@ -— Friday, May 8, 1992 - North Shore News SON] Ess ROSS Soe Ae et Tne RUAN ? BY Mir G NEWS VIEWPOINT All night all right? HILE the etiquette of consulting residents in Horseshoe Bay over the plan to run an ail-night ferry service from the West Vancouver ferry terminal has been largely overlooked by Victoria, the value of what might have been accomplished by such consultation is questionable. Residents in Horseshoe Bay, along with their counterparts in Nanaimo, will be the subjects of the B.C. Ferry Corp. af!-night experiment starting in June. Ferry sailings will be acded at 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. in as sitempt to esse daytime traffic congestion at both B.C. mainland and Vancouver Isiand ends of the Horseshoe Bay-to-Naznaimo route. Residents have undersiandably raised concerns over the fiow of ferry traffic, particularly dangerous goods ferry traffic, during the night through residential streets and along the Squamish Highway. But the government has equally good reasons for initiating the plan. Glen Clark, the minister responsible for the B.C. Ferry Corp., has said that moving ferry traffic through existing terminals at night is preferable to having long and frustrating ferry traffic lineups during the daylight hours. The question remains as to how effective the all-night service wili be; the only way to determine that effectiveness is to in- stitute the service. If it removes daytime traffic congestion, it should continue; if it does not, it should be discontinued. No amount of prior consuitation would have settled the issue. Blame Americans for moth spraying Dear Editor: So what is the real reason provincial government had refused We find it strange that although Russian shipping has been coming to Vancouver for decades, it wasn’t until just last year that the Asian gypsy moth chose to make its first appearance here. This debut coincided (conve- niently) with the discovery of a genetic coding technique which can now identify it. Add to this the fact that no egg masses have been found and it should be enough to convince most people that there is no gypsy moth in- festation. Publisher... Peter Speck behind this massive aerial spray scheme? Why it’s none other than the devastated U.S. economy! The United States are currently blaming imports, which they are unable to compete with, for much of their economic woes. The gypsy moth scare gives them a seemingly legitimate reason for placing a quarantine on foreign shipping for several months each year. This way they can cut down drastically on imported products while still exporting their own. If Agriculture Canada, the Ministry of Forests and the B.C. Display Advertising 980-0517 Distribution to play along with this farce, we too would have been quarantined from U.S. ports along with our lumber. However, succumbing to this type of economic blackmail is not only despicable but ineffective as well. if the Americans are determined enough to boycott Canadian pro- ducts (2nd they are) they'll simply find another way of doing so. Dianne Wharton Citizens Against Aerial Spraying North Vancouver 986-1337 North Shore Managing Editor .. Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Comptrolisr Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 114, Paragraph !i1 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Surday by Nertts Shore Free Press Lid. and distsibuled to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Riegistration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 pec year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsitility for unsolicited material inctuding manuscnpts and pictures which shauid be accompanied by a stamped, addressed enveiope. Reat Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-4337 [Rag managed Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 § Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday. Friday & Sunday) Level playing field needed in abuse charges A VETERAN Ontario teacher spent a year “‘like a leper’’ — jobless, with his name and charges splashed in the newspaper — after a boy and two girl students, all aged 10-71, accused him of sexual touching. This March he was acquitted on all charges. The judge accepted his testimony that he’d found the boy and one girl playing at sex, had scolded them thoroughly and threatened to tell their parents. Last year a 27-year-old Van- couver woman accused her 67- year-old father of sexually assaulting her at age three, which he flatly denied. The B.C. Supreme Court found him not guilty — noting an apparent at- tempt by the daughter first to blackmail him for money. Custodial battles can spark false accusations by the mother. In 1989 a court dismissed charges agaiast a divorced Vancouver businessman of sexually assaulting his two young sons before it even heard the defence’s case — the judge observing that “it would be a frosty Friday when a father can’t touch his son on his pants!” These are typical of judgments in some two out of three alleged child molesting cases where charges are laid. But legal exoner- ation never restores the acquitted person’s reputation. People con- tinue tu wonder whether he DID do it ... whether he got off merely because of reasonable doubt ... or because the chifd was a poor witness. Unlike other crimes, the accusa- tion alone — however groundless —- leaves an indelible stigma on the accused. Careers, marriages and relationships can be wrecked. Attempted suicides are not unknown. There are no easy answers. By its nature, molesting often has no independent witnesses — especial- ly in the growing number of cases where the accusation is made 10, 20 or even 30 years later. As in the Ontario teacher's case, many quite young kids today are smart enough to recognize the contro! 4 molesting accusation gives them over a disliked adult. And even ‘‘street-proofing”’ children to protect them from strangers can confuse young minds about what is natural and harmless adult behavior, and what is not. Meanwhile, lacking other evi- dence, the authorities tend routinely to accept the child’s word and hand over to the police right away. Once charges are laid, the accused’s character stain is permanent. Nothing excuses the repulsive Noei Wright HITHER AND YON crime itself -—- where confirmed. But a 67% acquittal rate and other statistics we examined on Wednesday suggest the pressing need for a much more level play- ing field in the carly investigative stages of complaints. Hysteria-fed witch hunting that ruins other innocent lives forever may be justified by some as a deterrent. Justice itis not. ° SCRATCHPAD: A mini-depart- ment store for bargain hunters — tapes and records, furnishings, small appliances, jewelry, clothing, books, baking, plants and lots more — is promised by the North Shore Friends of Schizophrenics at their Giant Garage Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at Highlands United Church, 3225 Edgemont Blvd. ... Tuesday, May 12, brings the quality used book sale by the Federation of Univer- sity Women (West Van} — 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Park Royal North with proceeds for mature women students at Cap College ... And the famed Vancouver Ladies Pipe Band wants all past members, parents and instructors at its 65th anniversary celebrations June 19 — call Aileen, 430-1233, or Lori, 430-5282, if you belong. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Never say something is impossible. As sure as God made little apples, someone will do it tomorrow. NEWS photo Paul McGrath BOOKWORMS’ PARADISE... Virginia Reiffer (left) and Claudia Paton check the scores of mint-condition hardbacks and paper- backs available at the West Van University Women’s annual book sale Tuesday, May 12, in Park Royal.