ee Ee fy sarah { _ uS& = ede NM PRAT a BOE OE HAPPIER Tan te, RYE REE PAUL a /Fua Sees en COORG hc ee Pee A Be tet dy os [CAN SEE Your OLD LAW OFFICE FROM HERE..., MOE ®... a \ Seg SP 2M TSIGRN SETA oat TEST VANCOUVER District hopes -{o initiate the sounds of silence with- in- its well-manicured boundaries with, the passage of a new bylaw aimed at lim- iting local noise pollution generated by West Vancouver’s inhabitants. ; The legislation is loaded with good inten- tions, but ‘ensuring that the bylaw is more than window-dressing will take a Herculean effort on the part of noise police, residents and the already overburdened court system. The complexity ‘of. zovernment’s control noise generated by. private citizens is reflected in the time invested in bringing West Vancouver’s noise control bylaw to fruition: according toa May 5 News story, the bylaw has been in the works for the past six years. But even with ‘six years invested in. its trying to: All of which suggests that confidence in the legislation’s ability to be anywhere near effec- ‘tive is lacking. And so it should. a The bylaw seeks to control the use of every- thing from chainsaws to human vocal chords. . It sets maximum noise levels during specific times of the day and night and establishes dis-. trict quiet zones. Encouraging stuff for those who have been. rocked out of gentle .reveries by the. two- stroke roar of a chainsaw. But how the munic:” ipality is to police the sporadic outbursts ‘of mechanical, industry of its residents or their, occasional expression of musical inspiration is a head-scratcher. Even. the fines for bylaw: violators have been left entirely up ‘to the dis- cretion of the courts. j West Vancouver’s noise bylaw could end» development, the bylaw remains in a fragile up providing much more low-volume bark ; state and will be assessed within six months. than bite. we “lye: : ; “That,” said {, bristling rather tru- "No." the Biggest replied artless- culently myself, “is Winston Churchill. He was a great man. He » fed the British in the Second World War. Do you know anything about ~ the war?" “No,” said the Biggest, this time with a fair truculence herself. - “=. Possibly she was impatient to get to this ice cream. The 1 moment passed. ~ Just before supper I seized 3. martini and: . » Bartlett's I WANT the world to know - s that on’ ‘May 4, 1995, I was in, : upset ‘them quite « often. You, reader, - only have to‘read this. Think (shud-. - when my children — the Biggest.’ - the Middlest, and the Littlest (who “we a speed: toward the ice cream freezer — past : the new rack. But then I called the : Biggest (who is 10) back. Oa the - cove? of the London Sunday... Telegraph: were ‘photos of three.” men. One was quite stout and held , up two fingers in'a rather truculent : o Do you know who that is??1° *. Familiar « e@alled to the | ~ the field of human conflict was so Quotations and Biggest. “Now, Biggest, read * this,” I said, not unkindly. : The Biggest -- yf is an excellent...’ ‘reader. She read, “with the extreme caution of ¢ a child | “uying to avoid a slip: “I have noth: ' “Sing to offer but ‘blood, toil, fears and “sweat.” ie a “Now this.’ “We shall ‘ight on the heaches, a owe ‘shall fight on the landing: 2 grounds, we shall fight in the fields ~ and in the Streets, we shall fight in. “the hills: we shall never surrender.’ ~..“Now this.” [think my.voice broke. With that wonderful clarity of a child, the Biggest read: “Never in veil 6 6 Apparently . _ Canadian history itself ‘isn ‘ton the cul riculum --Day vac much owed by sa many to so few." 1 said, stemly:-“If it weren't for Mr. Churchill” ~= and the people inspired by his words to give mighti- ly of themselves, | would have: "added — “we wouldn't be living ‘Tike this todiy. You should have been |: taught something about, this in school.” My wife. a sweet, gentle creature when first we met, has learned that a verbal punch- up with the © lumbering Beast is the survive in our household. Also’ . she is a teacher. So she rushed’ _ to the defence of our daughter ‘and our hoe - schools, oe : “ until Grade | 0. 99 Personally, 1 enjoy a bit of: domestic fric: tion. It relieves‘: the old marital boredom, and besides : is the only hobby I can afford. We had further exchanges of opinion, ~and I may have had another martini: - '.; This moment passed too. ° ! But I stewed about the matter.” “reconstructed an Indian village as a - class project. Yet she’d been told ~’ nothing about the meaning of VE ~ ’ Day. This is not, God knows, a criti-' “, Cism of the teachers, least of all» ~ ~ those I’ve encountered i in West, only way to”: ‘ conceivably come in. The social The Biggest has learned about an - dinosaurs at school. She has recently : Vancouver. Their commitment would swiftly exhaust most people, including the more foolish of their’ , critics, The fault, if there is one, is in Victoria. Apparently Canadian histo- ry itself isn’t on the curriculum until Grade. 10. ! say “apparently” because my calis to Education Minister An’ Charbonneau and staff of the West Van school board, where ‘the job of curriculum director is’: | vacant, weren't returned by my «| deadline. vt But board chairman Ken. Haycock, who [ think is winning wide admiration, did respond. Said he: “VE Day and World War.:: Two are not covered in the curricu- lum that’s mandated by the ministry ~ of education in the elementary schools (to Grade 7). “There's one place where it could studies curriculum incorporates a component of current affairs, so one |. would hope that there would be: some discussion of that in the past: week in the schools at almost every level.” The cheeks I made threw doubt’ on that. One teacher, who seemed * “uneasy about the omission; said it was hard to talk about the, war to’ - children when violence i is such a problem. - * Fair point. But is that fear being exploited by so-called politically, : . correct mandarins to suppress teach “ing about a war fought to destroy the. most violent regimes of modern times? I suspect so. : mailbox a Eel display offe nsive Dear Editor: - >]. shop’ regularly at’; he’ Lonsdale Quay to pick up fresh . produce or just to enjoy. the 1 atmospheres; However, ‘while visiting the: market on a recent weekend, 1: ‘was horrified to see the Salmon™: “Shop ‘displaying: a, dead wolf. -eel amongst its regular supply of salmon‘and assorted fish. .! For those who, don't know: better, wolf eels are not a plen: : tiful commercial: fish “but of scuba divers in B.C.’ “ These: gentle ‘creatures';0 ~the . deep: fondly * approach :: , divers: playfully longing to be “hand fed: They do not fear mar nor are-they a threat tous -Since there: is’ no‘ ob “market” for. this: type ‘of:-fis ‘ the display of this creature w “ merely an attraction. ‘.° And ‘although’I have ‘reg ‘larly purchased fresh fish from the. store, Twill never: dos’ -again unless the _company’ ‘can assure me. that they will neve . Sell ‘them again.“ “Dean only hope | that " follow suit. : * David Bain . Burnaby: ©. 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