fae '_——published) which - returned) has brought a Last week's FOCUS | | ‘on. “the ‘gumshoes | who. 7 recently invaded the home. property of North Van * ‘resident Doris Orr withbut; ja-search warrant and™ seized two. of_her---p ysonal ~ “pet--dogs: (later © ~ unusually heavy volume © of letters and phone calls to, /The News. ue The’ great_majority of-the comments received by The. _—~News"‘wére in the form of ‘letters (some already " solidly _-Supported..Mrs. . Orr's work ‘on behalf. ‘of the Worth | Shore’s lost and unwanted dogs and cats>~~ Three of her neighbors, howevér, were considerably — less enthusiastic about Mrs.. . Orr's ‘activities and voiced ' their complaints about her in no uncertain manner. Verbally, Over ‘the phone, -rather than putting their Signatures to letters. The. three ladies in question also took FOCUS to task for its stand on the matter. The most articulate of the’ three ladies. condemned, us as “sensationalist” and ; “immature”. Moreover, she em eEve—yet” tobe said, FOCUS was wrong in saying ‘the bylaw en- forcement officer had en- tr's home — he tered Mrs. had only ‘éntered her backyard (which. apparently doesn’t count as part of one’s home) in order, to seize her dogs. | SCAREY a Our suggestion hat this. act smacked of the begin- nings ot a ‘police state, ‘the lady {continued,;| was irresponsible - because. “everyone has to-obey the law.” sep Having wake in years_gone by, some direct personal © experience of how police states operate (and how jthey 7 get to be police states in the first place), I must confess that her logic scares me mors than: a little. We are not talking here about the obvious duty of all “good citizens to obey the law. We are not discussing . whether’ Mrs. . Orr = has obeyed the law or flouted it - - that is for a court alone to decide if charges are laid “against her. What ‘we are talking about is the linherent right of Mrs. Orr and all other citizens in a democratic ‘society to be protected against the in- vasion of their home and privacy by police or other officials except: 1. Where they are suspected of a serious, arrestable crime; OR--. 2. .Where a search-and- seizure warrant has been issued by a judge. : NOT AUTHORIZED Neither of these ditions prevailed in Orr’s case. If she was committing any offence — a point still to be proven — it certainly didn’t come under .the heading of a serious, arrestable crime. Nor was the bylaw enforcement officer's trespass upon her home property and his seizure of other property of ‘police. Last “hers - namely, two dogs - ., authorized by a judge’s warrant. oo The bylaw ‘enforcement - officer’s action exceeded, in fact, the powers presently. possessed: by the regular, ‘pered by -mail-opening in which the: activities of the — Mounties had. been ham ‘the: McDonald a Cominission.= posure of. burning... entering, "RCMP. barn - ‘and “egal -: and) -other.. breaking . “stealing,” citizens neglect ‘their. ‘right | and duty to criticize bad. laws | and“to work-to have” ‘them — changed '-- if. ecessary. via” the ballot box: a “s slipped into a dog control | bylaw, it can be slipped into any bylaw, and thereby force you to admit any visiting jack-in-office who may take it into his head to investigate -- with no authority from the courts of the land -- what ‘you're. doing in the privacy of your home, From there it’s only a short step to bestowing similar “investigative” powers without judicial warrants upon the regular week’s con- vention of the Canadian Association of ‘Chiefs of Police in Vancouver, for example, saw RCMP boss. Robert Simmonds calling for | the legalization of mail- opening and the limitation of civil rights in the cause of fighting crinie. Commissioner Simmonds was also bemoaning the way Concrete walls have replaced beaches FROM PAGE A1 In law, therefore, most of the beach -- apart from a few previous leases granted by the province directly to individual private owners — is public ~property. In practice, the present_reality is ven different. Over the, yéars a large number of encroachments and encumbrances on the shoreline by private owners have taken place -- including) seawalls, launching ramps, private buoys and boathouses. As a result the beaches in some places are now natrow shelves of sand and shingle squeezed bet- ween the tide and concrete