CR CE ‘NEWS VIEWPOINT A question of sex T HOSE against the installation of condom machines in lecal secondary schools continue to argue that con- dom availability will increase student pro- miscuity and erode the fabric of the tradi- tional family. Letters sent to the West Vancouver District 45 School Board also charge that condoms will increase the spread of AIDS and other venereal diseases. The rallying cries of the anti-condom forces are Abstinence and Sexual Ig- norance. They counsel the former and promote the latter. The issue of sexuality is guaranteed to raise extreme emotions; and parents should be concerned about how, what and where their children learn about sex. But the calls for abstinence and against sex education only avoid the issue. The power of human sexuality should be NEWS QUOTES respected, but it cannot be ignored. To simply counsel from the moral high ground that it should be avoided is to in- dulge in wishful thinking. It would be swell if kids did not bother with sex at all, but the truth is they will — condoms or no condoms. And while some studies show that sex education increases sexual activity among young people, analysis of those studies reveals that a lot of sex education provides only the pros of sexual activity without the accompanying cons. The answer, therefore, is that your child should understand all aspects of sex: its repercussions and dangers, not just its at- tractive parts or the uninformed parts picked up on the street or from peers. It is a question of presenting sex in the light of knowledge rather than the murk of ignorance. OF THE WEEK “What if the condom breaks? Is the resulting child going to be named after the school or the principal?"’ North Vancouver resident Eve Davidson, in a letter to West Vancouver District 45 School Board opposing the installation of condom machines in North Shore high schools. “Placing condom machines in schools will send a clear message to children that you expect them to engage in sexual intercourse.”’ Mrs. J. M. White of West Van- couver, in a letter to the West Vancouver District 45 School Board opposing the installation of condom machines in North Shore high schools. “The notion that teenagers can be deterred from becoming pregnant Managing Editor by more and easier access to con- traceptives and abortions is like expecting people who are given free gasoline to reduce their driv- ing.*’ Australian professor, Jacqueline Kassun, on contraception. “It absolutely made my heart feel sick, what they’re doing in there. They’ve almost clear-cut that area.”’ North Vancouver City resident Patricia Kennedy, on the logging of Greenwood Park. “We're very aware that when we cut down trees in the park people get all worked up.”’ North Vancouver City engineer Chuck Gale, explaining that the city had made videotapes of wind-damaged trees in the municipality’s Greenwood Park Real Estate Advertising 985-6932 Associate Editor Noel Wright Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Advertising Director Linda Stewart Newsroom 985-2131 Admmustration 985-2131 Comptroller Doug Foot Subscriptions before having the trees removed. “Do you really believe interest rates will be (wo per cent by 1995? If you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you.”’ North Vancouver-Lensdale NDP candidate David Schreck, on federal Finance Minister Michael Wilsion’s budget and Wilson’s in- terest rate predictions. “We met with senior cabinet ministers and we were told that if we gave them the bullets that they would fire them. Well, we gave them the bullets and they didn’t do anything."’ Malcolm McLaren of North Vancouver's Allied Shipbuilders Lid., on the federal government’s decision to reject all the recom- mendations of a local shipbuilding action group. ; Publisher Peter Speck — Dispiay Advertising 980-0511 — Distribution 986-1337 North Shore | Timothy Renshaw 986-1337 North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualifred under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ul of tne Excise Tax Act, 1S publisned each Wednesday. Fuday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and astvbuted to every door on the Nortn Shore Second Class Mail Regstration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver. $25 per year Maing rates avadable on recuest Supmissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsipiity for unsolicited maternal including manuscripts and orctures which should ve accompanied by a slamped, addressea envelope BUADAY + WEDNESDAY + 1139 Lonsdale A North Vancouver V7M 2H4 ret VOucs 09 eater ye AnD WEST vaRCOUNER Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rignts reserved. MEMBER omnay venue, SDA DIVISION .BC 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Desert Storm medals and scrambled egg WHATEVER HAPPENS now on the way to a formal and final end of the Guif War, it is not too early to hand out a few medals — along with son:e scrambled egg. Heading the medal recipients is obviously George Bush, whose handling of the tricky political aspects of the war has, to date, been masterly. His reward — if he handles the peace as smartly — is an almost certain second term. Top of the military fist, of course, come General Norman Schwarzkopf and his coalition land forces of three-quarters of a million — one third of them from Arab or other Moslem nations. Organizing an army of that size and disparity able to rout a bat- tle-hardened enemy of similar size in four days flat — with under 100 allied troops killed — is nothing short of a military miracle. Lots of medals as well to two other groups who made it all possible. First, to the allied air forces — including Canada’s CF-18 pilots — who pounded the Iraqi war machine and its arsenal into vir- tual impotence. Second, to thousands of scien- tists, researchers and skilled workers in America’s labs and plants, whose awesome technology worked in battle beyond the most optimistic expectations. Their SCUD-destroying Patriot missile alone helped deter Israel from direct intervention that could have wrecked Arab support for the coalition from the start. And this time, too, medals for Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark who, in face of much rowdy op- position, saw to it that Canada did her clear duty by both the UN and our close ally, the U.S. Candidates for scrambled-egg facials include the Lloyd Axwor- thys, Audrey McLaughlins, Svend Robinsons and their mindlessly chanting peacenik mobs. AUDREY MCLAUGHLIN... repeating the 1930s folly. IAN DEGROOT... math teacher honored. North Van HITHER AND YON The holier-than-thou’s bent on repeating the folly of their spiritual predecessors in the 1930s who, by keeping the former League of Nations toothless, doomed untold thousands — maybe millions — to a needless death in the Second World War. Had Hitler, like Saddam Hus- sein, been halted early enough, those five years of slaughter and destruction could have been avoided at far less cost. ANY cost in human lives and destroyed cities remains, of course, a tragedy. Despite the amazingly light allied casualties, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians have reportedly died, sacrificed by Saddam. Rebuilding devastated Kuwait and Baghdad will run into scores of billions of dollars. None of this is cause for jubila- tion. Sincere peace crusaders are not alone in recognizing the hor- tor of war. But what none of them offer is any effective alternative to armed force for stopping defiant, power-drunk bullies from seizing the territory of a peaceful neighbor and tyrannizing its peo- ple. Now, for the first time in histo- ry, the civilized world — through the UN — has successfully tested the ONLY answer. If Desert Storm teaches any future Saddams that their game is unwinnable, its one-time cost will have bees wor- thwhile. POSTSCRIPTS: Still feeling new and a little lonely in West Van, lady? Then Monday, March 4, is your chance to be welcomed at the West Van Newcomers Club for women who've arrived during the Past two years. lt meets at 7:30 p.m. in St. David’s Church, Taylor Way and Upper Levels, on the first Monday of each month and the numbers to call for in- formation are 926-1045 or 926- 8478 ... Congrats to Sutherland math department head fan deGroot on his election as sole Canadian director — and the first ever from B.C. — on the board of the 84,000-member National Council of Teachers of Mathematics based in Reston, Va. ... And a very happy 87th birth- day this Tuesday, March 5, to West Van's David Mathieson. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Few things ruin your day faster than getting a second opinion you like even less than the first.