PIERRE 77

Harta on baby weit headed for
‘. the good old days

/ fast 97° back

as far as the

Fight violence

HE MANY supporters, sponsors

‘and organizers of the upcoming
- Together Against Violence month
are to be congratulated. ‘

. The. November series of free public
‘community events on the North Shore is an
example of. what can be done when a
community pulls together to address shared
‘problems and concerns. oo

‘vs Violence in North Shore schools and in
our streets and homes is escalating in the
extremity of its expression.

Am Oct. 5 incident, in which on angry
. Student suspended from Sutherland second-
ary.school returned to his school te pick a
fight, is a case in point.

LETTER

THE

The student armed himself with a broken
bottle. A teacher and a student were cut in
the ensuing scuffle as three teachers in-
tervened physically to defuse the situation.

School officials reacted quickly and cor-
rectly pointed out that such incidents do
not begin and end in the schoo} world on-
ly.

Public meetings to be heid throughout
the North Shore will cover a broad range
of related issues. The dialogue and infor-
mation sharing that will take place is a
good first step toward making the North
Shore a better place in which to live.

To be silent, uninformed and uninvolved
is to condone the status quo.

Participate in this initiative.

DAY

Nove!

ber g

for answers to
youth violence

IN VANCOUVER a 16-year-old gangster ties up five fam-
ily members at gunpoint during a home invasion robbery.

In Surrey a 16-year-old beats a woman to the verge of

death for half a pack of cigarettes and a Bic lighter.

On Vancouver Island a woman
realtor is left for dead after being
savagely attacked by a stranger
while holding an ‘‘open house.”

In Toronto, youths celebrating the

Blue Jays victory attack five
women in a car, one of whom
loses the sight of an eye.

These stories appeared on just
one day this week (but typical of
most other days) in Vancouver’s
daily tab. If greed symbolized the
*80s, violence is now the grisly
hallmark of the ’90s.

Hence the proclamation by the
three North Shore municipalities
of November as Violence Preven-
tion Month — four weeks of
public forums, seminars and
workshops on how to deal with
the problem, sponsored by a
broad range of North Shore com-
munity organizations.

One of the opening events — to
be hosted Thursday, Nov. 4, at
7:30 p.m. at Handsworth school
by Capilano Community Services
Society — has a double appeal.

First, ‘‘The Roots Of Youth Vi-
olence’’ will be examined by guest
speaker Dr. Gordon Neufeld, a
psychologist and acclaimed expert
on that subject.

Second, the Citizens United for
Safety and Justice (CUSJ) will be
making copies of a fact-filled
justice ministry discussion paper
on the same subject available to
those attending. .

Entitled Toward Safer Com-
munities — Violent and Repeat
Offending by Young People, the
28-page document is a ‘‘must”’
for anyone seeking a rational and
informed discussion of youth vio-
lence as distinct from mere emo-
tionalism.

It provides detailed statistics on
current youth crime, profiles of
young offenders and facts about
their treatment by the justice
system. The closing section deals
with the various types of action

already being undertaken to help -

prevent youth crime.

For many concerned citizens,
however, the most interesting part
of the document examines the
pros and cons of possible changes
to the present Young Offenders

’ Act — the lowering of the mini-

mum age and/or the maximum
age {now 12 and 18 respectively),
transfers to adult court, publica-
tion of names and sentencing
principles.

HITHER AND YON

The growth of violent crime by .
teenagers is not only an ever-
present threat to law-abiding citi-
zens. For the minority of teens in-
volved it’s also a tragic waste of
tomorrow’s human resources.

Do the answers lie in kid gloves,
tough love, parental accountabili-
ty, or all three? Can Novernber
guide us closer to them? '

SCRATCHPAD: Tenors for the
chorus plus.tenor and bass-__-
baritone leads are needed by the.
North Skore Light Opera Society.
for its March 1994 production of .
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado —
to audition cali 893-5775. ... Kick:
off Halloween Saturday, Oct. 30,
from noon to 3 p.m. at the .
‘Ghost and Goblin” lunch and |
bazaar sponsored by Burrard
Chapter No. 3, Order of the East-
eru Star, at North Lonsdale
United Church. ... Later on
Saturday take your favorite witch
or hobgobiin to the Halioween
Dance, 9 p.m. to | a.m. at the
Eagles Hall, 170 West 3rd St.,
with proceeds to Muscular
Dystrophy. ... Aad meanwhile
many happy returns of today,
Oct. 29, to Mount Seymour Lion
Rob. Dalton.

WRIGHT OR WRONG: Oppor-.
tunities seized multiply. Oppor-
tunities neglected die.

~ One good way to get bigot’s goat

Dear Editor:

An old guy I’ve known for
years suddenly brags about being
a closet bigot.

He backs up his views with a lot
of smoke-and-mirrors arguments.

One line definitely comes
through loud and clear: women
are second-class citizens.

The idea of a loving experience
with a wife or a girlfriend sends
bigots into spasms of laughter.

There’s one way to really get
their goat: ridicule them as you
play along.

It'll drive them nuts.

David Nash

+ Victoria

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Comptrotier Doug Foot

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an MEMBER
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Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. |

NEWS photo Mike Wakelield

THE JOY of stamp coilecting ... instructor Les Rimes (right)
introduces the hobby to three young recruits — Xavier De
Pauw, Andrew Seminari and Stephanie Falls — at West Van
Seniors’ Centre.

SOA DIVISION
we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited ~
materialinctuding manuscripts and pictures which
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