Friday, May 7. 1999 - North Shore News ~ 7 Acts of violence are not exclusive Chi DEANA Emard, 27, admitted her common- law husband Wilfred Shorson never laid a hand on her. She, on the other hand, was known to punch him, and eventually killed him with a knife. Ms. Laurene Dve is a 42- year-old Vancouver woman who has recently been charged with attempting to kill her third husband. She had already body-bagged his two predecessors. A little girl died some weeks back at the hands of her mother, in a case eerily reminiscent of the case of Matthew Vaudreuil — the small boy who was murdered by his mother in 1992. In the girl’s case, the social worker had taken the mother’s ‘word’ that she was “willing to protect” her child, and lett the girl to mum’s mercy. “We know our daughter,” says a physician from Saskatoon. “There is (sic) no violent tendencies in her.” Does dad really knew Alpha Patel, 2 dentist who is in custody in a Baltimore jail because she stabbed her hus- band in the chest and neck until he died? mailbox liana ercer jair commicnt These vignettes are the stulf of the daily papers. ‘The women in them tend to share more than a penchant for brutality. With tew exceptions, their crimes go virtually unpun- ished. Deana Emard received a conditional sentence with some community service. The woman with the apt sound- ing moniker (Dye) was acquitted. And the mother who throttled her baby was absolved due to a “mental disorder.” As for the gentle dentist, we should not wait with bait- ed breath for the courts to place too high a price on her slain husband's life. Why so? Because the received opin- ion is that women will engage in violence only when pro- voked, or brought to the brink of desperation. Premeditated brutality is not part of a woman's biolo- gy. Hence, when women kill We assume that someone pro- voked them, and that they had geod reason tor doing what they did. Conversely, when men kill or abuse, it is to be expected. These, in essence, are the cul- tural scripts we follow. But anyone who has been at the receiving end of abuse trom a mother, a wife or a lover knows that women are being misconstrued, simplitied and infantilized, and in the process, they are getting away with murder In her 1997 book When She Was Bad, author Patricia Pearson combines “chilling real life examples with schol- arly research” to show that violence committed by women is every bit as fero- cious, albeit different, as vio- lence perpetrated by men. As soon as girls hone their verbal skills, thev switch from coshing their fellow baby on the head with a juice cup to “bullying, name-calling and framing fellow kids.” Similarly, teenaged girls are more likely to use gossip and cruel exconumunication in order to exclude the object of their scorn from the group. Bullying, it seems, is Reasons for sinking Seas Dear Editor: 1 rarely vote in local civic elections because I believe that the local council mem- bers are basically trustworthy, intelligent individuals interest- ed in the weil-being of the community at large. This is changing. T don’t like change much because I then have to figure out what is going on. I did a free investigating about why council wants to get rid of the Seven Seas restaurant but its reasons have so far cluded me. The council! claims that because the owner can’t put up a $150,000 bond they want him to close down the restaurant he has run for 40 ycars (without the bond); they say that they need the bond in case it sinks because the city would be lett with the cleanup costs. To me this argument seems implausible because (1) the ocean to the high-tide mark comes under federal not city jurisdiction; (2) in the event of a mishap the restau- rant owner has S$! million insurance to cover collateral damage; (3) it is a monetary asset to the city that not only pays rent to the city, but has provided steady employment for North Vancouver residents since 1959, It also pulls in large quan- titics of courists to North Vancouver; parties of 30 or 40 people from Quebec, Korea, or Germany are not unusual in the summer. The restaurant is also a his- torical artifact — it being the original ferry to the North Shore. Perhaps Dennis Washington, American pur- chaser of Cates Tugs, would like use of the space occupied by the Seven Seas and is tug- ging at council to eliminate the restaurant. The question of what the city’s mysterious agenda is remains open to this sort of speculation. At the foot of Lonsdale we very much a girl niche. Women’s gossip plays a particularly destructive role in the Palestunnian Authority, where fathers and brothers murder 20 to 40 women every vear in order to defend family honour. Anthropological research in the territory has shown that women are instrumental in instigating the murders by spreading gossip about the targeted woman, and by putting pressure on the men to act in accordance with expectations, Women also commit the majority of child homicides in the U.S., writes Pearson, a greater share of physicat child abuse, an overwhelming share of the killing of newborns, and a fair preponderance of spousal assaults. The African-American man living in Chicago, for instance, is at the greatest risk of being killed by an intimate artner. Eighteen per cent of black men killed in Chicago between 1966-1996 died at the hands of their mates; 65% of these men had no record of violence, abuse or other. Indeed, according to Prof. John Fekete, who was award- ed the Trent University Distinguished Kesearcher don’t hol can now experience our owa local little corner of craziness where Diamond Almas not only has to contend with the challenge of running a stylish restaurant that pays taxes, pro- vides ermployment and pulls in tourists, bur is forced to fight city hall’ merely for the right to do so. Out of seven city council- lors only one, Stella Jo Dean, a former Lonsdale business- woman herself, voted against this craziness. As we live in a society that Spare us the benefits shell game Dear Editor: The old shell game is alive and well according to your April 30 report on teacher benefits. Trustee Doug MacKay- Dunn says the benefits are being moved from here to there. Benefits are being Great Gift ideas for the Graduate Mont Blanc ¢ Hugo Bosca @ Bree e Filofax Cross @ St. Moritz © Rotring RA 987-9608 Keith A. Cameron Barrister & Solicitor 30 years experience MORTGAGE INVESTORS Let me help you -with your problems. ‘Di Business Sales & Purchases => Wills and Estates &> Foreclosures s> Real Estate Matters Free initial consultation in a relaxed Deep Cove atmosphere pointments available evenings & altered but it doesn’t matter because now they are under another category. Voters should consider carefully electing. any politician who plays “ ide the pea” with pub- money issues. Transparency and straight shooting is what I look for in a politician. Hugh Murray North Vancouver Hugh_Murray@bc.sympati- co.ca