6 — Friday, September 4, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Consent dissent LL praise to North Vancouver City Council for having the urage to tackle the emotion- ally charged issue of sex and children. In an often bitter exchange, council recently voted 4-3 in favor of appeal- ing to the federal government to change the age of consent to 18 years of age. The Criminal Code of Canada cur- rently makes it illegal for an adult tc engage in sexual activity with anyone under thie age of 14. Provided the adult is not paying for SCX5, has the mutual. consent of the youth, and takes reasonable steps to ascertain the age of the youth, it’s legal to ave sex with people 14 years of age oldes. : *F Councils across Canada should be Suess ready for her verdict.” article like this? Why do you think to know that rried about what to wear to court? Right jorth ‘Shore residents nee s just coming off like a twit! r’t she take this opportunity to make a differ- er life? She has every microphone and newspaper at i Why Goesn't she * speak of something worth lis- she should talk about ks, learn some issues Show. us ‘thae you are a good mother i gk ictim of | ad fashion taste. Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray is leading the way by sending letters to other municipalities, calling for like- minded councils to support raising the age of consent to 18. Gray chal- lenged the federal government to make the legislative changes. Kelowna’s recommendation to the federal government to elevate the legal age of consent has been recog- nized by the Union cf B.C. Municipalities. We don’t allow 14-year-vids to smoke, vote, or drive a car, yet there are no laws in place to protect them from sexual exploitation. Are most children mature enough at 14 co understand the bigger picture? Right now young people are being legally exploited by sexual predators. There’s something wrong with this picture. NO one said it better than Robbie Burns: Ob wad some power the Siftic git us Ta see oursels as ithers see us! Sorry, I don’t do dialects. Ask a Scot if you need a translation. Burns’ -vords came to mind the other day when Agent BU-T6 phoned in a ‘(coded, of course) message about how four Vancouver news organizations reacted. to 2 news tip. And I blushed. Not just because it revealed how brusquely my colleagues in the media busi- ness can treat the public. But also because Y c the logic used in making judicial deci- “Marie D’Angelo’s recent article on terice: handed down to Anthony Lee Johnson is one liam Dicboit sentenced Johnson to a senténce tobe partially served at 00 hours of community work. This sentence was ise Jolunton’s assault’ on Stephen Hodges; an had part of his id judges tke him ence) to wake up and realize the riminal is not the’ victim and then hand down Werte Shore News. founded in 1969 2s an independent subu-ban newspaper and qualified “under Schedule 111, Paragraph: 111 of the ‘Excise Ti: Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Nort’: Shore Free Press. {Lact and distributed to every door on Git North I must have been just as f-handed with le who phoned in wich something they thought might make a story or col- a riere i it is: Last week, before Tuesday's deadline for ar Air Canada strike, a couple showed up at Vancouver International Airport for en AC flight to London — but the crew didn’t. Just like that. Coincidental? Or was it an illegal, wildcat strike? (Air Canada, which sent such passengers to Calgary and Edmonton for the flights to London, told me the crew had “become unavailable at shojt notice.” Hmmm.) I'd say that’s worth reporting The utterly cheesed-o! couple thought so too. The wife angrily phoned 2 friend who, unbeknownst to them, is my Agent BU- TS, and asked her to alert four news orga- nizations to this outrage. Resourses Manage 988-2131 (177) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. Complolie 905-2131 (133) KILLED IN PAR! => CRASH A SEAR. Pm too kind-hearted to identify them. So IH just call them Acme News, Beta News, Chummy News, and Dashing News. The reaction at Acme News was, said Agent B BU-T6: . icious, And sort of very hesitant ... and they said, ‘Well, is it a strike?’ £ felt like sayin ‘Well, to find: out!” .. "Really, a sort ofa ‘don’t bother me’ kind of thing. “And (at Beta News) I felt tike I'd woken him up. And he was sort of dragging his feet..And he said, ‘Well, what, has the strike started, or something?” And then he said, “Well, Til sce if we've pot anyone on the airport beat.’ Like, he’s doing me a favor. mean, it was incredible! “I phoned (Chummy News — no prizes for those who correctly identify it), and F just got a voice mail — for their suugent news tips,” Agent BU-T6 said rily. “And I phoned (Dashing News), and they said: ‘Oh! Great! We'll get on that right away! We'll have someone check that our!” “I can just imagine if I'd phoued (Enlightening News — a fifth organiza- tion) they’d Be j just like (Chummy News). “I was surprised at (Acme News). I wasn’t surprised to get a recording at (Chummy News),” Agent BU-T6 laughed. “Quite a lesson.” Yes. A dismaying one. And at this time of writing I’ve verified AGO~- READ / AU Monitoring local media malais that neither Acme nor Beta reported | incident. Haven’t been able to ge to Chummy. ing -— the. reacted cagerly to the tip accepted Air Cana "5 Ste dent wasn’t unusual, and 1 don’t want to bic i add this: A, journalism herself, ci Indians lacrosse team was playing. drusm-beating series with the: “Shamrocks, and I ne these. vie ” president Woe Baer The non-stop, pulsating; . din of the drums ... - was an exhibition if: to do with racism. “Poor manners exist ani alities and I object to. the North Sha ec: expecting us to tolerate theirs under thes guise of a racial issue.” Py D.R. Williams. claimed years Of bri ging the all cultures; also wrote in outrage: Baker accused Shamrocks ) “basically racist.” To sce fone as ister see ai LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, futt address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: irenshaw @ direct.ca Manin ing Editor 985-2131 (116) ‘Trixt Agrios: hres Evers Promotioits Manager 905-2121 (218) 980-0511 (307) Acting Display Manager General Office Manager 985-2131 (105) isternet- hifp://jwww.sseows.com Michact aches - News Efitor 886-2131 (114) Peter Spe k, trom 1189 Lonsdale Avenue North Vanconve