~< Par. as LETS Rebel reformer Community call TY SEEMS the “no growth’’ budget submitted to the province by the North Vancouver District 44 School Board is in reality a slow death budget thanks to a nasty expenditure ceiling imposed on the school board by Victoria. Pushed to the wall by the education ministry, the school board is now making some hard programming and services deci- sions. Community school programs will likely face the axe for a $300,000 slice out of the schoo! board’s budget. The money repre- sents the salaries of school coordinators, secretary and custodial help. But North Vancouver can proudly lay claim te being a progressive community, pioneering the linkages made between the centres. broader community and local schools. Busy classrooms after regular school hours confirm the success of the com- munity school philosophy. Adult evening sports, social services, daycare and recre- ation centre classes mean schools double as widely utilized neighborhood community Expecting to find qualified volunteers to save the day and fill the community pro- best. grams’ staffing void left in the wake of a budget cut is a hope that is tenuous at A “no growth’? budget implies that there will be no consideration of new pro- grams and services and that existing ones will be maintained. The school board must attempt to make it so. ‘LETTER OF THE DAY Comments on court case totally biased Dear Editor: Like a lot of readers, I’ve found it very difficult to stomach Doug Collins and generally bypass his drivel. But on April 24 in his column titled ‘*Tales from the loony bin,”’ he’s just gone too far with his total disregar:i for the truth. He boldly states that ‘‘The Supreme Court tell(s} a_ self- confessed double murderer he is free to wander the streets again.”’ He then dumps on the ‘‘Charter of Wrongs and Frauds’’ and calls the judgment ‘tthe joke of the century.’ He obviously has no love for the Charter of Rights. He obviously has no love for the truth either. The murderer was a mentally retarded person who was cajoled and questioned until he gave a confession without benefit of any counsel. The court found it to be so much of a misrepresentation of justice and such a gross manipula- tion of an individual who did not have the mental capacity to handle such a charge and such a dearth of evidence to support even a retrial, that they tossed it out completely. None of this is presented by Doug Collins. That would not support his fatest rant and rave. You often publish letters to the editor defending Doug Collins’ right to free speech. But where do you draw the line? When is a lie a tie? I would like to see your defence of your paper’s ethics. Because you are just as guilty as Collins. You must have known the facts behind the case when you published his column. R.J. Hartman North Vancouver may be spoiler for all parties JUST AS you thought politics — provincially and federally — couldn’t possibly get any more confusing, along comes North Van’s Ron Gamble. A well-mannered guy busy do- ing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's president of a tiny some- thing called the Reform Party of B.C. (RPBC). Its functional rela- uonship to the Reform Party of Canada (RPC) is roughly like oil to water. Preston Mannirg firmly op- poses any provincial role for the RPC right now, fearing this could weaken its drive to become a decisive force on the federal scene. With the party firmly entrenched in the West — and now poised to move into Ontario and beyond — it’s clear the game plan is work- ing. Philosophically, however, the RPBC shares most of the RPC’s goals: fixed election dates, free votes in the House, referendums, initiatives by voters and their right to fire elected representatives who flout their wishes. Its backers include some RPC members who disagree with Man- ning’s stand against provincial in- volvement. And Gamble himself, who quit the RPC only a couple of weeks ago, once belonged to its all-powerful Executive Council. Now he plans to run up to 2 dozen RPBC candidates in the fall election in a bid to ‘“‘reform" B.C.’s tattered political right wing. He could hardly do it a greater disservice. Quite aside from confusing many Reform supporters in B.C. — where polls show the RPC now tied (or better) with the federal NDP — a corporal’s guard of RPEC kamikazes would only be another nail in Social Credit’s coffin. If you add them to the 35 can- RON GAMBLE... heart and head part company. H Noel Wright Cae ITHER AND YON didates promised by the new B.C. Pacific (‘‘Pee-Pee’’) Party, com- posed of soured ex-Socreds, and the usual teaspoonful of provin- cial Liberal and Tory supporters, the splintering of the free enter- prise vote could virtually guaran- tee Mike Harcourt a home run. For further details on that, call Ontario. But there are dangers for everyone, not just the Sacreds. To date, Preston Manning’s RPC has thrived on an unbroken record of voter gains — which would be tarnished by the likely failure of its B.C. namesake to win any provincial seats. At the same time, even a Victorious NDP could be denied the legitimacy of winning a popular vote majority. Regardless, Ron Gamble presses on towards his mornent of glory this fall — his heart, no doubt, in the right place. The same very definitely can’t be said of his head. TAILPIECES: Time for local craftsfolk to prepare for the ever-popular Felkfest Craft Fair June 22-29 at Civic Square, 14th and Lonsdale. Jurors will select 40 entrants for the display and the number to call for applications and information is 988-6844 ... Add to the congrats list two fur- ther Cap College winners of the new B.C. Asia Pacific Awards — Rachel Turner and Jeff Baerg have each received more than $20,000 to continue their studies at Sophia University in Tokyo ... A special greeting to 30-year North Shore resident Ken Mac- pherson, now living in Cedarview Lodge, who today, May 29, cele- brates his 93rd birthday. But that's only half the item — he’s also just back from an Alaska cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam! ... Today, too, many happy Publisher _ Peter Speck Display Advertising = 980-0511 = Distrinution —»-986-1337 Hortn Snore Managing Editor bial Aart Beal Estate Jdverusing 986-6962 Subscriptions 986-1337 8 managed returns to West Van fire chief i i assied Advertising ; ax 985-3227 Colin Evans, 58 ... 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