NEWS photo Neil Lucente FIVE-YEAR-OLD Brigit King pays respect to the 14 women who were murdered during a mad- man’s rampage through Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique two years ago. Capilano College held a commemorative service fast Friday for the women on the second anniversary of the tragedy. Sacrilege? There’s the beef WV residents react in anger to Xmas tice trimined with meat A CHRISTMAS tree trimmed with meat in the spirit of fun and fundraising has raised the ire of some local resi- dents. Peter Black and Sons Butchers in Park Royal was one of approx- imately 40 businesses participating in the first annual Peppi’s Christmas Festival of Lights. Christmas trees were placed on Dundarave Beach in front of Peppi’s Restaurant on Sunday. Sgonsors paid $250 to decorate and display the trees, which will be on display until Jan. 3. Event proceeds are donated to a West Vancouver charity. But Dundarave resident Robert Newton takes issue with the “sacrilegious use" of the trees as forms of advertising. In particular, the butchers’ tree, decorated with chicken feet, wieners, sausages, pork chops and topped off with a boar's head wearing a hat, had him seeing red (meat). ely Michael Becker . ‘ews Reporter Said Newton, ‘‘The whole thing is just ridiculous. It’s a real pig's heud. Its eyes have got colored lights flashing on and off. “(] mean you want to talk about Lord cf the Flies or paganism — it's right there. it was lined with rows of wieners, it had hooks on the branches with pork chops im- paled from the branches, it had real chicken feet. You're going to have every raccoon, every crow, every dog, every cat on the North Shore dow here,”’ he said. Black also fielded a complaint Monday from a woman who demanded thet he apologize for the meaty stunt. But he said, ‘‘The tree was only meant to be up there for a day or two — obviously because of the raccoons and seagulls — for fun. “Our tree attracted much atten- tion and the old and the young had a good laugh. The comments received were all positive. There were no bad feelings. The kids were touching the little chicken feet."" But said Newton, ‘‘I live close to Peppi’s and | happened to go walking by and I saw all of these trees and I thought, ‘My God what a waste of energy and ef- fort.’ if the whole thing is to give money to charity, that’s great. But why do they have to turn it into such a spectacle. It’s not just that tree. Is this a Christmas message?”’ But Black said, ‘‘For those of you who were offended by my in- tention to bring a smile and a laugh to someone's face, I apolo- gize. “For those of you who have laughed and to the children who have smiled, I raise my hat and wish you all a very merry Christmas.” Bell’s vote wouldn’t have affected outcome Fram page 4 since the developer had proposed being obligated to rent to seniors for only 14 years. - , Dean said the city can be prou of what it has done for seniors; but she said the city is also on record as supporting the preserva- tion of neighborhoods. Dean added that the project’s proposed monthly rental rates, Starting at $495, were not neces- sarily very affordable, Ald. Barbara Perrault also op- posed the higher density for the area, saying it had been ‘‘under siege’ by developers for years; approval of the project, she said, would signal ‘‘open .season’’ on the city’s OCP. But: Ald. Barbara Sharp reminded other councillors that “‘public hearing is not approval.’ She said everyone concerned should have the opportunity to speak to the issue rather than just those who had written letters or asked to appear before council. Taking the project to public hearing would also have allowed for changes to be made to the ae NVC ALD. Barbara Sharp... wanted project to proceed to public hearing stage. plan, she added. Sharp said council supports the preservation of neighborhoods, but also supports seniors’ housing, improved parking, affordable housing and parks — all needs that have to be accommodated somehow. Ald. John Braithwaite said he opposed the project from the start because council is awaiting a report on the appropriate city areas for social housing projects. Approval of any social housing project prior to the receipt of that report, he said, would be inap- propriate. Clark and Sharp, who wanted to see the project proceed to the public hearing stage, failed to have the vote deferred until Ald. Bill Bell could be in attendance. Bell, who was sick Monday, has expressed support for continued examination of the East 23rd Street plan. “We have had enough com- munity input to require votes by seven members of council,’’ said Clark. But Bell’s