6 — Sunday, December 28, 1997 — North Shore News ND on the day before Christmas the clouds cleared, id "lo and behold, there to the north, sat snow-covered peaks. Mother Nature’s snowy gift to the North Shore is both boom and bane. Three local ski hills owe their win- ter existence to the miracle of frozen water, to say nothing of the retailers who stock the tocls we require for playing in the snow. _ Many of us choose to live on the North Shore because of its clean air (OK, relatively clean) mountain set- ‘ting. This is the boom. Solace, spirituality and fitness are just three of the benefits found in the ' great outdoors. |. Likewise, peril, injury and death lurk in the snow-covered peaks and valleys.-This is the bane. Without fail each winter, hikers, skiers, snow- ‘THE North Shore News Free Speech Fund is closing in on $150,000. . .:.To press time, donations from over 2,050 News readers - and free speech supporters to the fund stood at $145,397. . Legal fees expended thus far by the News have alrcadv exceeded $200,000. ~All funds received will help defray the legal costs faced by. the News in its battle with the Human Rights Triburial over a complaint laid against the newspa-_ dent. per: and“ its’ columnist Doug Collins by the Canadiaix Jewish Congress. The heating into the matter, which began on May 2; concluded on June 27. The decision from tribunal chairman Nitya Iyer was handed down on Nov..12. Full coverage of the “hiker lose” or Defence north shore news VIEWPOINT boarders and other ill-equipped adventurers gct lost amid the beauty. Most are rescued, but some die. In 1995-96, according to Provincial Emergency Program stats, 53 people perished in the 1,922 searches that were undertaken around B.C. If not for the world-class North Shore Search and Rescue Team, many more would die. And all too often these deaths could have been avoided if only the person had been prepared. Pleas for being prepared often bombard the public after a tragic “out-of-bounds” event occurs. But being pro-active is what sur- vival in nature is all about. If you know the basic safety steps to take before, during and after an outing, take them. If you don’t know, learn them. GOD BLESS us EVERYONE EXCEPT FOR THE FEDERAUSTS What a confusing life we live! I often wish I were bright enough to understand what’s going on. For example ... You've reached the heights in your academic career — as president of a top Canadian university. Then its senior swim coach is found guilty of “harassing” a female stu- At least, that’s what the university’s harass- ment committee assures you. You take their word for it and fire the wretch in May. But next, the coach counter-charges $15,000. Legal fees: up to $7,500. Moving expenses out of the president's residence next August: $8,000. Grand total: $315,707 — not to mention the year’s leave. Nice work, John Stubbs, resigning Simon Fraser University prez. For faulty judg- ment that plunged SFU into six months of bit- ter turmoil and embar- rassment you’re offered a lifetime job in the six- figure salary bracket PLUS nearly one-third of a million bucks to vase the pain of switch- ing to it. also ruled that, while the legislation under which “the News was prosecuted infringes upon the .. Charter’s guarantee of free expression, it was con- “<*stitutionally valid. - + Extra “copies of the News’ Free Speech * Supplement, which was originally published in the * Aug. 20 News, are available at the News offices. ‘*- Another: excerpt from the thousands of respon- “dents to the cause: “ o00Q “*I sincerely compliment you for your valiant strug- Sle to preserve the right of free speech in Canada. These descendants of Leninist Bolsheviks just never give up in their hell-bent philosophy to pollute Canada and the U.S. with their revolutionary agenda.” : . «RE Rawles of Bellingham, Washington , Q Donations to the fund can be sent to: 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2H4. Cheques should be made out to the North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund. — trenshaw@direct.ca north shore , North Saore News, founded in 1969 as an ‘adependent suburban newspaper and qualited that it was actually the female student who harassed HIM. At a new hearing he wins his case and is rehired in July. Deeply depressed. ou go absent on sick eave for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, the governors figure you may be a better teacher than a president. So they offer you a nice quict history professor’s job starting in January 1999 at $99,207 p.a. You gladly accept and fecl much better. There only remains the little question of your payoff for agreeing to go quictly. Let’s see ... One year’s presidential salary plus benefits: $184,500. A one-year (1998) professorial leave before taking up your new teaching job: $99,207. Payment for tax planning: $1,500. Research grant: “Pray that the engineers are idiots who don’t know what they’re talking about.” Like I said, I wish I were bright enough to understand what’s going on. Q90 Pray thar the engineers are idiots who don’t know whar they’re talking about. The latest (March 1997) report on the ailing Lions Gate Bridge by the North Van enginecring firm of Buckland & Taylor Ltd., who've been babysitting it for years, says the aging spon — now 59 vears old — has reached the end of its useful life. Dug out of Victoria under the Freedom of Information Act, the report recommends the bridge be cither “reconstructed or replaced” within 15 months. In either case, it stresses, the work should be COMPLETED by March 31, 1999. Impossible, says Victoria, which is awaiting design proposals from three companies by late spring fora new four- ©. - lane crossing. If a winner emerges, an environmental study will take another year before construction can begin. But Vancouver City is dead against the four- lane proposal, while North Shore munici- palities oppose the tolls ir would involve. So our NDP heavy thinkers may finally be forced to settle for a $70 million repair job on the present bridge’s crumbling flour — starting perhaps, with luck, arourid the date the engineers say the job must be finished. Maybe non-swimmers using the bridge might be smart to start wearing life jackets next year ' SNAIL MAIL MYSTERY TALE: At 12:35 p.m. one day shortly before Christmas the postie delivered to our North Van home a parcel from Austria. Friends there had sent us a “Sacher Torte” — the sinful chocolate cake for which Vienna is famous. But the real story was on the shipping and customs labels decorating the outside of the card- board package. ; They showed that it had been mailed - in Vienna precisely two days carlicr! ‘And the mystery? How the heck did it get from Vancouver airport to our North Shore door in 24 hours or less? ‘ 00 MANY HAPPY RETURNS of today, Dec. 28, to West Van Kiwanis birthday boy Bill Pulizam. 0900 WRIGHT OR WRONG: Everything is possible to him (or her) who doesn’t have to do it. : : LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, Administration Dispiay Advertising under Schedule 111, Paragraph 144 af the Excise Tax Act, es published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shote Free Press. Lid. and distnbuted to every door on te Norn ‘Shere. Canada Post Canadian Pubbeations Maii ‘Sales Product Agreernent No. 0087238 (Mailing rates available on request. Rea! 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