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Specious arguments in tribunal column

Dear Editor:
Come offit, Mr. Renshaw (Bad law
lelt by tribunal, Nov. 16) wrapping a
. Specious argument in the flag and the

war veterans who fought and died for

Canada, doesn’t make it any the less
specious.

I fought in the Second World War
tor six years in cwo separate theatres of
war and I dort remember fighting for
the right of Doug Collins to say that
the Jews control Hollywood and, on
other occasions, that they control the
press and that they used the Holocaust
as a device to extract money from
Gentiles. In the interludes when I was-

_ mt numb or terrified, I thought I was

fighting to stop Hider and the Nazis,
and to stop them from saying what
Collins has been saying, that the Jews
were a pernicious influence and trying
to control the world.

The Nazis, of course, followed
through on the consequence of their
words and Collins did not. But tell me,
what was Doug Collins’ motive for
saying what he did about the Jews over
so many years in so many columns: “to
generate open discussion for the right
of understanding to expose igno-
ranee.” (These are roughly Mr.
Renshaw’s words)

Doug Collins’ “opinions” emerge
from some 1,500 years of anti-Jewish

persecution. These same opinions
about the pernicious influence of the
Jews and their controlling the finances
of the world can be found in 1492
when Queen Isabella inaugurated the
Inquisition against the Jews and
expelled the Jews from Spain. The
Jews had lived in Spain at the time for
over 1,000 years, long before the
Visigoths (the Spaniards) moved down
the peninsula.

We sce the same opinions again in
Shylock of the Merchant of Venice —
the pound of flesh, the consuming
interest. in. money — even though
Shakespeare had never seen a Jew and
there had not been a Jew in England

for some 300 years.

Is it any wonder that Jewish people
today are tearful when they see the
same “honestly-held opinions” emerg-
ing regularly in the columns of the
North Shore News?

Add to this the fact that today on
the North Shore there are still many
Holocaust survivors who are frighten-
ingly aware of the consequence of such
words as Collins’, then perhaps you
can understand why Collins’ opinions
are not just an innocuous contnbution
to democratic discussion by poisonous
words evoking fear.

Philip Pinkus
West Vancouver

Demise of District 44 board boss premature

ty of the teaching and the

Dear Editor:

Early this month there was
a News article on Pat Heal
replacing me as chairman of
the North Vancouver School
Board.

It was written in a way that
has left many people thinking
that I was leaving the board
entirely. Let me assure every-
onc that I am not.

It is the custom of the
board to rotate the position of
chairman annually and we
have simply decided that Pat
should return to the position
she occupied in 1994.

I was first elected chairman
by my fellow trustees in
December 1995 but my term
was shortened abruptly by the
firing of the North Van
School Board two weeks into
the nexe year.

After most of the ‘fired
trustees ran and were re-clect-
ed in “the elections © of
November 1996, I was re-

capacity and with your for-
bearance, I would like to take
this opportunity to give you
and your readers some feed-
back on the year.

Before I do that, I would
like to belatedly thank the
reporting and cditorial staff of
the News — in particularly
Ian Noble and Noct Wright.
lan for his usual standard of
excellent reporting and Mr.
Wright for one very memo-
rable column on the circum-
stances which Ied to the firing
of the board and the appoint-
ment of the public trustee.

He invoked no less an
authority than Winston
Churchill on the topic of “eat-
ing one’s own words” to add

elected as the chairman forthe

year just past.
Tt has been 2 privilege and
a pleasure to serve.in that

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color and emphasis to his
recantation of an earlier col-
umn which was unfairly criti-
cal of the embattled former
board. One rarely sees such
amusing erudition and objec-
tivity in the admission of a
mistake by a journalist and he
did as much as anyone to set
the record straight.

The school board has not
provided you quite as much
material in 1997 as we did
1996, although we have not
been idle.

Thanks to the public
trustee’s report which con-
firmed our contention. that
North Vancouver was being
unfairly funded, we received
increased funding from the

province and the budget was
balanced during the past year.

Regrettably the technolo-
gy referendum was not suc-

cessful, but teachers and prin- .

cipals are doing much more
than just making do as they
are trying to meet the chal-
lenge of inadequate teaching
resources and adapt to major
changes in the provincial cur-
riculum. At the board, we
have turned our efforts to
making some modest changes
to our format and processes to
improve the accessibility and
transparency of policy making.

North Vancouver’s schools
continue to be the among the
best in the province in terms
of academic results, the quali-

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We still have programs that
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of delighs

Dear Editor: .

Open letter to Marg
Worth and the = Brit
Properties Ag
Homeowners’ Association:

As a horticuicurist, larg
scape designer and permac
ture activist, [am thrilled
sce small areas of untend
land on the British Prope:
boulevards. I. would like
invite Ms. Worthy to beco:

a participant in Naturesca
B.C.,.an educational prog

about caring for wildlife
home. :

The three lovely boo
one receives upon becomiml
a member tell of the value,
“long grass, scrubby bush@
and overhanging tree branc
es” for both habitat and fod
for our precious wild cre}
tures. : ;

I find these wild spaces
reassuring sight amongst
numerous gardens whid
resemble a photograph fro:
an agricultural chemicayj
advertisement. For mo
information on Naturescap
B.C. call 1-800-387-9853. §
Heather Schamehorn .
North Vancouver

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