The North Shore ews is published ty North Shore Free Press ktd., Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2H4 FS a i i PETER SPECK Publisher 985 Doug Foot , Dee Dhalival . _ Comptroller Human Resoutoes ilanager 985-2131 (133) 77) Managing Editor Sales & Marketing Dutector 985-2131 (116) 920-0511 (319) Woo ake ad Terry Peters. Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) Sn re Promotions Manager - §85-2131 (218) . ay a is , BarbaraEmo . Jonatha Bell: “Distribution Manager ~ Creative Services Manager. ; * $85-2132 (127) 965-2131 gec-ostt 986-6222 905-2181 =z == | Censorship 995-3227 985-2131 (314) : Andrew MeCredie-Sports/Commenity Editor ; 985-2131 (147) + LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address telephone number, VIA Internet: trenshaw @ direct.ca COMPITER BBS - 980-8027 , __ User ID:maitbox * Password:letters Internet: attp:/ewr.acncts.cain Worth Shore News, fouried in (99 as an indcpenderd suburban newspuper and qualified under Schodule ETT, Paragraph $1! of the Excise Tax Act is prublinted cach Wollnesukey, Friday and Sunday by North Shrine Free tress Lad and disibuted ta every daar un the North Shure, Canatt Ret Cansdan Publaagoans Mail Sales Product Agreement Na. / ceab Te SOA CIVISION: Afi oe. | Ev tin, AVAN| Lk) §1,582 {average circulation, Wedresday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents 7. © 1996 North Shore ° Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. oe eeen HELLO Ql? ID LIKE TO REPORT A Trucking roulette HE corsner’s inquest last week looking into the death of two men involved in a truck crash last year has rekindled the debate over the general safety of trucks on the road. ‘An ICBC crash specialist offered the opinion in testimony that drivers risk a one-in-three ‘chance that heavy trucks passing them on the road are dangerous and skouldn’t even be allowed to roll. A Canadian Trucking Association spokesman was quick to counter the comment stating flatly that the record shows general truck safety has never beer: better. - _. Motor Vehicle Branch siatistics seem to sup- port the truckers. Most recent numbers, reflect- ing what happened on B.C. roads in 1994, show _ that there were 458 collisions (all categories of .. Vehicle) resulting in death. Trucks were responsi- _ But over recent years North Shore roads have sporadically yet consistently played host to truck crashes involving faulty brakes. Some of these crashes, such as the tragic subject of this latest coroner’s inquest, were deadly. ‘ Seasoned truckers have spoken out saying that there are some problems in the industry. There are owners who cut corners by not servicing their’ trucks as often as they should. There are some inexperienced drivers on the road who are work- ing simply because they will do the job for less. Driver training standards could be tightened up. Standards governing the regulation of truck upkeep might also be revisited...” Being the..hilly piace it is, the North Shore tends to bring out the worst’ in mechanically unsound vehicles. ae Whether rightly or wrongly, the perception is EARLIMART APS VNTR NY OY he ATES AE A TITS a ere ee of humor or what? | Dear Editor: This letter is regarding the comic The Five Stages of Man + (News, Sunday Aug, 11), and the response to it. ° We are both 18, have gone, through high school and a year - of post-secondary education, and yes, puberty. We've seen first hand everything that teens - are capable of, the good and ° the bad. we This cartoon is hilarious! We can understand a caring parent being slightly. miffed’ abour having their’ childret depicted as monsters, -but when that girl wrote in- and _ said thar she was insulted, we agreed that it was just sad, Get: a sense of humor!..She-also complained that the medi only covers the bad things tha teens do. Well, she should have read the rest of the paper: Bur we do have to complain about one thing you published recently, in the Wednesday. Aug. 21 issue. This girl’s lette She said that she was insulted: . because of the way teens wer being shown in the comic. Now she’s done more tha that, she’s depicted: teens snot-nosed little brats with sense of humor. ; Our compliments to you on: your comics, they're great. °°: Dan Victor | ae Curt Watts North Vancouver. . legible (preferably typewritten) anc include your name; full-address ‘and telephone number... : Due. to space constraints “the North Shore News cannot: publish: all letters: Submissions may be ¢ ed for brevity, clarity, accuracy, lege iry'and taste, Letters can be & ‘ed to - ble for 44 of then. Only four were found to have - 085-6082 ‘been caused by faulty brakes or insecure loads. IN a supposedly free democratic society the fuss about !ocal MP Herb Grubel’s presence at a recent Libertarian conven- tion boggles the mind. The occasion was last week's 15th-annual world conference of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) in Whistler — which belongs to the Reform MP's Capilano-Howe Sound riding. The conference theme, was “reclaiming our lib- erties from out-of-control governments.” Over-taxed, over-regulated Canadians might think that a pretty smart idea. But the roster of speakers included Colorado Senator Charles Duke, a militia supporter in the U.S., David: Somerville of the Toronto-based National Citizens Coalition and the News’? own Doug Collins. These were enough for B.C.'s Though Police, headed by the Canadian Jewish Congress _ (CJC), to damn the gathering in advance for its “right-wing agenda” — their code-word for anti-seinitic, racist, homophobic, woman-beat- ing and other nasty, politically incorrect behav- ior. Meaning also that if you were there, you automatically had to be one of them. An unrepentant Grubel made’ no bones about agreeing with certain of the conference's terest smi rey ae ge rmrore raed he eee ek Oe OO eee eres ener or Pd rm oe = os with big tracks. Jj criticisms of big government, but * not with everything some partici- pants stood for. His‘own speech was confined, innocuously enough, to slamming special- interest groups and warning of the impact of Canada’s debt on ‘future generations. But the heavy fire he drew trom the CIC for “welcoming” the meeting to his riding was yet another example of the mounting threat to freedom of opinion and speech from energetic vocal minorities cosseted by governments purely for the “package™ votes they can deliver. Socialist B.C. has gone farther down this slinnery road than other jurisdictions by setting up a star chamber “court” called the Human Rights Council. Operated by political hacks outside the regular justice system, it can impose heavy financial penalties on anyone expressing opinions, however weil founded, that offend this or that minority. In short, GOVERN- MENT CENSORSHIP of exactly the type imposed under Hitler, Mussolini and Sralin. ‘That is what — arising from a Human Rights Council bid to “try” columnist Doug, Collins — the Nerth Shore News will be fight- ing this fall in B.C. Supreme Court, There, publisher Peter Speck, for whom free speech is the most sacred trust of all, will challenge Bil! 33 itself, the NDP law effectively giving the Pe CTOvVeE Pe Oe Heer ere oS, Rea a ae be eek 8 ia 4 8 8 out there that we're playing Russian roulette erteors eee con) beng 68 ee oe ee 985-2104 bur’ still must. be/signed and fully addressed. caused the Hol Human Rights Council a censorship funetio! in direct contravention of the Charter of Rights. . . m, in this David-versus-Goliath battle (given ’ Victoria's vast legal resources, for which you : pay) owo closing questions are relevant. . First, if government insists on watching us, who will watch government? [f government: claims the right to control what we say and write, by what means can we ever control wi government does? ; And second, 4 question for our Jewish fel- tow-citizens, whose CJC is among the Human Rights Council’s most eager opinion-muzaling | customers: If Germany had had freedom of. ; speech and a free press from 1932 onward, | could the Holocaust ever have happened? OF course not! : eee e MANY HAPPY RETURNS of today, Aug. 28; to West Van Riwanian Ted Schootman wi . Also taday, happy birthday to retired North Vancouver-City Clerk Ron Gibbs. ° see . WRIGHT OR WRONG: You're never as old. as you're going fo get. ; The North Shore News believes strongly in freedom of speech and the vight of all sides ina. debate to be heard. The columnists published ir the News present differing points of view, but those views are not necessarily those of the news paper itself. ; er Ear ae ae eee