N. Shore mayors wary of new ‘environmental’ groups solicitation plea NORTH SHORE mayors have thus far had lukewarm reaction to solicitations for membership and donation _ from 'a new organization whose announced purpose is to ‘provide unbiased environmental-development informa- tion, but whose real intent, according to a local en- vironmentalist, is to eliminate troublesome environment groups. Headed by Port McNeill - Mayor Gerry.Furney and with a ‘board of directors made up of " resource industry representatives, the’ British Columbia £n- . ‘vironmental Information In- stitute (BCEIi) was conceived last September, but has only recently begun a membership and dona- tion drive. "According to a BCEIi brief sent out in early August to all MLAs, B.C. .MPs, B.C. municipalities . and regional districts, the institute was estab- lished, in part, to ‘‘enccurage responsible iategrated and sus- tainable rescurce development ‘which meets present needs without forectosing those of . future generations.”’ Minimum annual BCEII _ membership is $100, but the brief urges municipalities to contribute over and aboyy the memberskip .fce. For examp::, Port McNeill, which is: alhmosi eniirely deper- dent on the forest industry, has donated §2,559, or $1 per capita. In a recent interview, Furney said BCEII was ‘formed because the real story in the battle be- tween environmental and eco- nomic interests is not being told. ‘The problem we perceive,’’ he said, ‘‘is the lack of accurate ‘information out there: the true facts of the environment and the impact of industry on environ- ment. A lot of groups have taken fairly extreme positions. Pressures are being exerted on industry and communities. What we want to do is home inon fac- ‘tual information.” He added that the organization was also out to fight such pcten- ‘tially lethal forms of ‘‘en- vironmental terrorism” as tree ‘| . spiking. _ As of Thursday, Furney said 12° B.C. municipalities and one regional district have contributed approximately $10,000 to BCEII. Response, he said, has thus far been ali positive: ‘‘I haven’t had one negative reaction.” But West Vancouver resident and Environmental Watch founder Terry Jacks said solicita- ‘tion by BCEII is the same, at the | other end of the scale, as “Greenpeace calling on “Municipalities: to take out By TIMOTHY RENSHAW - News Reporter Greenpeace membership and do- nate to that environment group. Environmental institute, he said, was a misnomer for. the group because there were no en- vironment groups involved in BCEil, “It is nothing short of a con- spiracy by the forest industry,”’ he said. “They want to squash us.??' Jacks also took issue with the BCEI implication that environ- ment groups dealt in misleading information, and said he stood by the accuracy of any informa- tion he had used in his three-year battle to get Howe Sound’s two pulp mills to comply with current pollution laws. West Vancouver Mayor Don Lanskail said Monday he would have to have a closer look at the BCEII brief before making any decision, ‘“‘but I’m not sure whether a government body should be making a financial contribution to what is a self- interest group.”’ It could, he said, contravene the Municipal Act. North Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker said BCEII’s request for membership and donations would be the first item submitted to the district’s new environment committce for consideration. But she said, in her opinion, the question of an independent environment institute would be better addressed in a permanent province-wide round-table organization involving repre- sentation from B.C. municipalities, the provincial government, industry and en- vironment groups as has been recommended by the Union of B.C. Municipalities. North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks said he had not seen the brief. According to information cir- culated by the BCEII, the aims and objectives of the institute in- clude encouraging responsible multiple-use ef public land and resources; previding accurate, current information on resources and land-use; reducing polariza- tion between land-use interests; maintaining economic diversity; encouraging and supporting citi- zen groups to influence all levels of government and reaiize that ‘‘no industry is immune to the pressures of ‘extrementalists’, and al) industry must stand together in this effort.”’ Said Furney: ‘‘People have to face facts, even in West Van- couver, that they are living in a resource-based economy.”* The membership of BCEII, he added, will be broad-based and politically independent. it will not, he said, be .confined to resource-based interests. “We are heping to claim the common ground.,..as close to the centre as possible,’’ Furney said, But Jacks points to a letter sent to Gibsons Mayor Diane Strom last month from Canfor Corp. chairman Peter Bentley urging her municipality contribute money to BCEII as indication of its real backing and real agenda. In the letter, Bentley said con- tribution to BCEII could be viewed ‘‘as a prospective low-cost investment in the interests of the well-being of your community and its industries, to offset emo- tional, often orchestrated, nighly organized, anti-everything mov- ements that we have come to ex- pect as we fulfill our daily tasks.”” Canfor, which owns the Port Mellon pulp miii near Gibsons, is a major employer in that Sechelt community. MacMillan Bloedel contributed an initial $10,000 to BCEII as seed money, but a company rep- resentative said the company has no current plans to donate any more funds to the institute. Jacks vehemently denied the insinuation that he was ‘an- ti-everything’, ‘What I stand for,” he said, “tis the mills complying with the present environment laws and for the government enforcing those laws right now. And Mr. Bentley’s mill is not complying with those laws. Now, you tell me, is that weird?’’ And Furney denied that he was pro-industry and anti-environ- ment. He said he was a member of Greenpeace, the Canadian Wildlife Federation and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. **I am just as concerned as you are about pollution,’ he said. “So no one can take the en- vironmental high ground from me.” 3 - Sunday, August 27, 1989 - North Shore News NEWS photo Mike Wakstiold STEROIDS SEIZED by North Yancouver RCMP earfier this year, in what was thought to be the largest single seizure of black market anabolic steroids in Canadian history, torned out to be fake. Some of the bogus steroids were found to be toxic and dangerous when consumed or in- jected. The seized items were returned by court order to their owner Friday after a trafficking charge was dropped in May. Black market steroids usually hogus — RCMP From paga 17 guy took steroids he got big. To- day when he takes steroids, he just gets sick. It’s very important that people be aware of this sort of thing because of how dangerous it fe 9? Although the substances injected or consumed are fake, Zaharia said a lot of body builders end up spending as much as $1,000 a month because they are psychologically addicted to them. “In their head they'll say, ‘Geez I can’t get big, or I’m getting small because I’m not on the stuff.’ They can’t break away because they feel as soon as they go off of it, they’re going to become small again. They’re doing it just for their head. The results they are seeing come from the natural training, but they think it’s from steroids,’” he said. “The guys want to get big quick and they buy the steroids, and from what I understand, things have not slowed down. Most of it’s fake and it’s still out there,’’ Zaharia added. Anabolic steroids are defined as Schedule F drugs under the Food and Drugs Act. The maximum penalty for conviction on traffick- ing in steroids is a $5,000 fine or three years in jail, or both. It is not illegal to sell substances purported to be steroids, but police would like to see the situation changed. ‘‘You sell cocaine and it’s really sugar, you get charged for trafficking in cocaine. But if you hold out a steroid, and it’s not, then it’s not trafficking in steroids. It actually has to be a steroid hefore you can be charged for trafficking,’’ Zaharia said. Slasher magazine shocks NV mom NORTH VANCOUVER City officials are looking into ways of. controlling the ready access to children of gore-filled slasher inagazines. The move follows a complaint by a North Vancouver mother to police and city hall Monday. Cathy Squires was shocked to find her eight-year-old son David bringing home a copy of Gore Zone magezine Monday morning. The boy and a 12-year-old friend had purchased the magazine at a local magazine shop. The publication, which bills itself as ‘‘the megazine that bleeds ,”’ features graphic fuli-color horror movie shots depicting everything from cannibalism and exploding heads to stacks of hearts and bloody impalings. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter ‘ Said Cathy Squires: ‘‘He came home with it and I said, ‘Well let - me see what you bought today.’ First when he told us it was $4.50, my husband was really upset with the fact that he had paid $4.50 for any magazine. Then when we looked at it, my first reaction was anger. I was so ticked off that a person wouid seli this kind of stuff to an eight-year-old child with no parent there when these kinds of movies are restricted.”” The mother complained to the store manager and then took the magazine to North Vancouver RCMP. “‘A police officer took a look at it, but he said no law was broken,’’ she said. Squires then went to city hall and North Van- couver City Ald. Stella Jo Dean brought the issue to a police liaison committee Wednesday. Said North Vancouver RCMP Supt. Jack Morton: ‘‘We had an informal discussion and the issue was raised. We felt the subject content wasn’t covered by bylaw or the Criminal Code and it wasn’t a case where we could give it to **X’” agency to handle. Disgusting and gory were some of the words used at the meeting. It certainly portrays some queer attitudes to life. The feeiiag was taat it should be pursued by a municipal solicitor or council.’” But said North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks: ‘‘We can’t act as a censor, but we can try to encourage magazine sellers to place these inappropriate magazines on the top shelf. We’re going to check it out. I think it’s a rather horrible thing. I’m surprised they can publish things like that. What we would hope is that people wiil do their civic duty and not make them so accessible.” Squires said her son was able to discern that the images portrayed in the magazine were fantasy, but she fears that others might not make the distinction. “Some sick person had to think about these ideas. Something could go click in somebody’s miad: and they can’t distinguish fantasy from reality and they could actually put it into action and it might happen to someone you know. That’s what's scary,’’ she said. David Squires said he had nightmares after buying the maga- zine. ‘“‘They’re very sick. At night they’re scary. My friend said, ‘Why don’t you just buy a Freddy comic?’ I bought this one and I saw it was a Gore Zone. It’s not like a Freddy comic. There’s blood in it (a Freddy magazine) but it’s black so you can’t really tell it’s blood. It gives you a nightmare. I had three nightmares,” he said. David’s mother would like to see such magazines displayed high up in the racks or behind counters in stores. She also advocates that slasher magazines carry age restric- tions similar to the ones attached to the movies the images are taken from.