north shore. 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 PETER SPECK Publisher See-is97 2) SOB181 (2) Dleplay & Real Estste Fax Kowarcor Fax Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax Worth Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburbart and qualified under Schedule $1, Paragraph 111 of the Encise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North ‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mait Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Maiting rates available on request. Entire contents © 1995 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved © EIDE EEA REBATE RW AE AMA LRG LBA TD ARN PTA SV GT IMSL RECEP RID news viewpoint | Thinking and driving RIVERS shouldn't have to dig D«= deep into their supply of road sense to appreciate the insights of Dr. Bruce Campana. They need only be open to tapping their God-given supply of common sense to appreciate the horrors that await those who drink and drive. Dr. Campana recently addressed the staff at ICBC’s head office in North Vancouver on the tragic consequences of drinking and driving. The trauma surgeon pulled no punch- es in his presentation. He related in graphic detail the gruesome story of a six-year-old girl who was the passenger y AND BECAUSE OF YOUR in the car of drunk driver. She had had her head out the window taking in the scenery; her mother, who was driving, had been drinking. She rolled the vehicle. Her daughter lost her right eye and parts of her skull and scalp when her head got trapped between the road and the car. Dr. Campana was the surgeon who had to try to patch up the mess left in that accident. The experience, he told his audience, is one he will never forget. Those at the Dec. 13 ICBC presenta- tion will likely not soon forget that image either. And those driving between social events during this holiday season andg any other time of the year should not forget the social and financial toll exact-§ ed each year in B.C. by drinking andg driving. In 1994, for example, drinking-and- driving-related accidents killed 159 peo-# ple in B.C. and injured another 5,194, @ It contributed to 30% of all traffic fatalities in B.C. during the same period. @ The estimated costs of police enforce-f ment, court time and medical services directly connected to impaired-driving accidents is $200 million per year. Sobering images; sobering statistics. § They are disregarded at drivers’ peril. # mailbox Quake crack clarified| NAUGHTY HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD, | ALL You GET IS A LUMP OF COAL SUPPLY CAN BE ARRANGED AT A VERY REASONABLE ‘TWAS THE month before Christmas, and all through the house Every creature was stirring, includ- ing the mouse. The children to school, and the par- ents to work Went off with a bound and a leap and a jerk; A mouth full of cereal, a swallow of tea, And the dogs to the woods for a walk and a pee. Mom’s car started off with a lurch and a wheeze, And Mom herself with lunches of apples and cheese For the children, dropped off at their warm little schools, While Dad spent his day suffering numerous fools. The stresses, how awful! The bur- dens, how heavy! The costs of repairs on the rusting old Chevy! And everything else, including the tax! The whole population pushed to the max! “Christmas coming,” thought Mom, “already I’m worried, Two meetings this week, and an old neighbor buried. Did Dad send the flowers? Ben's teacher to meet And Amy today looked as white as a sheet. I hcpe it's not flu that’s going around She coughed in the night, and I didn't like the sound. Did Dad mail the mortgage? Did ! pay B.C. Tel? Trevor Lautens garden of biases What on earth’s in the fridge that makes that odd smell? What's wrong with the traffic. it’s moving so slow —— Can’t that guy see the light has long tumed to ‘Go’? Well, no need to worry, I’ve still got four weeks And right now I'm concerned with Amy's pale cheeks. What then for dinner? And, oh, I’ve been meaning To drop off that video, and pick up the cleaning. The library's closed and my book’s overdue — Open gifts Christmas Eve, or maybe a few? Last year Dad got cross, and every- one cried And Janie announced that Santa Claus lied! Ben shamed us all at the Child's Christmas Mime Dear Editor: Your Dec. 6 article regarding my publication Earthquake Survival requires clarification. The statement “Tectonically speaking, Mother Nature is consti; at- ed in her B.C. coastal arca and the pressure is bui'ling’ appears as a sub-hadline in quotation marks, giv- ing the false impression of attributing this vulgar comment to me. I never made any such statement; it should be attributed to the reporter, Michael Becker, whose statement it is. The article quotes me out of con- text in referring to my publication, where the article states “some of the experts who I showed it to said it’s very well done but you don’t need a lot of this stuff. I was able to approach it from the point of view of someone who doesn’t really know anything about earthquake prepared- ness.” What I said is that the experts who made those comments are so knowledgeable that they assume that tzcause they know certain informa- — Oh well, still four weeks That's plenty of time!” eces ‘Twas the week before. Christmas; pandemonium ruled, Mom wore a brave smile, but no one was fooled. The turkey unordered, the presents ungotten, And Janie and Dad feeling equally rotten. The storekeepers mourned that no one was buying — Yet the malls were ail jammed, so someone is lying. For the parking lots bulge, not a space to be found, And the exploits of Rudolph lend unearthly sound. The charity letters poured in the mail slot; Which cause to support? And which ones to not? From the Home for Aged Donkeys, to Fattening the Slight, Each hearty good project put on the bite. With every disaster, Mom's tight smile tightened Her work far from finished, her bur- den unlightened. Dad ducked out of work, loss of income unreckoned To see Amy’s concert, her part a mere second. Ben's class formed a choir, and sang to the old, And Mom wondered whether she’d quietly fold. An ordinary day's load was too heavy to bear But — Christmas on top of it? And tion, the general public will also [aman know hat same information that I Bai was ir ..uding and that they felt it was theret” se not to include chat information. But because I was. researching and writing Earthquake: Survival initially from the point of, view of the average person who doesn’t really know anything about | earthquake preparedness, I saw the: need to include important informs-. tion that the experts were wrongly. ya assuming the general public would, already know. Taking my comments ‘§ a out of context has distorted and changed what I said, omitting tly recognition Earthquake Survival has teceived from the L.A. Fire Department Disaster Division, the California Seismi Safety Commission, ani the. Provincial Emergency Program, ‘and: the fact that it’s B.C.’s number one_f seiling earthquake Preparedness’ guide. Simon Terlinden North Vancouver no one to share? ‘ For Dad sank in gloom, senk in sloth, sank in bed ; And Mom questioned darkly her decision to wed. ‘Twas the night before Christmas, ans! all through the house : Not a creature was stirring, not even -. | that mouse. The white bosom of earth bore a heavenly sheen , In the moonlight, and weary mankind slept serene. The church and the chapel lay deserted and darkened Where the call to the faithful had recently harkened And the night that was silent, and the birth that was fateful - Had lightened all burdens of all that is hateful. The last echo had fled from the loft of the choir And the last embers glowed of the last fitful fire. Tired clerks and worn wives, whose voices had lifted In the age-old sweet carols, had wearily drifted Into the sleep of the peace beyond reason, into the sleep of the peace without season. And none were awake, not Amy, not Ben, Not skeptical Janie, not Mom —- ah, but then All but the truly deaf could clearly have heard The hoof on the slates, and the truth of the.word. * oh