[4 id : YOU ARE CETING S\EEEEPY.. ... SLEEEEEPY... YOU ARE STROLLING IN A PRISTINE WEST COAST RAIN FOREST, YOU CAN SMELL THE FIR NEEDLES ABOVE. YOU CAN FEEL THE COOL, DAMP AIR. YOU CAN HEAR THE LONELY CALL OF THE SPOTTED OWL... NEWS VIEWPOINT No security N ITS effort to better protect the rights of tenants and their claim to security deposits, the province, in typical knee jerk fashion, has stacked the deck against landlords, It all smacks of the kind of appeasement policy the NDP seems to take much delight in specializing in wher it comes fo taking care of its friendly special interest groups. As of September 15, any landlord wanting to withhold some or all of a tenant’s damage deposit, or interest accrued on such a deposit, can only do so with the tenant’s per- mission or by order of an arbitrator. The condition comes thanks to Bill 67, the Residential Tenancy Amendment Act passed last year. Prior to the change in legislation, land- lords were allowed 30 days from the closing fa tenancy to return a security deposit to the vacating tenant. Landtords were also in a position to uni- laterally hold back some or all of the deposit. if things got sticky, a tenant could apply for arbitration and resolve the dispute within the setting of a hearing. Now if a landlord fails to return the money within 15 days a tenant can apply for an order without a hearing or notification of the landlord. in theory, security deposits buy some peace of mind for landlords. If a tenant has an eviction party for example, there are some immediate fiscal consequences. The system as it was, worked for most and when it dida’t there was the chance for a hearing involving both sides. The new mea- sures are harsh given that landlords were already accountable for withholding deposit money. LETTER OF THE DAVY Women’s monument unifies Canadians Dear Editor: The Women’s Monument project was recently criticized for hijacking the public purse for a tasteless cause —— one pitting women against men. Nothing could be further from the truth, The Women’s Monument evolved {rom the need to remember the 14 women murdered at the l'Ecole Polytechnique, in Montreal on December 6. 1989. Most Canadians will remember the name of the murderer. Few remember the names of the women. Publisher... Managing Associate &ditor Sales & Man‘ sting 0 Directur Comptroller... These 14 women represent the many women murdered yearly in Canada and around the world. In Canada, 92% are killed by a male family member or acquaintance. Voicing this reality on a public mon- ument is integral to healing and changing our society. The Women’s Monument's goal is to build a permanent national monument in Vancouver's Thornton Park; public: art to celebrate and mourn women who are victims of violence. AS men have created 98% of public art in Vancouver, it is fit- Display Advertising 980-051 1 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Newsroom Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 985-2131 Administration ting it be built by women. Far from dividing men and women, the Women’s Monument brings Canadians together. Contributors can be named at the site — making # permanent public stand against violence against women. The Women's Monument will be a place where, us the Monument will read, “we, their sisters and brothers, remember, and work for a better world.” Lisa Brisebois Committee Member North Vancouver 986-1237 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 this newspaper contains recytied fibre North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Posi Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No, 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are wolcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited matariaf including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamesd, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. North Vancouver 6.C. North Shore Managed —_——————- MEMBER 3 i Go SRV SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents @ 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. ¥ ‘Enjoyment program’ | remembered YOU CAN always tell the real vets. We’re modest. While others blather on about haw the: won the war, beat up Hiuer, and still found time to break a female heart or two, we sit quietly at the back of the room, sucking on our pipes, saying nothing. Take Doug Collins. Well, sure, ol’ Doug was at Dunkirk, led a pla- toon or something al age 20, held back the Hun while the retreating British army clambered on to boats and departed for England, and was captured, Then —- look, f love Doug, but there's a bit of the grandstander in him, isn’t there? — he escaped from German prisoner-of-war camps nine or 10 times. I mean, a bit much, isn’t it? Two or three escapes would have shown his sincerity. No onc could have called him a slacker. But /0 escapes? Well, I think that’s rather Hollywood. In fact, not even Tinseltown would dare make a picture about a POW who escaped 10 times. ‘You can only stretch credulity so far. About the fifth time, everyone would head for the popcorn stand. Around the sixth or seven, they'd clear the theatre. 66 [hey were tottering ghosts. Deserted and decaying. 99 !n contrast, I don't talk about my military experience. It’s reward enough to know that I served my country’. And during a war that was as nasty as, and more frustrating than, the Second World War. The Korean War. it was 1952. The atom bomb hovered over the world. Not just the piddling explosives that Doug expe- rienced in 1940. And I was there — backing up our fighting men. In Mount Hope, Ont. In City of Hamilton 424 Squadron, RCAF. In the Summer Employment Program. We called it the “Summer Enjoyment Program.” But you know how we military people make light of danger and pain. Always a quip, a joke, even while the docs remove a fist-sized piece of shrapnel without anesthet- ic. Years later, | learned that close friend and West Vancouver resident Roy Peterson had been in the same nation-wide program that year. But Roy scorned my sacrifice. “You were in Ontario. | was right in the front lines of the Korean War,” he scoffed. He was in Comox, B.C. In fact, it was great fun. We proudly wore the woolly blue RCAF uniform — hot enough to melt flesh — aid leamed the rudi- Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES ments of airframe, air engine and (my specialty) instruments. And we were paid $40 a week. Handsome figure fer high school kids. I jest about it now. But with a catch in my throat. A couple of weeks ago | went _back to the old base. Today, the area where we marched and studied is the site of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Which is fitting. Mount Hope base was a great training base under the Commonwealth Air Traiaing Plan of 1940-45. Thousands of young pilots from the red bits on the map of the world learned to fly there. ; T lived on Hamilton’s famous Mountain then, and the yellow Harvard trainers overhead are indetibly part of my youth. I'm never dry-eyed at West Vancouver’s Remembrance Day services when I hear the approach- ing drone of the old warplanes in the (usually we?) skies and... there _ they are, dear old planes, still aloft after half a century! The museum, if you're ever in those parts, is worth a visit. When I was there most of its planes were at - a-Batavia, New York, airshow, but there was a wonderful Lancaster (one of only two still flying in the word), a Harvard, and a few others. Later I wandered over the old base. It was unrecognizable. Except for the quonset huts where our classes had been held. They were tottering ghosts. Deserted and decaying. J peered through the dusty win- dows. These rooms had once been alive with vibrant young men and, I suppose, the rare young woman, That time of trial (and error) had vanished like the youthful faces and bodies. I was suddenly old. The museum personnel I met hadn't been born when the war was on. I mentioned Squadron Leader Norman Shrive and Flight Lieutenant Les Prince, who became distinguished university professors after war service. They were vague names from the past to them. Yes, | Found the quonset huts. But I didn’t find the lad of [7 who grew up a lot that summer 42 years ago. Closer to home: it’s deplorable that, as P've heard, about 350 West Vancouver kids have been accepted for minor league hockey this winter — and 130-odd turned away for lack of ice time.