. 9 - Friday, April 6, 1990 - North Shore News PAUL ST. PIERRE "s Panlides & Perspectives « GOD INVENTED alcohol so the Irish would not rule the world. Yuppies presented a different problem. They don’t drink much alcohol and what they do is desperately diluted. For them, mineral water was provided. It doesn’t tangle their feet or their brains but it uses up some of their money. That must help. It is all right for those people to have social status, security, honor and even a bit of fame. But they should never be permitted to save money. If they did, in no time they would start amassing capital with which to finance horrid develop- ments on farmland and commit other atrocities. A yuppie should be forever yearning but never quite catching up to it. For this reason, if no other, the ham and eggers of this province should welcome the return of Per- rier water to the grocery store shelves. It takes some of the excess cash out of the economy and does it in a way that harms none of us and delights a few. Perrier water is like most any other bottlec mineral water, except that it is better known, longer known and a bit pricier. It harms nobody, which is something that cannot be said for Porchclimber Rye. Its social value is such that it is sometimes referred to as snob- water. Perrier absented itself from the supermarket shelves recently because traces of benzene were discovered in it. This may not have been in sufficient quantity to cause anybody harm but it had a frightful sound to it. Mineral waters rank with organically grown foods, free of all the noxious chemicals and even some chemicals which are not nox- ious but sound as if they should be. As is pointed out in a recent issue of the Economist magazine, Perrier’s claim to selling ‘‘natural- ly carbonated’’ water is subject to some elasticity of terminology. A carbonated water issues from Last year, some of the benzene was not being adequately filtered; it crept into the classy little green bottles and went on store shelves around the world. For at least half a year, hardly any of the customers seemed to notice that their Perrier had a wiff of Zippo Lighter Fluid to it. They insisted, as before, that it was the only stuff pure enough to pass their tonsils. At first the company claimed that the benzene had been added F. or at least half a year, hardly any of the customers seemed to notice that their Perrier had a wiff of Zippo Lighter Fluid to it.” a spring at the Perrier site in France, but it is not quite as frothy as some customers would prefer. To make it bubble more, Perrier draws water from a spring that has lots of fizz but, unfortunately, also some benzene in it. The bottling plant removes the benzene from this water before combining it with the other for the final bottling. by a careless employee who had been using the stuff to clean bot- tes. No big company is ever without a careless employee for blaming purposes. See Exxon’s Valdez oil spill. The compay sacrificed Captain Hazelwood within a week. It took the American courts an entire year te investigate properly and in the end the courts cleared the tanker captain of all but the most minor of the charges against him. In the Perrier case, the careless bottlevasher story has been aban- doned. Instead we are told that Perrier is again coming to us from a spring that is as pure as it has been for thousands of years. It is a rare spring that isn’t. That is the nature of springs; however, the Economist reporter is bold enough to note:‘‘No mention is made of what has to be taken out to make the bubbles natural.’”’ The magazine then goes on to note that an American scientific magazine, Archives of En- vironmental Health, analyzed 31 of the mineral waters being sold in bottles in the marketplace and found that 24 of them were not up to standards of ordinary public water supplies. Also, within the last two years, consumer reports ran a blindfold test of mineral water tasters. It turned out that one of the cheapest and least glamorous, Canada Dry, was in the top five. Canada Dry has no springs at all. They poke water in one side and bubbles in the other. There is probably not one of the snobwaters, cheap or dear, that can cause harm, unless you pour it in the car’s gas tank. But there must be a reason for bottled water to sell so well, particularly in Brit- ish Columbia with some of the world’s purest drinking water. Siphoniag off excess yuppie money is as good an explanation as any. e Students win college awards SIX NORTH Shore schools won a total of 12 awards at the annual Club Optima competition held recently at the North Vancouver campus of Capilano College. This year, Club Optima at- tracted over 240 students from 24 high schools in the Lower Mainland, Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast. SKILLS TESTED Students compete in teams of two and test their skills in areas in- cluding English, acting, music, mathematics, science and linguistics for the prize of a free college course. Carson Graham students Derek Murphy and Shahram Zanganeh won second place in business com- puting, Angel Moy and Mahyar Etminan won first place in Spanish, Dino Dinicolo and Amanda Sinclair took first place in theatre, followed by Torquille De- jonge and Gio Corsi. WINDSOR STUDENTS Windsor students Michelle Gaudet and Ian Stark took first place in chemistry, followed by Seycove students Koko Yamamoto and Robbie Duncan. Windsor students Sophie Spilborghs and Coreen Rowa took second place in French, followed by Sentinel students Mitra Alberni and Sonalee Trivedi. Collingwood students Anna Lewis and Natasha Chand took third place in English, while Wind- sor students Pau! Miyagawa and Kevin Malakoff took first place in mathematics. In the marketing category, first place went to Windsor students Lisa Naude, Charlene McQueen and Lana Reynolds, while Sutherland students Jennifer Smith and Jodi Uyede finished third overall. TO ALL PET OWNERS..... @3xg The West Vancouver S.P.C.A. wish to advise that there are large numbers of coyotes on the North Shore that are feeding on small pets, particularly cats. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT ALL PET OWNERS KEEP THEIR PETS INDOORS AT LEAST FROM DUSK TO A FEW HOURS AFTER DAWN since this is when the coyotes are actively hunting food. (Recent daytime sightings have been reported alsa) The proper authorities are aware of this problem but because of the numbers involved in the area, it is impossible to eliminate the danger. The use of poisons, baits or traps is strictly prohibited because of the high possibility that neighbourhood pets or small children may be poisoned or injured. We therefore advise residents not to take any action themselves against the coyotes except keeping your pets indoors. Don’t be complacent ... Sightings have been authenticated from Horseshoe Bay to Capilano River — also North & South. Protect your small pets by keeping them indoors from Dusk to Dawn. This ad has been paid for by the West Vancouver Branch of the BC. S.PC.A. as part of our continuing public service to the people of the North Shore and for the protection of animals.