retaining walls, sometimes 16 feet high, or protruding © ~ masonry seawalls tdo high to climb over. ACCESS BARRED which “fully © documented by formal survey, prevent access from one beach to another and These _intrusions, . may even prevent the usé of the beach itself except at low’ tide. In future ‘the council policy gives notice that the municipality will deal with all such encroachments brought to its notice in one of three ways: e If the encroachment creates a hazardous con- dition, it must be removed by the owner at his own expense. © Where it denies or in- ‘terferes with public access in cases where such access is desirable, the owner must either remove it or provide alternative public access acceptable to the municipality -- again at his own ani *Onpa b of the foreshore where, in the opinion of the ~ municipality, access is not in the public interest — or is impractical and - cupied ‘by the encroachment may be leased or, in certain cases, sold to the encroacher ‘Seven Seas Floating Seafood Restaurant. 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PRESENT OWNERS The provisions of the policy affect present owners of encroaching waterfront property even though the encroachment may have been the work of a previous owner and purchased by the present owner in good faith as being an integral part of the property. “This means that present owners will be responsible for the costs of removing an dikely to encroachmery ».af-providing— “rémiain so -- the” area — alternative public acééss or, in appropriate cases, for meeting the municipality’s — lease or purchase terms. including steak and chicken. from anywhere in the Vancouver area, but why not board the Sea-Bus in and when you dock in North Van., we're anchored just next door Foot of Lonsdale Ave, 987-3344 Reservations strongly recommended Closed Mondays “The principle here,” says Municipal Manager Terry Lester, “is that of ‘caveat emptor’ (let the buyer reasoning may have sounded ~~ good, The final outcome was tyranny. v In a democratic country like Canada the laws are made by our elected representatives -- on council, in the provincial ‘legislature and in the House of Commons, But the in-~ terpretation and ad- ministration of those laws is the business of our: courts, _ not of c our legislators or their staffs. And the proper function of the police is solely to enforce the laws as servants of the courts. The danger arises when these rolesi get mixed up. When the. legislators start using their ‘own officials to enforce laws without reference to -the courts.. When police start usurping the function of the courts by becoming a law beware).” In other words, the fact that a present owner did not build the én- croachment will not relieve. vautomatically — ° unto. in West Van. allowed to go unchallenged - * once the: end: As. Saly ‘to va means '-+. a" mechanism. of the police. state is already in,existence. - | That is what the Doris Orr ' case -is all - ‘about. -The question of whether ‘or“nor, the dog. ‘bylaw is being contravened is an entirely different subject. > t- him of the onus of restoring the affected partion of the foreshore to its legal owner - + the municipality. DENBY & DOULTON SALE. Un) douse SAVE 25% On the superbly sensible ROYA DOULTON Lambethware serving piece and place settings. There are 26 available patterns. freezer, Oven-proof, microwave and detergent sate] ' dishwasher, with a 2 year guarantee. Morning Dew a : of SAVE 25% On DENBY stoneware: serving pieces, place settings and flatware = settings. Choose from 23 patterns. Full 2 year warranty. Freezer, microwave, oven and dishwasher proof. Vanilla & Chocolate 3590 Capliano Rd: N. Ww “00-51 69 - dog police themselves. It was. assaults upon the! fdbric of a North Van “city S. based solely upon an. ad- - free society. . “contol bylaw is- a ‘bad peaed : ministrative _ paragraph. or. one : reason - only: the © -slipped' into a municipal dog This, of course, was how : direct POW er i given . fo | ‘control bylaw for “t Hitler's police state; Stalin's: —municipa 5A Bee aaa a - ‘convenience of ' “nunicipal police siate and every other paraeraP i ‘0. sere! on functionaries. '"- police ‘state in modern. seize wit ont “ot fe ining BSS EE open ae: Pomme do a am 8 - If such a paragraph éan be - initial law-and- -order Mle, y P