6 — Sunday, January 17, 1999 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Pass the torch OMEWHERE, Ben Johnson is smiling. So, too, are Irish swim- mer Micheile Smith and Australian dobsledder = Nathan Wheldon. All three share two things in common: they have all competed in the Olympic Games and have all test- ed positive for banned substances resulting in expulsion from the Olympic family. Recent events in the cloistered world of the all-mighty International Olympic Committee (IOC) with regards to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics have given these athletes reason to smile and perhaps some sense of vindication. The IOC has long been regarded as an arrogant force in the world of amateur sport, its self-righteousness seemingly at odds with the modern world. That self-righteousness has come back to haunt it. The image of the Games as an arena of fair play and amateur-status competition has been rocked by the bribery scandal that continues to unravel in Utah. Cities that were unsuccessful in their bids to host the 2002 Winter Games are seeking legal input on how to get IOC compensa- tion for wining and dining officials when, it would appear, ali they had to do was supply a few IOC delegates with jobs and college scholarships. The most surprising thing about the bribery scandal isn’t so much that it happened, it’s that it has taken so long for someone to shine the light on the IOC’s dirty little secret. The eternal Olympic flame of the curren. IOC needs to be doused and Passed On to a new generation. “Cheap drinks produce cheap drunks.” The Troller pub manager Teri Crown, expressing oppo- sition to the idea of restaurants being allowed to serve liquor without having to serve a meal. (From a Jan, 15 News story.) 000 “Slowly all the bad guys are moving up here and this province is the weakest in Canada in terms of sentencing any of them.” David Garrard discussing crime and immigration. (From a Jan. 15 News Inquiring Reporter interview.) Qa00 “His (Mirhadi’s) hands were out full trying to block the shots.” Melanic Brown, recounting the last minutes of her boyfriend's life in a crowded Lower Lonsdale movie theatre. Brown sat in the: front row beside her boytriend, Mohammed (Mo) Mirhadi, when he was shot and killed on Feb: 28, 1997. (Froni a Jan. 13 News story.) O00 “They throw you the keys and if you catch them, you drive.” Paramedic Darrell Mussatto, joking about how much training is involved in driving an ambular ce. (From a jan. 13 News story.) . is Q00 -“We spent five hours there and the actual visit with the doctor was only 10 minutes.” Peter Weiser, on what it took to get his son to see a doc- tor at Lions Gate Hespital on Monday during family doctor job action across the province. (From a Jan. 13 News story.) : Q00 _“He’s living in a Volkswagen van, while Olympia’s staying-in four-star hotels.” . “Beatrice Dowd, commenting on the change in lifestyle she and:her husband John Dowd are experiencing as they support-their daughter’s selection by the Moscow City Ballet. (From a Jan. 10 News Sunday Foeus) north: shore , North Store Mews, founded in 1968 as an independent suburban newspaper and quakted under Schedule 115, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wecnesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shon Free Press. Lia. and distributes tc evety door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadan Pubticabons Mail ‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing fates avaitable on request. Se WEEMEBTERRG SOA ONMASON ——— Ee es Sarbare En Distributions: Manager 936-1337 (124) Creative Services Manager $85-2131 (127) 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Frieay & Sunday) THERE’S no denying that the Musqueam Band was short- changed for 30 years because Ottawa used 1965 property val- ues to cap the lease rents the band could charge. Burt that doesn’t excuse the stupidity shown by the band, its belligerent new chief Ernie Campbell and the feds following the 7,000% catch-up now awarded by the courts — raising the lease rents for 75 reserve properties occupied by non-natives from around $400 to $28.00. Many of the latter are pensioners, «tally unable to pay such a sum, who ins, simply have to walk away from their hornes. The feds can’t be excused for quietly transferring, in 1991, the Icases, property value assessments and tax collection to the band without ever bothering to alert non-native tenants to the likely financial crunch down the road that has now hit them. So Ottawa simply can’t wash its hands of today’s mess. Nor can gloating Chief Campbell who so far flatly refuses to negotiate with the tenants. They-have no vote in electing his band council and can’t even attend its meetings. His only message to them: go spend another quarter of a million, if you wish, appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada. Mcaawhile, over in the legislature they’re beginning the final debate on the PETER SPECK Publisher Resources Manaper $85-2131 {101) 985-2131 (177) Classified Ma Photography Manager ; nager 985-2181 (160) 988-6222 (202) Goug ‘Ont Comptrolier 985-2131 (133) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. < * Nisga’a Treaty, with its “third order of government” from which noa-natives are rigorously excluded. If passed in its pre- sent form, it will become an unalterable, constitutionally-enshrined model for all other treaties — even- tually pockmarking B.C, with 50 or more tiny, non-democratic racist governments for the rest of time. Hence the sweet irony of the Musqueam hard- liners. Hf Chief Campbell, his band council and their feder- al pals had deliberately set out to inflame pub- lic opinion against the Nisga’a deal — thereby rallyirig the non- native 97% of BC’s population to insist on a province-wide referendum before its third order of government is graven in stone — they could hardly have done a better job. For that, they deserve the thanks of all who believe taxation and representation belong together! ; 90 “SOURCES close to government who ask nor to be named” often let their imagination run way ahead of the facts. With that warning — but remembering, too, the Loria slogan “You Never Know” —~ I venture to pass on the Jatest unnamed SCTG gem to come my way re the Lions Gate Bridge. : A source assures me North Shore resi- dents can stop worrying about 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. closures — they won’t hap- pen anytime soon. That’s because the $78-million refurbishing of the venerable ~ Let’s thank Musqueam hardliners span will be postponed until after Glen Clark & Co. have been safely consigned to history’s dumpster. The $78 million, so the story goes, has now been reduced to about $55 mil- lion — some $23 million having already been blown on studies, tests and environ- mental probes, Meanwhile, the deadline for the four firms tendering for the job has been put back once again, this time ta Feb. 9. None of the tour, source argues, can possibly do the work required for $55 million. Repainting the bridge alone will cost $15 million — tet alone redecking it, putting sidewalks outside the structure and resurfacing the Stanley Park cause- way. Therefore bids will inevitably exceed the $55 million budget. Bridge tolls would be the only solu- tion, costing daily commuters up to $1,000 extra per year and causing grid- lock on the Second Narrows from those secking to escape such a burden. Se if . North Shore residents hang tough on their “no rolls” stand, Victoria will simply throw up its hands and say: “Tough luck, ive're outta moncy. So stick with what you've got — crumbling deck, suicidally narrow lanes, causeway potholes and all. Serves the North Shore right tor not _- electing a single NDP MLA.” . Let’s hope our source is wrong once. : again. But keep your fingers crossed jusc. . the same! . ; 000 oe WISH HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tuesday, Jan. 19, to West Van-Sunshine Coast MP John Reynolds. hat 7 O00 oon WRIGHT OR WRONG: A boss says “Go!” A leader says, “Let’s go!” .. 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