It’s a fact. of modern life that nobody except bikers likes bikers and even bikers don’t like each other all the time. So when the Satan's Angels threw a press con- ference to complain about RCMP intimidation tactics, the general reaction was to chortle. Ho, ho, those guys had it coming. | The media treated it as a joke. At least one lady TV news commentator giggled with pleasure because the long-haired bike freaks had finally had the boots put to them by the good old Mounties. Kind of ironic, too. After all, don’t some of those motorcycle gang types like to wear Swastikas? Serves them right, doesn't it, to be rounded up just the way the Gestapo would have rounded up ‘any minority it didn’t like. Well, doesn’t it? Of course, the Gestapo were after Jews and dissidents and homosexuals. The RCMP were after black“ leather-jacketed bikers who generally coming on like ‘storm troopers. Was it some kind of Mountie exercise in macho? Or a kind of a prairie version of West Side Story, with the cops playing the part of a Puerto Rican street gang? In the old days, the Mounties would have waited, surely, until the bike gangs had all assembled for their pow-wow, then a lone RCMP officer would have roared into the encampment on his Harley-Davidson and said, “Okay, hand over your driver's licenses? you guys. The Great White Mother has sent me.” ; The only question in the current situation is: Who was the mother that sent the Mounties in? Whoever he was, he should be given a swift kick ‘with a ‘spare look different than the rest of us and act differently than the rest of us. So, of course, it’s okay for the Mounties to send in a small army to hassie these guys. eee What the Angels were complaining about at their press conference, which the media thought was so amusing, was a massive operation launched against _ them in early September at a small Alberta town.near Red Deer. Bikers from all over Canada and some from the States had gathered for an annual party which has been held in previous years without any problems. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the Mounties were waiting for the bikers this year with a tactical SWAT team, snipers positioned on the rooftops. and roadblocks everywhere. By most reports, the boys in scarlet outnumbcred the boys in black. The Mounties proved to be the bigger, tougher gang. I've said before that I basically admire the Mounties, despite the fact that they got their start as an occupation army sent to the West after regular soldiers had mowed down the op- position with Gatling guns. It's therefore all the more distressing to helplessly on the boob tube as the RCMP = started grabbing these guys, roughing them up, and Banquet Room Seats up to 9O Available Now DON'T WAIT 987-4515 987-2602 watch, jackboot. : It’s not a joke when a non- conforming minority group _ is systematically harassed by : a police force. , Under the rule of lawina | democracy, the cops aren't supposed to discriminate on the basis of the color of someone's jacket any more — than they're supposed to discriminate on the basis of the color of your skin. . I don’t want to sound too shrill about this, and it is kind of funny when_even the outlaws in society start engaging in PR exercises, which is what press con- ferences are, but on the other hand it is an unhealthy sign when we applaud goon squad behavior by any of our police, no matter who it is they're bullying. “If this can happen tou ) US, it can happen to anyone,” said Satan’s Angels spokesman Rick Carnello. You know something? pe "ONE WEEK ONLY OCT. 5-10 | NEW HEADQUARTERS building of B.C. Rail ts being built at Lonsdale Quay and should be completed by the end of 1982. Pictured viewing plans at the site are (left to. right) B.C. Rail President Mac Norris, senior. planning engineer Ed Foo, who is project manager for B.C. Rail, constraction management project manager John Bowser, B.C, Rail Vice-President Gordon Ritchie, and Ed Lim, who is assisting Ed ‘Qo. CALL CLASSIFIED 986-6222 “FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE OPEN AT 8: 30 A.M. DAILY FRESH TURKEYS MacIntosh 2 ib APPLES CANTALOOPES . Reg. 79t each ‘‘Balderson”’ NOW AVAILABLE AT Vebselu- SENIOR CITIZEN’S SPECIAL OFFER FRIDAY 7 PM to 9 PM, SATURDAY 9 AM TO 1 PM 10% REDUCTION ON PURCHASES OVER 85.°° GRADE “A* (6-16 tbs) REG. 69¢ Ib THE KING OF Theil CANADIAN CHEDDAR 69 @ ib rin you feed fora great + sleep ~ “ . attractive too! Included are bed, - “dresser, ’ hutch, mirror and 2. night “fables: ‘The four-postet waterbedhas a : _choney-pine fi finish and is:complete with ’ “mattress (10. year warranty), heater ~-and ‘lirier.; A’super: package at q ‘Super ‘price. Reg. od. 995. 00: GOURMET WORLD Ready to eat ey y (BONE IN) HAM Harbour Centre LOWER MALL * HASTINGS AT SEYMOUR ACROSS FROM THE SEA BUS TERMINAL @ ib REQ. 2.49 Ib 896 Marine Dr.N.Van, 986-3436 HOURS: 332222 ="