6 — Friday, October 31, 1997 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Cheap life IFE is precious but sometimes Le is very cheap. Most of us do «S.a4our best to stay alive. We get the tight education to earn a decent liv- ing. We eat the foods that keep the body running efficiently. We buy life insurance to recognize the potential value of a life span should it be cut short for one reason or another. We make our deals with our gods and we also make our pact with society. There are some rules to abide by. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is one of the more important. We ure not meant to hurt each other. And if we do there are laws that recog- nize the principle that society does not condone the act. When we shoot someone, the offence is usually taken seriously by our courts. But if we maim or kill it is somehow CK. The conclusion is not hyperbole. One need only look to the kinds of sentences meted out in court for cases involving injury or death by auto. . Most recently in North Vancovver a judge fined a woman $1,000 and sus- pended her right to drive for three months. She killed a 33-year-old man who happeried to be in the wrong place and at the right time. He was a traffic control ferry worker. He is no longer. The argument for such a sentencz is that the driver did not get behind the wheel that day with premi-litated intent to kill. A reasonable an! fair measure of responsibility should be found somewhere between vicariou. fate — it was just an accident — and intentional murder. Careless drivers get away much too easily and it shouldn’t be acceptable. someone while driving motor vehicles \ § eee) THE North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund keeps on growing. To press time Thursday, donations from over 2,000 News readers and free specch supporters to the fund stood at $141,051. Legal fees expended thus far by the News have already exceeded $200,000. The final bill will be much higher. All funds received will help defray the legal costs faced by the News in its batule with the Human Rights Tribunal ‘over a complaint laid against. the newspaper and its columnist Doug Collins by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The hearing into the matter, which began on May 12, concluded on June 27 with final arguments at the Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard St. The decision from Nitya Iyer, the tribunal of one hear- ing the complaint, is expected some time later this year. a ; Extra copies of the News’ Free Speech Supplement, which was originally published in the Aug. 20. News, are now available at the News offices. ; Another excerpt from the hundreds of respon- -dents to the cause: 5To you and the other North Shore News people, thank Jom for a most readable paper . ... If we lost this last good publication, we would be totally : brainwashed in no time — this used to he an hon- est society. The independent press seems to be going to hell. I wish were still living in a free and democratic country. I am enclosing a cheque for the Free Speech Defence Fund “ with the firm belief that you will win.” — Ladistav Vobori!l of Vancouver Donations to the fund can be sent to: 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2H4. Cheques should be mads out to the North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund. — trenshaw@direct.ca North Store News, founded in: 1969 25 an independent sudurtan newspaper and quaiified under Schedule 111, Paragranh 111 of the ‘Excise Tax Act, 5 pubkshed each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. ard distributes to every door on the North Distribution Manager 985-1337 (124) 61,582 (average curcutanon, Weunesday, Friday & Sunday) Jonathan Bett Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127) PROVIDING CHILD CARE DURING THE A TEACHER'S STRIKE SHOULDN'T BE Too MUCH OF A HARDSHIP.-- .- WITH THE : ECONOMIC UPSWING BRERE IN ONTARIO— THERE'RE PLENTY - OF FACTORIES LOOKING FOR. TEMPORARY ' HELP! North Van joins Big Boxing match & HALLOWEEN trick or treat: North Vancouver District council has now formally joined West Van council in opposing Larco Investments’ Park Royal traffic access projections for its Three- Big-Medium-Small-Who- _ Cares-What-Size-Boxes expansion. It isn’t the size of the individual boxes as such that matters. The North Shore public has shown overwhelming hostility to the project. The West Vancouver Advisory Design Panel unanimously rejected it. West Van council is opposed. And Mayor Patricia Boname is pay- ing a heavy political price because she belatedly discovered that her husband Phil, a professional mall designer, has done work for Larco. Michael Becker has reported in the News that the 250,000 square feet added to Park Royal’s present 850,000 sq.ft. — total, 1.1 million sq.ft. — would make it bigger than Burnaby’s Metrotown (900,000 sq. ft.). All this in a town of just 42,000 people. Elizabeth Aird pointed out recently in The Vancouver Sun that building three big-box stores on the same site at once would be unprecedented any- where in North America. Larco’s admirably professional pitch to the public is that the “boxes” — Home Depot, PetsMart and Toys ‘R’ Us — in fact would be no higher than Park Royal’s existing roofline. iw! Linda St $ Homan Resources Manage! Sates & Marketing Dzclor Publisher 985-2131 (177) 930-0511 (319) Terry Peters Photography Manager 986-2131 (160) 985-2131 (101) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. As for one of those prospective ten- ants: The reputation of Toys ‘R” Us has plummeted. Bloomberg news agency recently reported that the chain was found guilty of violating U.S. anti-trust laws by using its power . as America’s biggest toy retailer to lean on man- ufacturers not to offer their hot-selling toys to competing deep-dis- count stores. Some obeyed. Meaning, folks, that Americans paid higher prices for their kids’ toys than they other- wise would have. Whar swell corporate pecple. My family will be sticking with the excellent Bears Toy Store oi Bellevue Avenue, thanks. On Monday lawyer Anthony Tobin pitched some tough knowledgeable questions at council about Park Royal’s lease with the Squamish Band, and the most tenacious grey panther of them all, Derrick Humphreys, demanded to know where the Squamish sit on the issue. T expect Larco to go ahead. Get used to it. QG West Van councillors weren’t pleased with a recent column about the snail’s pace of the proposed western recreation centre. I get mixed messages: (1) We’re not stalling. (2) It’s really hard because every group has a wish list, so we haven’t made final decisions. One big wish-list item: An ice rink. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, But Councillor Victor Durman sen- sibly reflects that it’s highly cost-ineffi- cient to have two separate ice rinks — _ doubling up operation costs (two ice- . making plants, two Zambonis, etc.) Same would apply to a separate | western swimming pool. It’s the operating costs that can kill you, taxpaver-wise. Common sense: Better to expand the pool and rink facilities at the 22nd Street centre, But both rink and pool, although slated for the future (up.to 10 years, in onc estimate) at the new centre, are. . included sn the “preferred option” of. consuitants Roger Hughes Architects and a community committee. It’s called “Option D.” Cost: $8,568,000. _ Tes major feature: Since the town owns both Gleneagles Golf Course and : the rec centre land on the other-side of Marine Drive, rebuild a part of Marine Drive eastward and bring the golf. course and centre together. Ha. The golfers have shot out a petition, wrathfully objecting. Can’t say I blame them. Meanwhile the clock ticks down to June 1998 when the very inadequate Eagle Harbor rec centre’s lease with the schoo! board expires. Help! I’m sympathizing with the poor councillors! . — The North Shore News believes strongly in freedom of speech and the right of all sides in a debate to be heard. The columnists published in the News pre- sent differing points of view, but those ao views are not necessartly those of the news- paper itself. Administration Display Advertising full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail; trenshaw @ direct.ca Comptroller Managing Editor 985-2131 (133) 985-2131 (116) a fe Promotions & Acting Display Manager 985-2131 (218} Stephenson Ciassitied Manager 985-6222 (202) General Gilice Manager internet- http-//www.nsnews.com Michael Becker - News Editor 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Soorts/Community Editor 985-213 (147) 985-2131 (105)