6 - Friday, February 10, 1984 - North Shore News El editorial page Day of However much Revenue Minister Pierre Bussieres may bob and weave — and however much white eraser to incriminating ink is applied department documents mounting evidence that tax collectors have lately been under pressure to go after their victims on a ‘‘quota’’ basis. According to NDP MP Svend Robinson, a memo as late as Jan. 26 from Vancouver district tax office director Brian Kimmons to all collec- tions officers stated that employee might be expected to close a specific number of accounts so that the overall achievement goal of the group is met.”’ If that doesn’t translate as a quota system, both we and Mr. Kimmons need a new dictionary. And a quota in this context system means that fair and reasonable inter- Vouk VOICE OF RODEN ADE WEST VANCOUVER sunday Display Advertising 980-0511 news Classified Advertising 986-6222 north shore Newsroom 985-2131 ri ews Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 980-7081 Associate Publisher Robern Graham Personne! Director Berm Hithard Production Director Chris Jonnson Press Ltd. All reserved. available on request addressed envelope. ts 5 ee ae a 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck Editor-in-Chief Noel Wright Classified Manager Val Stephenson North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent community newspaper and qualified under Schedule tH, Part Hl, Paragraph tt! of the Excise Tax Act. is published each Wednesday. Sunday and Friday by North Shore Free Press Ltd., distributed to every door on the North Shore and selectively on Fridays to businesses. real estate offices. vanous public locations, vendorboxes and newsstands Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents © 1984 North Shore Free Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver. $25 per year Mailing rates No cesponsibility accepted fo: manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped Member of the B.C. Press Council 64,700 (average. Wednesday & Sunday) THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE reckoning pretation of individual tax situations can be totally subordinated to Revenue Canada’s drive to meet pre- set dollar targets. Hence the recent horror stories of intimidation, bad language, liens on homes and the cleaning out of family bank accounts. It’s understandable, of course, with a government whose follies have landed it $30 billion in the red. And the bureaucrats called upon, as a result, to hound taxpayers merciless- ly are lucky in at least one respect. Their worst fate, on the day of reckoning after the next election, would be to wind up on a Tory hit list. The tax collectors of Louis XVI and his nobles — whose similar tac- tics sparked the 1789 French Revolu- tion — wound up with their masters on the guillotine. there’s **each inevitably Advertising Director Tim Francis Calgary. Circulation Director Bill McGown Photography Manager Terry Peters Dr. P.S. Fry interviewed 150 adolescents, from divorc- ed families living in small towns and cities in Alberta, about how they perceived their lives with divorced parents. Most of the children were having minor behavioural difficulties — truancy, inat- tentiveness and poor motiva- tion at school - and had been referred to a guidance clinic or social service agency. Many of them were distressed by the divorce and by their situation, says Dr. Fry. ‘‘The children were anx- ious, afraid, angry.’’ She found that teenagers who live with their father typically feel very frightened by what they see as their father’s heavy drinking. They unsolicited matenal including 5,400 (Friday) SIN"« ee eee ee REVENUE CANADA AUDIT DEPT. also fear his anger, temper and erratic moods, and are afraid that he might aban- don them. Dr. Fry emphasizes that she studied the teenagers’ perceptions of divorced dad or mum. “‘We have no way of knowing at the moment if divorced fathers, for exam- ple, really do dmnnk too much,’’ she says. ‘‘This was not a fact-finding study.”’ Sull, says Dr. Fry, teenagers do think that divorced fathers drink too heavily, and whether this is real or imagined, it leads to fear and anxicty. Adolescents in father- headed families said they are angry, and embarrassed about their father’s ‘‘excessive’’ in- terest m women — in other words, the children are upset about their fathers dating. From the teenagers’ point of view, fathers are usually too free and easy in their ap- proach to discipline. ‘‘This makes the teenagers anx- ious,’’ says Dr. Fry. HUMILIATING Divorced mothers, on the other hand, are seen by their teenage children as too restrictive, laying down in- flexiblé rules and regulations. But often the mothers are not used to enforcing the discipline themselves. ‘‘In in- tact families, mothers get us- ed to letting fathers discipline the children,’’ says Dr. Fry. So mothers often call on others — school counsellors, teachers or male friends — to discipline their children. ‘*This is likely to be humiliating to the adoles- cent,’” says Dr. Fry. The teenager also finds it difficult if the mother cannot How divorce hurts teens TEENAGED CHILDREN of divorced parents face different emotional problems depending on whether they live with their father or mother, ac- cording to a psychologist at the University of cope with a. situation. ‘Adolescents view the mother’s state of helpless- ness, sadness and depression as very stressful,’’ says Dr. Fry. Teenagers often feel that their mothers rely too heavily on them for emotional sup- port, advice and encourage- ment, she found. | Dr. Fry has observed that children in homes with a mother and father also have many of the same fears and anxieties as children of divorced parents. But the presence of the other parent in the house may serve to soften their worries. “I know that in my own family, | tend to be rigid, 1 lay down the rules clearly,”’ she says. ‘‘When my children want a relaxation in the rules, they go to their father.”’ (Canadian Science News) NSNH staff not overpaid As President of North Shore Neighbourhood House, | would like to com- ment on the front page article which appeared in the North Shore News on Sunday, February 5th. While it gave for the most part a fair airing of both the union's and the Board of Director’s views over the cmotional ** Payless Payday’’, 1 feel a few state ments leave room for a mis- understanding of the situa tion at the House. The first is a statement attributed indirectly to me, that I lay the blame for the Housc's defica “‘squarcly at the feet of SORWUC™ 1t would Ihke to clamfy At Nosth Shore Naghbour hood House, funding comes from a varicty of sources (City Council, the Provinncial government, the Federal government, United Way, North Vancouver Recreation Commission, ctc.) as well as fees from services and mcm bership. Historically there has always becn a delicate balance between the hmuited funds we reccive and the ex- penses necessary to run the programs and services which the community requires of us. The debt burden from 1981 expenses related to the House's first nacgotiations with SORWUC was such that the House has not been able to recgver a break-even pos. tion despite a continued ef. fort by the Board. | was and Hot implying that SORWUC had acted tin an irresponsible Manner or was ‘‘at fault’ in the gencration of these ex- penses Staff are not over- paid at North Shore Neigh bourhood House staff members work together on major committees. There has never been the slightest suggcstion that a staff mem. ber could not freely express his or her views. The sitya. tion at present is tense, of course. But relations are not on the scale suggested Georgina Coustahn President, Neighbourhood House Commends bylaw on The sccond statement ts bed one of staff members not smoking wishing to give them names for ‘fear of retahanon”’ OPEN LETTER TO WY Relaieons between Manage COUNCH ment and the Union have been of a cooperathe nature 1 during the past three years of Union presence, no. strikes have been held nor has any gricvance gonc to arbitration In fact, Board members and wish to cxpress my ap proval of your proposed by law to limit smoking in public places in West Vancouver fuke many North Van oouver residents, | make cx tensive use of West Van couver’s shopping facilitics 1 cannot count the number of tames that I have had to walk through Park Royal's un- picasantly smokc-filled malls or watch disgustedly as some socially irresponsible smoker drops ash on fresh produce or creates a fire hazard in book and clothing stores) As most of us know, this second hand smoke ts not just an annoyance It 1s) a health hazard to all non smoking children and adults, and on many people, mt also acts as an allergen which can cause scnious respiratory uritation and systemic allness I congratulate you on your forward thinking approach to a major social and health problem | will be sending coptes Of this letter to the (1 ty and District of Nonth Van couver, in the hope that they will devide to follow your commendable crxampic PO Anderson North Vancouver OPEN LETTER TO VW COUNCIL The front page of the North Shore News, dated February Ist leaves me sick to my stomach that today, in 1984, there still cxists a dangerous group of old. fashioned ‘‘Wool Hats’’, in our lovely community it is incomprehensible to me that any elected body could propose such a humil laung smoking bylaw on our fcllow friends and neigh bours, as well as one section of our business community Ship wolves Dear F-ditor With all the calk about kill ing wolves, there seems to be a simple solution that could satisfy all partucs First of all, let the buntera go to tt and shoot the wolves, but instead of bullets. use tranquthizers Secondly, the Americans (<] Mailbox) Smoking bylaw unfair Good-bye to all our local restaurants, already strained to pay all taxes and employ staff Did anyone at the council meeting request the Building Engincers to pro- vide an average cost cstimatec of the proposed building changes and ventilation systems? $2,000 fine for smoking' And you pcople sup posedly represent all of us! No, I don't smoke, but fairness is a British tradition WH Weeks West Vancouver to U.S. scem to be overly concerned with the slaughter, so ship the whole fot of the creatures down south and tet them find out for themselves whether they are a nutsance oF not With this approach we can have our cake and cat it too Walter f-ynarson North Vancouver