4 - Friday, December 3, 1993 — North Shore News An odor of arrogance permeates Trevor Lautens . GARDEN OF BIASES - ‘PUT FLATLY: I don’t like ‘the smell in West Vancouver this week. It’s the smell of the arrogance ‘"ofpower, What odor to deal with first? 1. The smell around the school "board. 2. The smel! around certain ad- "vertisements endorsing the entire West Vancouver council in the - Nov. 20 elections. .. In order of their aroma: Citizens, 1 believe we’re not far short — if we’re short at all — of resorting to Access to Information ‘ legislation to ferret out some plain ‘truths about certain matters per- Mainiag to the board. Monday night's board meeting, - _at which the auditors’ report.into ~ the murky Sentinel secondary school development fund and other school funds, was released, was dominated by the stunning — and, I would say, courageous — appearance of Gaye Lefaivre. She is the estranged wife of . Peter Lefaivre, former Sentinel . Principal now living in Kentucky, “who was instrumental in setting up the school's development fund -— a disaster, The auditors’ figures reaffirmed that there had. been no criminal - dimensjén to the matter. : They also showed’ that money paid. by Sentinel itternational stu- - dents, who pay atee for their schooling, had been used to sub- sidize the monumentally ambitious development (und, which was "meant to provide through private " fundraising schemes amenities for ‘the students that were unattainable through the normal budget. But Mrs, Lefaivre’s appearance _ upstaged the release of the report. It was the first time she had publicly spoken out since the -publication of Terry Gould's ac- count of the calamity in the na- tlonal miagazine Saturday Night. Gould's extensive account was criticized by board superintendent Doug Plaver, (Interviewed ‘Tucs- ’ day,’ Mrs, Lefaivre said ‘every word" of Gould's story was true.) | The story described how an am- vitious Peter Lefaivre, over vom Player was said to have “great in- “fiuence,” promoted the develop- ment fund and its projects, some of them costly failures, and ' ’ abruptly left for the United States not long after wile Gaye learned she had multiple sclerosis, Gaye Lefaivre directly con- tradicted outgoing board chairman ’ Peter. Bradshaw at Monday's meeting over a side issue that has emerged: who was given Van- couver Canucks hockey tickets worth more than $5,000, ‘ December 3 to December 9 JURASSIC PARK THE FUGITIVE Ico COOL RUNNINGS | The board's position, defended by Bradshaw, is that the tickets — some for games still scheduled — were distributed to teachers for outstanding performance. That's been denied by teacher repre- sentatives. But Mrs, Lefaivre contends that two season tickets were given to her husband for the 1991-92 season as a bonus — when his sal- ary was frozen. Another pair, she alleged, went to West Vancouver secondary school principal Arnie Smith. Bradshaw: ‘‘! have talked to Arnie Smith. ... He did not use a single one for himself.” Mrs. Lefaivre replied instantly: “That’s not true, ... We sat with him...” Bradshaw repeated the board’s position: ‘I have quite a long list of teachers, administrators and (others) ... who used those tick- ets.” The board has refused to name any names. ’- My view: Make the board cough “up those names. —- » . Now, I'd say that Bradshaw has heretofore been notably quiet- spoken, diffident, and at best a non-charismatic leader. But by the end of the meeting, having faced many questions from the floor, Bradshaw had turned high-handed and visibly angry. When defeated board candidate Karmel Fairchels pressed for an- swers to some questions from ” board secretary-treasurer Len ‘ Archer, Bradshaw angrily ended up shouting ‘“‘No!"’ and foudly banging the gavel to close the meeting. I call it as I see it: it was an astounding act of arrogance and intemperance that badly marred Bradshaw's last official act as head of a board that ! believe was either spineless,-ignorant or both in monitoring the school district’s administration and in keeping in- formed of the unfolding disaster at Sentinel, The second issue deserves more space than it will get. This is the appearance of at least two ads in this paper endor- | sing all six West Van council in- cumbents, One was ‘‘supported and paid for by a group of very concerned | homeowners,’’ the other by Ratepayers and Concerned Citi- zens'* — both adding words to the effect that they were being placed without the knowledge of the said incumbents. Provoked into thinking about that, Esay: Citizens, watch out! Who the hell are these masked men -~ or women? Can you see the immense possi- bility of abuse? How do we know who placed these ads that just happened ta: endorse every single member of the status quo? Note this: such ads get around strict legislation concerning the identity of those making political donations above $100 to individu- als. Fve been slow to think about it. But I don’t iike it. Nor, ona much lesser scale, do ] tike yet another ad: Mayor Sager’s ad, also endors- ing every single one of the incum- bent councillors. 1 call that highly questionable. It’s not as if our (acclaimed) mayor belonged to the same civic party as the councillors. We don’t have such an animal in West Van. Bluntly, that’s a great big gra- tuitous political favor bestowed by the mayor. And for what? I think there’s a broad line be- tween a harmonious council — and a supine one. At the very least, Mayor Sager’s open support wis unwise, impru- dent, impolitic. To say the very least of the least, what will that do to the telationship between Sager and the one challenger who made it into the circle without the mayoral anointment — Allan Williams? But the really serious — terribly serious — aspect is obvious. The five incumbent councillors — Pat Boname, Rod Day, Andy Danyliu, Diana Hutchinson, and Ron Wood, and the single unsuc- cessful incumbent, Don Griffiths — must personally demand to know and to publicize the names of those who paid for those other ads. It’s in their interest. They must do so for the ob- vious reason: that no taint, no suspicion of taint, must be allowed to besmirch their integri- ty. They must be like Caesar’s The new WOODWYNN invites you and your family to enjoy our new concept “THE FAMILY VALUE STORE". We offer a full selection of Ladies’, Men's, Children's and Home Fashions. Ramie/Cotton Hand Knit SWEATERS It's Our Style to Save You Money | OGE FrsnWat BeOS wich “ARRO 2nd WN yereR N. Vancouver Park & Tilford Centre 333 Brooksbank Ave. 983-2626 Thanks to each and everyone of you that voted for me! And thanks to the many individuals who worked hard on my re-election campaign. With your support, the Councillors and Lcan now go forward and serve the citizens of the City with dedication, respousibility and good management for three more years. City Of North Vancouver