The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 27

THE VANCOUVER SUN, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1998 B3 LOWER MAINLAND VTV news director hiring TesS Mve new Wheels fiMs Fridaiy. sparks storm with staff The selection of an outsider has dismayed reporters and led one senior editor to quit. Before joining MS-NBC, Raineault was executive producer of CBC Newsworld in Calgary and executive producer of Canada Live in Winnipeg. Raineault said from her New Jersey home she was unaware of the controversy over her hiring. "I don't know about the reaction of the staff.

I imagine I will hear about it," she said. "I've been an executive producer and run newsrooms before and I think my track record is very good. I think I will do fine." VTV staffers were so upset about Slinger that they started a boycott of the staff Christmas party, which had been scheduled for this Saturday. The party was subsequently cancelled. at BCTV, where he worked for 18 years.

VTV reporter Chris Olsen said the loss of Slinger and Jackson was a blow to morale. "Both Helen and Clive are very well respected," said Olsea "There was a lot of emotion at our meeting this morning and there still is." Many reporters confirmed that one staffer told Festinger at the meeting that he had "ripped the heart out of the newsroom." Festinger, they added, said that he felt that Raineault was the best choice for the future. i Drivinp-'urdreani i sr. 4 rrz'Y? ffn Foam from fast ferry not believed harmful DOUG WARD VANCOUVER SUN The selection of an outsider as news director at the fledgling Vancouver Television has demoralized newsroom staff, sparked the resignation of a key editor and deep-sixed the station's Christmas party. Many news employees were hoping the top editorial job would go to local television news veteran Helen Slinger, who had been interim news director.

But VTV general manager Jon Festinger chose Lynn Raineault, a former CBC News-world producer now working for MS-NBC in the US. VTV staffers were upset to learn Wednesday that Slinger had not been hired. Their gloom deepened when assignment editor Clive Jackson announced he had quit in protest and would return to rival BCTV. Reporters vented their dismay Thursday during a regular staff meeting with Festinger, who said afterwards the reaction did not come as a surprise. "I knew in making the decision that it was going to be very bumpy.

Certainly, no matter how prepared for a negative reaction I could be, it is still very hard to experience it." He added: "Obviously, this is really hard for the newsroom and they are feeling a lot of pain." Slinger, who was a candidate for the news director position, declined to comment when reached Thursday. Jackson said he decided to leave VTV, where he has a three-year contract, because Slinger was not hired. "I think Helen is one of the best journalists I've ever worked with," said Jackson. "She wasn't kept on and the entire newsroom is behind her. It's a major blow for a station like this." Jackson said he would remain as assignment editor at VTV for three months before he returns as managing editor pollution investigators can only speculate about what was in the foam.

Thompson said anyone who walks beside a stream this time of year can see foam, because some of the by-products of naturally-decaying plant material create foam when the water is turbulent. Trafford Taylor, captain of the ferry, said the foam occurred during a test when the vessel was held in dock longer, and with more jets going than normal. Check under the hood of our new Wheels section this Friday and you'll discover some great new features. After a short sabbatical, we welcome back Tony Whitney; award-winning auto journalist and co-host of TV's Inside Track. Every week Tony writes about the rights and wrongs of car consumer issues.

If you have an unusual personal story about a car, send it in to Auto-biography, our new segment that features readers' favourite auto stories, memories and dreams. You can test your automotive knowledge with our new crossword puzzle, MotorCross. And Auto Maintenance will pass along helpful tips on how to keep your wheels in tip top condition. Take our Wheels section for a spin. GLENN BOHN and DOUG WARD VANCOUVER SUN Thick mats of white foam generated by a fast ferry at Horseshoe Bay look unusual but are probably not a threat to the environment, the federal en-vironment department said Thursday.

"Based on the limited information at this time, I don't think anyone in Environment Canada thinks this is a particularly serious environmental problem," said Gordon Thompson, a senior official and veteran investigator of pollution spills. Thompson said a photograph published this week in The Vancouver Sun made the small harbour "look like an overflowing foam bathtub," but that's the first knowledge the federal de-partment had of the foam, which appeared Nov. 19, when the new B.C. Ferries catamaran was running its water jets in the harbour for more than an hour. No one reported a spill or pollution problem, so the environmental agency didn't get a wa- ter tV.

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