§ — Sunday, January 24, 1999 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT WITNESS FOR THE DEFENSE: ¥ VENTS of the past two weeks indicate that we should add North Shore soccer fields to the endangered species list. An arts vs. athletics vattle is being waged in West Vancouver, while over in North Vancouver a political tussle pitting the school board against North Van District has combatants drawing chalked lines in the grass. The warriors may differ, but their battle ground is the same: playing fields. Ask anyone involved in North Shore soccer and they'll tell you the most pressing problem that faces the gaine isn’t funding teams or filling rosters, it’s finding a place to play. The soccer season runs from early fail through mid-spring, coinciding with the wet part of the west coast upmost importance. Many fields — primarily those in North Vancouver -—— are in dire need of upgrades. Puddles and potholes pockmark many pitches, and frequent field closures play havoc with league schedules. North Vancouver District should include a playing field upgrade refer- endum question on the November municipal election ballot. It should be along the lines of the 1996 voter ref- erendum that approved the district borrowing $26 million for capital projects. As for West Van’s field folly, a good indication of the situation’s serious- ness was the large number of players and supporters who turned out to defend an Ambleside gravel practice field threatened by an arts centre pro- posal, The message? Hands off our fields. winter. As such, field drainage is of you said ff _ “Anyone involved with child pornography has some- thing wrong with them. Any system that aliows it has something wrong with it.” West Vancouver MP and Reform Justice critic John Reynolds, on the decision by Mr. Justice Duncan Shaw in B.C. Supreme Court to void a section of the Criminal Code dealing with the possession of pornography. (From a Jan, 20 Leo Knight column.) ‘ qoa japhiles, knowing my pictures are ission to every at the children’s “Being a victim of ped on the Internet, this judge has given ‘pervert in Canada to enjoy hims expense, my ex as a victam.” GOCIP (Guarding Our Children’s Innocence against Pedophiles) founder Alan Walker, on last week’s court decision to allow the possession of child pornography. (From a Jan. 20 News story.) : aqoa “S. person would have to be a complete imbecile not to find information on the proper care of reptiles and amphibians. I found 123 books and magazines at the Lynn Valley Library alone (on the subject).” Gail Watson, founder of the West Coast Society for the Protection and Conservation of Reptiles, telling North Vancouver City Council there is plenty of educational material _ available to the public on how to care for exotic animals. (From a Jan. 20 News story.) oao “We humans have been put on this earth to be stew- ards of these animals and the environment ... obviously, there's no relationship between a human and a snake, Pm quite convinced we're being proactive if. we pass this ylaw. North Vancouver City Coun. Stella Jo Dean agonizing over waich way to vote on the reptile-sale issue. (From the same Jan. 20 story) ooo “He’s on a piece of webbing attached to the buat; so he’s OK but he knows that if something breaks ... goodbye. You're in the news ” ’ Sailor Robert Webb, recounting a man-overboard tale in the Sich annual Sydney To Hobart race. (From a Jan. 17 News darth Shore News, founded in 1969 1s 2n independent suburhan newspaper and qualified under Scheduie 111, Paragraph 111 of the Exarse Tax Act, 1S pubkeshed each f. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press _ Utd, and distrited to every door on the Noth ‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Pubicabons Mail ‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. baading rates avslable on roquest. Barbara Emo Distribution Manager 996-1337 (124) Jonathan Bell Creative Services Managet 985-2131 (127} 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Bich CLINTON'S GRADE NINE GUIDANCE COUNSELLOR ( HAVE IT RIGHT HERE IN MY HANDBOOK: HEAVY PETTING 1S WoT THE SAME AS GOING AiL THE WAY. Charter-mongers threaten Canada THE child-porn uproar sparked by BC Supreme Court Justice Duncan Shaw points up once more the root cause today of many of Canada’s domestic woes. We're talking about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ‘The weapon with which every last screwball minority in the land can now tyrannize the majority — and reguiarly