6 ~— Sunday, March 17, 1991 - North Shore News REE THE COST OF THE SPICER COMMISSION ISNT 100 BAD WHEN You PUT IT INTO PERSPECTIVE ete ORL ATS THE SAME AS THE COST OF A SOUPLE OF SENATORS AND SOME NEW FURNITURE FOR MY OFFICE... NEWS VIEWPOINT Obscene call AY GOODBYE to obscene phone calls. And to privacy. BC Tel has been given interim approval to in- troduce a new phone feature that identifies incoming telephone numbers — unbeknownst to the caller. The cail display unit could be available to North Shore residents by subscription beginning March 26. What remains is for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to deliver final approval for the controver- sial feature. But the unit is surely another gadget the world can do without. The 112,000 B.C. residents who have chosen to have their numbers unlisted — to maintain privacy — will effectively be violated by the feature. If they do not want their number to appear on_ the display unit they must phone through the operator and pay a $1 fee or use a dif- ferent phone. The system amounts te a ‘“‘convenience’’ that will inconvenience many people, and invade their right to have their number or location at the time of the call remain unknown. it presents a security problem to bat- tered women who need to call their part- ners but do not want their location or phone number revealed, and to such pro- fessionals as psychologists, journalists and teachers who could be harassed or en- dangered if their private mumbers are known. The CRTC will hear comments from the public before granting final approval to BC Tel’s call-management service. The public should Jet it be known that it would be an obscene call, indeed, to ap- prove such a gadget. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “We are endlessly obedient citi- zens who are estranged from our own experience. ‘Normality’ is truly being out of one’s own mind.”* Psychologist Andrew Feldmar, on mental wholeness and spiritual health. “Young people are not sex crazy. They can be taught not to go oui and have sex.”’ Dr. Robert Chan, head of in- fectious diseases at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital, on teaching sexual abstinence to teenagers. “TE would like (¢ know how you can teach abstinence training? I have four teenagers from 13 to 18 years old and i have found that if you teach teenagers one thing, they tend to do the opposite of what you say."’ West Vancouver resident Jeanie McKenzie, on the realities of teaching sexual abstinence to teenagers. “*T guess we're freaks.”’ Katja Cerovsek, the 21-year-old piano virtuoso and sister of violin prodigy Corey Cerovsek, on how an unmusical family produced two child prodigies. “These guys make a million dollars a day. That fine means nothing to them and that’s the sad part. It's nothing compared to the damage they've done to the (Howe) sound.” Environmental activist Terry Jacks, on the $175,000 fine issued to the Port Mellon pulp mill after it pleaded guilty to six pollution- related charges. “Culture is not like having a party — it must be consistently sup- ported.”’ Carolyn Lair, the North Shore Arts Commission's cultural devel- opment officer, on the need for North Shore municipalities to contribute more money to the arts. Publisher _ ; Peter Speck Disptay Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Nortn Shore Managing Editor . Timothy Renshaw Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 manageo Advertising Diiee to L Mee ean Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 7 c inda Stewart Na . i . Comptrolier Doug Foot jewsrcom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Wi of the Excise Tax Act, 1s published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Supscriptions Nortn and West Vancouver, $25 per year Maihnag rates avaiable on request Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept fesponsibuity for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should oe accompanied dy a stamped. addressed envelone V7M 2H4 TH VOCE OF MOTH AND WIRT WNCOUVER > = SUNDAY « WEOWEEDAY « MIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver. B.C. Entire contents ‘© 1991 North Chore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved MEMBER ee N SDA DIVISION 61,902 (average circulation. Wednesday. Friday & Sunday) Good turnouts easy - Simply ignore voters! HOLIER-THAN-thou’s are having a field day again over the meagre 12 per cent turnout of North Van District voters in last weekend’s aldermanic byelection. Noel There’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth about the deplorable apathy of the elector- ate. And now, calls for future wretches who stay away from the polling stations to be punished. Ald. Joan Gadsby — who won with all of five per cent of the possible votes — suggests that those who DO perform their civic duty at the ballot box could have their property taxes reduced. Or else, those who do NOT turn out should have a penalty slapped on their taxes. What to do about tenants — who pay their taxes via their landlord in their monthly rent — isn’t clear. Maybe the landlord should have HIS taxes hiked for renting to such rotten tenants. Even our revered editorial writer in The News shakes a big stick at these democracy-wreckers. If too few vote, he proposes, an- nul the election and Jet the ruling PROVINCIAL party name the office-holders —- thus putting the municipality into a sort of politi- cal receivership. What tommyrot! Forcing you to vote willy-nilly for strangers you can’t judge is totalitarianism, not democracy. With lots of spoiled ballots, too. Democracy’s essence is freedom. In particular, freedom to choose how you are governed. And also, freedom to be content with the way things ARE. Which is why low turn-outs are exclusive- ly a municipal election phenome- non. The only things they hurt are candidates’ egos. There’s ample evidence that if enough people want a change of government, both they and the MIKE HARCOURT... top social- ist leprechaun courting Lower Lonsdale. Sanus a JOHN O'CONNOR... top keyboard ieprechaun serenades Upper Lonsdate. HITHER AND YON people who don’t will turn out to vote in droves. That’s the normal picture at federal and provincial ‘elections, which traditionally draw 70 to 80 per cent of all eligible voters. When it doesn’t happen, it means only one thing. The major- ity of voters ha.z no strong com- plaints about the way their affairs are being run. So why should they waste time on a precious free Saturday mark- ing Xs against the names of can- didates they don’t know and care about less? That’s not apathy. It’s simple common sense. They DID know that whoever got in last weekend has only one vote out of seven in deciding council policy. That all four hopefuls seemed respectable citi- zens. And that, by and large, any one of them was probably capable of at least performing adequately. They also knew that with municipal — as opposed to feder- al and provincial — elections voter control does not end on polling day. The public question periods, along with public hearings and meetings on all major issues, keep council constantly on its toes. Week by week voters and non- voters alike leave its members in no doubt about what the com- munity wants. And a council that refuses to listen definitely doesn’t have to worry about voter turn-out the next time around! eee WRAP-UP: The NDP’s top leprechaun addresses an 11 a.m. St. Patrick’s Day brunch today at Cheers Restaurant, 125 E. 2nd St. Mike Harcourt’s visit is to drum up votes for David Schreck, NDP banner-bearer in North Van- Lonsdale riding ... Still with the Saint, tomorrow’s (March 18) North Shore Community Concert, 8 p.m. it: the Centennial Theatre, features acclaimed Irish pianist John O'Connor. The 1991-92 NSCC subscription campaign is now under way — call 988-8696 for info ... Sorry West Van Community Pops Band number got scrambled in Friday’s column — the correct one is 984-0352 ... And a very happy 70th birthday to North Van Kiwanis Club — which celebrated it last night with a dinner-dance at Lynn Manor. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: When the grass on the other side looks greener, first make sure it isn’t ar- Uficial turf. a ee wR