| Page 6, December 6, 1978 - North Shore News

In this age sof heavy-handed law. ‘enforcement

and. buzeaucratic. arrogance two: interesting little
_ stories recently came out of Britain and Germany.

present-day Canada is a matter of opinion. Maybe
(sad thought!) the circumstances of the past

decade have already made us

into - a. fun-

damentally. different kind” of. People in. “such

matters. —

The first. story concerns &
one Alan Ford, a 40-year-old. —
TV actor, who was acquitted -
of assaulting a policewoman
and causing her bodily harm; .

of assaulting two male police
officers in the execution of
their duty; and of dangerous
driving. Quite a promising

little charge sheet, one would

think.

The charges “arose ~ in

connection with police obser-
~ vation of a house i in suburban |

_ London which was suspected
to contain drugs. Mr.

when ordered to stop . by
-Policewoman Elizabeth Bar-

ham. Instead, he accelerated —
as the policewoman clung to _
the open driver’s. window by .
her fingers -- and she finally

fell into the road, suffering
_ bruises.

WRIST BENDING

When
officers went to arrest ‘Mr.
‘Ford at his home, he bent
one officer’s wrist back and

wall.

Let me make it quite clear
at this point that I strongly

Ford
was driving away in his van.

two male. police

pushed the other against av

SPECIAL

includes 1) oil change up to
‘4 qts. of Esso Extra Motor oil

2) Install new filter (oil)

3) Grease all lube points plus
door & hood hinges, check
all pad levels.

4) 56 pt. Car Care Inspegtion

by —
Noel V Wright

disapprove “of. “throwing
ladies -.uniformed or other-
wise - to the ground as they

: hang. on to the window of my

moving vehicle. I am. also

- totally opposed | to bending

‘back the wrists of ‘police

: officers and pushing them.

against walls, even if I had

| : the. muscle to do’ it.

“Nevertheless -- and. re-

gardless of anything else Mr.

Offer oxpires
Jan. 15, 1979
Parts extra

_ 5) 5702 GRANVILLE ST. at 41st Ave., VAN. B.C.,

him for assault.
you are offending an old

Ford may have been up to --
the decision of the London

court makes fascinating

_ How far they are relevant -- or ever could be -- to. "C248:

- Policewoman Barham told

Judge Neil McKinnon that a
senior officer ordered her to

Stop the van without telling

her why. After hearing all

the other testimony the

_ learned judge summed.up as

follows:

“There is no evidence that

Mr. Ford did any act other
than drive his van. Some
-male police officer sent that
young lady to tell the van —

driver to stop. He did not
stop.. We have heard no

. evidence whether he heard

her.

- **He continued to drive at

between five and seven miles
an hour. The policewoman
fell off and was bruised.

‘‘As a matter of law, no
one could say he had

- attacked her, assaulted her
_ or done any hostile act.

_NOT A POLICE STATE

‘‘He was not told why he
was to stop. If a‘police officer
says ‘stop’ and does not give

any reason, I am entitled to.

say, ‘no, I have an appoint-
ment’ and go on. That is the

_law in England. We are not a

police state.”’

Referring to the police
visit. to Ford’s house, the
judge said: ‘You cannot go
into a man’s house to arrest
If you do,

| IMPERIAL. faa

widely known

maxim -- ‘An ‘Englishman’ Ss.
home is his castle’.

“Mr. Ford was being
arrested for an offence which
is not an arrestable offence.
It follows that, if he was
trying to eject those police
officers, he was entitled to do
SO.

‘*] don’t think it can be too
that the
powers of the police, like the
powers of everybody else in
this country -- including
judges -- are limited.”

Could it -be that we have
too few castles in Canada?

APPALLING RUDENESS

For most of us the second
story comes a good deal
closer to home. It concerns
Herr Kurt Gscheidle, West
Germany’s
-general.

Herr Gscheidle writes let-
ters himself and, one day a

‘month or two back, he

dropped into his local post
office to buy some stamps.

Incognito, it goes “without

saying.

He was so appalled by the
rudeness with which he was
treated that he steamed back
to his ministry and issued an

order requiring every one of

West Germany’s 300,000
postal counter clerks to take
a three-day course in good
manners.

The course included inst-
ruction in such fundamentals

Offer expires
Jan. 5, 1979

Reg. Retail Value $18.50

“SPECIAL

e of » FRONT END
VALIGNME

Includes 1) Check front end suspension
& steering parts
2) Adjust camber

3) Adjust toe-in
4) Adjust caster

FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT PHONE OR DROP IN AT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING

1) 4444 KINGSWAY at WILLINGDON AVE., BURNABY, B.C. 437- -5546,

2) 3965 NORTH AD. at LOUGHEED MALL, BURNABY, B.C. 937 3471

; 3) 6211 NO. 3 RD. & SABA, RICHMOND, B.C., 273-3794
4) 1205 BURRARD ST. at DAVIE, VAN

B.C. , 683-3341 (No alignments)

266- "5331 (No alignments)

postmaster |

as keeping a “fiendiy. cand :

open facial
avoiding stares of disapprov-

al at customers and nodding ©
from time to time to. show BS

consent.

Meanwh ile, .
treatment being dished ‘out
to his department’s patrons
has sent shock waves far
office itself.

COURTESY EPIDEMIC

Bavaria’s finance minister
was so impressed that he

issued his own 24-page.

booklet on politeness for all
civil servants in his province
-- reminding them, among

other things, that they are

there to serve the public. :

table,
| KODAK

kids, too!

Children

Adults

- spread - rapidly,

expression,-
_ West’ German fe

departments: throughout the
- ».country. clamorin
~ lies of the: book

Herr.
‘Gscheidle’s outrage over the
infected the world of

- business: at least one Bavar-

“jan. ‘department Store ha
beyond the German post Amunched its own Politeness

a drive.

‘traditionally. start on

. Maybe it’s not too late to
. hope that world: fashions in
- bureaucratic manners will
follow the same pattern,

oe Over to you, Mr. Minister
and City Manager!

Join us for
Supper with
Santa

It’s a fun dinner for the whole
family! When Santa visits your
you'll receive a

instant snapshot of
Santa and your family. Free
balloons and giveaways for the

Enjoy our usual menu items or
_ try Santa's . special. treat. A
delicious roast turkey dinner.

Join us for Supper with Santa at
the Bay Park Royal.
December 16,18,19 and'20.

4:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Dudsons Bay Company

‘The courtesy « epidemic ha

provincial 8overnmen

g for supp- f

let -- which
became: a bureaucratic ‘best |

seller’ overnight. To ca |
all,” the. “epidemic has wen

retail

“World fashions i in clothing

th
other.. side of the Atlantic,

We

free

2.99