does. Call it, too, the bottomless gold mine Pierre Trudeau bequeathed to an ever grateful legal profession. If you ignore (as you always can under the Charter} the democratically enacted will of the majority, nor to mention the moral decency and common sense of most Canadians, Judge Shaw's ruling makes legal logic. The Charter guarantees everyone rea- sonable privacy. For Judge Shaw this means that — while distributing photos of naked children is a crime — keeping them ina drawer just fer your own titilla- tion is not. (Question for His Honour: Since shoating such photos is 2 crime worse than theit, should we now also let posses- sors of stolen property off the hook, pro- vided they don’t try to sell it?) But it’s not funny. Forget all about our elected parliament and provincial leg- islatures as the ultimate arbiters of our affairs, says University of Calgary political science professor F.I.Morton in a recent 4 PETER SPECK Publisher Resources Manager 985-2131 (101) 995-2153 (177) Pater Photography Manager Stepheetoe Classified Manager 985-2131 (169) 286-6222 (207) study entitled The Charter of Rights: Myths and Reality. “The reality,” he writes, “has become judicial supremacy and the rule of lawyers.” Our true governing clite today he calls “the Court Party.” Agreed, the Charter was a noble concept. Bur alas, all-encompass- ing principles need to be worded as briefly and simply as possible, and brevicy and simplic- ity do not make for precise, watertight law. Because they never cover every situation, they become open to endless varying interpretations by skilled word-twisters, thus making a mockery of the wishes and intent of the majority as legislated by its clected representatives. Democracy graduaily surrenders to “juro- cracy.” By far the worst legacy of the Charter is its enshrinement of “political correct- ness” and the “Human Rights” commis- sions and tribunals it has spawned — lat- ter-day versions of medieval Star Chambers which usurp the regular courts without any of the latters’ safeguards for those arbitrarily accused. Hence, a resort operator can now be fined thousands for merely suggesting to a family with tiny childrea chat they might Ue happier in the cafeteria than in the starchy, adult-oriented restaurant. Mayors across Canada who choke at pro- claiming “gay pride” days have all been forced to their knees by human rights . commissions — in two cases with $5,000 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, and $10,600 penalties. A gentle correctional slap on the back- side can have your five-year-old on the phone to Family Services screaming “Child abuse!” Bureaucrats can forbid clergy to make any mention of Jesus or the New Testament at inter-faith services where rabbis and Muslim priests spout freely from the Talmud and the Koran. And now it’s OK for perverts to get their jollies from criminal photos of nude kids, s9 long as they don't pass the pictures on. This is the kind of nonsense you get when, like Napoleon and Trudeau, you codify laws. It lets smart lawyers argue that a law's intent is anything they want it to be, and gives unaccountable judges the final say on its meaning — which may be very different fram what your clected lawnvakers meant. - It's the diametric opposite of our 800- year heritage of English Common Law which, in essence, says you are frec to do anything you wish, provided that in doing it you cause no harm to anyone else. Every kiddie-porn photo John Robin Sharpe, the defendant before Justice ‘ Shaw, drooled over meant a child’s inno- cence stolen, So “guilty as charged” was the only Common Law verdict possible. It’s high time to rein in our political and judicial Charter-mongers before they destroy Canada! Qaa0 . WISH HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow, - Jan. 25, to North Van Kiwanian Jim“ - ~ Reavill. “ Q00Q CONS WRIGHT OR WRONG: Nothing but.. sunshine sometimes results in a desert. Administration Display Advertising full address & telephone number. VIA &-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Comptrolier Managing Editor 985-2131 (183) 985-2135 (216) Tris] Agrios Promotions Manager 905-2930 (218) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. Michael Becksr - News Editor 985-2131 (114) 0 tf Andrew McCredie - Sports/Cemmenity Editor 985-2131 (747) fe The Morth Shore News is pubiished by North Shore Free Press Ltd., Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Loasdaie Avenue North Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2u4