The Korth Shore Nows is published by North Sore Free Prezs Ltd., Publisher Patar Spock, ! from 1139 Lonsdale Avenue | Worth Vancouver, B.O,, V7 214 PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) ' Dee halen! Human Resources Manager 985-2131 ‘im : Doug Foot ~ Comptretier ; 985-2131 (183) “Display Manager <= < S00-0511 (103) 088-6222 (202) uate ss Bagtay & Roel Eotate Fex (aworcom Fax Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax Rath Shere Hows, founded in 1967 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified undet Schedule $11, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tex Act, is published cach Wednesday, Friday and Surdey by North Shore Free Press Ud. and distributed to every door un the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rites aveilate on request. Entire contents © 1996 North Shore + Free Press Ltd. . All rights reserved. ee aan ont eusnert enor me EsSt awl eet q pon THE ONE THAT GOT Away bgt mailbox et renee cent Pereer en inns ate rani Domestic violence cuits across cultures Deer Editor: Once again we are shocked to __ hear of another murder(s) due to vio- + lence :in ‘the: family. This time, in ‘Vernon, Mark Chahal_ killed nine members of the Gakhal family — his “estunged wife, her relatives who were . preparing ‘for'a wedding, and then killed himself. Again, we ask why? _"* First, we must realize this isa Classic case of domestic violence. A ‘ woman:is at the highest risk of vio- lence when she is leaving or leaves a - relationship. . Second, it is also classic in the motive for violence which is “power » and control.” What more contro! can there be than deciding “if you do not ~ want to be with me, then you will not - be anywhere else, furthermore, no one else in your family will be cither, ‘as they are helping you.” * He had control for a moment. In order for him to have. that control, nine people lost their lives, The shock and hortor of the sur- viving family members as well as the disbelief and sadness of family and friends arriving for the wedding can only be guessed at. The true horror of it all is beyond our understanding. We are quick to judge the motives and, of course, ta say that the ethnic background may have had something to do with it. This, of course, is not true. Violence against women hap- pens in all cultures, socio-economic and religious backgrounds. There is nothing cultural about violence or murder. Violence is about power and control. Mark Chahal acted out of his own feelings of anger and sadness at los- ing his family and, like many others, after the murder(s), came suicide. What a different ending there would ‘have been if Mr. Chahal could have contained his anger and managed to make a new life for himself. _ The board, staff and volunteers of Emily Murphy House once again grieve the senseless violence and our hearts go out to the Gakhal family and their friends. Carol Ward-Hail Executive Director North Shore Crisis Services Society MAILBOX POLICY: Letters to the editor must be legible (preferably typewritten) and include your name, full address and telephone number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot publish all let- ters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, legali- ty and taste. Submissions can be faxed to 985-2104 but still must be signed and fully addressed. news viewpoint i ity HES i : : riccaahesreeeeeinniiD Pot mal lodel T seen as way to go for computers A MERE 30 years agomon- Woel ster gas-guzzlers were still Wright an irreplaceable symbol of the American dream. The idea of Americans junking them in droves for Japanese . compacts was dismissed by Detroit as ludicrous. The resi, as they say, is history. And a similar fate may soon be in store for the over-heated, over-hyped personal computer industry, according to a leading U.S. software developer, : For the past few years PC manufacturers have been on a marketing high, unveiling every six to 12 months (and selling like hot cakes) ever: more powerful machines. These, in turn, have spawned increasingly complicated software to , take advantage of the vastly enlarged memory and storage capacity, ‘and faster processing of the newest hardware. -. Boosting this safes explosion has been public fascination with ibe’ equally over-hyped Internet. If you don't get on to the Info Highway, fas with the latest souped-up model ~— so goes the marketing message — ' you'll be out of life’s race in the Brave New Cyber-world befure you . even start. (Detroit's ads circa 1950 touched similar chords.) ; For the consumer, however, the truth often turns out.to be'q different. Aside from the encrmous time “Net surfers” admit they c: squander with nothing worthwhile to show for it, the hard itsclf brings plenty of built-in headaches. Thanks to continuing lack of industry standardi ble-shooting columns in today's newspapers and magazines are rife stories of hair-tearing frustration over super-sofiware, ‘supér-machines, ' or both, which refuse to perform as promised, wasting hours of time before the trouble is fixed — if at all. cote Add to that the fact that the up-to-the minute 16- you tote home from Future Shop tcday will be out time you unpack it, and you begin to see where Larry, Ellison; boss o the U.S. software giant Oracle Corporation, is coming from... Billionaire Larry believes the typical new PC is far too costly a difficult for the 90% of techno- “Peasants who 196 decks still oly t pro- » ithe and jo a with all its bells and whistles, in ‘effect ‘ “is 5 dedi So his company | has already built a prototy future “everyman’s” computer. It can browse’ the ord Wit a few. built-in programs, it handles _ number of other standard tasks. Best of all, it would sell for “about $500 and may y be ¢ on 1 the market by ‘the end of this year or early in 1997, Why, he asks, waste thousands on your diva miniature “mainfram " ‘— with hard-drives, CDs, the lot —- instead of taking advantage of the far vaster quantities of software and data already on the Internet?..- Mr. Ellison is confident he’s caught the’ wave of the future: a PC which — like Henry Ford's Model T — Puls everyone on to the high-: ‘ way! .20 a ‘DOUBLE TAKE! Congrats Wednesda. April 24, to North Van's David and Shirley Shirley on their 25th anaiversary — the same day Shirley’s parents, former North Van residents Bi t] and Marie Karps.’ now of “ Radium, celebrate their 50th. i Qa0 WRIGHT GR WRONG: Happiness is the only thing you multiply by dividing it. balls. And not just for local baseball diamonds. North Vancouver! District Coun. Ernie Crist is on the mound again anc his pitching arm has never been better. No curves, today, readers. Just fast | TIME to break out the hard "balls straight across the plate. His mes- - sage: Get in the municipal amalgama- tion game. _ The two sides in the major league tilt -— minor league, some might argue. — are’-the North Vancouver . District Amalgamation Angels and the North Vancouver City Status Quos. Fans of saving money, reducing dupli- cation of service, trimming political featherbedding and simplifying city hall are rooting for the Crist-led Angels. Stick-in-the-mud do-nothings are backing the political turf-conscious Status Quos. In the game’s latest innings, Cyclone Crist pitched the idea of putting the North Vancouver amalgamation issue to the district public in a referendum dur- ing this November’s municipal elections. Good pitch. . Because the current duplication of services, bureaucracies, and city halls themselves demands action. The city and district were once one, but the city broke away from the district in 1907. Debate over the issue of reuniting the’... two has risen and fallen ever since. The game continues into extra innings even though the Status Quos are playing on, borrowed time. The North Shore’s use of three sepa-. . . rate fire services dispatched from sepa- rate dispatch centres is only cne aspect of over-complication and duplication. Crist has suggested putting a little © more pepper on the district’s pitches by rethinking, for instance, the current free use of district playing fields by city resi- . dents. Batter up.