-crippling public sector strike after a raucous summer of government legislation, Webster's program took on the air of an extra-parli amentary forum When Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, then leader of the Opposition, refused to sit down with him during last summer's federal election campaign, Webster was outraged — and said so three consecutive nights in reports at the top of the BCTV 6 o'clock news. “Mulroney was straight chicken, but when he’s settled in and he feels like it, he'll come on as a matter of pride if for no other reason. I know that.” Mulroney had better not think about waiting Webster out. He just signed another one-year contract and says he has no plans to retire. In a recent appearance on CBC's Front Page Challenge, Webster said he hoped to last as long as Gordon Sinclair, the crusty Toronto broadcaster who was working almost until the day he died last year at age 83 Besides,” says Webster. “you can only do so much messing about on the farm radio, he says, protest over