6 - Friday. October 19, 1990 - North Shore News ren (eh "me | DLE OFFICERS SHG MECHANICA | Tose DANS TO NOB Wisse; , MAS INSIGHTS --\ THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHIN’ WEIRD ADOUT THAT MOOSE... ey) afar [ulali / Me} NEWS VIEWPOINT Community common sense ORTH VANCOUVER City Coun- cis decision to leave the Chester- field Avenue highway connections closed is a triumph of community common sense over technical prognostications. Technical surveys have determined that an estimated 165 elementary school pupils cross Chesterfield every day to get to and from Lonsdale Elementary School. And that even more students cross the street on their way to and from the massive Carson Graham Secondary Schoo! two blocks to the west. Technical projections, based on predicted traffic flows, concluded that an Upper Levels off-ramp connection would not increase traffic flows significantly and would therefore not significantly increase the hazards to school students. But community common sense told area residents that opening a highway connec- tion to a street that runs adjacent to an elementary school could only increase traf- fie danger to the school’s children. Technical projections maintained that three Upper Levels Highway exits in a three-block area would reduce congestion at any one exit. But community common. sense disagreed: thzee exits in three blocks was unnecessary. Technical projections and studies can sometimes wreathe an issue im dense scien- tific smoke that can only be cleared by common sense. Such was the case in the Chesterfield highway connections issue. And North Vancouver City Council made the right decision in following the abundant gocd community sense presented by residents of the Chesterfield area. LETTER OF THE DAY Push to keep promises Dear Editor: In May 1989, former provincial Environment Minister Bruce Strachan announced the province would adopt the following regula- tions: 1. Limit the discharge of organ- chlorines from B.C. pulp mills to 2.5 kg AOX per tonne of pulp production by December 199]; 2. Further limit organchlorines discharge to 1.5 kg AOX per ton by December 1994; 3. Require all B.C. pulp mills to have secondary treatment of pulp mill effluent in place by December Publisher _.. Associate Editor . Snore’ Second Class Mail Registration Numbe: Subscriptions North and West Vancouv 1, $25 Mailing cates available on request Submis: welcome but we cannol envelope ... Pater Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw .Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111 Paragraph Hi of the Excise Tax Act. 1s publshed eacn Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and arstnbuted to every dcot on the North accept responsibilty tor unsolicited malenat including manuscrpts and pictures: a which shouid be accompanted by a statnped, addressed 1991, The current provincial En- vironment Minister, John Reynolds and his ministry have repeatedly confirmed their com- mitment to adopt these regulations and protect the environment. Industry maintains that by reducing the discharge of organ- chlorines to the 2.5 level, the en- vironment is adequately protected. It now appears, in accordance with industry’s directive, that the provincial environment ministry may recommend only the 2.5 level in these forthcoming regulations. This is not an adequate step in JHE VOIRE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER, SUNDAY © WEONTSDAY + 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. North Vancouver, B.C V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunaay) LO SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Adverising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions protection of the environment. It is critical that the government not be allowed to waffie on its com- mitment to include the 1994 deadline. , We ask your readers to phone their local MLAs and write to Environment Minister John Reynolds to let them know that they strongly disagree with the regulations containing anything jess than the three promised commitments listed above. The Board of Directors The Save Howe Sound Society West Vancouver 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 North Shore owned and managed Entire contents ‘© 1990 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. Blue boxes vs. three babies every second STYMIED AGAIN! The idea was to write something upbeat about the environment to show solidarity with col- league Peggy Trendell-Whittaker. Then, some clippings of recent news items ruined it all. I'm sorry the result may spoil the day for Pro Lifers, too. Even though | disagree with them, I can respect their deeply held convic- tions. item #1 was Brian Mulroney posturing at the recent UN sum- mit en the world’s children. Quickly followed by Item #2 — headlined 40,000 children under five die every day (from hunger and disease in Asia, Africa and Latin America), What | missed from Brian were his thoughts on the some 260,000 babies who are also born every day — 75 per cent of them into the tragic misery described. Or on a world population which has more than doubled since 1950 and, in the next 10 years, will grow a further 20 per cent, adding one billion — equal to the popu- lation of China -- to our present §.25 billion. Item #3 was a grimly satirical piece on fife in the ‘tideal’’ green society ruled by environmental Big Brothers. Private cars gone for ever, warned columnist Crawford Kilian. Employers forced to pro- vide housing close by — so, lose your job, you lose your apart- ment. No more imported food or wine, Backyard chickens. Power, heat and water costing the earth. Sweaters knitted at home from local wool the only way to keep warm. No more entrepreneurs, devel- orers or economic expansion. And as to vour sex life, oh boy! Unashorized pregnancy punished by jaii. Ditto for protesters spreading pro-growth propaganda. No off-color speech allowed in a green utopia. Kilian’s satire does, however, expose the gut reality of en- vironmentalism. To drift along comforting ourselves with the belief that ‘‘every little helps’? is to live in a fool’s paradise. All the compost bins, blue boxes, cloth shopping bags and car pools in the world will ultimately be mean- ingless unless global population growth is halted. Aside from legalized genocide, that can happen only by educating the Third World to give women conirol over childbearing and by providing the needed facilities ac- cessible to all. Even then, time is so short that tough legislation to limit family sizes (as in China al- ready) will be essential in many countries, at least in the short BRIAN Mulroney ... any thoughts on world population? HITHER AND YON That's why the new abortion bill — vigorously defended by, of all people, a woman, Justice Minister Kim Campbell! — is an ahomination. Threatened by it with jail, doctors are now withdrawing their abortion ser- vices in droves and U.S. health officials are worrying about a flood of over-the-border appli- cants. If women in one of the world’s most advanced countries are still denied the right to control their bodies, what hope is there of ever stemming the mertal danger to the planet posed by nearly three new human beings arriving every se- cond in the teeming Third World? Of COURSE recycling, manure boxes and bicycling to work all help, Peggy. But they won’t save us! eee WRAP-UP: Oompa-pa! The folks who put fun back into politics are at it again Saturday, Oct. 20, with North Van Reform Party's Oktoberfest in the North Shore Winter Club. Bratwurst, sauer- kraut, German salad and choco- late cake are promised, plus wine, music and dancing. Lederhosen, etc. welcomed. For any remaining tickets ($30, couples $50) call Liz James, 988-0-156 ... Marianne and Gloria Thomson's silver award in this year’s New York gift store design competition not only put their Writings, Park Royal, store among the best on the continent — it was also the first-ever Cana- dian recipient of the award ... And any Canadian or Allied war- time merchant seamen secking in- formation about full veteran status are invited to contact Jim Irvine, 985-3208. 5 : ine ne hee KIM Campbell ... defending a legislative abomination.