8 - Friday, January 11, 1991 - North Shore News WE INTEND SENDING AN ENNOY 10 BROWDAD 10 HELP INSIGHTS HGS ine genet fi “IFWECAN rv SORAPE UGE HIS BUS FARE... NEWS VIEWPOINT Snow sense ORTH SHORE residents are slowly becoming snow-wise. The most recent storm, which began on Sunday and had dumped over 40 cn of snow on the North Shore by Tues- day, hit the area one week after the previous storm dumped approximately 30 cm of snow on the North Shore at the end of December. But while eastern-basec television newscasts documenting the Lower Mainland snowfall focused on spinning car wheels and befuddled-looking West Coast- ers for the amusement of their easters viewers, all was relatively calm on local streets. Police departments ir both West and North Vancouver reported no major accidents and few accidents at all. After over 70 cm of snow, the message repeated so often by the police and other authorities is obviously sinking in: leave vehicles at home; take rapid transit; walk. The result has been few major traffic snarls. It was @ fast turnaround in local public reactions to snow. On the Sunday of the previous snow storm, local drivers tried to beat the snow by ignoring it. North Shore folk rolled from driveways onto area streets in pursuit of such necessities as cigarettes and sales at local malls. Some insisted on testing summer tires in horrendous winter conditions. The results were prediciable; they also provided additional evidence to support the contention that West Coasters are helpless in the snow. But the only people who are, and will remain, helpless in the snow are those who refuse to heed common sense, whether they be on the west coast or the east coast. LETTER OF THE DAY ‘Friends’ misunderstand herbicides Dear Editor: Re: ‘‘Herbicide figures clari- fied’? in the Dec. 7 Mailbox sec- tion of the North Shere News. The Friends of Cypress letter reveals a complete lack of research and understanding of how her- bicides, if required, must be ap- plied. Hopefully, readers saw the contradictions in the letter. For instance, they told us that the herbicide which was used was “a toxic fertilizer/herbicide called Publisher Associate Editor suburban neespat weICOMe Oul we Cannot ac UnSOWCNES Matenal incluang WHICH SPOUIC be aC Lompaniéss envelope Peter Speck mes Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw .Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart & North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an indegengent per and qualities under Schedule 113. Paragrapn IH of tne Escise Tax Act, 15 published each Wesnesgay. Fricey and Suncay Dy North Shove Free Press Lid ang qistripuled to every dour on the Nortn Snore Seconc Ciass Mall Registration Number 3685 Supscnpuons fern and West Jancouver, $25 per year Wading tates avalatie on request Suomissions are tesponsipity tor UScHpts and pictures, ya stamped addressed Scotts Proturf, Later in the letter they mention that the ‘1,900 Ibs. used is of full-strength herbicide.’ In so doing, the friends are ignor- ing the fertilizer component in Proturf, It is to avoid any confusion the government insists that pesticide applicators use the active ingre- dient weight being applied in a diluted form. It is apparent that the golf course superintendent is familiar with the regulations and has properly presented his usage Tree WONCE OF MOET AND WAT WANCOUVER SUNDAY + WEDNESOAY ¢ FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) SDA DIVISION a Display Advertising Classitied Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Fax as 37 tbs. As a consequence, mast of the 1,900 Ibs. of Proturf used is obviously fertilizer and inure- dients other than herbicide. I suggest, in future, before the North Shore News prints a letter on this controversial topic, that the Agriculture Canada or Ministry of Environment, Pesticide Contro! Branch be con- sulted to get the basics right. J.M. Stephen North Vancouver 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER ———-~=———- sm @ North Shore owned and managed Entire conients © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. How many 7%s can dance on a bran muffin? ARE GST horror tales flooding the news pages and air- waves since Jan. 1 starting io bore you a bit? If so, that’s not the only problem with them. The New Year overload of stories about nickel-and-dime cus- tomers tilting at GST windmills everywhere from bakery counters to taxicabs could also turn us off about the REAL issue — more imporiant than ever ncw that the tax is law. Those placard-waving Don Quixotes who refuse to hand over an extra 3¢ on a 45€ coffee or the $1.40 added to a $20 fill-up — leaving the merchant to pay unless he calls the cops — will have as much impact on Brian Mulroney. Michael Wilson and their muscle-man, Revenue Minister Otto Jelinek, as a gnat landing on the hide of an elephant. Likewise all those generous stores ‘‘absorbing’’ the GST in ‘*Seven-per-cent-off’’ January sales. Jelinek loses only half of one per cent for the moment — which he’ll soon recover when nice Mr. Merchant, still ‘‘paying your tax,’’ is forced to edge his pre-tax prices upward. Groans about extra loose change wearing out pockets frank- ly mystify me. For as long as. cunning retailers have been luring customers by pricing $3 items at $2.99, with provincial sales tax making a total of $3.17, we’ve had exactly the same loose change burden. Nor can I get steamed up over wicked coin-vendor operators who, for obvious reasons, have to hike $1 prices by 10 to 25 per cent. As any laundromat or pop- dispenser patron knows, they’ve regularly done the same to us for years without any help from Ot- tawa. And they ARE stuck with the cost of modifying the machines. Even idiocies like the ‘‘six-or- more’’ rule may have a hidden logic. Buying a single bun smacks of self-indulgence — so tax it. Buying six probably means you're sharing your wealth with others — encourage this with a tax break! The big danger in all these New Year tantrums over pennies and percentages is that they could cause serious GST-watching to fizzle out equally fast. The information age, with its fresh crisis or scandal daily, is making our attention span much shorter. By June, 99 per cent of Canadians will have forgotten all about the first rowdy weeks of January. Their GST woes will be mentally filed away with income tax and the weather. Just as Mulroney — who doesn’t need our votes before the fall of 1992 — figured. Until then, the vital job remain- » MUSCLE-MAN Jelinek ... phants and gnats. ele- Noel HITHER AND YON ing is to stay awake and constant- ly check whether those extra billions gouged and screwed from us are being used to curb Canada’s $370 billion debt — now growing by $57,000 every minute and threatening to reduce us soon to Argentina North. Or will they be squandered on ever more handouts to win Tory votes? If we don’t keep an eagle eye on what Mulroney does with his loot, why not simply give him our shirts and be done with it? That’s a lot more important than a week or sn’s uproar over how many seven-per-cents can dance on a bran muffin! eee TAILPIECES: A special salute tomorrow to West Van’s Daniel Izzard — az: to the young girl’s heart beating strongly in his breast. Five yours ago, on Jan. 12, Canada’s internationally renowned artist — then 63 and given only weeks to live — became Canada’s oldest heart transplant recipient. Today he could pass for a vigor- ous 58-year-old, proving it with his rich yearly output of impres- sionist masterpieces painted in many different lands ... Tom Seweill’s well-known Horseshoe Bay marine firm, which began building boats in the 1930s, marks its 60th anniversary this year. Tom (921-7521) would love to hear from any owners of his early boats who'd like to participate in the celebration ... And the search is on for top North Shore Teens, 14-18, in sports, coramunity work and the performing arts. Entry deadline is Jan. 18 and the info number is 985-0555. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: One of life’s toughest decisions is when to start middle age. DANIEL Izzard ... the heart of an artist.