north shore news

VIEWPOINT

Class actions

ORE hard lessons in the

darkening clouds swirling

‘ound the province’s educa-

tion system. The latest one was deliv-

ered recently by the B.C. Public School

Employers Association, which is the

bargaining agent for B.C.’s 60 public
school boards.

According to the asscciation, 87.6%
of the province’s school boards have
rejected the NDP government’s tenta-
tive contract with the province’s
44,000 teachers. That response has
raised the spectre of another hait in the
education of B.C.’s school children
because of a labor dispute.

While the fatest teachers’ contract
concocted by Victoria and. the BC
Teachers Federation promises what
appears to be nominal wage increases
for teachers— 0% in the first two years;
2% in the third — there are other issues

bearing far greater costs.

Reducing class sizes, which would
have marginal value for students and
could force some children out of their
neighborhood schools — is but one of
those issues. Others include the fuzzy
issue of whether the provincial govern-
ment will fund all the estimated addi-
tional $200 million cost of the contract
or leave local school boards holding the
bag to cover any budget shortfall.

And teachers will continue to be
selected for teaching assignments based
on seniority rather than qualifications,
experience and suitability. In other
words quality control is not part of the
deal; only seniority and the promotion
of mediocrity. The contract is not
about improving the quality of the
province’s education system. It is not
for the kids — they will merely be one
of the main groups paying its costs.

ae

“TAXPAYER

"S ture.’ Seems;

maithox Judge should go easy on Guess —

Hate letter enters
the Twilight Zone

Dear Editor:
- Re: May 27 “Collins too close te hate” letter to editor
. from Peter Raabe. It is like viewing Rod Sterling’s Tivilight
, Zone to read the spin put on Doug Collins by the outraged
Raabe: that Doug had complained of Canada Customs seiz-
ing books, legally printed in Canada, from him on his return
to Canada and comparitig it to a teenager pointing a gun
“replica. .
.. ... Mr, Raabe has definitely stepped into that zone inhabit-
‘ ed* by Sasquatch believers, SFU investigators (Liam
Donnelly/Rachel Marsden decision), VVI Langara Campus
Valentine prohibitors and the like.

Close to hate he says? Just what are you showing Mr.
Raabe, when you end your silly article by asking, “if he
Avants to.avoid what he (Collins) feels is harassment maybe
. he should stop writing material that seems like hate litera-

rt. Raabe? _. :

-. i;What/a- quantum leap in logic! What tolerance! What
=” rubbish!’ ; ‘
. “He-should perhaps stop ‘aiming his gun’ at people in
“our community?” Aiming at a book? ;
+. So, you feel anything written by Doug Collins should be
~ deemed hatc, before it has been read? By 2 decorated man,
who gave so much-for his country, you feel comfortable to
label so badly? NSN headline “Bank robbed by writer who
<=, pointed book at terrified teller titled “guns!” The sky is
. indeed falling. Run for it!

Len Miller ;
- Vancouver

MAILBOX POLICY

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The Worth Shore News ts published by North Shore Free Press Ltd., Publisher Peter Speck, fram 1139 Lansdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2H4 -

Ce es

CALL me an old softie, but if
I’d been foreman of the jury
here’s what I’d like to have said
about (and to) Gillian Guess:

“Not guilty, and don’t let it happen
again.”

The vindictiveness
toward the North
Shore’s undisputed
tittcholder for Fifteen
Minutes of Fame aston-
ishes me.

The Province editori-
ally went so totally bal-
listic shat it whirled
skyward in a tornado of
self-generated right-
cousness and Janded .
back in the Early Middle Ages.

The me-too viciousness of much of
the public — that sense that it’s open
season on the remaining dignity of
Gillian Guess — would be unbelievable,
except that it’s nothing new. Once she’s
in the public domain, a woman can be
kicked around mercilessly.

Of course no sensible woman would
have slept (how strange that our usually
rich and nuanced language has no word
thar is both accurate and respectable for
the act) with Peter Gill — before, dur-
ing or after his murder trial, on which
she sat as a juror.

But Guess is hardly the first woman
to take leave of her senses over a man.
And, candidiy, I don’t think she had a
great inventory of senses to take leave
of,

During her obstruction of justice
trial she behaved like a child shaped by
the ’60s.

PETER SPEC!

Publisher
985-2131 (101)

Terry Peters
Photography Manager
985-2131 (160)

Nee eereerennece

Comptroller
985-2131 (133)

Stephenson
Classified Manager
$86-6222 {202)
Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid. Alt rights reserved

TWo THINGS DUSTY, OLD GASBAGS USE

TO GETA

The enormity of her flirting in court,
let alone having an affair, with the man
whose fate she was to help decide, never
really scems to have penetrated.

She displayed no respect for the
solemnity of the court or any sense of

the scriousness of the
charge against her.

She chatted freely with
the media as if fighting
nothing more weighty
than a parking ticket.
After the trial she
maintained that she
had been convicted for
falling in love.

_ And yer, and yer...
Maybe it’s the senti-
mental fatherliness that

comes of advancing age, bur | felt sor-

row for this woman of 43 with a

teenage son and no dad in the house,

and with an attractiveness that it is
beginning to thicken and fade

That is vulnerable country. +

1 much admire Crown prosesutor’
Joe Bellows, a straight-arrow men
whose job after all is to argue the
Crown's case and protect the public.

Bur I'm utterly appalled that it’s
being bandied about thar Gillian Guess
should serve maybe five, cight years (the
maximum is 10) for her offence.

What! We have bank robbers, career
criminals, hardened thugs who commit
vicious assaults, who don’t gct stiffed
with hard time like that.

Gillian Guess committed a crime so
rare there’s never been a case like this in
North America. She’s never going to
repeat it. She poses zero threat to the
public.

Trevor
lautens

garden
of biases

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VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca

Timothy Renshaw
Managing Editor
985-2131 (116)

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Promotions Manager
985-2131 (218)

ee oe ce 2 2 a ras

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SOS-2131 (105)

internat- http://enw.nsnews.com

RAISE.

When she appears for sentence in
August, F trust Mr. Justice Raymond |: -
Paris to leaven his reasoned judgment
with compassion, :

aaa

I planned to remain silent about the

‘West Vancouver.Memorial Library book - ,

sale -~.at least for another year. a
But on Sunday, two hours before the”

sale closed and presumably with ‘the best

stock picked cleaned, | wandered in'to:

the sale that I’ve criticized for dumping ::*'

many uscful books at ridiculous prices ©
—~ this year, $1 for hardcovers and 25.
cents for paperbacks. ae
Little did F know. ars
Ac the entry point I was offered a
bag —- a paper grocery bag of the fam
iar size ~ for S1, co hold any books I
chose to buy. Or so I thoughr. ©
Just a way to get some extra moneys
for the library, I presumed.
But I misunderstood. oy
When [went back, the good lady:T
talked to patiently corrected my eryo!
What was being offered was:not.an>
empty bag for $1, but a fill bag’ of -.:
beoks of my choices 65 ss *
Repeat, for $1.’- Bh dat Os
lL emerged with nine hardcover and
nine softcover books, including Paul’ »

Kennedy’s important The Rise and Fall m ,

of the Great Powers , books by-or about) -

Robert Benchiey, George Santayana,

Henry Fonda and Frank Swinnerton,. :

and a first edition of Earle Birney’s

1949 comic classic Turrey. eS Ls
That’s right, folks: 18 books for $1,'

an average of a tad over five cents each.”
I rest my case, oe

$<

Sis ; I oe

marten |

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