attendance would not have changed the outcome Mon- day night because both votes showed four members of council as being against the project pro- ceeding. A motion to have the social planning department make rec- ommendations for increasing seniors’ housing in North Van- couver will be before council for debate next week. Wednesday, December 11, 1991 - North Shore News - 3 Protesters blast News columnists at racism rally Coalition accuses newspaper of publishing hate literature MORE THAN 100 people overflowed the Salvation Ar- my’s sidewalk area and onto the street next to the North Shore News offices Saturday in an anti-racism rally that involved critical blasts at News columnists Doug Collins and Noel Wright. “The fuel and the vehicle to propagate racism have been pro- vided by the North Shore News through the columns of people like Doug Collins and Woel Wright,”’ said Siavash Alamouti, an Iranian student and rally orga- nizer. Alamouti said last month's Ku Klux Klan-style cross-burning in front of a North Vancouver home of Iranian students was fuelled and propelled by racist writings in the News. Alamouti reiterated demands by the Coalitions to Mobilize Against Racism, rejected Friday by the News, that included: @ an immediate stop to racist and hateful literature published; @ a front page apology to com- munities and people insulted by such literature; @ and the dedication of a column to educate the public about reasons for racism. “When freedom of speech creates hatred and ill feelings towards other people, that’s the time to put limits on freedom of expression,”’ B.C. Organization to Fight Rac- ism spokesman. “‘As for misleading information in this newspaper, no human is born racist, racism is taught,’’ said Gill, referring to a. recent Noel Wright piece in which the columnist asserted people were born racist ‘‘in the sense that they instinctively prefer familiar com- — ai Lh Collins attended Saturday’s ral- ly. He posed for pictures, bought an extremist left-wing newspaper and heckled some rally speakers. “She deserves it,’’ said Collins interrupting speaker Sima Farha- mand, Society of Iranian Im- migrants spokesman, after Farhamand castigated Collins for saying MP Sheila Copps should be spanked. “Shut up racist and get lost,’ one of the louder rally partici- pants shouted at Collins, Farhamand continued, ‘‘How come it is the right of (only) male, white supremacists to have freedom of expression (in the North Shore News)?”’ When Collins, a British im- migrant with a noticeable foreign acceat, moved forward for a cen- tral spot in the crowd, indicating he wanted to speak on. the mega- said Charan Gill, By Anna Marie D’Angelo Contributing Writer phone, several rally participants blocked him from getting to the front. News photographer Neii Lucente was physically obstructed from taking a photo of the inter- change by B.C. Organization to Fight Racism secretary Alan Dut- ton. Collins then moved to the edge of the group near approximately six Caucasian male seniors who came to support the controversial columnist. In an interview afterwards, Col- lins said freedom of speech was our most precious possession. “1 don’t think they (the rally participants) understand that,’’ said Collins. oO Proponents of extreme !eft- wing parties were also present distributing literature, flyers and selling books. One rally participant refused the literature and asked, ‘‘What does this have to do with what we are here for?”’ A North Shore resident who declined to give her name said she came after hearing that News edi- torial would not give into special-interest pressure ‘groups. “I guess 1, as a WASP mid- dle-class taxpayer, am past of a special-interest group,’’ she said. North Shore News managing editor Timothy Renshaw, whose Dec. 6 News column defended the newspaper's right to publish a diversity of views, said the pro- testers appeared to have a selective view of press freedom in Canada. “They like freedom of speech as long. as it is their speech,’ Renshaw said. He also took issue with Farha- mand’s statement that only “male, white supremacists” had freedom of expression in the News. “It (the statement) might be™ good propaganda, but it is utter nonsense,’’ Renshaw said. Approximately 12 speakers took part in the rally that ended with a © march up Lonsdale to London Drugs. Other organizations taking part included the North Shore Multicultural Society and Interna- tional Socialists. Budget Beaters @ Business @ Frugal Gourmet ® Lifestyles @ North Shore Now @ TV Listings What's Going On Weather Thursday, rain, Friday, showers. Highs 9°C, Lows 4°C. Second Class Registration Number 2885